The Bottom 10

Has it ever been this bad?

The July 4 weekend is normally the time to look back fondly on pop memories of the first half of the year, but the state of commercial pop has been so drab this year that you want to forget about most of what you’ve heard.

That’s why for the first time I’ve drafted a Bottom 10--instead of a Top 10--of midyear singles.

And we’re not just talking about the lightweight teen pop that is dominating the mainstream airwaves--though some records in this style made the list.

The Bottom 10 is headed by two pop-rock veterans whose singles are so contrived that they lack any trace of convincing human emotion: Cher’s “Believe” and Lenny Kravitz’s “American Woman.”

Has it ever been this bad?

Pop charts have always been cluttered with dumb singles, but they have been accompanied even in the worst of times by some records with enough individuality and character to be called classics.

The pre-Beatles ‘60s, for instance, are often cited as a low spot in American pop--and the Top 10 charts from that period are littered with such forgettable, novelty fare as Bobby Rydell’s “Volare,” Brian Hyland’s “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini” and Bobby Vee’s “Rubber Ball,” to cite a few.

But those charts also contained dozens of notable records by such Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artists as Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, the Drifters, Roy Orbison, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Stevie Wonder.

Through the ‘70s and ‘80s, there were such sterile hits as Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” and Olivia Newton-John’s “I Honestly Love You,” but they, too, were accompanied by exciting records that gave you reason to listen to the radio.

No longer--thanks to radio programmers’ turning increasingly to novelty or ear-candy hits that are likely to catch a casual listener’s ear in the competitive radio rating wars.

As a result, there quite likely has never been a six-month period as devoid of memorable singles. If you don’t agree, then you really have been living la vida loca.

The Bottom 10.

1. Cher’s “Believe” (Warner Bros.). Would you believe that it took six people to write and produce this record? All you had to do was sit someone in a room with a copy of Gloria Gaynor’s old “I Will Survive” with instructions to copy the idea. So what did the other five do? Maybe they came up with that echo device that distorts Cher’s voice. How has this woman been able to turn out hits for four decades with such wooden phrasing?

2. Lenny Kravitz’s “American Woman” (Maverick). Let’s not hear any more complaints about hip-hop groups sampling old records. If I wrote this song, I’d rather have someone sample it than have Kravitz take a sledgehammer to it as he does in this ham-fisted arrangement. On the positive side, Kravitz is showing signs of growth. He used to be mired in the ‘60s. This record at least pushes him into the ‘70s.

3. 98 Degrees’ “The Hardest Part” (Motown). The hardest thing for the guy in the song may be to say farewell to one girlfriend (because he feels guilty about the other girlfriend waiting at home), but the hardest thing for the rest of us to do is listen to the sappy tune.

4. Jennifer Lopez’s “If You Had My Love” (the WORK Group). Lopez reached No. 1 with her debut single, but the vocal is so anonymous that it’s hard to imagine anyone hearing the record and thinking, “Wow, I can’t wait to hear something more from her.” Even if you like this routine tale of romantic anxiety, it’s the production touches that will likely catch your ear, not Lopez’s singing. That’s no doubt why so few of the people who bought the single (more than 900,000) have been intrigued enough to also buy the album (less than half that number).

5. Britney Spears’ ” . . . Baby One More Time” (Jive). This seductive teen queen has more personality than Lopez on record, but she, too, seems little more than a producer’s puppet--a common problem these days. Pop music has normally been at its strongest when artists--especially singer-songwriters with strong points of view--were in control. At the moment, producers rule, and their aim is to make records that fit within commercial boundaries rather than stretch them. The result is the kind of superficial emotions you find in records like this.

6. Tim McGraw’s “Please Remember Me” (Curb). Country music is in the same creative lull as the rest of pop, which helps explain why something as uninspired as this can be a massive hit. Rodney Crowell and Will Jennings are respected writers, but you need a calculator to keep up with the cliches in a song about a love as “deep as the river runs . . . warm as the morning sun. . . . “

7. Orgy’s “Blue Monday” (Warner Bros.). A lumbering remake of a decade-old New Order hit is not my definition of progress.

8. Will Smith’s “Wild Wild West” (Columbia). The only real question here is whether “shameless” or “embarrassing” is the more appropriate way to describe this reworking of Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish.”

9. Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” (Columbia). Martin has such a likable presence that it has been hard not to root for the Latin music star in his move into the English-language market. But the charm of this song wears off fast. Ultimately, it’s no more distinguished than many earlier hits that co-writer and co-producer Desmond Child has been associated with, including Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name.”

10. Pearl Jam’s “Last Kiss” (Epic). The disappointment here isn’t so much the record itself (which the band originally recorded for fan club members only), but the reasons for its success. After showing little enthusiasm for the many challenging and affecting records that this outstanding band has made in recent years, radio programmers--in their hunger for catchy novelties--jumped all over this remake of a ‘60s novelty about a tragic car crash as if the throwaway were something really special. In the best of times, radio would have shown this kind of excitement over such Pearl Jam tunes as “Wishlist” or “Not for You,” and rival groups would have felt pressure to make music equally heartfelt. With the success of “Last Kiss,” you can instead picture other bands racing to be first to remake “Dead Man’s Curve.”

Has it ever been this bad?

A Look at the Albums: * In Sunday Calendar, Robert Hilburn picks his Top 10 albums at midyear--and finds a distressing lack of fresh blood on the list.