Sometimes, creative magic happens when you\u2019re not taking yourself so seriously. That was the case for the writers of these songs, each of which began as a joke in one way or another\u2014and wound up becoming a major hit. Here’s the story of how these surprisingly successful anthems came to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cI Am the Walrus\u201d \/\/ The Beatles<\/a>\u201cSweet Child O\u2019 Mine\u201d \/\/ Guns N\u2019 Roses<\/a>\u201cHeart of Glass\u201d \/\/ Blondie<\/a>\u201cSong 2\u201d \/\/ Blur<\/a>\u201cKarma Police\u201d \/\/ Radiohead<\/a>\u201cLoser\u201d \/\/ Beck<\/a>\u201cI Am the Walrus\u201d \/\/ The Beatles<\/p>\n The Beatles\u2019<\/a> \u201cI Am the Walrus\u201d is well-known for its absurdist, highly abstract lyrics. Apparently<\/a>, John Lennon actually wrote it with the intention of confusing Beatles scholars and fans, who the band knew would obsessively try to analyze whatever they wrote. The seed for the song was planted<\/a> when Lennon received a letter from a student at his former secondary school who said his teacher was having them interpret Beatles music.<\/p>\n In a 1980 Playboy interview, Lennon discussed the song\u2019s kaleidoscopic collage of influences. \u201cThe first line was written on one acid trip one weekend. The second line was written on the next acid trip the next weekend, and it was filled in after I met Yoko,\u201d he said. \u201cPart of it was putting down Hare Krishna. All these people were going on about Hare Krishna, Allen Ginsberg in particular. The reference to ‘Element’ry penguin’ is the elementary, naive attitude of going around chanting, ‘Hare Krishna,’ or putting all your faith in any one idol. I was writing obscurely, a la Dylan, in those days.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He also explained that the image of the walrus came from the poem \u201cThe Walrus and the Carpenter\u201d from the Lewis Carroll book Through the Looking Glass, which is the sequel to Alice in Wonderland<\/a>. However, Lennon hadn\u2019t realized the implications of selecting the image of the walrus for the song.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist and social system. I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with the Beatles’ work,\u201d Lennon said. \u201cLater, I went back and looked at it and realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, Oh, s**t, I picked the wrong guy. I should have said, ‘I am the carpenter.’ But that wouldn’t have been the same, would it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSweet Child O\u2019 Mine\u201d \/\/ Guns N\u2019 Roses<\/p>\n The riff at the start of Guns N\u2019 Roses\u2019 \u201cSweet Child O\u2019 Mine\u201d is so iconic that it often triggers immediate excitement among listeners, no matter the crowd. However, when guitarist Slash originally composed it, he didn\u2019t take it seriously, and even called<\/a> it a \u201cstupid little riff.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cInitially it was just a cool, neat riff that I\u2019d come up with,\u201d Slash later said<\/a>. \u201cIt was an interesting pattern, and it was really melodic, but I don\u2019t think I would have presented it to the band and said, \u2018Hey, I\u2019ve got this idea!\u2019 because I just happened to come up with it while we were all hanging around together.\u201d<\/p>\n But when the rest of the band heard it, magic was made. \u201cNext thing you know, it was turning into something,\u201d Slash continued. \u201cI really just thought of it as a joke, but lo and behold, Axl [Rose]…heard it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Rose always believed in the song\u2019s potential, but bassist Duff McKagan wasn\u2019t so sure. \u201cIt was like a joke,\u201d he said. \u201cWe thought, ‘What is this song? It\u2019s gonna be nothing.’\u201d<\/p>\n What emerged, though, was the band\u2019s sole No. 1 single in the United States. For a long time, the song ground Slash\u2019s gears. \u201cI hated it for years,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cBut it would cause such a reaction\u2014just playing the first stupid notes used to evoke this hysteria\u2014so I’ve finally gotten to appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHeart of Glass\u201d \/\/ Blondie<\/p>\n In 1979, the band Blondie already had a cult following. Yet the song \u201cHeart of Glass\u201d launched the group into the stratosphere with its infectious beat.<\/p>\n As it turns out, the song came together when the band completely stopped trying to conform to external pressures and trends. \u201cWhen we did \u2018Heart of Glass,\u2019 it wasn\u2019t cool in our social set to play disco,\u201d singer Debbie Harry said<\/a>. \u201cWe did it because we wanted to be uncool.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n No one could have imagined what happened next. \u201cWe didn\u2019t expect the original to get that big,\u201d said guitarist Chris Stein. \u201cWe only did it as a novelty to put more diversity into the album.\u201d Yet the song resonated with some listeners where the band\u2019s previous grittier efforts hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n After its release, the band found themselves in a liminal space between disco-pop and rock and roll. \u201cWe did a disco TV show and we were total outcasts,” Harry recalled. \u201cSome other group tried to steal our guitars, they wouldn’t give us a dressing room. So we might end up being total outcasts; from the rock ‘n’ roll crowd and the disco crowd. The rock crowd thinks we sold out and the disco crowd thinks we’re punks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSong 2\u201d \/\/ Blur<\/p>\n Blur\u2019s \u201cSong 2\u201d was originally created as a joke meant to ruffle the feathers of the band\u2019s label representatives\u2014a joke that completely backfired, as the song became a huge hit. <\/p>\n It began with a catchy melody, but the band then added an aggressive beat, cloaked the basslines with distortion, and turned up the gain on the guitars. The whole thing came together organically. \u201cWe didn\u2019t think about it at all,\u201d bassist Alex James told Q Magazine, per Far Out.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Guitarist Graham Coxon recalled the band\u2019s decision to prank their label with what emerged. \u201cLet\u2019s tell the record label that we want to release it a single. Sort of scare them to death,\u201d Coxon told Produce Like a Pro. <\/a>\u201cThey\u2019ll hate it. That\u2019s what they did. They came in, and we played it to them giggling, and they were like, \u2018wow this is excellent.\u2019\u201d Soon enough, a song that had originated as a parody of grunge became a massively successful contribution to the genre.<\/p>\n \u201cKarma Police\u201d \/\/ Radiohead<\/p>\n Radiohead\u2019s 1997 album OK Computer is a highly prescient blend of paranoia about the future, political corruption, and social alienation. Yet one of its most famous songs started as an inside joke among band members.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a band catchphrase for a while on tour\u2014whenever someone was behaving in a particular s***ty way, we\u2019d say, \u2018The karma police will catch up with him sooner or later,\u2019\u201d guitarist Jonny Greenwood <\/a>told Melody Maker.<\/a> \u201cYou have to rely on something like that, even though we\u2019re probably just kidding ourselves. But it\u2019s not a revenge thing, just about being happy with your own behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n Eventually, the band\u2019s other guitarist Ed O\u2019Brien suggested that they turn the phrase \u201ckarma police\u201d into a song. Singer Thom Yorke ran with that seed of an idea, turning it into a chilling and melancholic lament about surveillance and consequences.<\/p>\n