Guity Pleasure Music

[Kuroyama]

When you go to a (brick and mortar) music store there is usual music that you pick up, plop on the counter and pay for. Its a non-event. You barely put thought into it.

But there are some artists, who might be nostalgic, maybe controversial... that you really dig, but want NO ONE to see you holding, much less purchasing. Certainly after youve got this music, you dont want people to know what/who youre listening to...

So who might that be??

I'll start off:

1) Michael Jackson. Old school stuff, and new releases. Nobody wants to be seen holding MJ old skool, but everybody rocks it. With each new release I just keep waiting for "Old Michael" to come back... it hasnt happened yet.

2) Bobby Brown. I just picked up a copy of "Dance, Ya Know it"... even here in Japan I bought another CD so I could cover Bobbys face (with that flat top Son!)

3) Japanese animation tunes. I rented some CDs from "Ghost in the Shell". and "Appleseed". Pretty good electronic/rock stuff... but I was worried that all people would see was a Black guy holding not even anime DVDs... but anime MUSIC CDs... how fanboy can you get??

Awright kids... anyone else wanna step up?

[Ike]

Country music. I can't help it; I grew up in Texas.

[blockthebox]

Most of the music I'm embarrassed by is stuff I like to sing to in the car and eventually bust out at noreh bang/karoake. Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, show tunes.

I thought old skool MJ was cool??? I'm sorry, Kuro, but Old Michael will never be back. Any sense and talent were bleached out of him a long time ago.

[Lum]

Off the Wall is still a great album.

To me there are two kinds of guilty pleasures: one that makes you less popular with your friends and another makes you less comfortable with yourself. At my age no pleasure is really a guilty one, but these are the ones that even come close:

1) Rammstein - They're just so earnest. I find it charming.

2) Fantastic Plastic Machine - By far the most disco-ey thing I listen to.

3) The Sundays - It's like slamming ten Pixie-Sticks with a Karo syrup chaser.

I'm pretty sure I've been ridiculed at one time or another for every single artist in my collection, though.

[JadeDragon]

2) Fantastic Plastic Machine - By far the most disco-ey thing I listen to.

Oh, that's not a guilty pleasure, that's great music! I have the "Life Is Beautiful" album, and a bunch of his remixes, and I totally love the jazz and bossanova influences in his stuff. And who can forget "Mars Is Forever"? =)

(Then again, I'm a fan of disco-themed house music, so my view may be skewed. =P)

My favourite genres all have something to do with dance music (especially house, disco, and garage) and dance-influenced stuff, so I guess there'll be tons of oddball stuff in my collection.

RuPaul - 'nuff said.

Dance remixes of pop acts such as Britney Spears, Destiny's Child - Armand van Helden and Maurice Joshua are great at them.

Bollywood soundtracks

[Lum]

Oh, that's not a guilty pleasure, that's great music! I have the "Life Is Beautiful" album, and a bunch of his remixes, and I totally love the jazz and bossanova influences in his stuff. And who can forget "Mars Is Forever"? =)

(Then again, I'm a fan of disco-themed house music, so my view may be skewed. =P)

Hehe, for some reason I had to crank up "Take Me To The Disco" after reading that, even though it's like 6AM. :D

[Kuroyama]

I will not lose on a thread I started!

1) Transformers the Motion Picture Soundtrack
2) Five Star: Greatest Hits



And in case ya didnt read the title of the thread...



3) Xanadu Soundtrack

OK..I gave it my best shot but I came up short. True Story... when I was buying a used copy of Bobby Brown: Dance, Ya Know It... I saw a copy of RuPauls CD... I shuddered and moved away quickly.

Big Props to Jade!

[Vahz]

Was a fan of Rammstein during the Sehnsucht and Herzeleid albums but everything after sounded like dance music which wasn't my thing. I just randomly downloaded songs from Fantastic Plastic Machine and I have no idea what I'm listening to. Guess it's not my thing.

[JadeDragon]

Aw, come on, guys, RuPaul's great! She even did a cover of Depeche Mode's "People Are People", which I'm sure Lopan would looooooove, knowing his fondness for the 80s. ;)

[DONKEY]

Country music. I can't help it; I grew up in Texas.
that's no excuse. i did too and i still hate country music. ive even been inside my fair share of "country" clubs and i still hated it. i think just about every "country" artist in the past 60 years has been faking it. and im not saying that because im some kind of country purist. it just seems like totally insincere music to me. white dudes who grow up on ranches in texas and really live the redneck life don't like country, they like metallica and bad hip-hop. i still get huge headaches when someone is blasting country music in a bar or their pickup truck in the parking lot of the rehab clinic.

i guess if i have any guilty pleasure music it's early 90s riot grrl bands lol

[minbo]

Nothing guilty about Rammstein. They had one of the best stage shows I've ever seen, what with rubber hoses for simulated BD anal sex, flamethrowers 20' over the mosh pit... An over muscled lead singer who used to be an Olympic swimmer. They have great stuff. Du hast mich gefragt und ich hab nichts gesagt baby!

As for Anime music, they have some great stuff. The soundtrack for Nausicaa and Laputa for example both have great pieces. Transformers the movie however, THAT is a guilty pleasure.

My two most embarrassing music purchases - Cher - Heart of Gold (It was a mis-order when I joined one of those $1.00 cd clubs way way back) and Millie Vanillie - Girl you know it's true singles tape (bought to torment a friend). At least those are my stories and I'm sticking to them!

[cattygurl]

I lose Joe Hisaishi (the composer for a lot of Hayao Miyazaki's soundtracks).

Du hast mich gefragt und ich hab nichts gesagt baby!

How can anyone not like Rammestein?

As for country, I do like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, some old Dolly Parton.
Tom Petty, Lynard Skynard (not country but they're Southern Rock)
I grew up in the deep South. Tennessee is more country than Texas.

Not being Christian, I do admit I enjoy listening to af-am gospel music, esp those that have been incorporated into New Orleans Jazz. "I'll fly away" done with a brassy New Orleans edge is just amazing to listen to. I also love classical music, and a lot of my favorites were written for the church or have connections to christianity. Well, who said bad religion can't make good music (and I do like Bad Religion, hahahahah. Dumb joke).

[Lum]

Check out The Holmes Brothers (http://www.alligator.com/index.cfm?section=artists&artistid=69). It's juke-joint blues mostly, but they made a great album of the gospel standards you're referring to. I used to go see them all the time in this blues-bar next to Nightingale's in NY. They had this pedal-steel player that was off the rails.

[Scowl]

Aw, come on, guys, RuPaul's great! She even did a cover of Depeche Mode's "People Are People", which I'm sure Lopan would looooooove, knowing his fondness for the 80s. ;)

Are you serious? I'm really curious as to how it sounds.

[cattygurl]

Ru Paul raocks, in and out of drag.

[Kuroyama]

I dunno... I like Some Great Reward... so now Im curious. I only remember RuPaul having some single like "gotta work" or something like that. I dont remember s/he having more than the one radio hit...Must-resist-urge-to-wiki...

gotta go.

[sab]

Jimmy Buffet, just reminds me of the ocean I guess... Lol.

[Hadouken]

I have you guys all beat: Yanni.
Try topping that embarrassment.

And can anybody be really comfortable purchasing some of the music from the '80s? I mean stuff like Johnny Hates Jazz, Duran Duran, John Waite, Kool & The Gang, Human League, Lionel Richie.... I wish I'm a ninja so I can just sneak these out of the stores without having to deal with the smirk from the young punks behind the counters. Thank god for Amazon.

[Hadouken]

I will not lose on a thread I started!

1) Transformers the Motion Picture Soundtrack

That is one of the finest soundtracks to ever see the light of a laser.

[maogirl]

i always had a soft spot for the soundtrack to carebears the movie, but i ain't embarrassed by it. it's a damn good soundtrack, the song "forest of feelings" still brings a tear to my eye.

[Lum]

Wow, you guys got some serious skeletons in your closets! I feel like sich a hipster-doofus...

Don't be knockin' the 80's though. It may have blown a hole in the ionosphere with hairspray fumes, but it's still the most underrated decade in music.

Just remembered I used to listen to the soundtrack from The Muppet Movie all the time, and I mean through most of my twenties, but it got lost in the cassette-era. Never replaced it, but I still think it's great. I know this barely qualifies.

[Kuroyama]

Preach it Lum! If youre even talking about cassettes you know youre on the edge of acceptability... and if youre in this thread and are too young to have ever owned a tape cassette... grab a bowl of fruity pebbles (alpha bits?) and sit down.

hmmm... saturday morning cartoons and big bowls of cereal... How guilty is THAT?? Hell, I think I need to plan that for this weekend.

Maogirl... Carebears?? Youre kidding right? Thats joke on Kuro? Dont take this the wrong way, but I always kinda figured that if the 44s were all Xmen...

...that YOUD be Wolverine.

I mean, you come across as a hot chick and all, but youre rugged! Trying to picture you with bangs and baretts <sp?> in your hair... watching some carebears?? Does not compute. Ive just kind of always imagined you as owning a chainsaw...thats never been used to cut wood..."The saw is family".

Bringing back guilty... how about some George Michael!... or you could like, increase the guilt geometrically by adding some Andrew Wrigley!!!

[cattygurl]

don't even get my started on 80's music. My ipod is bursting @ the seams with them.

[minbo]

At least no one is saying David Hasselhoff! I think that would be the win.

[ZhuBaJie]

http://www.mm52.com/chineseidols/twins/twins_002.jpg

[Ike]

Who are those girls?

[ZhuBaJie]

Who are those girls?

here's an old video. it's still one of my favourite videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLyI08-Ku_E

[JadeDragon]

And ZhuBaJie wins the internets!

The two girls, Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung, make up a Hong Kong pop group, Twins. (They aren't really twins, duh.) It's a pre-fab act, and they were models before they were asked by an entertainment organisation, reputedly run by a HK gang boss, to go into "singing". They've also made a bunch of schlocky movies, with titles like "The Twins Effect", and plenty of commercials.

And this is for Scowl, who wanted to see if RuPaul's to his liking. =P
http://www.zshare.net/audio/peoplearepeople-mp3.html

[Lum]

The two girls, Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung, make up a Hong Kong pop group, Twins. (They aren't really twins, duh.) It's a pre-fab act, and they were models before they were asked by an entertainment organisation, reputedly run by a HK gang boss, to go into "singing". They've also made a bunch of schlocky movies, with titles like "The Twins Effect", and plenty of commercials.

And here I was thinking Milli Vanilli didn't leave their mark on the world.

[ZhuBaJie]

The two girls, Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung, make up a Hong Kong pop group, Twins. (They aren't really twins, duh.) It's a pre-fab act, and they were models before they were asked by an entertainment organisation, reputedly run by a HK gang boss, to go into "singing". They've also made a bunch of schlocky movies, with titles like "The Twins Effect", and plenty of commercials.

well they were not really your typical models, both of them are really short. their act was basically launched by genius marketting. take two girls that are not statuesque-looking, but look like good looking girls you can find on the street. dress them up like teenage girls, and make them sing songs about teenage girl stuff. wait till summer when the kids are out of school and plaster their faces on every available advertising space in HK. viola!

the teenage girl market was their biggest market, because teenage girls identified with the group. and i think teenage boys liked them just because they're cute.

[vsoy]

Preach it Lum! If youre even talking about cassettes you know youre on the edge of acceptability... and if youre in this thread and are too young to have ever owned a tape cassette... grab a bowl of fruity pebbles (alpha bits?) and sit down.
Dude, the hubby and I got into a heated argument about taking the cassette player out of our stereo equipment. I had all these great cassette albums, didn't have mp3s on any of them I wasn't about to try to hunt down these albums and buy CDs. I just didn't want to give up the tape cassette player. What saved the day? My local public library is just BRIMMING with guilty pleasures CDs and now I have mp3s of most of my cassette library. The tape player stays, even though once in a while it'll vomit up a spoolful of ribbon when you pop a tape out.


Bringing back guilty... how about some George Michael!... or you could like, increase the guilt geometrically by adding some Andrew Wrigley!!!
Oh, don't make me break out Wham Rap! He made Blondie look hard core gangsta.

Other guilty pleasures beside Wham!, Whitney Houston, ABBA, old school Michael Jackson, KISS. You can imagine the sonic horror when I'm singing along in the car or by myself doing housework.

Great... you guys bring up Carebears, Muppets and Transformers, now I got that stupid song from "Reading Rainbow" stuck in my head.

[nskripchun]

Originally Posted by Kuroyama View Post
I will not lose on a thread I started!

1) Transformers the Motion Picture Soundtrack

That is one of the finest soundtracks to ever see the light of a laser.

Definitely.

[nskripchun]

My guilty pleasure...

http://img5.imagevenue.com/loc491/th_89135_THE_Manpower!!!_01_122_491lo.jpg (http://img5.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=89135_THE_Manpower!!!_01_122_491lo.j pg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biIScPNznac

It's just too hypnotic... "MANPOWER... duh dum duh duh duh"

I blame all my former junior high school students for the original introduction. But Ai Takahashi is just too kawaii!

[minbo]

Dude, the hubby and I got into a heated argument about taking the cassette player out of our stereo equipment. I had all these great cassette albums, didn't have mp3s on any of them I wasn't about to try to hunt down these albums and buy CDs. I just didn't want to give up the tape cassette player. What saved the day? My local public library is just BRIMMING with guilty pleasures CDs and now I have mp3s of most of my cassette library. The tape player stays, even though once in a while it'll vomit up a spoolful of ribbon when you pop a tape out.


Haha, I threw out my 8 track recorder (not just a player!), a stack of 8 tracks and a few blanks last year. I was all Mr fancy pants and even had an outboard Dolby encoder/decoder that I ran the signal through. I even had the pleasure once of riding in a car that had an 8 track head unit. Ahh, memories....

[Scowl]

And this is for Scowl, who wanted to see if RuPaul's to his liking. =P
http://www.zshare.net/audio/peoplearepeople-mp3.html

Since when did you become the go-to person for finding weird shit on the internet? The song is..... interesting. I don't know what to think of it. I think I need a drink. What thehell was that last part at the end?

Anyway, the most embarassing stuff that I have copies of are David Hasselhoff, Cathy Dennis, La Bouche, Tatu, Dido, and Sting. Remember the "high definition" (or something) cassette tapes that never quite caught on? I got Cathy Dennis's 'Move to this' on that and for the longest time I couldn't even listen to it. I thought it was a regular fucking tape. Assholes.

[DONKEY]

i want to clear something up here about cassettes. i still own 400+ of them and still use them almost every day. i even have a 4-track mini recording studio that uses cassettes. let me explain why..
http://www.lordpercy.com/ZenSleek_2.JPG
MP3 PLAYER
pros: holds the most music, most compact, skipping around is easy, infinite free music
cons: constantly needs re-charging, will freeze sometimes and its inconvenient to reset it when this happens. im also scared shitless of getting it wet or accidently dropping it. so its only practical for short trips without any hazards.

http://www.onlinecrazydeals.com/Images/cd%20player.jpg
CD PLAYER
pros: less fragile than the mp3 player
cons: dont like to carry CDs around, theyre too delicate, skips a lot, only one album at a time

http://www.mineroff.com/nature/wm-d6c.gif
CASSETTE PLAYER
PROS: STURDY AS HELL, NO SKIPPING OR FREEZING, BATTERIES LAST A WHILE, IF YOU DROP THE TAPE YOU CAN JUST PICK IT UP AND PUT IT BACK IN AND ITS RIGHT WHERE YOU LEFT OFF. LOCKED IN AND ROLLING!!!!
CONS: PEOPLE LAUGH, BUT FUCK EM

[maogirl]

hey, what's wrong with twins??? i love their movies!

and carebears the movie still rocks, the cartoon was shit though.

i also liked the halloween song from garfield's halloween special, i still totally remember the lyrics:

what should i be?
there's so many sides to me
i could be an astronaut
a robot
a hobo
a clown
or an alien creature going out on the town
what should i be?
what could i be?
i could be a scary vampire
or turn myself into a bat, flap flap
or i could put on some black pajamas
and go as a great big halloween cat


that's from memory, too...


eta: yes, i would be wolverine, minus the hair, but mostly because of the smoking and the healing factor

hey that would be an awesome thread...if the 44s were the xmen, who would the different people be?

[Kuroyama]

Jeez... the Twins...

I cannot speak for their musical ability... but before buying "The Twins Effect 2", I thought that kung fu flicks were like pizza or sex. There is no such thing as BAD... Some is just better than others.

Well, Ive had bad pizza, and bad sex... I guess the kung fu flicks thing was just a matter of time. If I remember correctly I didnt even try to sell it... I just gave it to some unsuspecting soul thats probably since put a hit out on me.