A bride and groom dancing.iStock
Everybody loves an Irish wedding but some of the music we can certainly do with out. A US polling website FiveThirtyEight surveyed more than two dozen professional DJs, who have spun records at nearly 200 weddings, to discover which tracks are the most hated.
The most reviled song is the annoying ‘Chicken Dance,’ which made the top of the list with a 23.1 percent share of weddings wanting the song banned.
Disco classics like ‘Cha-Cha Slide,’ ‘Macarena,’ ‘Cupid Shuffle’, and ‘YMCA’ also made the top ten list.
“Some songs are perceived as overplayed, cliche and perhaps cheesy. Wedding couples want to be unique. Line dances and songs with inappropriate lyrics are also, understandably, avoided,” says New Jersey wedding DJ Gregg Hollmann.
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However, Hollman says: “Many of these popular wedding songs also populate the ‘must play’ list – because they are fun and work on dance floors!”
Other songs that made up the top 20 include: 'Love Shack' by The B-52's, 'We Are Family' by Sister Sledge, 'Celebration' by Kool & the Gang, 'Dancing Queen' by Abba, ‘Don't Stop Believin' by Journey, and ‘Single Ladies' by Beyonce.
Some couples even ban the work of a certain artist from their weddings. According to the survey, Bruno Mars, Backstreet Boys, Rick James and Rihanna feature on this list. Pop-star Justin Bieber was reportedly banned from six percent of weddings.
Other couples will ban entire genres of music from their weddings, with country music banned by 10 percent of couples and rap being banned by three percent.
Here is the top 10 list of most-banned wedding songs:
1. Chicken Dance
2. Cha-Cha Slide
3. Macarena
4. Cupid Shuffle
5. YMCA
6. Electric Boogie (Electric Slide)
7. Hoke Pokey
8. Wobble
9. Happy
10. Shout
11. Love Shack
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