8 awful songs that make combat camera troops want to die

You let us tag along on your convoy. You let us raid a house in the stack. You watched our ass while our head was in a camera viewfinder. You even let us eat your food. So when you ask us for some of the footage of the unit in action we're happy to oblige.

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When you want us to make a music video of it, no problem, even though we know using copyrighted music is illegal. We want you to keep letting us roll with you...and for you to keep saving our asses.

But then one of your officers tells us to use one of these eight songs and it makes us die inside.

1. Drowning Pool — "Bodies"

This is by far the most overused song ever paired with combat camera footage (with "Soldiers" a close second). And it's not just commanders asking combat camera to do this. Civilians do this ad nauseam.

That video has more than a million views. A MILLION. I don't understand the enduring popularity of this song, but if there's a better or more obvious song about killing a lot of people, I haven't heard it.

2. Saliva — "Click Click Boom"

A full 20 percent of YouTube is probably the same video footage of the military with this Saliva song — this Saliva song about how great the lead singer's childhood was and how totally awesome it is that he's on the radio now.

I wish Beavis and Butthead were around to rip on this band. Still, it does make it pretty easy to edit a video fast, even if I feel like a complete hack afterward.

3. Outkast — "B.O.B."

Civilians also like to make videos with this song. Which is understandable but, except for the title "Bombs Over Baghdad," it's not really about anything military related.

The only lyric the casual listener probably understands for most of the song is "Bombs Over Baghdad," so when you send it to your mom, she gets the point of the video, and can't really hear about the struggles of Andre 3000 and Big Boi's pre-stardom struggle.

4. Chad Kroeger ft. Josey Scott — "Hero"

The singers from Nickelback AND Saliva. Enough said. Good lord this song was so big in 2002-2003. You'll be just as proud of a video featuring you clearing houses to this song as you are your trucker hat collection and your flip phone.

This song was supposed to be an uplifting anthem for the first Spider-Man movie but it's the most depressing song I've ever been asked to use in any video ever. I bet if you asked Kirsten Dunst what the low point of her career was, it would be that she didn't have the choice to be excluded from this music video.

5. P.O.D. — "Boom"

Another band who sings about how they're a band now. If you haven't noticed the trend, guitar riffs and shouting "boom" were super popular in the early 2000s.

P.O.D. is the MySpace of metal. They're still around but no one knows why.

6. Toby Keith — "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue"

This song is so cheesy, I'm actually surprised Chad Kroeger didn't write it, but maybe there are some things even Pop Rock Jesus won't do. Some of you might think this song is awesome but I doubt you'd play it at a party in front of all your friends.

Also Toby Keith got more awards and plaques from military units just for singing this song than some people got for actually enlisting after 9/11.

7. Godsmack — "I Stand Alone"

Forget for a moment that the frontman sounds like Adam Sandler's impression of Eddie Vedder. This song's lyrics read like they were translated from Nepali by Google Translate. Also, unless your unit is the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae (it isn't), you definitely don't stand alone.

8. AC/DC — "Thunderstruck"

Ok, this isn't an awful song. I mean, I get why you might want six minutes of your squadron or platoon blowing things up to AC/DC. But, aside from the opening minute and a half or so, this is could be any AC/DC song. All AC/DC songs sound like this. That's why we love them.

Special Award:

Nazareth — Hair of the Dog

To be honest, this request only happened once, but do you really think any young Marine is going to love watching themselves on a dismounted patrol to this song?

Why not just have me choose something from Chicago's greatest hits? If I gave any grunt a music video of themselves with this song, they'd beat my Air Force ass so hard.

There's no joke here, I'd just get my ass kicked.