10 Hated Rock Songs That Are Actually Really Good
7. Shiny Happy People - R.E.M.
Sometimes a song's hatred doesn't always have to come from the masses. A lot of times a band may write a song that they might not think is all that great, only for the rest of the music world to eat it up. And when you're talking about songs that are not favorites, Michael Stipe would rather show you any other R.E.M. song than Shiny Happy People.
Around the time that Out of Time was being released, these college rockers were already looking to stretch the boundaries of their sound, bringing in KRS One to guest on their record and even drafting in one of the B-52s to provide background vocals on this track. While this does feel a bit too chipper to have R.E.M. associated with it, it's still a perfect example of how to write a killer pop song, as the hook hammers into your head and even builds on itself with the overlapping vocal harmonies.
Then again, you can see why the people who grew up listening to Murmur would be upset, especially since this comes on the exact same album as Losing My Religion. Bands are meant to evolve though, and Shiny Happy People is a good example of Michael Stipe and the gang taking a wild idea and just seeing where it goes. It might sound like it should be in the background of a kids' show, but if it's one of those great kids' shows, then what's there to complain about?