TOP TEN

10. 'Fix You'
Coldplay(2005)
These British softies apparently didn't get the memo that 'Dawson's Creek' had been cancelled when they wrote this weeper. Luckily, the producers of 'The O.C.' love syrupy ballads, and frontman Chris Martin managed to outwhine the show's mighty Cohen.

9. 'If'
Bread (1971)
The uncontested champions of wuss, these hair-parted-in-the-middle, slacks-wearing California boys have forgotten more classic whimperings than James Blunt will ever write. Nothing showed off sensitivity to the ladies like a 'Best of Bread' 8-track. By comparison, the Eagles were Slayer.

8. 'Do You Really Want to Hurt Me'
Culture Club (1983)
While most '80s icons were out scoring with models, Boy George spent his free time weeping in his studio. Torn apart by his turbulent love affair with his Club's closeted drummer, the cross-dressing pop queen poured his heart out on this mid-tempo tearjerker. Listen closely and you can almost hear his mascara running.

7. 'What's Left of Me'
Nick Lachey (2006)
Newly-divorced Nick got his heart broken by mean ol' Jessica, and it spawned this syrupy serenade. He may be "half the man," but getting half the money can't be all that bad, can it?

6. 'Longer'
Dan Fogelberg(1979)
Of the lawsuits holding musicians responsible for violent lyrics, comedian Denis Leary once quipped, "Does that mean I can sue Dan Fogelberg for making me into a pussy in the mid-'70s." After citing a couple of this song's Hallmark-card metaphors, the prosecution could rest.

5. 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn'
Poison(1988)
Poison's rampant hedonism was just a cry for help from the band's secret, inner wuss. If the lipgloss didn't give it away, lyrics like "instead of makin' love, we both made our separate ways" exposed the guys as a bunch of softies. Any real metalhead would know that roses are only cool when paired with guns or tattoos.

4. 'You're Beautiful'
James Blunt (2005)
It's the classic, tragic love story: Stoned man sees pretty girl on subway, girl exits with boyfriend, man loses will to live . . . all set to a bitchin' Spanish guitar riff menacing enough to evoke Wham's 'Careless Whisper.'

3. 'Ben'
Michael Jackson (1972)
Long before he was accused of anything unsavory, Michael Jackson's mind was in the gutter -- singing this screechy love song to a rat. Yep, Ben, the protagonist of the movie of the same name, was a heckuva guy, but he ate garbage. We wish we could say that rodent love songs stopped here, but see also 'Muskrat Love.'

2. 'Sometimes When We Touch'
Dan Hill (1997)
It doesn't get much softer than this soft-rock classic from a Torontonian who barely got it up for one more Top 40 hit a decade later. He wants to cuddle his beloved "til the fear in me subsides." By the sound of things, that could be awhile.

aaaaaaand Number One:
1. 'Shiny Happy People'
R.E.M. (1991)
Disowned by the band on its 2003 greatest-hits album despite being one of the critically adored "college rock" group's biggest chart successes, 'Shiny Happy People' is a case in point that irony doesn't always translate. (That's why they created emoticons ;-) Supposedly written in response to the horrific Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing in 1989, the song finds poetic lyricist Michael Stipe borrowing from a bit of Chinese propaganda roughly interpreted as "shiny happy people holding hands." But the finished product was no trenchant political statement from a human-rights warrior exercising the power of his celebrity. Instead, it was an anthemic lobotomy, precisely the kind of pop puffery the band meant to skewer.

WTF is 'wussiest'??

^ wimpy.

I agree about James Blunt's "Beautiful." I hate that song. And it's so overplayed.

^ Thanks!

FIX YOU? That song ROCKS! Wtf?

I've only heard of Whats left of me and You're beautiful. They're alright.

I liked "What's Left Of Me." But like they said, it is a bit syrupy.

I like that song too. As I said this wasn't my opinion.

#2 is definately my #1 wussiest song of all time. lol.

they forgot... everything/anything by dashboard confessional.

I like that song a lot

I agree with the James Blunt one at first I never really liked it but then it started to get overplayed and I started to hate it =\

James Blunt needs to just quit.

But Nick Lachey? AND COLDPLAY?!

AOL has a deathwish.

I don't think "You're Beautiful" is exactly a wussy song.

Maybe if you add a pickup truck, 3 guys inside, driving along and singing the song with it blasted on the radio, then maybe, yah sure why not.

I dunno, those are weak picks AOL.

And that Nick Lachey song lol, whaddya expect? he just got a divorce!

Good job, Nick Lachey... you pansy. This list made me giggle.

Now I have to hear Shiny Happy People.

"Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" reminds me of The Wedding Singer.

i love shiny happy people :(

Right when I saw the topic title I thought of Nick Lachey. But some BSB & NSync songs need to be up there. Oh, and that damn Beautiful Soul song by Aaron Carter's twin.

number 8! So awesome.
Anyways, I like Fix you by Coldplay. but I agree about the rest, though #8 is very entertaining.

[edit] I love #1 <33 its an awesome song.