10 Singers Who Were FORCED To Sing Songs They HATED

10 Singers Who Were FORCED to Sing Songs They HATED

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be discussing ten instances where vocalists performed songs of which they weren’t exactly fond. This could’ve been due to other obligation, responsibility or some other outside influence that forced the singers’ hands.

Tom Petty

“Zombie Zoo” (1989)

The creative process behind an album can be involved or intimate. It all depends upon the artist. There were admittedly a lot of hands within the pot of Tom Petty’s debut, from members of The Heartbreakers to ELO’s Jeff Lynne, Gene Clark of The Byrds and Roy Orbison. “Zombie Zoo” is a song that Petty famously disliked, however, to the point where he told Rolling Stone magazine in 2017, “I do not understand how that got on the record.” The song was co-written by Petty, alongside Lynne, and featured backing vocals from Orbison. Did peer pressure have anything to do with that decision to record “Zombie Zoo?” It’s unclear, but Petty further asserted in that same interview how he’d “thrown away far better.”

Kurt Cobain“Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991)

A big time hit can sometimes also serve as a proverbial albatross around a band’s collective neck. There’s this pressure that acts as an anchor to that hit, requiring artists to play these songs night after night, regardless of their moods or motives. Kurt Cobain seemed to be feeling a similar amount of pressure during a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone, where he admitted, “I can't pretend to have a good time playing it.” Songwriters often wax and wane when it comes to how much they appreciate their hits, but it speaks volumes that interviewer of the piece, David Fricke, mentions how Nirvana notably omitted “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on this night.

Chrissie Hynde

“Brass in Pocket” (1979)

Hindsight is 20/20, and a musical artist would probably rather HAVE a hit than NOT have one, right? Chrissie Hynde was notably quoted by her producer right around the time prior to the release of “Brass in Pocket,” saying something about that song going out over her “dead body.” Of course, “Brass in Pocket” is today seen as The Pretenders’ biggest hit and most defining tune, but Hynde’s feelings at the time were anything but positive. She was extremely critical about her vocal performance, as well as the overall approach to the song. Hynde naturally feels differently today, since “Brass in Pocket” has since topped charts around the world.

Michael Stipe“Shiny Happy People” (1991)

Hey: how do you feel when you glance at an old yearbook? Or scroll all the way to the beginning of your Facebook profile? Like, ALL the way back? Pretty embarrassed, right? Musical acts often have their own creative skeletons in the closet, albums or songs that they’d either record differently…or not at all. Michael Stipe definitely seems to have expressed complicated emotions concerning R.E.M.’s smash hit, “Shiny Happy People.” Stipe’s declaration of the song being “bubblegum” may not be a bad thing for those of us that grew up with such sounds from the 1960s or ‘70s. That said, Stipe’s desire to R.E.M. to be taken seriously likely had a lot to do with his decision to distance the band creatively from this tune.

Jani Lane

“Cherry Pie”

The marketing behind a lot of 1980s hair metal was very simple: release a big-sounding anthem, follow it up with a power ballad. Rinse and repeat. Jani Lane from Warrant always seemed to aspire to loftier heights, however, as evidenced by the gritty and heavy sounding single “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” This was supposed to be the title of Warrant’s second album, but their label, Columbia, had different ideas. They demand another song, Jani wrote “Cherry Pie” in about 15 minutes and voila! A new album title, a new lead single and an entirely new advertising direction focusing on fruit and innuendo. Lane’s songwriting frankly deserved better, and it wouldn’t be until Warrant’s third album, “Dog Eat Dog,” where Jani’s more imaginative ideas were finally recorded.

Ann Wilson“All I Want to Do Is Make Love to You” (1990)

It isn’t exactly a cardinal sin for a band to employ outside songwriters. Heart’s 1980s comeback actually hinged upon these sorts of collaborations, but their “Brigade” LP from 1990 featured a laundry list of co-conspirators. One of these personnel members was Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who famously steered the good ship Def Leppard to success during the prior decade. Lange’s contribution to “Brigade,” titled “All I Want to Do Is Make Love to You” was a song that Heart’s Ann Wilson decidedly disliked from jump street. This didn’t stop it from being released as a successful single, however, and fans seemed to like the tune. Wilson never stopped hating it, however, even telling Far Out Magazine so as recently as March 2025.

Frank Sinatra

“Strangers in the Night” (1966)

The Chairman of the Board never shied away from giving his public what they wanted, even if what they wanted happened to be a song he hated. “Strangers in the Night” is, both then and today, seen as a definitive Sinatra tune, one that’s indelibly linked with the crooner’s style. Yet, both him and Rat Pack compadre Sammy Davis, Jr. have a history of forcing their way through performances of songs they’d rather not sing. The latter was reportedly never too into his hit, “The Candy Man,” while Sinatra never truly got used to “Strangers in the Night’s” constant appearance in his setlists.

Liam Gallagher

“Wonderwall” (1995)

“Anyway, here’s ‘Wonderwall.’” We’re not exactly sure if Liam Gallagher ever doubled down on that famous meme and introduced Oasis’ hit song in this manner, but we do know that the singer apparently hates his most famous hit. Gallagher has routinely mentioned in articles and interviews about how he hated “Wonderwall” when he first heard it, and became even more distressed after it smashed records across the pond. Today, it’s an Oasis song that everybody knows (and almost anyone can play), but that doesn't mean that Liam is necessarily happy about singing it!

Thom Yorke“Creep” (1992)

MTV’s “Buzz Bin” were video clips that the network often pushed hard in rotation, due to their status as hot, creative or up-and-coming. “Creep” from Radiohead was one of these videos, and this “buzz clip” earned the forward-thinking British rockers an early hit. Yet, the band’s singer Thom Yorke notoriously pushed back against this success, and even stopped singing “Creep” at gigs for a while, in order to further distance Radiohead from this tune. The band would eventually embrace more avant-garde pastures, to the point where “Creep” doesn’t even sound like it's from the same band. And, at least in the mind of Thom Yorke, this is probably true.

Robert Plant

“Stairway to Heaven” (1971)

We’ve had a little bit of fun with this video, but we admit that this concept of singers being forcibly held hostage to singing a song feels a bit beyond the pale. That’s why it’s so cool ending this clip with the story of Robert Plant performing “Stairway to Heaven” live for the first time in sixteen years. The Led Zeppelin man always maintained a safe distance from this legendary rock song, last performing it 2007 at a tribute concert for Atlantic Records founder, Ahmet Ertegun. That show saw Zeppelin reforming with John Bonham’s son Jason behind the kit, but this 2023 performance was for a good cause: a Cancer Awareness Trust benefit organized by Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor.

They say you have your entire life to write your first record, but only months to compose a follow-up. Can you think of any early rock hits that felt worlds away from a band’s future career? Let us know in the comments!