If I've learned anything by compiling playlists of the worst #1 hit songs of the last 50 years, it's that not all great music rises to the top. In fact, mostly sub-par music does. Sure, there are many hit songs I love, and many more that awaken nostalgic feelings, but I wouldn't mind if I never heard the vast majority of #1 hit songs again.

This will be the final entry in my Worst #1 Hits of the Decade series. I'm sure my selections will upset many, but don't bust an artery. This is only my opinion. We all have likes and dislikes when it comes to music, and it is my opinion that all 10 songs in this list are horrendous atrocities.

While Michael Bolton, Los Del Rio, and The Spice Girls are no-brainer additions to this list, I've also have selected superstar Madonna. You'll often hear people say, "Madonna's a brilliant business woman". Have you ever thought about why so many people say that about Madonna?

No?

Well, let me tell ya. It's because she's not a "brilliant musician". She's not even a "good singer". But she is a huge success. So it must be her business skills, since it obviously has nothing to do with her music. And for the love all that is holy, "Take A Bow" is the WORST Madonna song out of her complete emasculated collection. It's a cross between a bad Chinese bathhouse movie and the decomposing parts of AM radio.

There I said it.

I'm glad I got that off my chest.

To create this playlist, I looked at all of Billboard's Hot 100 #1 hits of the 1990s. Then from these #1's, I picked what I believe is the "worst" song from each year. If a song did not reach #1 it does not qualify for the list. And the list is not ordered by badness, but chronologically.

If you enjoyed the pain this list brought you, be sure to check out my Worst #1 Songs from the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s and the 2000s. There's plenty of schlock to keep you occupied for hours!

Since my worst #1 hits of the decade playlists have been earning me so much fantastic hate mail, what else can I do but continue them? It always amazes me how personal some people take critiques of their favorite music, especially when it was music they grew up with. It's a really powerful thing, and what critic doesn't love such a visceral reaction?

To create one of these playlists I look at all of Billboard's Hot 100 #1 hits for each year in a decade. Then from these #1's, I pick a song from each year that I consider to be the "worst". So it's a combination of fact and opinion. If a song did not reach #1 it does not qualify for the list, that's the fact part. The other part is my personal opinion. Namely, which of these #1 songs are the worst of the bunch, your choices may vary.

I've already done the Worst #1 Songs from the 1970s and from the 1980s, so today my target is the 1960s.

Now, I have to be honest, the 1960s was the hardest decade I've done so far. There were certain years where I did not see any truly horrible #1 songs, so I just picked the song I enjoyed the least. I get the distinct impression that the farther back we go, the better the hit songs become. It seems that music is nothing like technology. It does not improve over time.

Anyway, there are still some really great examples of bad music in this list. "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro is a personal favorite. It may just be the sappiest sad song of all time. How can you ever top a lyric like,

"She was always young at heart, kinda dumb and kinda smart and I loved her so,
and I surprised her with a puppy".

It simply can't be done.

I live in the South, but I wasn't born here, so I'll never be a "Southerner". As is the case for many Yankees, my first introduction to the South was through the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd, who spread like wildfire across the nation when I was just knee-high to a grasshopper. They helped usher in a new sound that we call "Southern Rock". I got meet Artimus Pyle back when I was in college, and he was the first genuinely down-to-earth rock star I had ever met. I'll always have a fondness for Lynyrd Skynyrd because of how kind Artimus was to me, and for the countless hours I spent listening to Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd and Second Helping on my Sony Walkman when I was growing up.

Since I've lived in the South, the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd has been inescapable. This band's music is forever ingrained into Southern culture, like Spanish moss, Tennessee whiskey or fatback.

In my view, Lynyrd Skynyrd's story is something that needs a modern big screen treatment. Struggle, tragedy, death, re-emergence... it's all here, and if you haven't read any of the band's history I highly recommend it. Lynyrd Skynyrd has continued on with many different line-ups and so they make a great subject for a Family Tree playlist.

In this list I've pulled together songs by members of Lynyrd Skynyrd as well as other bands the various members have been a part of.

This is the first playlist in our series of top 10 summer song playlists by decade. To compile each list, I looked at songs that reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the months of June, July and August for each year of the decade. From the collection of songs that reached #1 each summer, I selected the song that spent the most weeks on the chart in the top position. The 1950s was the only playlist in which I had to deviate from this process since the Billboard Hot 100 was not introduced until August of 1958. Before this time, Billboard published three different charts each week. The three charts were based on the "Best Sellers in Stores", "The Most Played By Disc Jockeys" and "The Most Played In Jukeboxes". So, I just chose the songs that appeared the most across the three charts during the summer months.

These are not the top songs ABOUT summer, but rather the most popular songs DURING summer. The 50s were a different time in music. Rock and Roll was being born, and the industry was growing into the juggernaut it would become through the power of radio and television.

Now please note, these are not my personal picks, but the top Billboard hits. So these are truly the songs that were getting the most attention during each summer of the 1950s. Your top summer songs may differ.

So tell us, what were your favorite summer songs of the 1950s?