10 Most Hated Hard Rock Songs (From Great Bands)

Muse's Madness and the biggest rock face plants...

By Tim Coffman /

There's no set formula to create the perfect rock track. Throughout history, musicians have found new and interesting ways to twist around the typical hard rock song structure and make something totally authentic. While some of these have become staples within the hard rock genre, there are others that should have never seen the light of day to begin with.

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For one reason or another, these tracks have been utterly reviled in the world of hard rock for years, with many fans either dismissing it as trash or defending it through musical Stockholm Syndrome. These duds aren't always the same though.

As much as success comes from being at the right place at the right time, it's just as easy to find yourself at the wrong place at the wrong time as well. Whether it's falling into trends, making ill-advised experiments, or just boring your audience, these acts were definitely not on their A-game when they pumped these out.

At the same time though, these songs are not the worst that rock has to offer. The fanbase may hate them, but it's important for artists to take chances rather than give us the same kind of riff over and over again. It may not have panned out, but these legends of hard rock will live to fight another day.

10. Tattoo - Van Halen

Hard rock fans around the globe were overjoyed in 2008 when it announced that David Lee Roth had officially returned to Van Halen. While it was a shame that bassist and backing vocalist Michael Anthony wouldn't be along for the ride, the band's tour with Eddie's son Wolfgang filling in was still too good to pass up. Once the band got together for a new record, fans were clamoring for how the new music would sound.

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Most of the band's reunion album A Different Kind of Truth ended up being pretty solid, but the guys picked the absolute worst single with the song "Tattoo." Van Halen may not have been known for their thought-provoking lyrics, but this love song to body art would make any tattoo artist wince. The verses and breakdown feature backing vocals from Eddie Van Halen, but his weathered voice makes it sound like a frog croaking underneath David Lee Roth's main vocal.

Complete with one of the worst hooks the band has ever made, this song left many diehard fans trembling in fear as to what the rest of the album was going to sound like. Though the band could still deliver with the rest of the record, fans were right to be scared if we were to get more songs like this.

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