# Musical Guilty Pleasures: Cheesy or Uncool But You Love Them Anyway **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 21, 2003, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049 "2003-03-21T06:46:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/41 "2003-03-21T20:51:57Z")
Another vote for the Carpenters. I should also mention that I have two Partridge Family CD’s in my car. There are several songs I just love. I believe that makes me the winner, does it not? ---
**Author:** ![Strohm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Strohm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strohm)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/42 "2003-03-21T20:52:10Z")
My Sharona by The Knack Funky Cold Medina and Wild Thing by Tone-Loc One Night in Bangkok by Murray Head ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/43 "2003-03-21T21:01:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HelloKitty \* > \*\*James Taylor uncool and cheesy?? How can that be…I have heard him referred to as one of the “grandfathers of grunge”. \*\* Are you sure you’re not thinking of Neil Young? ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/44 "2003-03-21T21:26:48Z")
I love Billy Idol. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/45 "2003-03-21T21:30:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DaddyTimesTwo \* > \*\*How about _Katrina and the Waves_? \*\* Katrina and the Waves can’t possibly be a guilty pleasure. Soft Boys guitarist Kimberely Rew wrote “Walking on Sunshine” and played in the Waves! unless, of course, THE SOFT BOYS can be considered a guilty pleasure…uh oh… ---
**Author:** ![Hobie\_the\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e99b99/32.png) [@Hobie\_the\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hobie_the_One)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/46 "2003-03-21T21:38:24Z")
Another vote for _Katrina and the Waves_ Never fails to cheer me up. Another good one from the eighties **Safety Dance** - _Men without hats_ ---
**Author:** ![Bomzaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Bomzaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bomzaway)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/47 "2003-03-21T21:54:48Z")
_ahem__Digging your scene_ by **The Blow Monkeys** That saxaphone just gets me. Although the “uncoolness” of this might be debatable, I just love the song _Spanish Harlem_ by **Ben E. King** ---
**Author:** ![Marlow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Marlow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlow)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/48 "2003-03-21T22:00:02Z")
I have an undying love for Garbage. No, I can’t explain it. ---
**Author:** ![ECJones29](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@ECJones29](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ECJones29)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/49 "2003-03-22T00:02:00Z")
You guys have mentioned a lot of music I was afraid to mention in my OP! Any other Michael McDonald fans? **Sweet Freedom**. . . **Yah Mo B There** —who can forget it? Or his duet with Aretha called **Ever-Changing Times**? Written by Burt Bacharach, man. . .the cheese factor is piling seriously high! Herb Alpert?! I love the **Lonely Bull** and **Tijuana Taxi**. I guess we all know that he’s the “A” in A&M Records, don’t we? Jerry Moss was the “M.” I believe **Honey** mentioned Lulu’s **To Sir With Love** … definitely! **Bomzaway,** here’s another fan of that Blow Monkeys sax. Speaking of great sax, there is a tenor saxman featured on at least two gooey-melty-stretchy-cheesy classics: **Andy Hamilton**. He sounds like Stan Getz, and is featured on George Michael’s **Cowboys and Angels** and the Pet Shop Boys’ **It Always Comes as a Surprise**. If you don’t get laid while one of those songs is playing you must be alone 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/50 "2003-03-22T00:07:24Z")
Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds: “Fallin’ in Love” & “Don’t Pull Your Love” - cheesy hotel bar pop at its finest. Also ABBA & the Carpenters. Oh yeah, the Original Cast Album of _They’re Playing Our Song_ w/Robert Klein & Lucie Arnaz ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/51 "2003-03-22T00:15:58Z")
I’m an unabashed, unapologetic, completely without shame fan of The Three Degrees, The Carpenters, The Bee Gees, Three Dog Night, and 70s disco. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/52 "2003-03-22T00:32:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spider Jerusalem \* > \*\*I have an undying love for Garbage. No, I can’t explain it. \*\* Hey! What’s uncool/cheesy about Garbage? I’m listening to beautifulgarbage right now! Sure, Shirley’s new hairstyle is appalling, but them uncool?? Never! Someone already beat me to Billy Idol. Back in 1982, I really liked the first album from (mumble mumble) Night Ranger (mumble). I haven’t listened to it in almost 2 decades so I don’t know how well it has held up. Had to deal with a lot of crap a couple years later when the godawful “Sister Christian” became a huge hit. “Hey, isn’t that band you said you liked? They suck!” I loved the Beach Boys back in the 80s (pre-Kokomo) when they were considered extremely uncool. But in the mid-90s, the hipsters declared Brian Wilson to be a pop deity, and the Beach Boys became cool again retroactively (as long as one repeats the hipster mantra that Mike Love is the antichrist) ---
**Author:** ![RawkStah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@RawkStah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RawkStah)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/53 "2003-03-22T00:51:36Z")
I work at an oldies station. I have many, many guilty pleasures. Neil Diamond, The Carpenters, The Jackson Five, Dean Friedman, The Four Seasons, Gordon Lightfoot, Boyce & Hart, Jay & The Americans “Cara Mia”, ABBA, Harry Nielson, and a goodish chunk of The Bee Gees. With more current stuff: The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star”, “The Sign” by Ace of Bass, The Pet Shop Boys, Morrissey, Oasis, early Prodigy (Specifically “Out Of Space”), and Belle & Sebastian… Staring me in the face right now is a Rollins Band album (“The End of Silence”) and a Rancid album (“Life Won’t Wait”). I hope the cred inspectors don’t stop by. I’m doomed. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/54 "2003-03-22T00:59:31Z")
James Bond theme songs. Not just the acknowledged classics like “Goldfinger” and “You Only Live Twice,” but stuff like “A View to a Kill”. James Bond orchestral soundtracks (well, the John Barry ones.) What’s really fun is to put one on (cut directly to one of the instrumental tracks), without announcing what it is, and seeing how long it takes for people to ask about it. re. Herb Alpert/Tijuana Brass – he’s currently enjoying a bit of a revival in film music, have you noticed? You can trainspot The Brass in “The Dish” (very heavy use in that one) and “Oceans Eleven”. Fleetwood Mac – 'cause sometimes you’re in the mood for a Fleetwood Mac Attack. [The Other Ones](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=7:50:28%7CPM&sql=B6j17gjir16i9). (Not The Only Ones, the critics’ darlings one-hit-wonder early-New Wave band which had a minor pop hit with “Another Girl, Another Planet” in 1979.) Nope, the German synth-pop band that made a great-sounding (if rather stupid) eponymously-titled LP in 1986 and then dropped out of sight. The link has an amusing group photo which begs the question, what are photographs but the amber that preserves our perennial fashion victimhood? For another chuckle, check out the album review (click on the name of the album)… ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/55 "2003-03-22T01:27:41Z")
**Savage Garden**. Stop laughing. And **Seven** , “Fish Heads” is a work of genius. My brother and I sing it together all the time. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/56 "2003-03-22T01:59:46Z")
Yet another **Herb Alpert** fan here. Lessee…this is an easy one for me, snce most of the music I listen to for “fun”, so to speak, is rather cheesy and uncool, albeit well-played. Paul Davis, 10cc, Ambrosia, Jackson Five, John Conlee, Kenny Loggins, Rupert Holmes, Robbie Dupree, Styx, Sheena Easton (well, just “9 to 5”, really), the Wilkinsons, and the Fleetwoods are a few examples. ---
**Author:** ![benson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@benson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benson)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/57 "2003-03-22T02:59:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mirror Image egamI rorriM \* > **Savage Garden. Stop laughing.** You’re not alone. I used to have an obsession with Savage Garden. I have two of both of their albums - the North American version and the Australian version, the IKILY single and the Japanese Truly Madly Deeply album. I still like their stuff although I haven’t listened to it in a long time. My musical taste is pretty embarrassing to me. The only music I listen to now is oldies. All the time. My favorite band of all time is the Beatles. I have all of their albums. I refuse to drive with the windows down because I blast the oldies stations and sing along - I know every word to every song. I turn the radio off if there is someone else in my car. My heart is broken over the fact that I will not be attending America’s concert on the 25th. ☹ Oh yes…I’m 22. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/58 "2003-03-22T04:29:04Z")
the monkees ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee7513/32.png) [@Mona\_Lott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lott)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/59 "2003-03-22T04:31:04Z")
I like **Michael McDonald** , **Katrina and the Waves** , **the Carpenters** , and (oh God, they are going to kick me off the SDMB for this one ) **KC and the Sunshine Band.** There, I feel better now. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049/60 "2003-03-22T04:46:20Z")
I’m wondering if I don’t understand the OP. How can anyone feel guilty about listeninf to the likes of: Queen Fleetwood Mac Pet Shop Boys Garbage Smashing Pumpkins Supremes etc. ??? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-guilty-pleasures-cheesy-or-uncool-but-you-love-them-anyway/163049.md?page=4)