And The Verdict Is Guilty....Pleasures, That Is.

Every music snob has a guilty pleasure. Or two. Or fifty. And every music snob secretly loves that guilty pleasure. However, if you were to ask said snob about such a thing, they will either flatly deny ever liking it, or their admission will be done so sheepishly that you'd think that they've just admitted to bombing a country or something. Yes, we take music very seriously, oftentimes a little too seriously. I say it's time to embrace these so-called guilty pleasures and just fess up already. What makes a pleasure guilty anyway? Boston's "More Than A Feeling," for example, has become a guilty pleasure for many. Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," however, is cool. Yet, if you listen to the songs back-to-back, there are several striking similarities. The funny thing is, that the so-called guilty pleasures that we have such a hard time admitting to liking, are actually often the songs that we like best. A friend of mine, when asked about his favourite band, will often say that Pavement is his favourite, but then add that his ACTUAL favourite is Fleetwood Mac. As for myself, I love the new Spoon CD, but I will likely never have it memorized to the extent that I've memorized Rick Springfield's "Working Class Dog" album. I've also mentioned several times the fact that there was way more bad music to come out of the 80's than there was good music. But you should see me tear up the dance floor when "The Safety Dance" is played. (Not that my dancing is any good, but my enthusiasm is apparent. If you like my dancing, then there's your guilty pleasure my friend.)

I think the greatest testament to me, concerning the level of enjoyment that can be had by simply succumbing to your guilty musical pleasures, was at a little gig my friends and I performed at recently. The band covered songs by Sloan, Jimmy Eat World, Peter Bjorn & John as well as several others. Many people enjoyed listening to these songs but, since this was an outdoor event, there were also many others that were playing basketball and volleyball and generally paying very little attention to what was taking place onstage. However, we did play a cover of the truly obnoxious song "Grace Kelly" by Mika. Yes we did. And when I hit that crazy falsetto during the chorus, why, the sports fanatics in the area immediately dropped what they were doing. Wild jungle animals bounded out of the forest, clouds parted and the deaf were suddenly able to hear again. And although my voice is far from magnificent, the crowds responded with thunderous applause. I was on a high that is truly unequaled. Yes, that guiltiest of pleasures was many people's highlight of the evening. Couple that with the flocks of people that have dished out money to see Mamma Mia! and we have proof that everybody loves a guilty pleasure. And if that's the case, do we really need to feel THAT guilty about it?

Therefore, at the risk of completely shattering any ounce of music snob credibility that I may have left, (not that there's a whole lot of that kicking around anyway) I present to you, the Quadb Top 20 Guilty Pleasures List (along with some links to the delightfully cheesy videos that were once used to promote these clips):

1. Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield mp3 / video
2. Steal My Sunshine - Len video
3. Informer - Snow video
4. Heart Attack - Olivia Newton-John video
5. Photograph - Def Leppard video
6. Bad Blood - Neil Sedaka (couldn't find a proper video for this one, but here's some dude lip synching it on youtube.)
7. Shake You Down - Gregory Abbott video
8. Waterloo - ABBA video
9. Come Sail Away - Styx video
10. Sk8ter Boi - Avril Lavigne video
11. Celebration - Kool & The Gang video
12. Don't Stop Believin' - Journey video
13. The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats video
14. Most 80's nouveau progressive rock like Marillion, Asia or Dream Theater
15. Do You Believe In Love? - Huey Lewis & The News video
16. The Final Countdown - Europe video (or does Arrested Development make this one OK now?)
17. Anything by The Carpenters
18. Mandy - Barry Manilow video
19. Respect Yourself - Bruce Willis video (My name is Bob and I once owned a Bruce Willis album *sobs, I need help...)
20. Since You've Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson video

Wow. I'm likely to need a little bit of therapy after this admission. However, to soften the blow (and make me look a little less lame,) make sure you check out the upcoming compilation "Guilt By Association", coming out on Engine Room Recordings on August 28th. Many of our favourite indie rockers are covering some of their own guilty pleasures.Go to Pitchfork to read about it, and hear Devendra Banhart singing Oasis, and Petra Haden covering Journey. Pretty cool stuff.