Rock Stars Who Dislike Playing Their Biggest Hits in Concert

On the show today Matt was talking about his time at our sister station BEN FM. Just like we have our WMGK Big Gig concert in the summer, they had their summer BENder. The Counting Crows were on the bill for that show, and they didn't play Mr. Jones... what is the point of seeing that band if they're not going to play their biggest hit? It's outrageous. They're are plenty of artists who don't like to play their biggest hit, because they're tired of it. You are forcing people to shell out a lot of money, especially recently, play your damn hits.

Robert Plant - Stairway to Heaven

There was a story today I saw that Robert Plant was done with Stairway to Heaven. He has barely sung it since the Zeppelin days and it's just a song that he vocally can't do anymore. It's not so much that he dislikes it, as much as it is he doesn't believe his voice can do it justice anymore. Plant's vocals in the height of Led Zeppelin and his Honeydrippers stuff is just legendary. This one makes sense that he isn't able to do the vocal justice.

Billy Joel - Piano Man

Just this month, before the Grammy Awards, Billy Joel told Billboard that he is sick of Piano Man. He still plays it in concert because he understands people love it, but he doesn't. He says, "fortunately when I do it live the crowd sings it. So I can just drop out and listen to them. Yeah, you go ahead. Knock yourselves out."

Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Pat Benatar doesn't like singing Hit Me with Your Best Shot. Just like Billy Joel, she will still play it in concert, but the audience takes lead on the vocals. When asked about it, Benatar said,  “I make them sing it. I mean, I only sing a little of it and I tell them, ‘You want to hear this song and I really can’t sing this song, so if you want to hear it, you’re going to have to sing it.’ And they’re more than happy to sing it. It’s fun.”

There are plenty more out there. Most artists will still perform the songs they don't like, but as an audience member they might make you do a little work on it.

Rock and roll history is littered with controversy. Some of the best examples come from the music itself.

One example that comes to mind is GN'R Lies. The second studio album from Guns N' Roses, GN'R Lies was released on November 29, 1988. The eight-track album is divided into two parts. The first part, which is the first four tracks, is a re-release of the band's 1986's EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide.

Meanwhile, the second part is made up of four acoustic tracks. Among them is the hit song "Patience," which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Also included is an acoustic version of "You're Crazy," the original version of which is on 1987's Appetite for Destruction.

The second half also features "Used to Love Her." We previously wrote of this track in our ranking of every GN'R song, "Not sure if there's an award for 'Catchiest Songs About Murdering Your Significant Other,' but if there is, 'Used to Love Her' would at the very least be in the running. The only thing about this song that has really aged well is its melody, which is still a solid earworm."

This leads us to the final acoustic song, which also serves as the final track on the album: "One in a Million." While Guns N' Roses have plenty of songs in their catalog that still sound fresh today, "One in a Million" certainly has not.

In a February 2023 interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, this track was brought up to Slash. The guitar icon said he doesn't like dwelling on the past. However, he does admit that most things GN'R did in their heyday wouldn't fly today.

" ... Most of everything that [Guns N’ Roses] did would've gotten us canceled in this day and age," said Slash. "We would not have fared well in this environment, for sure — I mean, on so many different levels."

With GN'R Lies and "One in a Million" in mind, here's a look at just five of rock's most controversial songs.

Let's just say it: "One in a Million" is a racist/homophobic/xenophobic mess that was controversial when released over three decades ago, and it's gotten worse with age. It's so bad that when GN'R Lies was included on the reissue of Appetite For Destruction in 2018, "One in a Million" was omitted. Considering its lyrics, which you can look up yourself, it's understandable why.

Sure, we now know the song is about a guy on a ship trying to get back home to his girlfriend. However, the rumors that the slurred lyrics were intentional so they could cover up graphic depictions of sexual acts were so intense that the FBI launched an investigation into the song. This investigation lasted a whopping 31 months! After all that time, the Feds still couldn't figure out what the late Jack Ely was singing.

Oof! It's still pretty incredible this Gerry Goffin/Carole King song was written, much less recorded. Goffin and King wrote "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)" after finding out their babysitter/singer "Little Eva" Boyd was being physically abused by her boyfriend. Goffin and King asked why she put up his abuse, and Eva allegedly conveyed her boyfriend beat her out of love. Decades later, King expressed great regret in being associated with the song.

On the surface, it's completely understandable why a song like "Rape Me" would upset people. Kurt Cobain explained in a 1993 interview with Rolling Stone that the song is about a woman being raped, but essentially telling her rapist "what goes around, comes around."

"I’m a firm believer in karma, and that motherf---er is going to get what he deserves, eventually," said Cobain. "That man will be caught, he’ll go to jail, and he’ll be raped. 'So rape me, do it, get it over with. Because you’re gonna get it worse.'"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TsqlT0rfJI

The Sex Pistols called Queen Elizabeth II a fascist and just obliterated the House of Windsor in this punk classic. For added measure, the cover art of the single release featured an image of Queen Elizabeth II defaced. For obvious reasons, the song was banned by the BBC.