Singer Responds After Millions Online Call His Band's Song the ‘Worst Ever Made'
Can there be such a thing as "the worst song of all time?" Taste is subjective, and music trends shift over time. But recently, the Internet thought they found what they thought was "the worst song ever made": Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' "Home."
For those going "Who?" right now, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros was a band Alex Ebert formed in 2005. They were part of an indie folk revival that also gave us Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, Of Monsters & Men and other bands you, at first glance, would probably associate with ornate mustaches, knit hats and artisanal IPAs.
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros performed on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series in 2009, and a clip of them performing "Home" recently went viral, getting 91 million views on X, with many dubbing it the absolute worst. "We were seized by some kind of faux frontiersman cult for urbanites. Probably the worst cultural era in history," said one user.
This discourse prompted Ebert to weigh in on Aug. 7. In a video posted on Instagram, he said that the song's "bones are good," since it's been "covered multiple times" and still works."
"' Home' isn't a good recording, it's just a good song," he said in the video. "But it not being a good recording is what I love about 'Home.' It's like a moment. We recorded it on tape, we didn't even know how to record on tape [and] it sounds like it's made in some muffled garage...but 'Home' is apparently a good song."
In the caption, Ebert also detailed how he played "Home" on a piano for his 90-year-old father on his birthday, and that rendition is his "favorite version of the song."
Elsewhere in the video, Ebert claimed that his band was "the first to do the stomp and clap [explicative] folk pop thing to the point where the Lumineers sought out one of the co-producers." He also alleged that Of Monsters & Men mimicked Edward Sharpe's sound. "[They] got so close to 'Home' that we almost sued."
Was Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' 'Home' A Hit?
"Home" reached No. 25 on Billboard's Alternative Airplay chart in 2010. It fared better overseas: it peaked at No. 5 on the U.K. Indie Charts (while reaching 50 on the U.K. Singles chart). In 2020, Edith Wiskers (aka Tm Rosenthal) 's version went viral on TikTok. In 2021, Kelly Clarkson covered it on a "Kellyoke" segment.Singer Responds After Millions Online Call His Band's Song the 'Worst Ever Made' first appeared on Parade on Aug 11, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
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