iheartHazey's 90s EURODANCE PARTY: Wanna go for a rate? - THE END

Corona's 'Baby Baby' also samples the 'woah-oh' vocal from this, and steals the "why can't we just..." melody from it:

 

I fear you could be right. At the risk of being hounded off here by our lovely hosts I can't help think that Aqua have overperformed with 2 songs in the Top 10. I thought Barbie Girl would have proved far more divisive. I do like it but would far rather have seen Amber get further (yes, I'm still bitter!)

 

Ah-ha, yeah-hey, [with opinions like that] wanna be my lover?

 

This is me right now, poptarts.







Awww, why Hazey? I know we've both now lost our 11s but we still have favorites in the running..





































































and two of our songs are still there too.




Unfortunately I've..












gotta steal life from the fans, when they don't know I'm coming,
gotta give to the haters, no time for bluffin'
My oh my don't you cry, cause there's no way it's over,
but still I'll leave, say bye bye, and pray for better days.
























*sniffling*

My oh my do you want to say goodbye,
to half the voters who didn't give a 10
My oh my do you want to say goodbye,
they will rue the day they betrayed you and I.


















































This is another shocker, my friends.




































#10. Aqua - Barbie Girl - 8.665


After 5: #13
After 10: #6
After 15: #8
After 20: #8
After 25: #7
After 30: #8
Final: #10

Leaderboard Average: #8

Right, so who thought "Barbie Girl" would be beaten by "Doctor Jones"? Not me for one. "Barbie Girl" was actually the Top Aqua/Denmark song for most of the voting period, but "Doctor Jones" made a big run late and that's all I'll say for now. Notice we still haven't gotten to any of the songs that we among the 'elite' group at the top of the leaderboard, as "Barbie Girl" was never really in contention at any point.

Highest: 11 (@Daniel_O) 10 x 15 (@iheartpoptarts, @WowWowWowWow, @Hudweiser, @Ana Raquel, @sfmartin, @soratami, @LPMA, @Sprockrooster, @One Stop Candy Shop, @Untouchable Ace, @Remorque, @Conan, @Cutlery, @ThisIsRogue, @DJHazey) 9.9 (@berserkboi) 9.8 (@P Grandson)

Lowest: 4 (@A$AP Robbie) 4.5 (@Seventeen Days) 5 (@GhettoPrincess)

Album: Aquarium (1997)

Charts: #1 (Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Spain, UK) #2 (Austria) #3 (Finland) #4 (Canada, Hungary) #7 (U.S.) #15 (Iceland) #2 (Australia, Belgium, UK Year-End Charts) #94 (Billboard Year-End Chart) Diamond (France) 3x Platinum (Australia, Belgium, Sweden, UK) Platinum (Austria, Germany, new Zealand, Switzerland)

Producers: Johnny Jam, Delgado, Søren Rasted, Claus Norreen

Fun Facts:

-The song was written after Claus saw a 'kitsch culture' exhibit that featured Barbie dolls.

-Aqua performed it as a part of medley of singles during the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest

-VH1 voted it #32 in their countdown of "Most Awesomely Bad Songs...Ever" and #88 on their 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders countdown.

-In 2007, Rolling Stones featured it as one the 20 Most Annoying Songs (later saying it was #1 for 90s Annoying Songs), the same year MuchMoreMusic featured it as #27 on the 50 Worst Guilty Pleasures list.

-In 2009, Sam Difference voted it as the #2 Ultimate Cheese-Fest countdown.

-Blender had it at #33 on their Worst Songs Ever list.

-It has been stated by music critics that "Another Night" by Real McCoy and "Barbie Girl" are essentially the same song. (and they finished #10 and #11)

-In 2000, Barbie doll makers Mattel sued MCA Records, stating that the song violated the trademark and turned Barbie into a sex object calling her a "Blonde Bimbo". They claimed it had tarnished the product and violated their marketing campaigns. Aqua responded by saying the injected their own meanings into the lyrics and countersued for defamation after Mattel called MCA Records "bank robbers".

Lower courts dismissed Mattel's lawsuit, so they tried to take it to Supreme Court but that move was rejected. The Court of Appeals said Aqua was protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution as a parody song. The judge also threw out Aqua's countersuit and told both sides "they needed to chill".

The lawsuit was well publicized and was the main reason Mattel decided to change Barbie with a slightly bigger waist, thinner hips and a B-cup bra size. Also, amazingly Mattel made their own version of "Barbie Girl" that played during their advertisements, talk about trying to get revenge.

One of my biggest memories involving the song was at a karaoke. In case know one knows the stories I've told in the forum, my first job was at an arcade/food/games place called Joker's but before I was old enough to work there my family often went there to play arcade games and get the 'all you can eat' pizza. They also had a karaoke and I remember that one guy always came every week and sang to two songs "The Way" by Fastball and "Barbie Girl". Every time. And no @iheartpoptarts, I was too nervous to go do the karaoke myself.

Life in plastic, it's fantastic!

@WowWowWowWow (10) - The fact that a case was brought to the USA Supreme Court on appeal as to whether or not Mattel had a legitimate copyright infringement claim against Aqua and their record label will never cease to amaze me. As well as the fact that the lower court decision literally ends with the phrase "The parties are advised to chill." As well as the fact that a few years later, Mattel released its own version of Barbie Girl. I mean, there's not much else that can be said at this point about this game-changing song. It's the theme of this rate for goodness' sake!

@Hudweiser (10) - This was the big song the first time I ever visited a gay club, so it holds awesome memories for me. I wish the world and all those who have hailed them as some crap novelty act could hear the likes of Aquarius (the track) and Playmate to Jesus and learn how capable they were of creating genuinely amazing pop music.

@berserkboi (9.9) - Iconic!

@CasuallyCrazed (8.5) - I love that a bonkers novelty record like this managed to become a global #1 smash. Has to be one of the most camp records of all time.

@Ana Raquel (10) - While I grew up with the brazilian version, I can't help but love this more. Probably my favorite Aqua song after all.

@OspreyQueen (8) - A classic example of “oh, this song I liked as a kid is actually about sex”.

@sfmartin (10) - Spawned a number of pretenders but nothing comes close. Stands next to Wannabe, Baby One More Time and a number of others as one of those true 90s pop culture moment.

@31entrance (8.5) - an iconic childhood song (a bit overplayed though), it definitely sounds different to adult ears though I mean "you can brush my hair, undress me everywhere"? Cheeky.

@Sprockrooster (10) - Classic and a blessing to hear live. The wholecrowd chanting the song at the exact right time cause we all know the song by heart was a true moment and has only empowered my love for this song.

Amazing.

@One Stop Candy Shop (10) - Barbie Girl is iconic and 9-year old me was a huge fan of it. In fact, Barbie Girl was the first CD single I got and Aquarium was my first album. And 21 years later I’m rating it.

It's cool that it was released on my birthday, which feels so right.

@ohnoitisnathan (8.5) - Novelty re-working of the Todd Terry remix of 'Missing' with helium vocals. Catchy, though. Given an extra half a point because it ended the reign of 'Candle In the Wind '97' on the Australian chart.

@rav4boy (7.5) - The beginning of this song will never fail to get me a bit giddy and the lyrics are absolute genius.

@Cutlery (10) - It doesn’t get more iconic than this! Looks, concept, vocals and lyrics-wise

I can beg on my knees (for a higher score):

@phily693 (7) - It’s catchy but it’s so annoyingly overplayed. I can appreciate the great production though. I do love the back and forth between “Barbie” and “Ken”.

@A$AP Robbie (4) - I don't even know if I can hear it anymore, its just kind of there. I know in the UK we love a novelty record, and I like quite a few but this has never been a fave of mine.

@Ray (6) - While the plastic sonic aesthetic fits the song itself, I…can’t say I like listening to it, unless I’m in the ‘time for my worst songs ever playlist’ mood.

@Seventeen Days (4.5) - I feel like I’m gonna get some crap for giving this a mid-range rate, but this song has aged like old milk for me. I may be biased because of how much I love the "Aquarium" album.

@Empty Shoebox (7) - This would have scored a bit higher if the innuendo had been more subtle. Maybe I'd have rated it higher at the time, when the novelty factor was still there, but these years later, I can only rate it on the song, and not on the video or the aesthetic. When I do that, I just prefer their other songs.

@GhettoPrincess (5) - conic in some ways, annoying in many other ways.

​

 

Feeling very

 

Curious as to exactly what you were expecting from me.

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WRONG AQUA SONG

 

A 10?

 

btw stan kelly key

 

It's just not realistic.
Even in a list of UK number one singles of 1997.

 

Never forget:

 

Glöm aldrig:

 

WHATTTTTTT? This should have been #1! I think I'm a rates jinx, my favorite songs always get eliminated a lot sooner than they should :(

 

Was tempted to put that in the Melfest rate, but decided against it.

 

Haha, I don't think so my 11 was out at #47 here and one of the first gone in the Lily Allen rate, and those are far from the first examples, so #10 is a good result.

 

I’m actually very surprised Mr Vain has stayed in this long. It’s easily one of my favourites but I’ve just not seen much love or support for it on here which makes it even more satisfying that it has lasted so long.

 

Thought this would be top 5 but a good place for it even if a bit high imo

Imagine if Roses Are Red was in this rate...

 

It'd be like this.

 

Sorry not sorry.