Cheap Trick. But I don’t feel too guilty about it.

Early Pet Shop Boys? No, wait, The Village People. Or maybe Abba, but that’s only a few songs.

Nobody tell my wife I’m teh gay, OK?

Gotta be either Def Leppard or Poison. The 80’s were often cruel, rarely kind to rock music…

Milli Vanilli. Girl, you KNOW it’s true!

Dead or Alive, had the whole catalog…on cassette of course.

Oasis? Ewww…. 😉

I would say mine is Korn. Or maybe Nine Inch Nails. I’m just an angsty mallgoth at heart.

My guilty pleasures used to be Linkin’ Park and Limp Bizkit, but I haven’t listened to either of them for years now.

Bay City Rollers.

Elton John is a close second, but only up through “Don’t Go Breakin My Heart”

KISS.

Christopher Cross isn’t a band, technically, so I’ll say Air Supply.

Madonna. Or Queen.

Oh man.

Erasure.
The leotard was just all that.

Maybe I should submit this anonymously….

Everything I listen to is probably in that category. At the moment, the two I don’t listen to in public because of the reaction are Gary Glitter and The Young Fresh Fellows, but I’m developing a resentment over having to treat the YFF like the crazy aunt in the attic. It’s not like they’re into kiddie porn, after all. They’re just kind of goofy.

For some odd reason, Abba, The Village People, and Pet Shop Boys don’t count as embarrassing in my house.

Japan, because I am a gentleman who likes to take polariods.

You know, child molestation isn’t the only reason to hate Gary Glitter, at least if you were a band geek like me.

Neil Diamond. Van Halen. The self-titled Whitesnake album. A small handful of Ronnie James Dio tunes. Motorhead. The Guess Who.

When I was young I was obsessed with two very different 45s– “Let’s Hang On’ by Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons, and “One Thing Leads to Another” by The Fixx. The latter used to drive my family bonkers, because I’d play it 8 times in a row.

OK, OK, I’m not normal. Not even close.

I have to second Queen. (no not the queen Dayv, the band Queen).

Man, Neil Diamond has some good early stuff. He wrote most of the Monkees’ best songs.

Knights In Satan’s Service.

I’m still a reserve member of the KISS Army, in fact. I just hope I don’t get called back up to do battle with Ronnie James Dio. I’ve already done my time, man.

Kansas. Carry on, my wayward sons and daughters!

Eminem

Avril Lavigne and the Cardigans.

There’s no reason to feel guilty about Oasis (though I doubt my opinion counts for much after that confession).

all Toto, all day.

Toxic, by Brittany Spears, is a great, great song. And I hate myself for loving it.

Ace of Base while reading Anne Rice books

You mean I’m supposed to be embarassed about listening to Queen, Elton John and Dio? Whoops, I ain’t. However, my all time favorite band is something of an embarassment, especially ’cause you have to play it so loud. And come to think of it, they oughta be on Brad’s list too. I’m speaking, of course, of the one and only, nobody else sounds like ’em BOSTON!!!

mikey

Past – Def Leppard, Bel Biv DeVoe
Current – Kelly Clarkson (tho not a band), Destiny’s Child

Supertramp.

And Rush.

And Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

Did someone say, DIO! Behold the Mystery, Holy DI-VAHS!

Still, Dio beats “Waterworld,” or “Waterwall,” or “Wonderworld,” or whatever that stupid Oasis song is called.

Mikey: The first Boston album kicks so much ass. So much. Almost as much as Sib’s ‘do does.

Look out!

During Katrina, I kept playing “Rainbow in the Dark” over and over. Listen to the lyrics. It sounds as if it was written about New Orleans during the flood…

mikey

– Rush
– Insane Clown Posse
– Gwar

The PowerPoint slide of shame.

No reason to feel bad about liking Oasis. Or Kelly Clarkson. However, my personal guilty listening pleasure- Britney Spears? I should be and am ashamed. Sometimes you just need fluff.

Aerosmith.

Toxic, by Brittany Spears, is a great, great song. And I hate myself for loving it.

Liking any song that was featured in “Doctor Who” is nothing to be ashamed of.

Blue Oyster Cult.

I’m sure it’s a (poor?) reflection on me, but I like a lot of the bands listed and I don’t feel guilty about that at all.

Ditto. Blue Oyster Cult!

“You see me now, a veteran… of a thousand psychic wars
I’ve been living on the edge so long, where the winds of limbo roar”

What’s wrong with Gwar? They’re hilarilous.

Lil Jon. Actually, any crunk.

I dance, but I feel great shame afterwards.

Not crazy about their entire body of work, but “Sugar, Sugar” by the Archies is often played by me, at enormous volume. Sure the neighbors contemplate calling 911.

And, with MCH, the Guess Who.

And speaking of Britney Spears, I cannot get enough of “…Baby One More Time”.

I gotta second the Blue Oyster Cult.

I admit it, though. I love Alanis Morrissette.

God, I hate myself.

Anyone remember Klaatu?

Prodigy. I hate everything about them, but “Firestarter” somehow wormed its way into me.

I just remembered a guilty pleasure from my past that trumps all of y’all, with your “Britneys” and your “Oasi.”

Back in high school, about 15 years ago, I had this huge crush on a friend of mine named Mandy, who was in a long-term relationship (can you see where this is going yet?). So I stole away to the used record store in secret and bought a certain LP that had one particular song on it, which I used to listen to only through headphones, in the dead of night, when no one else was home. And that song was…

“Mandy” by Barry Manilow

My shame is everlasting and boundless.

Flock of Seagulls.

And I feel just awful.

Jethro Tull and Rush.

Depeche Mode, my friends. Gotta love a band that is named “Fast Fashion” in French!

I ain’t ashamed of a damn thing. I spent nearly a decade working in the music business, part of which as a journalist, so I’ve had my fill of making sure I listen to the proper bands and ignore the improper ones, so fuck that nosie, son! I grew up in the ’80s in Mississippi, and thus, have learned that God probably looks a lot like Hank Williams Jr. Elvis’ best was not the ’50s Sun stuff; it was his output from around 1968 to about 1973, cause that was what was played on local radio. If the people in Tupelo, by God, prefer “Kentucky Woman” and “Moody Blue” to “That’s All Right, Mama” who am I to argue?

Nothing gets up my nose worse than hearing some suburban whitebread dipstick tell me that country music from the ’80s was crap. Earl Thomas Conley, Mel McDaniel, Janie Frickie, John Anderson and the Oak Ridge Boys. That’s the shit.

I could go with Prodigy, too. “Smack My Bitch Up?” Sheesh, but I love it. Maybe Rob Zombie, too, especially since my husband hates it. And Edith Piaf might be embarrassing, I suppose. I could pretend it’s an ironic appreciation, but it ain’t.

Smashing Pumpkins.

Yes, although I will play it in public…quietly….with no one I know nearby.

Echo and the Bunneymen and early Jethro Tull.

Oh, don’t make me pull out Enya!

Arrghh, now you’ve done it! It can’t be put back in the box, never!

Rush, especially 2112 and A Farewell to Kings. Completely overblown and ridiculous, but I love it.

Styx. Come Sail Away. Oh yeah.

Anything by the Runaways.

Hall and Oates.

yeah.

Therapy?

And, um….

The Moody Blues.

What about terminally overrated bands/artists who you feel ashamed for hating?

Mine’s Prince.

There is nothing to be ashamed about liking Gwar.

There is especially nothing to feel guilty about getting doused with fake blood at a Gwar show.

Okay…now the point is that they have to be bands that you should be ashamed of liking. Not popular bands that lots of other people might just hate, like NIN or Queen or Aerosmith. No, I think it has to be a band that MOST or ALL people hate, or that you really shouldn’t be listening to for your demographic.

On that note, I submit Kylie Minoque as my oh so pleasurable guilty pleasure. But that’s only embarassing because I’m 31-yr old American white male, married and not secretly gay.

I saw Hall and Oates open for Electric Light Orchestra when I was about 8 or 9 years old, but my first concert was the Bee-Gees. Spirits Having Flown, bitches! You better recognize.

(No need to be ashamed about Prince, for goodness’ sake. But Enya? What, and I suppose you like Marc Cohn, too?)

In response to Jay B’s reversal of the equation. I hate the Ramones. There. I said it! That’s right, I HATE the Ramones! Yes, I realize I have now admitted that I like Kansas better than I like the Ramones. But, so what? The other guys in Chess Club agree with me.

That would be Rush.

‘Twas in the middle of a 4 song Rock Block when I couldn’t figure out if I was rocking, or ironically “rocking.” Maybe that’s the definition.

Oh, and that Shakira song. What?

The Knack – “Get The Knack”.

The solo on “My Sharona” (the full-length version, not the radio edit) is sublime guitar wankery.

[M]y first concert was the Bee-Gees. Spirits Having Flown, bitches! You better recognize.

Whatever. *My* first concert was Micheal freakin’ Jackson, so step off, punk!

I even bought a souvenir calendar that had Tito and the other brothers next to their stylin’ sports cars.

Cause this is Thriller! Thril-ler night!

I’m ashamed I don’t like Zappa. Or Dylan. Maybe I’ll eventually get better; I did with Neil Young.

The Mothers of Invention.

The La’s.

The amount of playa hatin’ that I’ve received for my Gwar-lovin’ ways is simply astonishing.

Veterans of the Scumdogs of the Universe Tour (and a thousand psychic wars) UNITE!

Tom Jones, bitches!

My cats run away at the beginning of “What’s New Pussycat”; I always “dance” with them to it.

As regards the reverse questions, I really can’t stand the Beatles. Never liked them, never will.

My first concert was Bob Seger. “Turn the Page” is deep, man.

Saw Tom Jones live once in Orlando. Maybe 10 feet away. Awesome show, but that man must smuggle rattlesnakes in his britches or something.

I’m pretty cosmopolitan, and there isn’t much from pre-1992 that I don’t like. And I listen to country, unapologetically (pre-1992 starting artists, natch). So I don’t feel guilty about my music choices in general.
With that said:

I like a few boy-band songs (I like harmony– so sue me; usually it’s Statler Brothers or Oak Ridge Boys)
Hank Williams Jr. sometimes makes me feel guilty for liking him (but Charlie Daniels would have to shoot a dude on stage to get the same effect).
I can’t stand 1980s punk, for some reason. Don’t ask me why: the music just doesn’t do it for me.
I listened to Dr. BLT a few times too, and wasn’t fully replused (please don’t hurt me!)

Mea culpa

Beatles are teh SuxXxor….

first concert? Howard Jones, baby….

Mine is Weezer. This is because I usually listen to the most underground of metal bands…

The only other things that fetch me a strange look is when I play the “classic” christmas music – Bing, King Cole, Jim Reeves, etc…

Oh, yes, I forgot:

First concert?: The Beach Boys (with my dad).

First concert:

Helmet
Biohazard
Suicidal Tendencies
Red Hot Chili Peppers (back when they good and still on drugs)

REO Speedwagon. Head it from a friend who, heard it from a friend who, heard it from another that you like them, loser.

“Rainbow in the Dark” is also a tough one, especially because I always want to air guitar that solo.

Most recently, Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone.” I took a shot of penicillin after downloading that, just to be safe.

But I refuse to apologize for Rush.

The Thompson Twins.

Ted Nugent. Hate his politics, love a lot of his music.

Good Lord, I’ve seen REO Speedwagon in concert, too. Wow. And I always thought I hadn’t seen that many concerts.

Oh, and Brando (or anyone else) try singing the lyrics to “Take It On The Run,” but imagine that the title is “Take It Up The Butt.” (It kind of makes more sense that way.)

I’ve worn out three copies of the only album by Maggie’s Dream.

Steely Dan and Billy Joel

Supertram ane an UNGUILTY pleasure as are Def Leppard. Although I do feel guilty about the latter.

The Carpenters. There. I’ve said it.

Oh, and to the commenter that said the Depeche Mode means “fast fashion” in French, it doesn’t. It means “fashion dispatches,” where “dispatch” means the latest news. And listening to Depeche Mode isn’t something to be ashamed of, at least in my book. Then again, you must consider the source.

The Thompson Twins.

Oh man, I love the Thompsons Twins! I also love Baltimora’s “Tarzan Boy.”

Cinderella’s another one I dig; ditto Def Leppard and Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.”

I’ve always thought that ’80s hair-metal was far superior to early/mid-’90s grunge and alternative.

A band called Swing Out Sister

OK, I’m old , uncool and faraway.

The Everly Bros

ABC. But I’m a child of the eighties, so it doesn’t count. I was too young to know any better.

OOH! Swing Out Sister!

But I’d have to say Pink. Except that dreaded 1st album of Diva-dance crap. She’s actually really good–uh, if you care to believe someone who likes Swing Out Sister.

Raffi.

ELO and Matthew Sweet are my “somewhat” guilty pleasures cos they are really good

i dont have any Queen but nobody should have any shame listening to them – i’d lump them in with ELO and T-Rex as the best music from the 70’s

strange magic…..

Bread.

Recognize, bitches.

INXS… my first concert.

Oasis? They are first-class! Come on!

Mine is Journey. Followed by Kelly Clarkson. Followed by Glen Campbell. I know: I’m OLD.

Well, since you asked, mine is HANSON!

Yes, it really is.

Venga Boys. I don’t think Queen qualifies, as they genuinely and objectively rule. But Venga Boys…

Savage Garden.

hrmm.

Music I’m ashamed to listen to, but still really fucking like.

Spike Jones.
Allen Sherman.
Matisyahu.

aaaaaaand….

Linkin Park.

First concert? That would be ZZTop.

And I looooooove the Carpenters.

Also, re Rush: Neil Peart’s Libertarian lyrics must be taken into account. The band even dedicated 2112 to “the genius of Ayn Rand.” I had a buddy at the time (high school) who damn near forced me at gunpoint to read Atlas Shrugs, but thank God I was able to resist.

Steely Dan and Billy Joel

aagh! steely dan is not a gullity pleasure! they’re phenomenal.

journey, on the other hand, totally a guilty pleasure.

0h, and these guys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceArjnRETNE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3e0w9Zmr0E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJVPS-KOcMM

Aren’t something I’m ashamed to listen to, but think I probably should be.

People feel guilty for liking Britney and Flock of Seagulls? “Toxic” and “I ran”? These are highly crafted pop songs. It’s like feeling guilty for liking the sun.

What is needed is maximum wankery that no one will admit to ever having liked in the first place, the musical equivalent of someone willing to cop to voting for Nixon in 72. I got your supersize guilt here: Dream of the Blue Turtles-era Sting. Branford Marsalis on sax. Crap about the Russians lovin’ their kids. Anne Rice-inspired crap. Sympathy-for-the-striking-miners crap. Fortress-around-your-heart rhyming dictionary-inspired crap. I-take-it-all-back-about-stalkin-Every-Breath-You-Take-instead-I-now-think-If-You-Love-Somebody-Set-Them-Free-(freefreesetthemfree) crap. Still, somehow, Love for me remains The Seventh Wave. WTF is wrong with me?

Oh, and bands with cred we can’t like? OK-Computer-era Radiohead.

Musical pleasures I do indeed feel guilty for:
— Better Than Ezra, Bryan Adams, Collective Soul, Def Leppard, Del Amitri, Duran Duran, The Eagles, Jamiroquai, Rick Springfield (!!!), Spin Doctors, Sugar Ray

There are tons of acts that others might profess guilt over (Hall & Oates, Lenny Kravitz, Neil Diamond, etc.), but I’ll gladly and passionately argue their validity. But crap like the Eagles… well, yeah, I do feel guilty about that.

Now back to my OK Go!

Various forms of sugar cookie Japanese pop. *shiver*
Some songs by Cher.
Londonbeat

…George Formby?

I also like some Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, Rick Springfield…I dunno if “guilty” is really the right word for how I feel about that.

Ah, but La Bouche. Them and like the thousand other awful pseudo-rap 90’s dance music “bands”…I am deeply ashamed.

Guilty pleasures: I have to admit to a certain fondness for Rush, Yes, and Jethro Tull

First concert: Cheap Trick

Overrated band I hate: Rolling Stones (yeah, there are a few songs I can take, but for the most part, I change the station whenever I hear Mick’s awful voice)

The Free Design
“Kites are Fun”

I like good songs, period. That’s why those “Rate these songs by their coolness factor” type threads that were all the rage last year just baffled me. I don’t want to be Gavrilo Princip and initiate another round of devasting interblog YouTube warfare, but I love Total Eclipse of the Heart and it’s companion song Making Love Out of Nothing At All. I love me some bombast.

Seriously though, I hate The Ramones. Awful fucking band, awful sound – look – personalties, the whole thing. Much as I love(d) the dinosaur bands, I knew rock needed a shake up ca. 1976 but why was it those fecking gluesniffers that kicked it off?

Bruce Willis and his band, The Accelerators

[goes back to unapologetically listening to King Crimson.]

Journey. I sing along with Lights (think William Hung but worse, far worse.)

King Spirula: Echo and the Bunnymen is nothing to be ashamed of.

Liking any Stock, Aitken, and Waterman stuff, however…

*sigh* I am Freshly Squeezed Cynic, and I’m a Mel and Kim fan.

Ok he’s not a band, but Jimmy Buffet :)……beat that everyone 🙂

Have to go with The Nuge.

JDC,

That’s just weird. There’s nothing wrong with Sting’s band in Dream of the Blue Turtles. Branford Marsalis is a helluva lot more fun to listen to, in any band, than his pedant brother Wynton, who plays trumpet as if Stanley Crouch has him by the nutsack.

“Fortress Around Your Heart,” BTW, barely bothers to rhyme at all. (“Moon over Bourbon Street” is heavy on the rhyme-dictionary stuff, but it works for me.)

Now, if you like listening to “We’ll be Together” and “Rock Steady” on repeat, that’s another story…

Rush
Wesley Willis
ICP
The Monkees
…and I gotta second (third? nth?) Journey

when the lights… go down.. in the cit-ayy
and the sunnn shiines onnn the baaayyyy…

I also like James Taylor, but he could be considered good music.

First and only rock concert: ELO, circa 1978.

Remember the spaceship stage, my friends?

I like good songs, period. That’s why those “Rate these songs by their coolness factor� type threads that were all the rage last year just baffled me. I don’t want to be Gavrilo Princip and initiate another round of devasting interblog YouTube warfare, but I love Total Eclipse of the Heart and it’s companion song Making Love Out of Nothing At All. I love me some bombast.

Right there wit’ ya, Henry. My iPod is LOADED with power balads. All you needed to add was “I Remember You” by Skidrow and “Two Steps Behind” by Def Leopard and you’d be havin a good hour’s music.

Oh, and I’ve ALWAYS hated Led Zeppelin. Un-Listen-to-able….

mikey

Keane, at the moment. Way too easy listening for my normal tastes, but catchy and beautifully sung.

Gotta agree with Moody Blues. Don’t let jedmunds at Pandagon know that you consider Oasis a guilty pleasure. And people who don’t like Dylan or the Beatles, I used to argue with y’all till I was blue in the face, then I realized that it was pointless. Now I just feel pity.

Agum,

Branford is more fun than his brother, yes. And the band as a whole can play–but that Bring on the Night-vibe is hard to shake. I can just feel it in the music, and still I don’t care.

As for the rhyming dictionary, I can think of no other plausible source for “let me set the battlements on fire” as a rhyme for “trenches and barbed wire” than a long, tantric evening with Roget’s fer Rockers.

men without hats

jrm78 beat me to it with the Monkees. I’ll dance around in my bunny slippers to “Daydream Believer.” So how about Fleetwood Mac?

First concert — Brownsville Station (“Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room, yeah”) opening for Foghat. I am so old . . .

Depeche Mode

Re The Monkees: “Daydream Believer” is a great song. It could even be described as beautiful (in a way). “I’m a Believer,” on the other hand, is just okay (in my opinion).

Re ELO: I love ’em. “Fire on High” is a masterpiece. “Evil Woman,” though, is a little blah. Jeff Lynne’s voice makes me want to melt.

My tastes almost universally run towards music that was written before I was born (or around it) and, as such, I’m quite unfamiliar with current music. I do express some guilt in admitting that I like what I’ve heard of Shakira.

You know, there’s this problem with the “confession” site grouphug.us, in that a lot of people don’t seem to understand the difference between a confession and a casual boast.

I’m detecting some of that, here, too.

Look, if you don’t actually feel embarrassed about liking a band, then it’s not a guilty pleasure. Liking a band that lots of cool kids mock is not a guilty pleasure in and of itself. You have to feel actual shame, OK? That’s why I’m not going to list Simon & Garfunkle here; you see, I actually think liking their songs is defensible— and besides, the cool kids all seem to lionize them, along with certain other shmaltzy acts, like Neil Diamond and The Carpenters and Carole King and Burt Bacharach and Etta James and Dean Martin and on and on.

The Cool Kids also seem to single out certain bands as somewhat cheesy but acceptable, perhaps because they serve as shorthand for Rock or Metal Appreciation bona fides; bands like Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy, T Rex, or b-list Classic Rock acts like Deep Purple that hint at a knowledge of Hard Rock History beyond the holy trinity of Led Zep, Sabbath, and Motorhead.

Erm, anyway. The band that really makes me blush when I’m caught singing in the car is…

Dire Straits.

The shame is compounded by the fact that when I hear anything off the first album, I am reminded of the fact that Douglas Adams name-checked it as make-out record extraordinaire, and then I have to face up to my cringeworthy former literary tastes in addition to my continuing love of a crap band that I really ought to hate at least as much as I hate Sting.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Dood! robotslave, my (wo)man, I’m sorry but Deep Purple is way, way, way, cooler and better and more talented and rocks harder than Sabbath or Motorhead ever will!

If the Cool Kids are telling you otherwise, send ’em round to my place and we’ll go Space Truckin’.

Yeah, robotslave. These folks and their “shamefaced confessions” have no one fooled. Except for you Manilow people. I believe you meant it straight up. Now, me, I’ll listen to a lot of stuff that people would think I should be embarrassed about. And I am a little. I’m with you on Tom Jones, people. I willingly undergo the pain of stretching my soprano range to sing along with him, every note. “Thunderball,” “What’s New, Pussycat?” and even some songs off that album from the ’90s where he’s wearing that disgusting red mesh shirt. Even more potentially embarrassing is the fact that my love of Korean drama has me buying soundtrack albums and thus enjoying music that borders on Adult Contemporary or boy-band nonsense. But god help me, I love it, and I vow to make my friends listen to it an stop snickering.

jpj:

Consider your Classic Rock Cred established. Congratulations!

Your artfully weathered Deep Purple T-Shirt is in the mail; please let us know if you’ll be needing a tattered MLB cap with attached shag-haircut wig.

If were my friend Paulie, I could say “Randy Newman” (“short people got no reason to live….”). But I’m not, so I can’t. Besides, he unapologetically subjected lots of us to this one-man musical scourge. Plus, I myself cannot STAND the stuff; not even the theme from Monk.

I can say that I am thoroughly embarassed on his behalf, especially when he breaks out into song in public.

DEVO. But, like Paul M., I don’t feel guilty about it. Though I do feel like I should…

My guilty pleasure band is Spinal Tap. Seriously, I have the soundtrack and listen to it with supreme enjoyment every time.

oh, and theme songs from 70s Japanese Giant Robot cartoons…. plus some of the modern ones…

Journey. I sing along with Lights

I think everyone does this.

I usually have no shame when it comes to my music preferences, but I usually do get odd looks when I mention how much I love Gary Numan.

Hmm. The Darkness or Poison. Something with heavy metal riffing and overtly dumb lyrics that – one way or another – make you laugh.

Look, if you don’t actually feel embarrassed about liking a band, then it’s not a guilty pleasure.

Oh. Shoot. Well, damn. Forget just about everything I said. Except hating Led Zeppelin. Still stands. But I guess I’m shameless. ABBA, The Knack, REO, Boston, Skid Row, Benatar, The Monkees, Scandal, The Babys, Foghat, Eagles, Tesla, Meatloaf, Crue (even the album without Vince), Gawd help me, I love ’em all. And I’m not really ashamed. I just know there are a LOT of people who would mock my musical tastes. Don’t care, and if you give me shit I’ll just turn up the volume (drowns you out AND makes you go away) and keep on truckin…

mikey

Savage Garden. I get weepy whenever I hear The Animal Song. That is all.

OK, my guiltiest pleasure band has to be Adam and the Ants. I can’t even listen to their stuff because I am afraid the people behind the miniature cameras that watch my every move will laugh at me.

I went to a party last weekend — a karaoke party, of all things, thus permanently removing me from the rolls of even the potentially cool — and found myself singing along cheerfully (and loudly) to all sorts of shite that I wouldn’t want to be caught dead listening to in my Real Life. Free Bird. American Pie. (I blame the demon grape. I think I had a bottle of Jumilla red to myself.)

First concert: Electric Light Orchestra
Second concert: Styx (Grand Illusion Tour, no less!)
Third concert: Boomtown Rats, and I was spoiled for classic rock and pop after that.

*AHEM* Uh, could I just say that Ray Durham makes me proud to be an old fart? Thanks for listening….

mikey

Savage Garden. I get weepy whenever I hear The Animal Song.

As do I.

Stax love ballads, all of ’em.

Some Velvet Sidewalk!

I have to go with the Moody Blues. I have the “classic” albums: In Search of the Lost Chord, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, etc. In my defense, I don’t the like the “In My Wildest Dream” era stuff. Their bad college sophmore type poetry doesn’t wear well at all!

Yes would be my number 2 guilty pleasure. I even own Chris Squire’s first solo album!

First concert: Neil Young October 1983 at the Dane County Colliseum–this was the Shocking Pinks tour… and yes, I like that album!!

Deep Purple Mk II rocks I recently bought the remasters. Also Stormbringer and even Burn have some good songs.

OPM. Guilty as it gets.

Randy Newman, incidentally, is nothing to be ashamed of. He was Tom Waits a year before Tom Waits was. If, you know, you’re into that kinda thing.

His early records, especially Rednecks and Sail Away, are rather unlike the movie fluff and novelty songs that the unenlightened tend to associate with the name Randy Newman.

Erf. It’s Good Old Boys, not Rednecks. That old “album title vs. title of first track” confusion gets me all the time.

OASIS? OASIS!?! ROTFLMAO!!!11!1

Oh man, you are SOOOO lame…

The fact is, you have just been deeply ridiculed by Gary Ruppert. That is all.

Major guilty pleasure bands:

1) Violent Femmes

2) Jesus and Mary Chain

3) Nirvana

How’s this for my first three concerts:

1st: Ozzy
2nd: Rush
3rd: Spandau Ballet?

Yep, you can tell my musical tastes changed in high school.

Gary Glitter, that’s straight up shame on so many levels. Plastic Bertrand, that’s a casual boast.

I’m extremely fond of Billy Joel and would be ashamed except that my and my partner’s former lover used to be extremely fond of him, so it’s kind of transference, and I feel I have a valid excuse. Just as I feel I have a valid excuse for hating Jethro Tull because it does horrible things to the migraines, though I have to admit, as with Billy Joel, it’s just factors influencing me in ways I’d be headed anyway.

The list I’m vaguely ashamed I don’t like: The Beatles, most of Prince, and Led Zeppelin. Shame, even deeper than the Gary Glitter thing, prevents me from telling you which three Prince songs I do like.

On the other hand, I like the Little Shop of Horrors soundtrack. Both of them. I suspect there’s a global imperative to be ashamed of that, and I have no excuse, but also no remorse.

C’mon, Sidhe, they’re Corvette, Purple Rain and, um, that Doves song, you know, the radio ones. Gotta be. Right?

mikey

again, guilty? but I know what the question is..
T Rex
Kate Bush
ABBA
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (original cast album, not Bob Mould’s)
Emerson Lake and Palmer

can’t stand Rush anymore. sorry
Great topic

And Todd mf Rundgren. I’m listening to “Bleeding” right now.

fine, since I’ve em-bare-ass-ed myself and you too—
first 3 concerts:
Loverboy and Kansas
Rush
Rush

Last 3 concerts:
Roger Hodgson, Soul Asylum, etc. (taste of my state)
Ray Davies
Aimee Mann

Hey, MM! You saw Soul Asylum? Tell Dave hey for me…

mikey

The Seekers

The Masters Apprentices

Sherbet

Skyhooks

Mondo Rock

Uncanny X-men

Kids in the Kitchen

Ratcat

Frente

My arse bleeds with guilt.

Guilty Pleasures

10,000 Maniacs (with Natalie Merchant)

The Cranberries

Bruce Hornsby and the Range

Last 3 Concerts:
U2
Green Day
R.E.M.

As do I

Thanks Sexy Sadie, I feel a little bit less like a freak now 🙂

Lionel Richie.

That’s right. Read it again. I said it.

TLC

…Actually i’m not sure how guilty I am about that pick, let’s try:

Cypress Hill

that’s the guilty pleasure sweet spot right there

You’re a brave soul, GoatBoy. Foobarski, on the other hand, is entirely correct. I just saw the Knack recently at a local St. Patrick’s Day thing (inexplicably held on March 10th). They were great! The music was a blast, but the best part was the amount of fun they had with it–definitely not going through the motions.

First concert: Peter Gabriel
Second: Meatloaf (and I’m not ashamed!)

Guilty pleasure: almost anything 80s, including Gary Numan and Flock of Seagulls (true story: my family has never let my father live down the fact that he once called them “Pack of Eagles”)

Try this one on for size:
http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=5BRyhW_-OrE&search=destination%20unknown

I do love a man in eyeliner.

Okay, this is difficult for me, but I sense that this is a safe place.
Here goes:

Al Stewart.

That’s right. Time Passages, Song on the Radio, Year of the Cat, Nostradamus, Roads to Moscow, all of it.

That’s so liberating! I feel free! I can say it now. I LOVE AL STEWART!

First concert: Black Sabbath & Van Halen. Circa 1978. Ozzy was fat and bloated and burnt out, Van Halen was on tour for their first album.
Second concert: Rush on tour for Farewell to Kings
Best live acts: Tom Waits, Fugazi, Ramones in their prime, X.

Okay, this is the video I was looking for. I knew there was one with a plastic bikini–I remember hearing a member of the band say that Dale What’s-Her-Name made it herself. So at least we know she had a career to fall back on after her 15 minutes.

http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=283dtP01iQY&search=destination%20unknown

You can’t really tell what shoes she’s wearing, so I’m left wondering what the proper footwear is for a plastic bikini. Maybe those itty-bitty scrunched-up ’80s boots with a high heel. What I called “fuck me boots” when I had a pair way back when . . . .

First concert: Cracker with Urge Overkill.

Opener was Five Eight — does anyone remember them? They’re now rebranding themselves as emo pioneers and hoping to tour with, like, Fall Out Boy.

Cracker’s albums count as a guilty pleasure, I guess. Especially “Forever”.

I’m only admitting Enya because someone else did it first.

On the other hand, I like the Little Shop of Horrors soundtrack. Both of them. I suspect there’s a global imperative to be ashamed of that, and I have no excuse, but also no remorse.

Nah, no reason to feel shame there, it’s a fine little show. A hell of a lot more fun than shit like The Sound of Music. But I’m kinda soft on it, first time I got in my husband’s car he had the Broadway version in his CD player and practically dared me to laugh at him. It was adorable.

Thank you, Sjofn. That makes me feel better. On the other hand, the rest of you are making me feel a lot more ashamed about a lot more things I listen to. I’m reading this thread and yelping “Hey! I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to like Cracker!” (No, okay, I did know that. Bad example.)

I’m forced to assume that the lack of mockery for the Young Fresh Fellows is based on the fact that nobody knows who the hell they were.

And Mikey, one out of three. Oh, it gets so much worse.

I think that liking Devo or Gary Numan is exceptionally defensible, but then I’m a geeky post-punker who does seem to adore anything with a synthesizer in it. And this leads to my further infatuations with ABC, the Human League and Frankie Goes To Hollywood (who lets be honest, only had two good songs)

Except Duran Duran. I’m not insane.

P.S. – T-Rex are brilliant, and I won’t hear anything different.

[…] So another quick survey: who or what, of and in America, do you really hate? […]

Absolutely- Blue Oyster Cult (Harvester of Eyes, anyone?), and let’s not forget those first few Black Sabbath albums- OMG they are stupid AND pretentious, but…you love what you love, no matter how crosseyed or pinheaded.
And there is nothing wrong with (old) Tull, or Enya, or even Sting (well, not nothing, but compared to EIGHTIES HAIR-BANDS?!? yikes)

“You know, there’s this problem with the “confessionâ€? site grouphug.us, in that a lot of people don’t seem to understand the difference between a confession and a casual boast.

I’m detecting some of that, here, too. ”

Exactly. Either you guys are over-sensitive or you hang out with people who have terrible taste. I mean, fucking DEVO is a guilty pleasure? I don’t think so.

Sometimes I think people don’t work hard enough to defend their musical tastes. Because I feel like some metaphorical masturbation, and because I know all, I’ll tell you whether you should be embarassed for liking some of the bands that were brought up:

Should I Be Embarassed For Liking…
Cheap Trick? No
Korn? Yes
Nine Inch Nails? Marginally.
Rush? Yep.
Air Supply? Probably.
Madonna? Nope.
Queen? Probably, but what kind of monster would mock you for liking Queen?
Bread? God yes.
Toto? Surprisingly, no.
Dio? Yep.
Elton John? Are you kidding me?
Bell Biv Devoe? No.
Insane Clown Posse? Good god man, yes.
Gwar? Only a little bit.
Aerosmith? Could go either way, actually.
Abba? Yes.
Spinal Tap? Hmmm… they’re musically fairly primitive, but the movie was brilliant. Yeah, you get a pass on Spinal Tap (And I have BOTH their CDs. Beat that!)

I hope that clears things up for you.

As for me, mine are:

Rush
Abba
Adam Ant
The Bee Gees

Actually… I’m not sure that last one should be there. While it’s admitadly not safe to admit to enjoying the Bee Gees in mixed company, I still feel that they elevated the otherwise bankrupt genre of Disco into actual art. With the other three, I can’t even begin to defend myself.

I too dislike the Ramones. Or rather, I like them, but I think they’re hideously over-rated. I mean, for god’s sake people, they only had one song!

When I point this out, people explain that while bands in the 70s were constructing ever more complicated song structures, the Ramone barely knew how to play their instruments or interact with other human beings.

Look, if I wanted to listen to some earnest goofball play an instrument badly, I’d buy a guitar and play it myself. I just don’t see that writing one song and then playing it enthusiasticly elevates one to the realm of genius.

The Ramones and their counterparts got the wankers to stop: that is genius.

I don’t think there’s any music I’m ashamed of for liking it and really, the only music one should be ashamed of for like would be things like white power bands like skrewdriver.

“The Ramones and their counterparts got the wankers to stop: that is genius.”

Yes, the early 80s were truly a rennaisance of music; a time we look back to as the pinnacle of modern rock music.

SadlyNo!… After reading these, I think a “What-was-your-first-concert?” thread needs to happen.

The Go-Gos and Puffy AmiYumi.

Who said they’re guilty about Devo? Blasphemy. Those fellas put together just about the perfect band (at least one containing strictly white boys). Total package. Unified vision, completely succinct, funky in a FunkBot200 way and at least 80% of the songs are straightforward subgenius gospel songs. Not to mention Dev2.0 is the most subversive thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Having kids record Devo songs to sell to kids, advertising on kids TV and doing it all on a Disney imprint? Fucking genius.

Rust never sleeps!

*FunkBot2000, that is

GoatBoy, I never thought about your name before, but last night I was watching a Bill Hicks DVD, and I have to ask, is that where your screen name came from? Or is it a John Barth reference? or maybe somethin’ else.

Randy Newman is my nonguilty nonpleasure. I have no compunction about the fact that I cannot stand him. No offense. It’s because of his voice. Some of his songs are OK to me, especially “Drop the Big One.”

I can’t believe the number of 1970s top 40 bands on these lists! Are we all the same age or what?

And, in conclusion, I will admit a true guilty pleasure that is a pleasure no more, but I am fully ashamed that this happened: Once I was under the influence of a certain substance and that song “Lady in Red” started playing on a cassette someone was playing, and I actually l said the song was beautiful and rewound and replayed it. I could laugh myself sick over that moment now. Now THAT, my friends, is pure shame. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.

Lucy:

You win.

I knew that would do the trick!

Well, I almost made it to the end before my pick showed up: Duran Duran.

One of the first times I felt “old” was when I went to their concert at the ripe age of 23–and saw an arena full of 14-year old teenie-bopper fans.

First concert? Exile (before they went country–remember “I Want to Kiss You All Over” (and over again ;-)) opening for Aerosmith.

Boston, ELO, The Dan of Steel, The Knack–all faves!

Oh well, that’s what makes The Onion’s “Your favorite band sucks” t-shirt so funny.

Thanks for the fun trip down memory lane. Remember when these were the biggest controversies in our lives?

Here’s the definition of a guilty pleasure. After copping to my secret and dirty love of all things Al Stewart, I busted out my old ‘best of’ disc, whereupon my wife promptly came into my office and began to mock me w/out mercy.

One band I didn’t know I was supposed to feel guilty about until I was mocked for liking them is Style Council. But then the dude who mocked me had a ‘tude because I had told him that Belle & Sebastion were glee.

Bill Hicks DVD, and I have to ask, is that where your screen name came from? Or is it a John Barth reference?

Yes.

(But at least 60% Randy Pan. It looks like a bunny’s nose.)

First concert was “Carmen”, an evangelical Christian singer. I had a bunch of his albums too.

First good concert was Def Leppard & Tesla. Rawk!

My band that everyone’s supposed to like but I hate is Fleetwood Mac.

Cracker

G. Love and Special Sauce

Jay B and all, you really need to hear Nickel Creek’s cover of Toxic.

There’s my gloriously not-at-all-guilty pick, Erasure (named at least once above). I guess the guiltier guilty pick would be the Don Henley solo stuff.

Damn, hate being late to a party.

MelodyMaker:
Ain’t nothing wrong with a little Todd Rundgren (who?), especially Bleeding. Now if you’d picked his Bossa Nova album…

mdHatter:
I see your Men W/O Hats and raise you Spandau Ballet, Naked Eyes and the Outfield (and no, I’m not all in yet.)

Myr first concerts:

Captain & Tenille (my family went when I was a kid)

Quarterflash (I was an early teen and saw them at a theme park).

The Monkees. Not for “Daydream Believer” and “Last Train to Clarksville,” which are after all pop standards. Rather for such tracks as “Your Auntie Grezelda” and “Gonna Buy Me a Dog.” Not to mention the TV show. And the fact that they were the first synthetic “boy band.” And a conscious attempt to rip off the Beatles, the whole show being a TV-version of “A Hard Day’s Night.”

Love ’em anyhow.

Sentence fragments are another of my guilty pleasures.

Mink deVille
Duke Robillard
The Trammps

First concert: The Beatles

Excuse me for double-posting, and this is only barely on-topic, but as far as musical guilty pleasures are concerned, I just remembered how nothing matches the embarrassment I feel when I consider that I’ve actually cried listening to Bobby Goldsboro singing “Honey:”

“See the tree, how big it’s grown,
But friend, it hasn’t been too long,
It wasn’t big.”

Since you asked for only one band, I would have to say Fear. Good musicianship, but Lee Ving is (or maybe poses as) a right-wing, sexist, homophobe.

Klaatu, who said Klaatu?!?!?!?!?

“True Life Hero!”, “Little Nutrino!”, “Anus of Uranus!”….never heard of them.

I’m only 20 years old, white, and female, but holy GOD, I love Little Richard. Not like, all his stuff, but a lot of the 80s stuff.

Something is wrong with me. He’s not like, my favorite (which are mostly classic rock and 90s alt), but I just love how bubbly and fun he is. >:3

Damn (I Wish I was your Lover) – Sophie B. Hawkins

Don’t know if it counts, but I bought (AND HAVE ACTUALLY LISTENED TO) a CD by

FABIO

where he speaks LUV

Way, way, way late, and I feel safe posting this, because no one will probably read it….

Nickelback

A large part of the shame of this being the fact that I find Chad, um, really hot.

Band you’re supposed to like and I just can’t quite make it: System of a Down. Love the lyrics, admire the musicianship, just don’t like the vocals. mega annoying.

other than Nickelback, though, I’m not embarrassed about liking any music, ever. Maybe because my tastes are so eclectic. I’ll go from Billie Holliday to Alice In Chains to Mozart to Robert Cray to Pearl Jam to Patsy Cline in one day at work. But mostly I like heavy, blues-based rock.

And I love Deep Purple/Rainbow. And the Nuge… well, he did some songs when I was a youngster that I loved, like Great White Buffalo… and when I met him, he was really polite and pleasant, more so than most famous rockers, but I happen to know that he is a BIG hyprocrite and of course his politics are repulsive… but Snakeskin Cowboys really rawked.

does anyone remember the song by “Sting”,
FORTRESS AROUND YOUR HEART…
and know, or know where to go to find the meaning
of the lyrics??
Thanks!

why are people embarrassed about the music they like ?. What’s wrong with the music they are listening to that they are embarrassed about ?