Starship, We Built This City → The Flops

In the 14^th edition of The Flops (2026), we examine Starship’s questionable, contradictory pop hit, “We Built This City.” 

Like damn, bruh! Sis! C’mon! You thought it was bound to hit, but instead it was total shit – nothing but dookie 💩!  The songs that appear in The Flops didn’t hit, underperformed, or underwhelmed.  Flops are even more detrimental when the artist is considered a superstar and rarely misses the mark. Flops can even be successful, even if the quality sucked. Or maybe they’re not-so-bad, but they bombed on the charts.  This column highlights abject failure. In the 14^th edition of The Flops (2026), we examine Starship’s questionable “We Built This City.”

Noted 🤘. So, how did Starship come to be? First, there was psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane.  Then, in the 1970s, there was Jefferson Starship.  Starship materialized because of a stylistic shift, lost members, and a lawsuit.  Starship featured vocalist Mickey Thomas, and formerly, guitarist Craig Chaquico, drummer Donny Baldwin, vocalist Grace Slick, and bassist/keyboardist Pete Sears. Jefferson Starship reformed in 1992. Also, in 1992, Starship became Starship feat. Mickey Thomas. But enough background, let’s get into “We Built This City,” a frequently scrutinized number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. “We Built This City” is the first track on the Starship’s 1985 platinum-certified album, Knee Deep In The Hoopla. Beyond reaching number one on the pop charts, the Recording Industry Association of America certified the single gold in 1989.  It was no flop commercially, clearly. It was also nominated for a Grammy 👀.  Bernie Taupin, Dennis Lambert, Martin Page, and Peter Wolf composed “We Built This City.” Peter Wolf and Jeremy Smith produced it.

I asked Google why “We Built This City” is ‘hated.’ While ‘AI overviews’ can be a slippery slope, the results were at least plausible, citing selling out, the pop production, the songwriting (lyrics), and its consistent appearance on worst-of song lists. “We Built This City” features sleek, vibrant pop-sounding production.  The sounds and riffs are almost too perfect; expertly polished to the nth degree.  The lead vocals are exuberant, and the vocal harmonies are strong.  However, are Mickey Thomas and Grace Slick selling excellence or silliness? Let’s face it, at times, the lyrics are cringey and silly.  In the first verse, “Knee deep in the hoopla,” the album’s title catches the ear.  Thomas continues, “Sinking in your fight / Too many runaways / Eating up the night.” The pre-chorus is interesting, where “Marconi plays the mamba / Listen to the radio, don’t you remember.” Those lyrics take some thought unless you remember Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi (1874 – 1937) off the top of your head. The chorus is the crème de la crème, highlighting San Francisco as a hub for rock… Jefferson Airplane style… The problem is how contradictory “We Built This City” is. On the one hand, it wants to celebrate live music, which is notable:

“Someone always playing

Corporation games

Who cares? They’re always changing

Corporation names

We just want to dance here

Someone stole the stage

They call us irresponsible

Write us off the page.”

On the other hand, the song and its conception lean into everything it sings against 😳.  Too poppy and modern… meant to top the charts, which it did… Feels far removed from psychedelic rock… “We Built This City” was a big hit in the 1980s and deserves its flowers.  But it’s confusing because it wants to have its cake and eat it too.  How can you be anti-corporate and embrace the corporation?

 

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Starship → Knee Deep In The Hoopla → Jefferson Starship, Inc. / Rhino Entertainment Company → 1985

Starship, We Built This City: The Flops No. 14 (2026) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Jefferson Starship, Inc. / Rhino Entertainment Company; Will Oliveira from Pexels; Gordon Johnson, OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay]

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