OK, we're all friends here...

What's a REALLY BAD song you like? I'm talking Celene Dion/Phil Collins/Insane Clown Posse bad...

You know you've got (at least) one. I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

Ace of Base.

....and by Ace of Base I mean a lot of their stuff and most of The Sign album. I don't know why. I know it all sounds the same but it all sounds so good.

I'm not guilty about any of my pleasures! But there is a lot of music I love that many others would classify that way:

Madonna
Janet Jackson
Kylie Minogue
Aaliyah
Roxette

Prozzak, Meat Loaf and Andrew WK

Journey - Don't Stop Believin'
I know it's in the AM top 3000 but it's cheesy and dated as...

I started this, so I should fess up.

"Africa," by Toto.
Big Pig.
Cheap Trick's cover of "Don't Be Cruel."
Van Halen...with Sammy Hagar (only a couple of songs, though).
"Midnight Blue," by Lou Gramm.
Most of No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom.

And, Midaso, I'm on board with Journey, although I was going to say "Wheel in the Sky."

I forgot Offspring. And "Interstate Love Song," by Stone Temple Pilots.

That's easy: Jimmy Buffett

acclaimed act (meaning, decent acclaim witha number of albums or tracks) couldn't be regarded as a "guilty pleasure" (i.e. Madonna).

Mine are Kylie, Olivia Newton-John, heck, some Air Supply, even.

Alabama
A song called "Dixie Land Delight" (tnot the rest)

I have another one
Phil Collins "against all odds"
cannot hoild my tears when I hear that one

I sure hope we're all friends here, because the list is loooonnngg....

"Africa" by Toto.
"Midnight Blue" by Lou Gramm
(schleuse: these are two of my favorites also. Can you think of any worse lyrics than "I used to follow/Yeah, that's true/But my following days are over/Now I just gotta follow through"?)

Roxette
Phil Collins
Belinda Carlisle - "Circle In The Sand"
Bryan Adams (I pretty much celebrate the entire first half of his catalogue)
Glass Tiger - "My Town"
Heart

I'll stop there for tonight.

tonight ?
where are you ?
Australia ?

Entire first Ace of Base album. I think it's excellent.

"Lady", by Mojo, a French disco-house act (2001 I guess)
I wonder if it ever passed the French borders

I'm in Canada.

I like that as well. :) (I love dance, so) It charted in the lower regions of the USA Hot 100, I believe.

I don't feel guilty at all !
Even if I love Electric Light Orchestra and Queen.
Even if I love some 80s songs like Inxs ("never tear us appart") or Wham ("careless whisper").
Even if I still like some obscure britpop bands of the mid-90's nobody cares any more like Shed 7, Gene, Menswear, Echobelly and Dodgy (this one is for ever one of my favourite band ever, no matter what stupid people say ).
Still have I some friends after that ?
I don' t care !

This thread could ruin anyone's reputation. I'll admit to these once, and once only.

"Do Ya" - Electric Light Orchestra
"Tubthumping" - Chumbawamba
"Summer of '69" - Bryan Adams
"Hungry Like the Wolf" - Duran Duran
"We're Not Gonna Take It" - Twisted Sister
"Doctor, Doctor" - Thompson Twins

And the all-time No. 1 guilty pleasure that no one could, or ever want to top is .....


"Xanadu" - Where does John Travolta take a crap? In Olivia Newton's John

""Do Ya" - Electric Light Orchestra"

Any ELO for that matter! I will never apologize for my ELO love. Is it what the Beatles would have become if they kept going? I think they get a bad rap for trying to be the poor man's Sgt. Peppers, but a poor mans Sgt. Peppers is still better than a lot of the crap that came out in the 70's!

This morning I had a very guilty pleasure

His name is Mike Auldridge : a bluegrass dobro player of astonishing dexterity
He played mostly instrumental tracks in the 70s, some straight-edge bluegrass (this is ok) but also weird instrumental covers like "killing me softly" or "walk don't run"
most of my friends yell at me when I play this record

Hey.. what's wrong with Phil Collins?

If we're talking about his solo career, Phil Collins has always been sort of a middle-of-the-road artist to me. He's a talented musician, but we writes non-offensive, soccer-mom music. Some of his songs are undeniably catchy, like Sussudio and Don't Lose That Number (which are two of my favorites) but that's really all they offer. It's pop music in an easy-to-swallow caplet.

I was about to answer but Anthony, you did it with a lot of accuracy.

Thanks.

I'll take the compliment nicolas, because you may not like me much after reading my comments on "One" (that is, when it makes its Bracketology appearance).

I'm agree with you, John. ELO was probably what the Beatles would have become if they hadn't splited up in 1970. ELO is great. ELO is underrated.

I agree that ELO is underrated, but I guess I think of "guilty pleasures" more as things that you know are bad but enjoy anyway.

Oh, and, Anthony? Get your comments about "One" ready--it's bracket is up tomorrow.

I can't wait
say what you like Anthony
I didn't like that song until JOhnny sang it

So, Toto is bad then? The members were all talented studio musicians and "Africa" was a top 10 hit (if I'm not mistaken).

Just playing devil's advocate here schleuse. We both put it in ours lists, but I'm trying to figure out what's actually bad about it (other than the over-the-top 80's vibe, and the glossy production).

Does "bad" = not critically acclaimed?

Oh, I'm ready! I had a feeling that "One" was coming, and my spidey senses tell me that there should also be some Bowie and maybe another appearance by the Boss. Am I hot or cold schleuse? lol

RE: Toto's "Africa", I forgot how awful the lyrics were. My bad.

hot, Anthony. very hot (I had wondered if anybody had cracked the code; I hope you'll continue to mostly indulge me the artificial suspense of "which songs will appear this week?")

As for Toto, obviously calling any song "bad" is subjective, but I think both "Africa" and "Midnight Blue" are rather formulaic, undistinguished MOR songs which happen to have very effective hooks, but little else.

(My definition of MOR is a song that could be played in a bank lobby--let's face it, when you're depositing money in your IRA you don't want to hear "White Man in Hammersmith Palais.")

I think of a musical "guilty pleasure" as being something that is un-hip or un-cool rather than being outright "bad." If it were "bad," then it probably would not be a pleasure. The uncool factor is what makes us "guilty"--as in we don't want to advertise it.

Defining what makes something "cool" or "hip" is another question altogether.

1 point for Schleuse concerning MOR

1 point for Loopole too
I agree that a guilty pleasure is more about something "uncool" than about something "bad".
But what's the difference between "cool" and "hip" ?

Absolutely schleuse - I won’t ruin it for anyone who enjoys the surprise.

You nailed it with “formulaic”. Which to me equals unartistic. And unartistic = bad. Not bad as in not pleasurable; “Africa” is quite pleasurable – it’s ear candy! But it’s a bad song because it’s a formulaic, unartistic song. And I feel guilty about it because it’s “bad” in this sense.

I have to disagree with you Anthony. To me, all a song has to do.. is sound good. Whether it's unartistic, formulaic, or whatever you want to call it, doesn't really matter. As long as it sounds good, as long as I like to hear it coming along in Winamp, it's a good song to me.

And that goes for Phil Collins, Toto and Meat Loaf. I think they're pretty good. Wouldn't include them in my top 10, probably not in the top 20 either, but Meat Loaf would probably make my top 25. Toto and Phil Collins won't be too far behind.

I have to disagree with Loophole and Dumbangel.

Xanadu isn't just bad, it's absolutely awful, and that's exactly why I like hearing it so much.

Rather than thinking of songs on a straight-line continuum with awful at one end and great at the opposite end, think of them on a circular continuum. In that case, Xanadu is so extremely terrible that it comes full-circle around to being almost possitively fantastic.

I hope that makes sense to the rest of you. If not, then oh well, it barely makes sense to me, but I like it anyway.

iTunes never lies so there go my two latest vulnerabilities: Spiral Starecase's "More Today Than Yesterday" and Grass Roots' "Sooner Or Later"... just take your time to subtract the commonly wellappointed taste from your own endorsement of hideously worshipped jewels. it's nonetheless the glitter that remains..

I fucking adore "Africa" by TOTO. My list would be endless if I included all the 80s songs I love.

Anthony, how about a little RESPECT for schleuse and the Bracketology, hey?

I have to agree with pomtidom.
"bad" is not the right term because "bad" is personel, it's an opinion and not a fact.
I guess that the title of the thread "guilty pleasures" was a good one, because why do you feel guilty ?
You feel guilty when you are ashamed so it implies a social dimension (hard to conceptualize in a foreign language..): those songs we feel guilty about are politically un-correct : you wouldn't play them in public without explanations, justifications, apologies. I'm exagerating a bit, of course.
If they are pleasures, they are not bad (sorry Mr Pope, Mr Ousama and all the others)
We're just afraid they might be considered as bad by our social/cultural group and community
That's why this thread is interesting : it reveals what we find politically uncorrect, which is of course not the same from one to another (oh my god, my English !

Abba
Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time
Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes
Westlife - Flying Without Wings
Art Garfunkel - Bright Eyes
The Culture Club - Do you really want to hurt me + others
Dead or Alive - spin me round
ABC - poison arrow,look of love
Irene Cara - Flashdance
Yeah I know most of it doesn't count

Bette Davis Eyes can't possibly be a guilty pleasure, that's one of my favorite songs ever!

Don't fret, nicolas--you expressed your ideas clearly. Excellent point.

One of my best friends has a very very guilty pleasure song (I don't follow him on that one, but he's absolutely not ashamed of it)

A Fifth of Beethoven by the Bee Gees

Whoa there Moonbeam, I said I wasn't going to ruin it. I just wanted to know the picks for myself.

Don't worry about it, guys. I'm glad someone is interested enough in bracketology to want spoilers!

No harm, no foul.

Anthony-

Sorry, my post was meant to be a pun because it includes another song that will be present. Didn't mean to sound so harsh!

No problem. I was actually thinking that maybe I did spoil it, and I felt bad about it.

Damned written communication! Sometimes the tone gets completely misinterpreted. lol

From the Grease soundtrack: "You're The One That I Want" and "Summer Nights". Neither fails to grab me and pump me full of fun, but you won't find them on this website, nosiree!

I really dig some Meat Loaf, too - but given Bat Out Of Hell is one of the 500 most acclaimed albums of all time, I think it's a mistake to call him a 'guilty pleasure'. I guess his mid-'80s work could be considered as such, but then I don't enjoy those albums terribly much.

You're the One That I Want is pure bubblegum heaven.

There's a very long list of quite dodgy stuff that I adore. I really love I Want It That Way by (I can barely bring myself to type it) The Backstreet Boys, for starters. Truly, Madly, Deeply by Savage Garden is another one that I really like and I definitely don't shout that off the roof-top either.

The album 'Back To The Egg'. By Wings. At least the cover is by Hipgnosis.

There's a great quote on All Music:
"...But the real problem is the songs, which have no spark whatsoever."

I listen to it at least every Christmas...

I tend to agree. Backstreet boys rock my socks. Yeh sure people call u gay for liking them but they did some great songs. I also dont mind Mmbop by Hanson. I mean thats a piece of shit but its catchy

It(Mmmbop) somehow got into the top 500 acclaimed songs(last time I checked) - so it can't be seen as too bad...

I'm a sucker for cheesy 70s pop. Grab a snack, this'll be a long list:

"Chickaboom" Daddy Dewdrop
"Popcorn" Hot Butter
"The Night Chicago Died" Paper Lace
"The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" Vicki Lawrence
"Don't Give Up on Us" AND "Silver Lady"-David Soul
"Crazy Horses" Osmonds (I once played "guess the band" with a co-worker and he offered "a half-a**ed Metallica tribute band?")
"Kung Fu Fighting" Carl Carlton
way too many Partridge Family songs
even the dreaded (shudder!) "You Light Up My Life" Debby Boone...

I’m reviving this thread for the sake of the newcomers to this forum, and also to embarrass myself with another round of “guilties” that I overlooked four months ago when schleuse created this monster.

This should become a ritual “cleansing”….

A recap:

Toto – “Africa”
Lou Gramm – “Midnight Blue”
- the majority of Phil Collins’ 80s singles (“Don’t Lose My Number”, “Easy Lover”, etc.)

Adding:

- Richard Marx – “Should’ve Known Better” (another catchy-as-hell MOR song)
- Staind – “So Far Away” (it’s sh!t, yeah, I know. But that hook…)
- Linkin Park – “Shadow of the Day” (a recent addition. The novelty may wear off, but for now I’m enjoying it and I hate myself for it. So many things wrong with this song: it’s a blatant crossover attempt, the lyrics are pure crap, the melody is cliché, etc.)

Hoping everyone who posted previously has some more to add. And newcomers... it's your turn.

I was thinking about resurrecting this thread the other day when I was listening to Robbie Williams and realizing how much I loved his music. I got his greatest hits 3 years ago and haven't looked back since.

However, I think the song "Rock DJ" particularly emphasizes the phrase guilty pleasure and that's my favorite.

Also, is "Ignition (Remix)" a guilty pleasure, or only if it's the 5th most played song on your iPod?

Kula Shaker, the Corrs, Robbie Williams, Celine Dion (It's All Coming Back to Me Now reeks of Kate Bush), Whitney Houston before she got street cred in the 90s, Bread, the Vines, Andrew WK, the Cure (yes I said the Cure), ABBA, Ace of Base, Roxette, the Cranberries, Sweet, the Monkeys and Hermin's Hermits

Hmmm, here's another 3, too embarrassing to mention:

KC & The Sunshine Band with "That's the way aha aha I like it"

"Conga" from Gloria Estefan

And last but not least: John Denver with "Take me home country roads"

Time to fess up some more. I like at least one album by each of the following:

Milli Vanilli
Technotronic
Richard Marx
Dannii Minogue

Tim, no reason to feel guilty about liking The Cure. They are my favorite band!

I forgot to add Mötley Crüe to my list.

Technotronic? Like the "Pump Up The Jam" Technotronic?? Haha! I'm on board.

Hell yeah, bowwwy! This beat is, this beat is, this beat is technotronic! Their 1989 album is packed with fun.

OK I'll tell someone I kind of, sort of like the Cure. I forgot to mention my eurortrash faves Aqua,Spice Girls (who are actually acclaimed) the Real Macoy and Fun Factory as well as Wham and Savage Garden. I'd pick the Spice Girls over the Osmonds any day. Go Scary!!!!

I assume that in order for something to be worth feeling "guilty" about, it should be widely *known* as guilt-producingly cheesy. A sort of negative acclaim? In that case, my candidate is "Slade in Flame". I love those guys.

Debbie Gibson. Only In My Dreams.

Re:lol_Tim.."Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts" is my biggest argument to starve in hell