We Built This City by Starship is one of my favourite songs of the 80s. I don't get why it's so loathed, it doesn't sound drastically different or worse than other songs from the 80s

This is why:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-C9pUGszsw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANNqr-vcx0

We Built This City by Starship is one of my favourite songs of the 80s. I don't get why it's so loathed, it doesn't sound drastically different or worse than other songs from the 80s
No idea, I also like it.

No idea, I also like it.


I like it, I don't know why it's so hated. ???

No idea, I also like it.
I still like it too!

It is definitely a great song but I remember even as a young kid, the two singers looked kinda corny. Possibly it may have been overplayed too?

I actually hate "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now".  :D

Well that ones better than we built this city :) (I dont like it really either)

It is definitely a great song but I remember even as a young kid, the two singers looked kinda corny. Possibly it may have been overplayed too?

I actually hate "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now".  :D


What's wrong with it? ???

I kinda like that song. Not my favorite song but I listen to it. Why is it hated?

It's too overproduced for me.

What's wrong with it? ???


I've never liked "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". It sounds too much like some tv advert for a sports event or some generic stadium anthem. It doesn't really go anywhere and the melody just plods along. Kinda like Celine's "My Heart Will Go On".  8-P

I've never liked "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". It sounds too much like some tv advert for a sports event or some generic stadium anthem. It doesn't really go anywhere and the melody just plods along. Kinda like Celine's "My Heart Will Go On".  8-P
I've loved it ever since I was an 8 year old about to turn 9 with an '80s obsession.

It is definitely a great song but I remember even as a young kid, the two singers looked kinda corny. Possibly it may have been overplayed too?

I actually hate "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now".  :D
I still like both songs.

I've never liked "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". It sounds too much like some tv advert for a sports event or some generic stadium anthem. It doesn't really go anywhere and the melody just plods along. Kinda like Celine's "My Heart Will Go On".  8-P


That was one of the songs from the film "Mannequin".

I still like both songs.


I also like the song "Sara".

That was one of the songs from the film "Mannequin".



Indeed it was.

The last record I really like anything from them is thier LAST ALBUM as "Jefferson Starship" -- 1984 'Nuclear Furniture' but I do like SARA quite a bit...

The last record I really like anything from them is thier LAST ALBUM as "Jefferson Starship" -- 1984 'Nuclear Furnace' but I do like SARA quite a bit...


Actually, it's called "Nuclear Furniture". That was the last tolerable one because that was the last one the late, great Paul Kantner had anything to do with. He left the band after that, taking the "Jefferson" with him. He resurrected his version of Jefferson Starship in 1992 and remained performing with it actively on the road until his passing in January 2016.

The last record I really like anything from them is thier LAST ALBUM as "Jefferson Starship" -- 1984 'Nuclear Furnace' but I do like SARA quite a bit...


Have you seen the video for "Sara"?

No howard is it as good as the song?

Have you seen the video for "Sara"?


It reminds me of my mom. She use to love that song and music video.

This is why:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-C9pUGszsw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANNqr-vcx0

Were some of Starship's members in that band? Sounds like the music they made was very experimental. Maybe people accused them of 'selling out'. Anyway, I would take We Built This City over their earlier work. I'm just a big fan of 80s rock haha.

No howard is it as good as the song?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32ScTb6_KHg

It reminds me of my mom. She use to love that song and music video.


It's a sad song about heartbreak.

Muchos gracious for the vid my friend :)

nay I don't know this

Muchos gracious for the vid my friend :)


Sure no problem, any other videos you don't know about, let me know and I'll post them for you.  :)

Were some of Starship's members in that band? Sounds like the music they made was very experimental. Maybe people accused them of 'selling out'. Anyway, I would take We Built This City over their earlier work. I'm just a big fan of 80s rock haha.


Yep, Jefferson Airplane evolved into Jefferson Starship, which evolved into Starship. Grace Slick provided lead vocals not only on "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit," but "We Built This City," as well. The latter song was seen as like the ultimate 80s sellout move by a group that was previously an integral part of Baby Boomer counterculture. I personally really enjoy all three songs, for the same basic reasons I appreciate both 70s Genesis and 80s Genesis, but the drastic image change was easily the primary factor that turned what would've otherwise just been a harmlessly cheesy time capsule into the most infamous hit single the 1980s ever produced.

Yes but "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" are MUCHO BETTER!!!

Yes but "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" are MUCHO BETTER!!!


In terms of passion and energy, they really are mucho better! Jefferson ____ went from rebel to easy listening.

For transitions by older groups to the 80s, Glenn Frey's (of The Eagles) "You Belong to the City" is much better. This is 80s style with some soul.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EhrdrBdAKA

When Paul Kanter sued Jefferson Starship and won, they not only dropped the Jefferson prefix, they also changed their sound.  In the process, they lost old fans, but gained new ones, and I think this is a large part why this song is so hated.  To survive in the music world, sometimes you have to jump on the bandwagon, and Starship did it very well.  Knee Deep in the Hoopla is one of the most fun albums of the 80s and I will always love it.

My favourite song from that album is called Before I Go, which failed to make the Top 40, but it still charted in the US and Canada.  It was written by a Canadian singer-songwriter named David Roberts, so radio stations here could use it to fill their Canadian Content quota, so I grew up hearing this song on the radio all the time and I still love it.  So people hate Starship?  Big deal!  As long as YOU like them, that is all that matters!

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Another reason it's so hated is that the lyrics are utterly ridiculous. They insult people's intelligence. "Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio". What the hell does that mean? Yes, Marconi is widely credited as the "inventor of radio", but a mamba is a snake. A fast moving, venomous snake. How do you play a snake on the radio? The lyrics say "mamba", not "mambo". A mambo is a dance. At least "mambo" would have made a tiny bit of sense.

Another reason it's so hated is that the lyrics are utterly ridiculous. They insult people's intelligence. "Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio". What the hell does that mean? Yes, Marconi is widely credited as the "inventor of radio", but a mamba is a snake. A fast moving, venomous snake. How do you play a snake on the radio? The lyrics say "mamba", not "mambo". A mambo is a dance. At least "mambo" would have made a tiny bit of sense.


Maybe it's just a sexual metaphor? In that rock and roll music on the radio encourages people to have some fun? I'm not sure, that's just a personal interpretation, though I agree it's still a really laughable line, regardless of any deeper meaning.

Another reason it's so hated is that the lyrics are utterly ridiculous. They insult people's intelligence. "Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio". What the hell does that mean? Yes, Marconi is widely credited as the "inventor of radio", but a mamba is a snake. A fast moving, venomous snake. How do you play a snake on the radio? The lyrics say "mamba", not "mambo". A mambo is a dance. At least "mambo" would have made a tiny bit of sense.


and what's "knee deep in the hoopla" mean? ???

and what's "knee deep in the hoopla" mean? ???


Now THAT could be a reference to the turmoil the band was in it at time during the transition from Jefferson Starship to Starship, the departure of Paul Kantner (Kantner was the the heart, soul and intelligence of the band), the lawsuits etc. Though the song was written by a committee of four people who had nothing to do with the band (one of them being Bernie Taupin, Elton John's lyricist), so who knows? That was another difference between the good era of Jefferson Starship and the later, horrendous "Starship". Jefferson Starship wrote their own songs and had several excellent writers in the band including Kantner, Marty Balin and Grace Slick. "Starship" often relied on outside writers. In fact, one might say the "committee of four" who wrote "We Built This City" was a foreshadowing of the way today's pop songs are written by committee. 

Starship rules! Incredible band!

Starship rules! Incredible band!



I definitely agree. O0

It was on this day (September 8th) in 2011, that Starship's 'We Built This City' was named 'the worst song of the 1980s' in a poll by Rolling Stone magazine. 'The Final Countdown' by the Swedish band Europe came in second and 'Lady in Red' by Chris de Burgh was third. Also making the top five were Wham!'s 'Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)' and 'The Safety Dance' by Men Without Hats.

Yup all those not very g00d!!!

Yup all those not very g00d!!!
Yes, none of those are on my playlist.

It was on this day (September 8th) in 2011, that Starship's 'We Built This City' was named 'the worst song of the 1980s' in a poll by Rolling Stone magazine. 'The Final Countdown' by the Swedish band Europe came in second and 'Lady in Red' by Chris de Burgh was third. Also making the top five were Wham!'s 'Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)' and 'The Safety Dance' by Men Without Hats.


Were there others that were just as worse? ???