i think a good candidate for the worst pop song, ever, is "space oddity" (you know, ground control to major tom) by david bowie, recently revived in some cover version in a television ad. it's, like, all surreal and psychedelic and shit, but it's hard not to notice the utter gutlessness of the melody, the meaningless claptrap of the words. if it were really hilarious or something that would be good. but it's not. it's the stupid aesthetic of "sgt pepper's" - the british dancehall music of the 40s and 50s profundized under the auspices of lsd - knocked down three notches in quality to the level of whingeing empty hoohah.