If you\u2019ve spent any time on Twitter\/X this week, you may have noticed that first there was discourse about the \u201cworst song ever,\u201d and then someone suggested it was Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros\u2018 2009 hit \u201cHome\u201d in a post that also included a clip of the band\u2019s Tiny Desk performance of the song, which has gone viral at least a couple other times in the past few years. That sparked even more discourse about whether or not this song is actually bad, and then discourse about \u201cstomp clap\u201d music, and then discourse about the entire late 2000s\/early 2010s indie era in general. Now, Magnetic Zeros leader Alex Ebert himself has responded to the discourse with a statement that finds The Lumineers and Of Monsters & Men catching strays. In a video, he said:<\/p>\n
\nHere\u2019s how you know when a song is good: If the bones are good, if the bones let the song survive context, if you pull it out of acoustic guitar, you put a piano there and it works, it\u2019s a good song. You pull it out of the piano, you put it on the harp, it\u2019s still working, you take out of the harp, you sing it a capella, it\u2019s still working, good song.<\/p>\n
Now \u201cHome\u201d has been covered multiple times, different things. Some of them are hits, like actual hit songs. Some guy takes it from baritone puts it in falsetto, you know, the one that went viral. Edith Whiskers, shoutout to whatever that is, that went viral. By the way we were the first to do the stomp and clap fuckin\u2019 folk pop thing to the point where the Lumineers, they sought out one of our co-producers \u2014 he wasn\u2019t actually our co-producer \u2014 and were like, \u201cHey, do that Edward Sharpe thing for us.\u201d For real, that\u2019s a real story. Of Monsters & Men, they got our album before they ever made an album because our agent was their manager and she showed it to them and they basically got so close to \u201cHome\u201d that we almost sued them. They were doing Apple commercials and I was getting calls saying, \u201cCongratulations.\u201d That\u2019s how closely people started doing this.<\/p>\n
And by the way, \u201cHome\u201d isn\u2019t a good recording, it\u2019s just a good song. But it not being a good recording is what I love about \u201cHome.\u201d It\u2019s like a moment. We recorded it on tape, we didn\u2019t even know how to record on tape, it sounds like it\u2019s made in some muffled garage. I wanted to spread the porous happenstance incidentalism of Edward Sharpe. Instead what I spread was stomp claps taken and recorded better, and that\u2019s depressing. But \u201cHome\u201d is apparently a good song.\n<\/p>\n
He added more in the caption of the video too:<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s a question I\u2019ve asked myself plenty \u2014 is home a good song? Something I forgot to mention is I recently was asked by my 90-year-old father to play home at his birthday. He was begging as if his life depended on it so I had to oblige. There was a piano in the restaurant so I just played it like that, whole chords, just me at the piano in a restaurant at noon. I\u2019ll try and find a recording of it, but it turned into just about my favorite version of the song. In fact I keep thinking maybe I should release a version of it. Anyway, that\u2019s when I made up my mind that Home, the bones of it at least, are great. It\u2019s a good song.\n<\/p>\n
There you have it. We also talked about this discourse (and other topics) on the new episode of BV Weekly:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
And here\u2019s the Edward Sharpe tweet that started it all:<\/p>\n
Worst song ever made https:\/\/t.co\/CJRrvp3C4r<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/BS4wHAqrLK<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Justin\ud83e\udda9Boldaji (@justinboldaji) <\/p>\n Worst song ever made https:\/\/t.co\/CJRrvp3C4r<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/BS4wHAqrLK<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Justin\ud83e\udda9Boldaji (@justinboldaji) August 4, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 4, 2025<\/p>\n