Writer-comedian Dave Hill on why he hates Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way”

In HateSong, we ask our favorite musicians, writers, comedians, actors, and so forth to expound on the one song they hate most in the world.
The hater: Dave Hill might be best known as a writer and comedian, but he actually does have some musical bona fides. In the ’90s, he played in popular Midwestern rock bands Uptown Sinclair, Cobra Verde, and Sons Of Elvis, and he currently plays the occasional show with Bridget Everett & The Tender Moments, a band that features Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz on bass. He also has a new show, Metal Grasshopper, that he created with Pantera’s Phil Anselmo coming out via Adult Swim later this year. More pressing, though, is the September 3 paperback release of Hill’s book, Tasteful Nudes, a work that The A.V. Club said “mixes ironic boastfulness with genuine heart.”
The hated: Lenny Kravitz, “Are You Gonna Go My Way” (1993)
The A.V. Club: Why did you pick “Are You Gonna Go My Way” as your least favorite song ever?
Dave Hill: I’m just repulsed by it in the most visceral way. It’s easy to say “Creed sucks” or “Nickelback sucks” or “90 percent of everything on the radio sucks,” but Lenny Kravitz is distinctly horrible. I don’t want to shit on anyone. I’m just saying he’s horrible in terms of what I want to hear; I’m sure he’s done very well for himself and I’m sure there’s plenty of housewives that think he’s amazing and I’m glad that they enjoy it. I think he’s amazing because he steals, though he’s got great taste across the board. He steals from awesome artists like The Beatles and Sly And The Family Stone and Jimi Hendrix.
Rock ’n’ roll is all about stealing, but usually the idea is you steal from 20 awesome things and somehow synthesize them into something only you can do. You come up with something slightly new. But he steals from one artist at a time, like, “Oh, this is his Beatles song.” “This is his Sly Stone song.” It masquerades as this soulful, totally rocking, awesome, sexy music and, to me, it’s totally devoid of any of those things. It’s rock music for people that don’t like rock music in the way that Smirnoff Ice is alcohol for people who don’t like drinking. No one who has genuinely great taste in rock music is saying, “Oh, I love The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks, early Aerosmith, and fucking Lenny Kravitz!” It’s always someone that likes Dave Matthews and Nickelback.
AVC: I don’t think I know anyone who owns a Lenny Kravitz record.
DH: Millions of people do. You probably—like I do—surround yourself with lovely people with good taste so the odds of you or I running into a Lenny Kravitz CD at our friend’s house is not very good. But there are millions all over the world.