Guilty Pleasures – Music Edition

I know, I know, I really shouldn’t be admitting to this in such a public manner but I am going to anyways. Everybody has a guilty pleasure or two and they feel so alone and guarded about it. You can’t help it when that cheesy song comes on and your foot starts to tap uncontrollably or it gets stuck in your head and you find yourself randomly humming it or maybe it is that one song outside of your usual musical repertoire that just appeals to you in some way. Now if I share then you will have someone to laugh at with everyone else and you won’t feel so lonely. So here goes. I bare my soul for you.

I Wish – Skee-Lo

Everybody wants to be famous at some point before you get too old and too tired and you give up your dream. You take acting classes at the community college, or try to invent the next big thing in you basement, or write down some laughably bad lyrics to the “awesome” beat you have in your head. Well Skee-lo obviously didn’t give up and kept going.

The beat is basic but it is enough for you to nod your head to and the lyric/rhymes are so simple that you can’t help but know them. It is obvious he has only the basic amount of talent needed to make it big but he did for his fifteen minutes. But I think that is what makes this song so great. It’s simplicity. It’s fun, light, and you can just go with it.

George Michael

There isn’t one particular song but his whole career has been littered with those songs I shouldn’t like but I do. Even in the early days of WHAM with the neon colours and feathered hair I would clap and side step to “Wake me up before you go go”. Then came the sultry ballad “Careless whispers.” Who could resist singing along to that? Just sitting here typing about it makes me want to belt it out. “I’m never gonna dance again. Guilty feet have got no rhythm. Though it’s easy to pretend, I know you’re not a fool!”

That is what you call emotion.

But after WHAM came the sexified Mr. Michael. There is “Faith”. That butt shaking thing he does at the beginning is just awesome. Then there’s “I want your sex”. That song was actually banned from some radio stations. It is pretty tame by today’s standards. It gets my feet moving every time. And we can’t forget “Father figure”. It is just haunting.

Then he got a bit older and then came the almost epic “Freedom 90”. It is not just the song but the video teaming with super models like Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Linda Evangelist. The dark shadows, states of undress, and fire just make it a great video.

There are a few other songs like his rendition of “Papa was a rolling stone”, “Let’s go outside”, and “Fast Love” that just get me moving or singing at the top of my lungs. I can’t help it.

Toxic – Britney Spears

Ok, ok, don’t shake your head like that. No, don’t navigate away. I am just being truthful and I think that is what you would expect. She slyly suckered me into enjoying this little ditty and I feel dirty because of it. It will randomly pop into my head and I can’t help but get into it just a bit. And don’t get me started about when I actually hear the song. I sing along, bop my head to the beat, and gyrate. I even do that little boob twist move she does in the video.

And that video is like a so-bad-it-is-good movie. You know it is crap but you can’t help but look at it til the end. The bad “story line”, crappy costumes, ugly makeup, and laughable special effects but it still draws me in. For the 3 minutes or so the song is on I am happy as a clam but as soon as it is over there is some sort of taint. It is so wrong and so good at the same time.

Fergalicious – Fergie

I don’t really like her. She can’t sing, she’s an amateur lyricist, she makes weird facial expressions, and she doesn’t look good. She regularly goes from tranny to ho with the blink of an eye. It’s weird. But this song is strangely infectious just like “My Humps” by Black Eyed Peas (BEP is not a guilty pleasure because they were good before Fergie) it gets into you and then the feet start to movie.

I really tried to resist this song. I hated it when I first heard it and it annoyed the living hell out of me. But, lucky for me, my brother knew this and played it every single time he saw me. And every time I heard it I hated it a little less. It just got under my skin and made itself comfortable. There seems to be no cure for this disease.

Billy Ocean

This is one guilty pleasure that I have indulged in. I actually own his Greatest Hits CD. I know I am sickening you right now but it is true. I have had it since the early 90’s and it really is the greatest. It is littered with fantastic toe tapping songs that put me in a great mood every time. When I am in a bad mood I stick in this CD, turn it up “When the going gets tough, the though get going” comes on…

…and all my problems wash away. Until I pulled up this video I totally forgot that it was used in the Jewel of the Nile.

Then the great songs just keep coming, “Caribbean Queen”, “Loverboy”, “Suddenly”

By the end of this disc I can’t help but feel light hearted, all the worlds worries washed away into this ‘80s optimism.

Well I think that is all the secrets I will divulge for right now. I hope you enjoyed it. Point and laugh as much as you like but I will simply put on my headphones and indulge in one of my guilt pleasures.

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