22-10-2006, 05:30 PM
Thanx to the Duck for this article :thumbs:
I have quite a few of these
Including but not limited to:
Any Jim Steinman
Star Trekkin' - The Firm
Opus - Live is Life
My oh My - Slade
I am sure that the wife can think of more on my behalf. :haha:
Do you have any and if so what are they ?
Quote:There's a name for the music that people hate to admit they love. Alexa Moses and Richard Jinman report.
YOU'RE sitting in a pub with four empty glasses in front of you when Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart comes on the jukebox. As a discerning student of pop culture you know you should frown and point out that it was written by Jim " Bat Out of Hell" Steinman, and is a particularly bombastic example of the '80s big-hair ballad.
Sadly, you do none of this because you are too busy screaming the words "Once upon a time I was falling in love, but now I'm only falling apart" and waving your arms above your head in slow motion. Something resembling tears are rolling down your cheeks.
This phenomenon has been identified as guilty pleasure syndrome, a condition which causes sufferers to publicly disavow a song such as Walk Like an Egyptian, but adore it in the privacy of the bedroom, living room or front bar.
This week, the British music magazine Q published a list of Britain's top 50 guilty pleasures. It kicks off with Livin' Thing, by ELO, continues with Status Quo's Whatever You Want and embraces Boston's More Than a Feeling. Are you feeling guilty yet?
In London, those afflicted by guilty pleasure syndrome can find some relief at a club night called, wait for it, Guilty Pleasures. Sean Rowley, the DJ who invented the club night, told The Guardian his No.1 guilty pleasure is 10CC's Dreadlock Holiday, but he also rates Dolly Parton's 9 to 5, Maneater by Hall and Oates and Neil Diamond's Love on the Rocks.
Australians are as prone to guilty pleasures as anyone. The ABC radio announcer Maynard has made a career out of playing the music that people hate to admit they love.
"It's like anything daggy, really," he says.
"People are pretty shameful about it at first, but then it's like dag group therapy. Once everyone gets together and admits it, they don't feel as guilty. The pleasure gets greater and the guilt gets less."
Alcohol is the magic ingredient. As the evening wears on and the empty bottles begin to stack up, there is more and more appetite for songs such as Love is in the Air, Wind Beneath My Wings, Total Eclipse of the Heart and Slice of Heaven by Dave Dobbyn.
"Many of these songs have a belting quality," says Maynard. "They're power ballads and you can belt them out in a confined space such as a car or a shower."
The Triple J radio announcer Robbie Buck is a true believer in the power of guilty pleasure.
"I think if you get too serious about your music, you're not covering your bases," he says. "Music snobs really bore me."
Buck says the US metal band Tool once admitted to him that they were big fans of Michael Jackson. "Although that's not so guilty," he observes. The presenter's own guilty pleasures are Popcorn by Hot Butter, Duran Duran's Planet Earth, and ABC's The Lexicon of Love.
"And Olivia Newton John's Physical," he adds. "I love that bit in the song where she says, 'Let's get animal!"'
OUR PICK OF GUILTY PLEASURES
1 Living on a Prayer Bon Jovi
2 Physical Olivia Newton-John
3 Computer Games Mi-Sex
4 Bette Davis Eyes Kim Carnes
5 I've Never Been to Me Charlene
6 Jessie's Girl Rick Springfield
7 All Out of Love Air Supply
8 Take on Me A-ha
9 I Will Always Love You Whitney Houston
10 Total Eclipse of the Heart Bonnie Tyler
Q MAGAZINE'S TOP 10 GUILTY PLEASURES
1 Livin' Thing ELO
2 More than a Feeling Boston
3 Don't Stop Movin' S Club 7
4 I'm Not in Love 10CC
5 Rock'n'Roll Part 2 Gary Glitter
6 Cold as Ice Foreigner
7 Rebel Yell Billy Idol
8 Whatever You Want Status Quo
9 Baker Street Gerry Rafferty
10 I Will Survive Gloria Gaynor
I have quite a few of these
Including but not limited to:
Any Jim Steinman
Star Trekkin' - The Firm
Opus - Live is Life
My oh My - Slade
I am sure that the wife can think of more on my behalf. :haha:
Do you have any and if so what are they ?
