"Guilty pleasures"
Posted by Adam Burling on 8 March 2008 - 10:15pm.
I have no life, so therefore I'm spending my Saturday night watching Fearne Rotton presenting a host of 'stars' slaughtering some 'guilty pleaures'. Kelly Osborne is doing Total Eclipse Of The Heart...dear God, why?
Anyway, is there such a thing as a guilty pleasure? I think it was Lemmy that said "There's only two types of music: music you like and music you don't."
Should we really feel guilt for liking a certain song?
If you do believe in guilty pleasures, what are yours?
Bookmark/Search this post with:
- More from Adam Burling.
- Login or register to post comments
I freely admit...
...to still listening to some Donny Osmond every now and then!
Guilty Artists
I don't think Kelly Osborne or Craig David are in any position to label something a "guilty pleasure".
Then again, I can't see many Word readers associating either of their recording careers with any listening pleasure, guilty or otherwise.
Are we doing Guilty Pleasures again?
Can we do Bob Dylan and Jazz as well?
;-)
Lets go round again...
...lets have some stuff about the Beatles as well. Am I the only one dreading endless pages of crap about the Stones with the new film coming out? Mojo and Uc*nt have them on their covers - is there anything new to say about them? No.
Guilty pleasures....aaagh!
I didn't watch that because I had a horrible feeling it would be smug, condescending and wholly unlistenable. I don't agree with the concept, really, though I have to confess feeling slightly ashamed of owing AOR albums by Toto (and I only really liked 'Hold The Line' and a few of those hits), Foreigner (because I like 'Cold As Ice', really), Asia (actually I don't know why I have so much of their stuff- not that fussed on much outside the debut album and some later albums) and Journey (this lot I will actually admit to enjoying).
Bands that some seem to think one should feel guilty about enjoying but I personally don't at all include Genesis, Yes and various assorted prog acts (this is one thing I'll never, ever be ashamed about despite sneering from some of the media), Marillion, Supertramp, jazz rock/fusion, Barclay James Harvest, Paul McCartney's solo material, Magnum, some metal like Iron Maiden/Judas Priest and 10cc. At the end of the day, I'm into music, not fashion, and I suspect the same is true of most members on this site whatever their taste in music is.
Cooler than thou nincompoops
...are behind the whole ridiculous Guilty Pleasures malarkey. Sean Rowley must take a lot of the blame: I remember with a shudder his mutual pleasuring sessions with Robert Elms on BBC London, where they would pontificate interminably about which records it was and wasn't "ok" to like, before anointing some lucky song with the epithet "guilty pleasure." Elms would usually manage to shoehorn in the phrase "I'm really a jazz man" at some point.
I don't want to be disingenuous here: of course there are records that are widely believed to be critically beyond the pale; if a DJ plays one on the air, I don't mind a gentle nod of acknowledgement along the lines of "Yeah, I know this is supposed to be naff, but hey, I like it, so here it is." (although why not just play the damn thing?). But Elms's peroration before playing Phil Collins's In The Air Tonight suggested he was going to play something truly appalling, like Skrewdriver.
I've been guilty of this in my youth. Now, in my 40s, I like what I like, and don't feel the need to apologise for it.
Since when has...
Terence Trent D'Arby been a guilty pleasure, anyway? (Craig David's choice)
I thought the whole idea was shocking and proves how out of touch with the cultural zeitgeist ITV1 really is... Guilty Pleasures is so 2005.
Songs like Oh Lori by Alessi are only called Guilty Pleasures because they weren't cool/fashionable at the time.
I mean there are people who genuinely believe that liking ELO is a guilty pleasure... why can't we just call them good pop songs!?!?!