The Rolling Stone Blog

‘Barbie Girl’ Tops Rolling Stone’s Worst Songs of the ’90s

When people look back on a decade's music they tend to focus on the good stuff - but the people who lived through the time period know better. While the 1990s certainly had amazing music, not everything on the radio was Nirvana or Radiohead. Michael Bolton, Kenny G. and Vanilla Ice sold enough records to fill 500 landfills - which is where most of those records now reside.

Last week, Rolling Stone asked readers to vote for the worst song of the 1990s. And topping the list is Aqua's "Barbie Girl."

"Barbie Girl" - written by the Danish dance-pop group Aqua - is an incredibly polarizing song. Many people were offended by the portrayal of a woman as a man's plastic doll, begging him to "undress me everywhere." Others loved the over-the-top cartoonish video and bizarre sound of the song.

Mattel (the makers of Barbie) were less than pleased that their product was being presented in such an overtly sexual way and filed a lawsuit. The courts ruled that the song was a parody and thus permissible, but Mattel took it all the way to the Supreme Court. The company had a change of heart in 2009, when they changed the lyrics and used the song in an ad campaign.

ROLLING STONE'S WORST '90s SONG ENTRIES, 2-10:

2. Los Del Rio, "Macarena"

3. Billy Ray Cyrus, "Achy Breaky Heart"

4. Vanilla Ice, "Ice Ice Baby"

5. Chumbawamba, "Tubthumping"

6. Hanson, "MMMBop"

7. Celine Dion, "My Heart Will Go On"

8. Baha Men, "Who Let The Dogs Out?"

9. Right Said Fred, "I'm Too Sexy"

10. 4 Non Blondes, "What's Up?"

Read full list at RollingStone.com

Watch more Aqua videos

Watch "Big Hits of the '90s" video station

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