Abba.
The Partridge Family.
Marilyn Manson.
The Shaggs.
Moistboys.
The Archies.
Anyone else?
The Monkees.
I even like most of their episodes… even the ones that focus on Mickey Dolenz…
I LOVE THE MONKEES!!!
::screams like a teenage girl and faints::
I love Neil Diamond tunes. Which is not in itself a crime but it is radically different from anything else I listen to.
I can’t believe i’m about to admit this, even online where I’m nothing more than a faceless poster, but I always liked Big Country and A-ha. Yes, both of these bands were nothing more than forgetteble young telegenic pretty boy bands churning out third rate “new wave” pop songs (the early 80’s equvilants of Boyzone or Millenium), but I always end up whistling or (God help me) singing along whenever I hear “In a Big Country” or “Take on Me.”
As long as i’m baring my darkest shameful secrets, I will even ‘fess up that I love "These Boots Are Made For Walkin’" by Nancy Sinatra. Not love in the cool '90’s ironic kitschy self-knowing way, but really love that song. I have it on tape, and when my room-mate is out, I’ll sometimes play it over and over again.
lissener, the shaggs? Come on! Do you like them in a kitchy self-knowing ironic way like fat angel mentions, or is that dreck truly pleasing to your ears? There’s nothing wrong with it if it is, just checking what kind of “like” we’re talking about here.
As for my guilty pleasures: (please don’t tell anyone.)
Robbie Williams
Garth Brooks
SpiceGirls
Shoot me.
Well, I like Hanson. I know that their first CD was total bubble gum but that’s OK, they still wrote all that stuff themselves. Then their second CD is a little more mature and two of them are still very young. If they don’t get all burnt out and used up, I think they will make some truly great music someday.
So who here owns a Shaggs CD? They fascinate me, but the joke never seemed QUITE good enough to justify the expediture.
My guilty pleasures:
The Lovin’ Spoonful
Jimmy Dean
Quicksilver Messenger Service
I also put on the Ernie Kovacs album once in a while and sing along with “Hot Cakes and Sausage.”
ABBA. Since they’ve crossed over into writing
musicals, I’m not quite so ashamed.
**
What does “pleasing to the ears” have to do with it? One of my very favorite artists is Diamanda Galas, who is hardly pleasing to the ears. But she’s pleasing to the soul.
I really enjoy listening to the Shaggs, and not entirely in a “self-knowing ironic” way, though I can’t deny the pleasure of kitsch. Yes, there’s humor involved, but I also get some kind of visceral kick out of their music’s utter lack of guide posts. It continually astonishes me how easy it is to get lost in it. And I don’t mean the way I get lost in a Beethoven symphony or a Kate Bush album; I mean the way you get lost in the woods at night if you don’t have a flashlight. There’s no path in a Shaggs song. The tourettic drumming leaves you stumbling around in the dark, bumping into sharp corners and guitar chords. And it’s not like you can follow the sound of voice to find your way out of it. I don’t know any other music that so innocently and joyfully drags you into the dark and just leaves you there. It’s kind of like the Blair Witch Project, blindfolded, and with less swearing.
Not “pleasing to the ears,” but a pleasurable experience nonetheless.
I also like ABBA. And LOVE Neil Diamond. I also have greatest hits CDs for Journey and Eddie Money and Duran Duran.
And even though I can’t THINK about Bachman Turner Overdrive without laughing, I find myself unable to not sing along when they come on the radio.
I actually paid money, real money, for a new (not used) Backstreet Boys CD. Talk about an impulse buy.
I know that when I read responses after mine I’ll be kicking myself for the ones I forgot…
Hanson are cool.
I saw them play live on TV. They can really do it. My mates think I’m queer for the singer, but far from it (though he is kinda cute).
Lessee . . . . Blondie, or at least anything where Clem Burke’s drum’s are up in the mix, especially “Dreaming”.
Sly and the Family Stone.
A whole bunch of '80s synth-pop stuff (Soft Cell, Yaz, Human League, ABC, etc.).
Dexy’s Midnight Runners, so long as we limit it to the Northern Soul-inspired Searching for the Young Soul Rebels (though I didn’t hate “Come On Eileen” and the rest of that stuff as much as a lot of people I know).
Roger Miller
Just about every musician/band mentioned so far (minus Hanson and Marilyn Manson) plus SClub7.
How on earth is Sly & the Family Stone a guilty pleasure?
It’s a kick-ass, beat-driven, bass-thumping, aurally-pleasing happy pleasure. Geez. 
I occasionally sing New Kids on the Block songs to myself and when I go karaoke.
And there’s nothing wrong with Robbie Williams.
Shakatak
They are deceptively sophisticated IMHO.
Couple of my faves have already been named and they surprise people who know me as I generally listen to anything that is loud except rap.
Mind you with my hearing it all has to be loud - wonder why.
Steely Dan.
Marilyn Manson.
Live.
Sex Pistols.
The Velvet Underground.
Audrey
That reminds me of the time when a boy band went touring in California and got caught up in a major earthquake.
Inspired the press to come up with the headline,
NEW BLOCK ON THE KIDS
If you think you’re not supposed to like them, you need a better class of friends. I was gah-gah for Journey in high school. I still think they are OK. Alright maybe a little pretentious. They’re Ok though. Eddie Money rocks! I just saw him open for REO and Styx. He was the best part of the show in my opinion and I’ve been an REO fan since I was born almost. (It was mandatory in St. Louis. LOL)