by bands with no 'cred' I'd probably have to chuck over half the things I listen to.

Bollocks to cred and bollocks to being embarrased about it either.

I'm inclined to say that Iron Maiden is a very credible band if only to reduce the number of uncredible cd's in my collection by a fair amount, but I can have no real defence for the collected works of Adam Ant being in there.

Surely one of the most horrible bands in recent years - from "More than words" to their heavy metal funk workouts - trouble is, to suit a mood, I really like it! "If you don't like what you see here - get the funk out". Oh dear. Nurse! Where's me Townes van Zandt albums.

Mind you I'm not coy in admitting it.

...all the Spice Girls' singles (apart from the odd CD2 or so - and the abomination they released for Children in Need last year, obviously).

For God's sake man. Enough.

(*ahem* the first single I ever bought was the theme to Star Wars)

In complete agreement with Stimpy et al. (Which Stimpy are you, though?)

Since a very good friend of mine introduced me to the utter joy of High Society, I have been an enormous fan of the Old Groaner. His voice is a thing of utter beauty and he stands as one of the most significant musical artistes of this or any other century. The very fact that he was cosy and safe and jolly and sentimental is what makes me love him.

Here's Bing and Frank giving it laldy.

Michael Parkinson was the worst: “there’s only two types of music – good and bad”. No Michael, there ARE two types – things you like, things you don’t like. No one has the right to tell me that anything I like is “bad”.

When Wonderwall was kicking around all those years ago, my daughter (aged 8) expressed her admiration of it. We could never figure out if she meant the Oasis job or Mike Flower’s interpretation. Truth is – it didn’t matter. Whichever it was, she grooved to it. I like ‘em both. And Ryan Adams’ cover.

I saw a multi-cd collection of Adam and The Ants the other day and thought – that’s probably more than anyone could possibly want. But, for my sins, I’m always happy when Barry Manilow is thrown up by the randomiser. It’s just a shame it always seems to happen when I’m trying to impress someone with my deep-and-meaningfulness…

The Fall, The Clash, Half Man Half Biscuit AND PJ Harvey...

I think the music of Iron Maiden and PJ Harvey are both crap but who really cares?? This is all part of the same non-argument that came with all the "guilty pleasures" stuff. Really as someone remarked above "it's all about the music maaaan!!"

They were crap.

When I was 12 I was dead against them for "boy" reasons of wanting to be cool. I am completely over that prejudice now despite the wife and two girl children being Mamma Mia obsessed at present (would ahev loved 1% of that business).

Last week I bought their "weird" final album The Vistors (£2.98 amazon)and wadda ya kno it is fantstic. Abba clearly took electro pop on board and had all that relationship ending angst to deal with but still cared about what they were putting out and the end result is genuinely fascinating and darkly wonderful. Even the dated (electro pop) bits are odd-good.

....I picked up 2 compilations of Chris De Burgh. "Spark To A Flame" was one, can't remember the title of the other.

I had a couple of his albums in the mid 80's and thought they were fine, but I haven't heard anything of his since then. I was surprised to find that out of the 30 songs or so on the compilations, about 10 of them are very good. There are also some that are listenable(though they won't get ripped)but the majority will never be played by me again.

10/30 would be a very poor result in a maths exam, but 10 keepers off a couple of albums is quite good I think.

Always had a soft spot for Roger Whitakker's "Durham Town". Lovely song, I like Del Amitri too.

That should be Roger Whittaker!

The Carpenters, Thompson Twins (just bought the new 2disc reissues of their catalogue), ELO, Yes, Dream Theater, Ultravox,

I could go on...

i wouldn't tell anyone though. fix you. lovely.
dollar were good too.

They could sing quite well for starters.

I'll go a lot cheesier than Maiden and admit the full 80s hair metal. Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Poison (!) even Skid Row (!!) are still A-OK by me.

..is that I think that a lot of what some people think is great, is bloody awful, and vice versa.
Iggy? Can't stand him..talentless chancer.
ELO?..sublime perfectly executed pop/rock. That's my reality, not neccessarily yours, of course.
No-one could give me an example of something that EVERYONE thinks is crap.

...the Gazza album and the 'party mix' is good (in parts) - granted, the soul medley is performed by pub singer-types, but the Elvis Presley and Gilbert O'Sullivan(!) medleys are by the actual artists and, gloriously, the whole album ends with a rendition of All You Need Is Love performed by Gazza, his sister(!), Kenny Lynch(!!) and Word's friend Danny Baker...

are The Smithereens and The BoDeans. Anyway I confess. And I love most of ELO too. So that's 3.

Many years ago I worked for a company in the same holdings group that encompassed acrobat records who were Dollars first record label. When their debut single was released all staff members at my company were instructed to go out and each buy 5 copies of the single and claim the money back on expenses. Lo and behold the single became a chart success - not sure how much our actions influenced the chart position but you never know.
My embarassments if you can call them that are the songs from the Andrew Lloyd Webber shows in particular Evita and Cats and also Leo Sayer particularly Orchard Grove.

Especially Rhythm Nation 1814. There.

Julie Andrews.

I'll get me coat.

it were all Fields of the Nephilim round my way...

... and I think Sisters Of Mercy were completely taking the piss in a good way.
Still have affection for dodgy 80's heavy metal in all its forms

But my shameful secret is that I paid sixteen of your English pounds to go and see S-Club 7, by myself. Not because nobody wanted to come with me (although that was true enough) but mainly because I had always wanted to watch a popular kids band at a big venue.

Can I say that I had a brilliant time? I was sat between a very nice woman whose kids were three rows ahead (they didn't want to be seen with their mother) and a lovely wee lassie who showed me various dance moves, specifically when to "Reach!" at the correct point. The band put on a show and a half, the only lulls being when they insisted on doing some onstage acting, an ill advised cover of "One Love" (very bad) and when they went to a live TV link to the Brit Awards to get a prize for Don't Stop Movin'. I bounced my way out that that venue as happy as larry at the end, vowing never to see another NME approved indie band ever again.

I didn't keep that vow, nor have I made it to another Pop! show but that's mainly because since then its been all X-Factor nonsense as far as the eye can see, which we all know too much about. S-Club were kind of the last manufactured band that we didn't see actually being manufactured on telly it seems... Oh for the return of the sense of mystery pop bands engendered in years gone by...(sighs)

you know the bit during the dance routine.

I recommend a dose of Iron Maiden Now!

... every year, for about five years, Gary Glitter, Christmas Eve, Glasgow SEC, me and about ten pals.

Did I even "like" the music then? Well I distinctly remember not disliking it even though I've never owned an album of his of played a tune of his at home...

I tend to airbrush out my love of early 80's hardcore punk/metal crossovers Discharge - but they were for a short period one of the most powerful, visceral bands around.
But I have stopped worrying and have learned once again to appreciate all the subtleties in their songs like "Ain't No Feeble Bastard" - listen to that bass intro!

Love some old Western themes; the violins and horns at the beginning of the theme to the Big Country beat any guitar intro for thrills. I saw it performed live last Saturday - beats Led Zep hands down.

Carpenters - KC had the best voice ever

Matt Munro

Even have the theme to Animal Magic on the iPod - only lasts 38 secs, but I love it

and actually I'm not reluctant to admit it, because his music makes me happy and I don't believe in "guilty pleasures".

his music seems to attract an awful lot of derisive snorts and that doesn't seem right.

They seemingly have no cred now, they're the very definition of ‘generic indie’, whenever they come on the TV/radio my wife turns to me and sarcastically says 'look! it’s your favourites!' as if she’s talking to a child, the new album features the worst song title ever (‘Tomato in the Rain’) and yet...

… I like them, and will buy the new album at the weekend, knowing full well that 50% of it will disappoint me, but also knowing that the other 50% will be ace.

Level 42, do i win?!!!!

the first album again yesterday, and loved it! It brought me all the way back to the 80s again!

get in.

I really like George Michael. I know he's a bumptious, drug-addled, toilet-frequenting car crash these days, but he's made some fine records : the early post-Wham stuff like A Different Corner & Father Figure, the truly great but tragically-titled Listen Without Prejudice album, and the belting later singles Spinning The Wheel, Fast Love & Round Here to name but a few. His covers of I Can't Make You Love Me & They Won't Go When I Go are top-notch, too.
Just me then?

or it isn't is it, and if it is, then there's no shame.

However, I must admit to leaving a Simple Minds track (Love Song if you must know ....) off a comp CD I made for a girl I fancied recently cos I pictured her looking down the tracklisting, and thinking 'Oh christ ....'.

You can't expect everyone to know the quality of the Minds' early-80s synth-records, after all - especially when they were probably 5 at the time.

Looking for Linda is a tremendous bit of pop-soul and stands toe-to-toe with anything Wet Wet Wet did around the same time.

Also, having seen the advert umpteen times on various cable music channels, I don't half fancy buying that "Ultimate Rock Ballads" collection.

One of the best live performers I've ever seen, and whenever people laugh at me for saying this I really stick up for the big guy.

I'm going to see him next year - tickets already booked in the presale. I'm more excited about that one than Depeche Mode (they're fantastic live too).

Oh, and PJ Harvey? Often very difficult to listen to, and frequently skipped over when she pops up on my iPod, but I think the woman is a bit of a goddess. When I first saw her in concert I stood stock-still with my mouth open the whole time, and my mate had to keep nudging me, shouting "close your mouth!" over the songs. I didn't. I couldn't.

Since he became the epitome of Losing The Plot, the standard redtop response to any mention of Jacko is amused derision, as if he's nothing but a comedy figure nowadays. And there were, true, all those allegations of inappropriate sleepovers etc. But his back-catalogue, certainly up to (and including) "Bad" is absolutely stuffed with gems. OK, a lot of that was due to the assistance of brilliant songwriters and producers, from those Jackson 5 singles ("I'll Be There", "ABC", "I Want You Back") to pretty much the whole of the "Thriller" album, there's plenty of pure gold that easily stands the test of time. Glad I'm not a "fan", though...

...Sylvia's Mother, More like the Movies, Sleeping Late, Only sixteen, syrupy treasures all!

They were the first band my parents took me to see - I would have been about 5. Apparently, the show was spectacularly vulgar, but I'm afraid I can't really recall anything about it. The next band I saw was the Spinners (The yellow smock fellas, not the Detroit ones), and I still give them the odd blast on the media player, when the mood seizes me...

Otherwise, I guess Gabriel-era Genesis and Fish-era Marillion aren't considered as guilty treasures on this forum, though would probably be grounds for blacklisting elsewhere.

I think Storms in Africa, Anywhere Is and Carribean Blue
are-arr-ahhhhh grrreat.

- someone here will buy her new album surely?

Altogether now "Nothing I ha-ave / Is truly mine!"

She'd make a good word cover star surely? Lets have her, Danny Dyer, George Lamb and Russell Brand all at once.

Whigfield ~ Saturday Night

"It spoke to me yer 'onor"...

In mitgation m'Lud, only the video.

but love the new Girls Aloud single The Promise.

Haven't been able to get it out my head for weeks.

It is the iconic associations that kill a reputation so often, not the music:

- Collins era Genesis: 80s yuppiedom (Phil Collins solo CDs on a coffee table). Yes, and a handful of mediocre singles... also some pretty fine ones.
- Level 42: Furry Dice
- Various (fabulous) prog bands: Pompous 6th-formers looking down their nose at anyone who didn't listen to "real music" (Fluff). The irony being that that particular snobbery is over 30 years old, and has been used against prog lovers in an "inverted snobbery" way ever since.

Anybody got any others?

I trailed around forever in the 70s to see Gallagher & Lyle, not at all a guilty pleasure. Pilot were a fab pop band too. RIP Dan Fogelberg. All these and so many others were great at times (viz Joel, Abba) but too syruppy too often ot to have slightly guilty feelings about liking.

Went to see Hue and Cry a few times in the early nineties and was never disappointed, there I've said it. I need a lie down now!

Have all their albums and singles and play them at least twice a week. They never even troubled credibilty but they satisfy my musical needs.