# Top Ten Guilty Musical Pleasures **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932 "2006-02-24T16:29:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/1 "2006-02-24T16:29:04Z")
Okay, We all know you like Dylan, Springsteen, Zeplin, and Marley, but what is lurking under the surface. What do you secretly keep on your iPod or what CD do you pull out when no one else is listening, because you know someone will say: “Why are you listening to that?” and your only response is, “Because I like it!” I’ll Start, though most I bear no shame for, because I’ve long since gotten over worrying about what people think, because clearly I’m not in step with “most” folks anyway: 1. (with a bullet) Neil Diamond (and well documented here) 2. Stevie Nicks (Something about that quavering voice and her songs–she was also hot at one time) 3. Jpop (especially if there’s video, which makes it even more fun) 4. (oh, I’m going to hell for this) Spice World 5. 1910 Fruitgum Company (Run, Joey, Joey run, run, the hounds are on your trail) 6. Strawberry Alarm Clock (Incense and Peppermints baby) 7. Polkas (hate waltzes, but I LOVE Polkas) 8. A Fifth of Beethoven (disco heresy, but I tap along every time I hear it) 9. Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks (Oh, the shame) 10. Andy Williams (His voice in Stereo is simply magic) There, if you know of a 12-step program, you know how to get in touch with me. (The scary part is that this list is in no way exhaustive or complete. It is merely the tip of the iceberg of shame) ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/2 "2006-02-24T16:49:02Z")
I have the theme song that plays at the beginning of The O.C. (Phantom Planet’s _California_) tucked away in a corner of my iPod in the guise of a Mozart Sonata that doesn’t exist. (It’s also my second most-played song.) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/3 "2006-02-24T17:17:41Z")
I don’t have any guilty pleasures on my music – if I like them, I think they’re good, no matter what others may think. Though people may be surprised at my liking for 30s composors like Harry Warren, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter, but if anyone thinks they’re bad music, they’re fools. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/4 "2006-02-24T17:33:18Z")
Just to clarify, I think what I like on my guilty list is good, in my opinion. I will defend Strawberry Alarm Clock and even the Spice World CD as smartly written and infectiously good: But they are not generally thought so – that’s what I’m looking for – what’s on your list that the world frowns upon. Not, what do you listen to that you think is bad. Man, if you think its bad, why are you listening to it? What do you like that the world despises? ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/5 "2006-02-24T17:34:12Z")
I tend to not feel ‘guilty’ about the stuff that I like that most people might not, but a few of my less-than-hip likes are: **Hoku** , particularly the song _Another Dumb Blonde_. One of my roommates and I used to blast this in our apartment when we lived together; it’s still a favorite. **Meatloaf** , though he sometimes seems to be appropriate in the eyes of some. But yeah, I can sing and air guitar/piano through the entiriety of _I Would Do Anything for Love_ (the album cut, not the radio cut), as well as many less popular songs. **Three Dog Night** , which I didn’t realise wasn’t cool, but I have been informed recently that it isn’t. **Leon Russell** , who would fall into the uncool category if any of my peers had any idea who he was. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/6 "2006-02-24T18:04:05Z")
I absolutely love the George Michael album _Older_, though I’m the only one I know of who does. I also love the genre of music known as smooth jazz (and lest anyone develop inaccurate ideas, I also like rap, hip-hop, R&B, groups like Alice In Chains, Staind, Godsmack, etc. – in other words, most of today’s mainstream types of music). My favorite in this category (smooth jazz) is Paul Hardcastle…both his solo work and as the driving force behind The Jazzmasters. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/7 "2006-02-24T18:21:17Z")
Ditto on **Three Dog Night**. I have an alarmingly large collection of disco on my playlist…and I think \*\*Don’t Leave Me This Way \*\* is one of Best. Songs. Ever. Probably my single guiltiest song, the “quick - turn off iTunes before somebody hears that” song – Donovan, **Atlantis**. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/8 "2006-02-24T18:25:00Z")
Ever try to get up a game of Baseball, only to find everyone seems to be playing Dodge Ball? People ask for top ten movies, they get a list of 10 movies. People ask for a list of top ten songs, they get 10 songs. Ten guilty pleasures, c’mon, bare your soul, show your uncool side, LET people get the wrong idea. Stand up for Barry Manilow or Atomic Pussycat, or Ashlee Simpson – whatever flavor brands you not cool. C’mon Represent! (pretty please?) This is supposed to be fun (I had fun with mine, and I stand by every one of them). Laugh at yourself and your less-than-cool loves. Let go, let fly, be square, revel in your inner geek! Strip naked and run down the street! Take pictures and send them to your mother! Have some FUN with this, please. Be deliciously unhip and unhappening. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/9 "2006-02-24T18:38:15Z")
Fuck the world and its opinions. I’m with **RealityChuck** on this one. One of the greatest pleasures of growing older is that you never have to worry about what the mental midgets think is “cool” or “hip”. You learn that there’s no such thing, just in-groups masturbating to their own self-absorption. You’ll love growing older and wiser as much as you loved being young and snobbish. It’s win-win. And you want fun? Man, is it fun tormenting the young about this. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/10 "2006-02-24T18:42:06Z")
OK, I’ll play: One of my favorite Prince CD’s is the **Batman** soundtrack, from the first Michael Keaton Batman movie. I own the Milli Vanilli CD There are some pretty good songs that are not #1 hits on the **Michael Jackson: HIStory** greatest hits album. Backstreet Boys and Rick Springfield are in regular rotation on my mp3 player Also I am fond of Abba in small doses ---
**Author:** ![ayalabmaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@ayalabmaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ayalabmaj)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/11 "2006-02-24T18:42:41Z")
OK. I think Ashlee Simpson is great. “Boyfriend” is a ridiculously awesome song. That guitar riff is incredible. It’s catchy and punky and kicks the shit out of everyone who thinks they’re superior because they don’t listen to “manufactured” music, where you have some boring asshole who thinks he deserves an award because he can strum some power chords and whine about how sad he is because his girlfriend left him. “Boyfriend,” is one of the best punk tracks I’ve heard in a long time, and if you’re going to make yourself hate it because Ashlee dares to sing a song that she didn’t write, then you can go sit in a corner and listen to your Nickelback and think how brilliant they are because Chad Kroeger wrote those shitty songs by himself. Also, I think Ashlee’s SNL hoedown was great, not lame. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/12 "2006-02-24T18:50:12Z")
Madrigals sung by an a cappella choir selections from Streisand’s latest Braodway album Jermain Jackson & Pia Zadora “When The Rain Begins To Fall” assorted show tunes, out of context ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/13 "2006-02-24T18:51:26Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > I’m with **RealityChuck** on this one. One of the greatest pleasures of growing older is that you never have to worry about what the mental midgets think is “cool” or “hip”. Yeah, but on what Bizarro World is Gershwin a “guilty pleasure” in the same sense as 1910 Fruitgum Company? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/14 "2006-02-24T19:02:21Z")
Ok **ddgryphon** I’ll start with my list from the other thread and add a few. **Frank Sinatra**. I feel strange being in my generation and thinking he was great and probably a better singer than any of the Classic Rock groups I mainly listen to. My Parents and Grandmother love him. I begrudgingly do to. \*\*Monkees \*\* had fun songs and I still enjoy them. “Last Train to Clarksville” actually Rocked. **Bangles** , Sigh, I love the Bangles and not just because Susanna Hoffs is one of the cutest girls ever. Their version of “Hazy Shade of Winter” is awesome. I know my friends where listening to Megadeth at the time and here I was happy that Walk Like an Egyptian was the #1 song for WKGB in San Diego in 1986. **Bobby McFerrin** : “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” **A Ha** -Take On Me **Dexy’s Midnight Runners** - Come On Eileen \*\*Zager and Evans \*\* In the year 2525 **Moxy Fruvous** -Green Eggs And Ham **Barbra Streisand** - Somewhere (WestSideStory) Guiltiest occasional pleasure. \*\*Frankie Goes To Hollywood \*\* - Relax Jim ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/15 "2006-02-24T19:06:40Z")
I have about 10 Nena albums on my iPod right now. Including about 5 different versions of 99 Luftballons alone 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/16 "2006-02-24T19:09:57Z")
Dunno if I can come up with 10, but I’ll try: 1. The Monkees. Pubescent teenybopper proto-bubble gum band from the '60’s. Let anyone say what they please, the producers who put this band together had the sense to hire some good songwriters and produced some very nice pop material. 2. The Guess Who. Their style is sometimes derided as a mere conglomeration of pop music influences devoid of any trace of individuality or originality; \*Friends of Mine \* on \*Wheatfield Soul \* has been attacked as an unintentional parody of the Doors’ _The End_. I don’t care. I consider them a fine pop-rock band. 3. Three Dog Night. Dangerously close to bubble gum, but I’ve still got the tapes. 4. Neil Diamond. Okay, he’s been just another Las Vegas lounge act for decades, but in his early days he was a real rocker. 5. Vanilla Fudge. Outrageously silly psychedelia from the '60’s, but I likes it. 6. Grand Funk Railway’s _Survival._ Well, actually only one song from the album, _I Can Feel Him in the Morning_. Never cared for anything else they did, but this one song makes their whole career worth it. 7. Duran Duran’s _Hungry Like the Wolf._ 8. Herbie Mann. Some folks think Herbie Mann is to jazz what Britney Spears is to rock. I think they’re wrong. \*Memphis Underground \* and \*Live at the Village Gate \* are great. Can’t seem to come up with anything else. Jeez, my age is really showing here … ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/17 "2006-02-24T19:13:32Z")
Folk. Particularly olde Englishe trad folk. Particularly Steeleye Span. Videogame music remixes, including the techno dance versions. The Chocobo Song just makes me happy, what can I say? Goth music – Sisters of Mercy, Dead Can Dance. Let me second Meat Loaf, which I’ve been listening to as long as I’ve been listening to music. Barbra Streisand, particularly the Yentl soundtrack, if for no other reason than that was my FAVORITE. MOVIE. EVER when it came out. Why yes, I was a weird little kid, now that you ask… ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/18 "2006-02-24T19:20:01Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > **Bobby McFerrin** : “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” > **A Ha** -Take On Me > [Jim I like “Ice Ice Baby”. :eek: Please don’t tell anyone. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/19 "2006-02-24T19:53:57Z")
I’ve noticed we seem to have similar musical tastes (not all of us together, but I like some of what each of you like and I’m sure the reverse is true) thereby automatically making our selections cool. So listen to your music with pride and abandon! It’s jake with us. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932/20 "2006-02-24T20:00:49Z")
Mrs. Gas like the Monkees. . . . [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-guilty-musical-pleasures/345932.md?page=2)