There were NO American Beatles albums until 1964. There was a British one, but once again...

I thought "With the Beatles", "Please Please Me", and so on were all Beatles albums. Of course, back then they didn't put singles on the albums..

Probably my only guilty pleasure at the moment would be Wheatus. I don't they've released an album after the teenage dirtbag phenomen but i still like them.
In the past ive listened incessently for a few months to bands or groups of no reputation (this is as an adult mind you!) like Hanson, the Backstreet Boys and Limp Bizkit.

I wouldn't mind hearing Britney Spears's "Baby One More Time"... one more time. "Toxic" wasn't bad either. And I do love our Kylie.

Straight-out pop music is better than mainstream RAAAWWWWWKKKKKK! I'm afraid I can't stand modern-day "garage revival" bands, with few exceptions.

quote:

Originally posted by Biggles:
And I do love our Kylie.

Straight-out pop music is better than mainstream RAAAWWWWWKKKKKK! I'm afraid I can't stand modern-day "garage revival" bands, with few exceptions.

Agreed...kylie is great!!

Thank You on the second point...feel the same way.

I agree with Biggles -- I'd rather hear shallow, fun radio pop than one of those godawful U.S. Rawk bands like Linkin Park, Stone Temple Pilots, Nickleback, or the million others whose names escape me because they are so boring.

I would call Keane's "Hopes and Fears" a guilty pleasure. Rather pompous and utterly conventional, sounding like a dozen other anthemic UK rock outfits, but the melodies were great and you'd have to have a heart of stone to resist singing along.

I recently made a mix CD for a friend called "Guilty Pleasures", actually -- some of the songs I put on it:

"Never Ever" -- All Saints
"Ooh, Aah, Just a Little Bit" -- Gina G.
"Believe" -- Cher
"If You Could Read My Mind" -- Stars on 45
"Xanadu" -- Olivia Newton-John
"Angels" -- Robbie Williams
"Back for Good" -- Take That
"Everything I Own" -- Bread
"A Horse with No Name" -- America

I expect the mountains of scorn to be heaped on me -- bring it on!

quote:

Originally posted by Biggles:
I'm afraid I can't stand modern-day "garage revival" bands, with few exceptions.

Can you and/or Imprezu clarify which "garage revival" bands you are referring to, both pro and con, so I can understand your point better.

quote:

"Never Ever" -- All Saints
"Ooh, Aah, Just a Little Bit" -- Gina G.
"Believe" -- Cher
"If You Could Read My Mind" -- Stars on 45
"Xanadu" -- Olivia Newton-John
"Angels" -- Robbie Williams
"Back for Good" -- Take That
"Everything I Own" -- Bread
"A Horse with No Name" -- America

I expect the mountains of scorn to be heaped on me -- bring it on!

Out of those, I at one time liked: All Saints, Robbie Williams, Stars on 45, Gina G. The only one you mention that I've heard and didn't like was Cher, who...I don't hate nearly as much as straight out pop.

I agree Nickelback and Linkin Park and the like are just awful, but I think the straight out pop bands like N Sync and Kelly Clarkson are at least equally bad. I guess the American Idol type people at least get credit for being very good at singing very bad music.

There was one time that I really liked the Spice Girls. I think they would have been respectable if they didn't put so much effort into the image. Didn't they realize people would get tired of their gimmicks and forget any quality their music ever had?

As for Kylie and Blink 182 and the other punk-pop bands, here's a rule of thumb that is revealing if there's any substance to their music.

Ask them if they were influenced by the Ramones, or the Sex Pistols. If they say 'Yes', then their music probably has substance and isn't just flashy fluff. If they say '...who?', then their music probably is just flashy fluff.

I don't have any guilt whatsoever but I'll play.

Metal has always been the most despised genre critically. I still love thrash like Dark Angel, Possessed, Kreator, Wehrmacht, Voivod, Coroner etc. and NWOBHM - Iron Maiden, Holocaust, Diamond Head, Witchfinder General, grindcore - Napalm Death, Carcass, Siege, Repulsion, Vulgar Pigeons, Cripple Bastards, Terrorizer etc. and stoner - Kyuss, 500 ft. of Pipe, Acid King, Sleep, High on Fire or doom - Cathedral, Saint Vitus, Pentagram etc. I'll take these guys a million times over the Nirvanas, Soundgardens, Pixies, Tool and the mainstreamers.

Prog rock is another genre I like (love Can, Faust, Guru Guru, Brainticket, Ash Ra Tempel and krautrock ilk too, which's more acceptable critically) - Jethro Tull, Hawkwind, King Crimson, old Yes, Captain Beyond, Gryphon, Happy the Man etc.

'Tis good not to take prog and metal lyrics seriously unless it's the occasional Ian Anderson.

Hardcore's also alright - Cro-Mags, Bad Brains, D.R.I, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys and critically under-appreciated punk - Chelsea, NoMeansNo, Flux of Pink Indians, Rudimentary Peni, old Crass etc.

Plus Dean Martin, hardrock (the more dumbass the better) - Budgie, Atomic Rooster, Cactus, Robin Trower, Wishbone Ash, James Montgomery Band etc., jazz fusion, jambands and even stuff like Eagles and the first Counting Crows album sometimes find their way into the player.

Hmmmmm ... seems to me a little guilt might be justified ...

It's not guilt, so much as embarassment that you feel sometimes.

Depeche Mode has to be one of my biggest guilty pleasures. Not that I'm ashamed that I dig them but a lot of people would never peg me to be a fan of theirs.

Just OOC, does anybody have any 'bad albums they like,' like that thread I started that got locked for being too much like this one?

Cause they're actually the exact opposite. Mine was 'Bad albums you just can't help but like' and guilty pleasures is more 'good albums you feel you shouldn't like'.

Guilty pleasures is like Alanis Morissette, and 'bad albums you like' is more like..well, Cake, Barenaked Ladies, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:

Can you and/or Imprezu clarify which "garage revival" bands you are referring to, both pro and con, so I can understand your point better.

Fair enough.

I find bands like The Hives and The Vines, who base all of their songs (singles, anyway) on one or two power chords and ridiculous shout-along-type choruses, extremely tedious. The White Stripes are at least tolerbale, as they have some melodic sense.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobthespirit:
As for Kylie and Blink 182 and the other punk-pop bands, here's a rule of thumb that is revealing if there's any substance to their music.

Ask them if they were influenced by the Ramones, or the Sex Pistols. If they say 'Yes', then their music probably has substance and isn't just flashy fluff. If they say '...who?', then their music probably is just flashy fluff.

How is Kylie "punk-pop"?

Also, I thought that the Ramones were themselves just flashy stuff with no substance. Even if not, I don't get the second part of your post, because everybody and his dog would have heard of those bands and could easily claim to be influenced by them for brownie points.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobthespirit:
Just OOC, does anybody have any 'bad albums they like,' like that thread I started that got locked for being too much like this one?

Cause they're actually the exact opposite. Mine was 'Bad albums you just can't help but like' and guilty pleasures is more 'good albums you feel you shouldn't like'.

Guilty pleasures is like Alanis Morissette, and 'bad albums you like' is more like..well, Cake, Barenaked Ladies, etc.

I don't see the difference. Please explain.

quote:

Originally posted by Solitaire Hawk:
Probably my only guilty pleasure at the moment would be Wheatus. I don't they've released an album after the teenage dirtbag phenomen but i still like them.
.

They did have another record. They recorded it while still on Sony, but Sony wouldn't release it, so they've self-released. It's called Suck Fony. No funny comment required here.

I thought I explained it pretty clearly...

Okay. Guilty pleasure is a band that you legitimately think is good music, but is in fashion to bash. So, you're embarassed to admit that you like them, even though you really think they're good music.

'Bad music you like' is something that intellectually you consider not to be good music, but there's some aspect external to the actual music that makes you enjoy listening to it.

(As for the punk thing...I find bands that want to get brownie points in the mainstream will deny any connection to music more than a few years old. The entire MTV culture right now denies that it wouldn't exist without the Beatles. And if you don't like the Ramones, you can interchange the Clash or some punk band you like, if any.)

Technically, there is no music I like that I think is bad. There is music that I like but I am embarrassed to admit it in public for fear of being lynched. For example, Britney Spears's single "Toxic" -- I think this is an excellent pop single, a great catchy song with first-rate mainstream production. One of the pleasures of pop music has always been this kind of thing -- shallow, catchy, impeccably produced, the aural equivalent of candy. But I would be embarrassed to be tooooo public about liking this song, because a lot of people (ignorantly, in my view) think that if it is by Britney Spears it must be BAD.

Then there is music that I think is really wonderful, but it is just not "cool" to like it. A lot of country music, especially older stuff from the 60s and 70s, falls into this category. George Jones. Charlie Rich. Dolly Parton. They all made amazing music -- but most people think they are all just cheesemongers.

I can't think of any music I think is actually bad that I like. Okay, maybe Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell".

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Peewee,

Well, I think Prozzak and Cake are bad, yet I enjoy listening to them.

Technically there's no such thing as a 'Britney Spears song'. Just songs written and recorded for her to dance and lipsync to on stage. If they have a good writer and good singer writing and recording for her, then a song under the Britney Spears monocre could easily be a good song.

Never heard Toxic though. But I think it's like #5 on the pazznjop singles poll.

Pitchfork gave Toxic high marks, too. It's a good song.

I think the idea that bob was going for is pretty cool, but the problem is the fluidity of WHO is bashing it. There's TONS of stuff that I like that is bashed by the indie-cool community but might not be bashed by AMG or Rolling Stone. I'd guess a good 40% of what I really like is bashed by someone who is allegedly credible. Echo and the Bunnymen fans almost uniformly HATE my favorite Echo record (What Are You Going to Do With Your Life?) and Verve fans almost universally hate Richard Ashcroft's solo records, which I love.

At one point, I counted the number of the lowest ranked albums on Metacritic that I own and like, and I had 9 of them, mostly Britpop. The thread is here:

http://forums.metacritic.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/646109/m/4420078003

Specifically, I enjoy Robbie Williams, Cake, Bread (there's a really good Bread tribute record out!), Barenaked Ladies, and America, among the ones mentioned here. I also really like the current Kelly Clarkson single "Since You Been Gone" and was at many of the early Hootie and the Blowfish shows when they were still playing colleges and frathouses. I still like their first record, but most of what followed wasn't very good.

I'm with Peewee, though. I don't think anything that I listen to is "bad"....if it were bad, I wouldn't like it. It may be unpopular, or not trendy, or critically ignored, but I fail to think that what the critics (even a Metascore consensus of them) say about a record determines whether its good or bad. I could care less whether or not its cool to like a band...anyone who tries to prove musical superiority by degrading someone else's musical preferences is either an asshole or a Pitchfork scribe. Not that those are mutually exclusive.

quote:

A lot of country music, especially older stuff from the 60s and 70s, falls into this category. George Jones. Charlie Rich. Dolly Parton. They all made amazing music -- but most people think they are all just cheesemongers.

I'll second you here. I pull out my George Jones box set almost weekly. Those classic country records are so good. I remember that my first year in college there was a time/life classic country infomercial that I must have watched at least ten times and secretly loved before I ever would have admitted to myself or anyone else that I liked that style of music. I still feel a little guilty listening to those records with other people around. Wanting to be 'cool' in my music tastes was such a strong urge for so long that it is a very difficult habit to break.