Who's your guilty pleasure?

[stubby]

The "worst pop singer" thread got me thinking, and I thought I'd turn it around a bit in a new thread. I'm sure we all have these little guilty pleasures - singers we know on an intellectual level are steaming piles of crap, but we like 'em anyway. For me, back in the 80's, it was the Bangles. Cheesy as I knew they were, I shamefully admit to actually having bought an album. I sorta came to my senses after I cut off my mullet. More recently, I have to confess a fondness for Pink . Gawd-awful music, but compelling in a trainwreck-can't avert my gaze kind of way. For the record, I've never bought any Pink music.

Alright, everybody. I've thoroughly embarrassed myself, now it's your turn. Fess up, 'cause everybody's got one.

[tuffythepug]

Hannah Montana........................Seriously dude.      I wouldn't lie to you.   She's got it goin' on.

Why, if I was 40 years younger, I'd be all over that.   Seriously.     

[pocketbass]

This is a great thread!  I'd have to say....Justin Timberake and Christina Aguilera.  Really, if you can get away from all the teeny-bopper exposure, they are great singers.  Both have a great acoustic song on both of their new albums.   

[bogie]

I am a closet tattoed headbanger and love the old stuff: AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest. As a clean-cut wine consultant during the day, few know of my secret passion.

When I was a younger lad from the wrong site of the tracks, my weathered black leather jacket was my most prized possession and I sported some seriously big hair. After I got acceptance and a bursary to a private boarding school, I always delighted in freaking out the more conservative rich kids with my antics. Some of my best buds were outlaw bikers and I spent most of my free time at the local bar/strip joint.

Fast forward 30 years and my best headbanging buddies from my younger years are now a lawyer, plumbing business owner and an oil & gas investment banker in Dubai!

[Caleb]

ABBA

[G Man]

I feel like I am so far out of the loop on today's popular music, that I don't even know what a guilty pleasure is anymore.  I love old country, Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, Glenn Jones, etc. etc.  Once upon a time I would have thought of these as guilty pleasures, and some still might, but I've gotten to a place where it is just music, if that makes any sense.

With that said, I can still get off on some good Zeppelin now and then.

[Tycho]

ABBA for me too...though I think they were such great popsmiths that I almost don't even consider them a guilty pleasure.

Here's my real guilty pleasure....

Journey.

I can't help it.  I hate almost all of that '80s arena rock.  But I will defend Journey till I die!  The first time I ever heard "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" on the radio, in 1980 or so, I thought it was one of the most startling and compelling songs I had ever heard, and I love almost all the rest of their big hits.

And as Bob Dylan once said to Steve Perry (cue Bob voice): "You got a great set of pipes, man."

[Tycho]

(I realize, by the way, that after the Sopranos finale it's almost cool to like Journey now.  But I've felt this way since the mid-80s!)

(And there's even a Larrivee connection, via the much-maligned Neal Schon guitars.)

[ducktrapper]

I don't mind Karen Carpenter sometimes, if that's what you mean.

[blued03r]

I can't believe that I'm saying this in a public forum, but my guilty pleasure is George Michael.  There...I said it.  He's actually extremely talented, keep that in mind.  I don't feel so good.....

[topographic]

I've got quite a few:

ABBA, vintage Hall & Oates, Paul Young, George Michael ("Careless Whisper" kills me), Ah-Ha's song "Take on Me" (try NOT tapping your foot and bobbing your head to that one)

[Novalis]

I don't mind Karen Carpenter sometimes, if that's what you mean.

C'mon now, ducktrapper, be honest; we know you secretly listen your old Cat Stevens records with the headphones on.

[Caleb]

I can't believe that I'm saying this in a public forum, but my guilty pleasure is George Michael.  There...I said it.  He's actually extremely talented, keep that in mind.  I don't feel so good.....

All BS aside, his voice is amazing. 

[stubby]

More true confessions:

On the "country" side of things, I'm a little sappy over Sara Evans and LeAnn Rimes. Both of them make music that is truly cringe worthy, but I love their voices. For some inexplicable reason, I actually bought a LeAnn Rimes CD a few years back. Immediately after listening to it, I felt cheap and dirty. That CD now sits on the bottom of my CD rack, safely hidden from the wife and kids. Another "country" "artist" that gets my attention is Shania Twain. Once famously described as the world's highest paid lap dancer, Shania's gift for crass commercial exploitation is rivalled only by Celine herself.
As mind numbingly stinky as Shania's music is, I can't help but be transfixed whenever I see a Shania video. I'm repulsed, yet viscerally attracted at the same time.
I'm beginning to see a trend with me: Disturbingly awful music + great looking women = morbid fascination. Not only does sex sell, it'll mug you in a dark alley, and all you can do is sheepishly hand over your wallet.     

[ducktrapper]

C'mon now, ducktrapper, be honest; we know you secretly listen your old Cat Stevens records with the headphones on.

And there would be something wrong with that?

[Tycho]

As mind numbingly stinky as Shania's music is, I can't help but be transfixed whenever I see a Shania video. I'm repulsed, yet viscerally attracted at the same time.

Shania isn't just good-looking, she's quite sexy, in a girl-next-door kind of way. 

[brimc76]

I don't really think of it as a guilty pleasure, it's just that none of my friends or family like him and I have to listen to all kinds of moaning when I put one of his CD's on - Leon Redbone. I love to listen to his music and his voice is incredible too.

[DFR]

Ha!....Leon Redbone is awesome!!!

First one that comes to mind for me is a recent re-discovery of a band from the late 60s through the seventies called Bread.

[Novalis]

- Leon Redbone. I love to listen to his music and his voice is incredible too.

No need to feel any guilt when it comes to Leon Redbone. I just had "Double Time" on the turntable last night.

[jimmy buffett]

ABBA

Now that's just wrong...