"Guilty pleasure" albums?

[ForeverAutumn]

Speaking of AC/DC,

This AM I played the newly re-re-re-re-re-remaster of Back in Black.

Reading the liner notes while I drove, this band sold in excess of 11 MILLION copies of this stupid album!


Good lord!

I guess they made it big, huh.

Never saw that band, had plenty of chances.

Dave

I'm an AC/DC fan. Always have been, always will be. I'm not a hard core fan, I don't have all their CDs. But everytime I hear Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap I have to crank the volume up and sing it as loud as I can. Maybe they aren't the best band ever from a musical standpoint, but they're sure fun to listen to.

They take that fun on the road. I've seen 'em live a few times. A couple of times when I was in Junior High and High School and, more recently, last summer at SARS fest. Lemme tell you....ask anyone who was there, or read any review of SARSfest, and you'll hear that AC/DC out rocked the headliners, The Rolling Stones, by miles. Even people who were there to see the Stones and weren't fans of AC/DC had to admit that the Stones may have brought the crowd in, but it was AC/DC who stole the show.

Not a guilty pleasure. A staple of life IMO.

Guilty pleasures in my collection? Hehehe. By most people's standards here, most of my collection would be considered a guilty pleasure.

[Troy]

Some of my favourites are the Capitol Ultralounge discs lots of cheesy easy listening fodder.

I have a bunch of those. They're great.

RCA's series of "History of Space Age Pop" discs are also worth seeking out for fans of 50s and 60s big band hi-fi and perverted percussion.

[Stone]

Are there albums that you own that you are embarrassed to have in your collection? Albums that have no indie cred? Albums that you've outgrown from a musical perspective...yet still can't fathom selling off? Albums that will elicit an eye-rolling reaction from your musically inclined friends, but you still find them fascinating?

Here are my skeletons in the closet:

Guns 'N' Roses: Appetite For Destruction
Yeah, it's basically 80's cock-rock. But unlike most of their peers, this has balls, grit, and a middle-finger-in-the-air trashy subversiveness that weren't seen since the New York Dolls. I still can't live without my monthly fix of "It's So Easy."

Green Day: Dookie
It's poppy, commercialized, and heavily derivative of The Jam, Husker Du, The Buzzcocks, and a bunch of other punk acts the average person has never heard of. I still dig it, though. At least it's better than the Blink-182 and Sum41 sh-t that followed.

Beastie Boys: Licensed To Ill
All the fratboys and whiggers love this rap/rock fusion to death. And I do too. Best track: "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" (BEST RIFF EVER in a rap song)

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones: Let's Face It
Yes, I bought this back in '98 for "The Impression That I Get." And third-wave ska is deader than JFK. Do I still listen to it? Absolutely.

Dream Theater: Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory
I'm sure I'm gonna get punched in my cyber mouth by the resident proggers for saying this, but this album definitely reeks of prog cheese. Lots of solos, a generally cliche concept storyline, a male vocalist that sounds female, and a keyboardist that reminds me so much of Rick Wakeman I'm surprised he doesn't wear a cape. Still, if I have an urge to hear 128 notes a minute played with robotlike precision, this is where I go.

Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
Basically a slick, poppy AOR album. But there is no denying the talents of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. "The Chain" might be the best song they ever wrote.

I used to own Sublime's self-titled, Offsrping's Americana, and Bush's Sixteen Stone, but I came to my senses and traded them in for Queens Of The Stone Age's Songs For The Deaf. Fair trade? I'm sorry to say that I also used to own Kid Rock's Devil Without A Cause but I curbstomped that POS a long time ago along with a bunch of R&B and lite rock sh-t I used to devour when I was musically retarded.

Wow, man, you should broaden your horizons if these are your "guilty pleasures." I have and like all of those albums, except for the Dream Theater which I haven't heard, and don't consider any of them "guilty pleasures." I don't really like that phrase, because I like what I like, but here are a few that might fall into that category that I purchased specifically to have*:

-Any of 12 Erasure CDs and 12"s
-Natalie Imbruglia - White Lilies Island
-Madonna - The Immaculate Collection
-Mudvayne - L.D.50
-Any of a few Reel Big Fish CDs
-Save Ferris - It Means Everything
-Van Halen - s/t

And I suppose I have a lot of other stuff people might consider guilty pleasures, but I really don't associate music that way and I'm not embarrassed to say I really like something like the Romantics or Sigue Sigue Sputnik, or that I have 14 Screeching Weasel CDs.

Oh, and yeah, you should go back and rebuy that Sublime album.

Stone

*As opposed to having them because they were part of a collection I bought.

[Mike]

I have a bunch of those. They're great.

RCA's series of "History of Space Age Pop" discs are also worth seeking out for fans of 50s and 60s big band hi-fi and perverted percussion.

Thanks Troy I'll check those out, I love all that big stereo effects stuff

Cheers
Mike

[Jim Clark]

Hey Mike, just yesterday I listened to the Shirley Bassey remix album, I'm no wus.

All of my Styx albums are on LP and since my TT has been hooked up to the PC for years collecting dust those probably don't qualify. I guess you have to play them for it to count. That leaves the remastered greatest hits vol. 1+2 which I do play about once a year or so.

All of the Def Leopard talk has me thinking of trying to find my lp of On Through The Night and blowing some of the dust off my tt.

Tons of other things that probably suck but I like anyway. Surf Punks, much of the Adam Ant catalog although only Strip sucks from start to finish! America roolz, Muskrat Love not withstanding.

[DariusNYC]

I'm with nobody and Troy on this. No guilty pleasures for me; I like what I like. Usually a "guilty pleasure" on a music board like this means something that somebody likes that was very popular, and in most cases was marketed to a different demographic that that to which the "guilty" party belongs. So they feel guilty for some reason. Elvis Costello never felt guilty about anything he liked, and he knew ABBA (plus a lot of other disco) was great back in 1978 and wasn't afraid to rip-off a bit of their sound on "Oliver's Army". Of course to listen to the macho rockers of the late 70s, disco was some crime against humanity (of course, these were people that listened to Styx -- of course, if I liked Styx I wouldn't feel guilty about that either).

Oh, by the way, I especially applaud Jar's defense of quality 80s hair metal. I used to love that stuff.

[-Jar-]

I'm with nobody and Troy on this. No guilty pleasures for me; I like what I like. Usually a "guilty pleasure" on a music board like this means something that somebody likes that was very popular, and in most cases was marketed to a different demographic that that to which the "guilty" party belongs. So they feel guilty for some reason. Elvis Costello never felt guilty about anything he liked, and he knew ABBA (plus a lot of other disco) was great back in 1978 and wasn't afraid to rip-off a bit of their sound on "Oliver's Army". Of course to listen to the macho rockers of the late 70s, disco was some crime against humanity (of course, these were people that listened to Styx -- of course, if I liked Styx I wouldn't feel guilty about that either).

Oh, by the way, I especially applaud Jar's defense of quality 80s hair metal. I used to love that stuff.

Pink Floyd had no fear of disco..

and in regards to 80's metal.. the funny thing is, back in those days, I considered bands like Black Flag, Minutemen, Dead Kennedys, Husker Du, Sonic Youth, REM, etc to be my "guilty pleasures" .. even though I was also listening to Accept, Krokus, Ratt, Scorpions, Helix, Michael Schenker, Triumph.. etc etc.. now, it's the opposite. I never thought back then that bands like Husker Du and Black Flag would ever be more than a blip on the radar.. then I read about Husker Du in a People Magazine at the doctor's office or something.. and it all started to change.

-jar

[3-LockBox]

I know a lot of people think they suck, but I look at the band as performance art. Hell, people who liked DEVO didn't think that the band really took itself seriously, we all just thought of it as campy fun. The band is obviously having fun with Spinal Tap in parts of its video for I Believe In A Thing Called Love.

Guilty is as guilty does. No one is ever guilty in prison, and some of my guilty pleasure are proudly displayed in other people's CD collections. Such as: Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack (at least half of the songs anyway) and Janet Jackson (with whom I'm seriously disappointed with at the moment).

[-Jar-]

Spyro Gyra - MORNING DANCE and CATCHING THE SUN

Chuch Mangione - FEELS SO GOOD

all three of these albums take me back.. we even played a chart from MORNING DANCE in my high school jazz ensemble.

Grusin & Ritenour - HARLEQUIN

Ok, I used to have this cd and I must have sold it.. I guess I felt a little TOO guilty.. hehehe. Just a little too sugary for me..

-jar

[mad rhetorik]

I'm an AC/DC fan. Always have been, always will be. I'm not a hard core fan, I don't have all their CDs. But everytime I hear Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap I have to crank the volume up and sing it as loud as I can. Maybe they aren't the best band ever from a musical standpoint, but they're sure fun to listen to.

They take that fun on the road. I've seen 'em live a few times. A couple of times when I was in Junior High and High School and, more recently, last summer at SARS fest. Lemme tell you....ask anyone who was there, or read any review of SARSfest, and you'll hear that AC/DC out rocked the headliners, The Rolling Stones, by miles. Even people who were there to see the Stones and weren't fans of AC/DC had to admit that the Stones may have brought the crowd in, but it was AC/DC who stole the show.

Not a guilty pleasure. A staple of life IMO.

Guilty pleasures in my collection? Hehehe. By most people's standards here, most of my collection would be considered a guilty pleasure.

Actually, I own Back In Black ironically enough, and never considered it a guilty pleasure. Guess it has ingrained itself into my psyche so much that I never thought of it as cheesy. Or maybe, as Slosh has suggested, my musical taste is much to be desired. : P

AC/DC are totally fun and pretention-free. I guess that's why I dig 'em. Same with Motorhead.

I also have one more "guilty pleasure" recording that I forgot: Iron Maiden's Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. It's got bleach-blonde mullets, synthesizers, a really cheesy concept storyline, and to top the sundae the most ridiculous cover art I've ever seen. I love it. As excessive as the whole spectacle is, it beats the hell out of the Blaze Bayley/Janick Gers years.

I guess Bjork's Debut could also fall into that category, seeing as it is basically dance pop, and eccentric dance pop at that.

Speaking of Iron Maiden, did you recieve my comp yet F.A.? I'm interested in hearing what you think about it.

[-Jar-]

Actually, I own Back In Black ironically enough, and never considered it a guilty pleasure. Guess it has ingrained itself into my psyche so much that I never thought of it as cheesy. Or maybe, as Slosh has suggested, my musical taste is much to be desired. : P

AC/DC are totally fun and pretention-free. I guess that's why I dig 'em. Same with Motorhead.

I also have one more "guilty pleasure" recording that I forgot: Iron Maiden's Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. It's got bleach-blonde mullets, synthesizers, a really cheesy concept storyline, and to top the sundae the most ridiculous cover art I've ever seen. I love it. As excessive as the whole spectacle is, it beats the hell out of the Blaze Bayley/Janick Gers years.

I guess Bjork's Debut could also fall into that category, seeing as it is basically dance pop, and eccentric dance pop at that.

Speaking of Iron Maiden, did you recieve my comp yet F.A.? I'm interested in hearing what you think about it.

I spun the s**t out of my copy of BACK IN BLACK. I even got used to where the skips were. I doubt there's an album I've listened to more, except for maybe NEW DAY RISING or NUMBER OF THE BEAST.

Speaking of Maiden, for me, SEVENTH SON was the beginning of the downward spiral. I thought SOMEWHERE IN TIME was great, though not quite on the level of POWERSLAVE. But SEVENTH SON, save for a few tracks like "Clairvoyant" and "Infinite Dreams" .. well I thought it was just pretty repetitious and uninspired. But, at that point, I was pretty much ending my relationship with metal and had started to get interested in bands like REM, Replacements, Violent Femmes, etc.. I never bought another Maiden album after SEVENTH SON.. even though for many years they were hands-down my favorite band. I have to admit though, I saw Maiden last summer and had a rocking good time.. they played "Revelations" and "Hallowed by thy Name" - it was awesome.

-jar

[ForeverAutumn]

Speaking of Iron Maiden, did you recieve my comp yet F.A.? I'm interested in hearing what you think about it.

I used to play the crap out of Number of the Beast. It was the only Maiden album I ever owned and I loved it. I saw them back in High School too but to be honest, I don't remember much about the concert. There's a few concerts from back in those days where my chemically induced memory fails me. I recently bought a "best of" type of Iron Maiden CD. The Platinum Collection or something like that. It was fun to hear a lot of those songs again. But they didn't make it back into regular rotation.

I received your comp yesterday. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but I'll try to give it a spin over the weekend and let you know my impressions. I'm very interested to see what I think of it too!

[tugmcmartin]

Like a couple of others here (Troy and nobody?) i don't really think i have any guilty pleasures. I like what i like and i'm not afraid to admit it.

But.... as far as respect from peers (we at RR), i own a few albums that would probably make most of the folks here cringe. I guess those would be guilty pleasures in roundabout way. So mine would be:

Several albums from John Denver. This guy was a putz to a supreme level ("far out") but the man could write some beautiful songs. "Poems, Prayers, and Promises" and "Rhyme and Reason" are two of my all-time favorite songs.

My wife has Madonna's "Immaculate Collection" which i actually kinda dig. She also has some Chicago album which i can't remember the name of which is cool to listen to every now and again.

Almost all of my country collection would be a guilty pleasure based on what's not popular here at RR. Have some Tim McGraw, Clint Black, Alan Jackson, and of course Garth, as well as some other "pop" country artists (though no Shania and no Faith Hill).

I also have some older hip-hop/rap stuff that most folks here would laugh at. Some Kool Moe Dee, Fat Boys, LL Cool J, Run DMC, NWA, Ice Cube, Public Enemy, etc.

Out of all of those, John Denver probably elicits the most laughs and curious looks from my friends. But at least he's not Celine!

T-

[ForeverAutumn]

Like a couple of others here (Troy and nobody?) i don't really think i have any guilty pleasures. I like what i like and i'm not afraid to admit it.

But.... as far as respect from peers (we at RR), i own a few albums that would probably make most of the folks here cringe. I guess those would be guilty pleasures in roundabout way. So mine would be:

Several albums from John Denver. This guy was a putz to a supreme level ("far out") but the man could write some beautiful songs. "Poems, Prayers, and Promises" and "Rhyme and Reason" are two of my all-time favorite songs.

Well Tug, I know that some people here may be rolling their eyes at you but I'm totally with you on the John Denver thing. I have a few John Denver collections on CD and my Hubby bought a John Denver DVD for me for Christmas, which I haven't listened to/watched yet.

I've always loved his voice. I took my mother to see him as a Mother's Day gift many years ago and his voice, live, totally blew me away. So much so, that I took her to see him again a few years later. If you never had the chance to see him live, know that his records don't do his voice justice. This man was incredibly gifted. Elton John is like that too. His voice is much richer in a live performance that on any of his recordings.

While he may be better known for some of his Hokey hits like Thank God I'm a Country Boy and Leaving on a Jet Plane, you're right, Tug. Poems, Prayers and Promises and Rhyme and Reason, among so many others, are beautiful songs.

[MindGoneHaywire]

I've never thought of John Denver in the same scornful way that I would reserve for other performers. I don't have any of his stuff, but I was playing 'Take Me Home Country Roads' Ramones-style in a cover band more than 10 years ago & I don't consider 'Jet Plane' to be hokey at all. There are a lot of performers that I really don't like at all & don't have any of their stuff, but when I'm assaulted by one of their tunes on the radio, one out of every hundred or so has a melody line or a hook or a chorus or something that makes me say, as much as I hate to admit it, that's a good pop song, or at least a good part of a pop song. I've heard James Taylor songs I thought were good, even Phil Collins (at least at one time). I did grow up listening to Billy Joel, and while I can't stand him anymore or most of his music, the man is clearly talented & had a way with melody. And John Denver had more than one tune that I thought was a good piece of work (I think 'Annie's Song' was another). But I can't go any further in my admiration for these Lite FM staples other than acknowledging that they either have a pop song I thought was decent, or a part of one; and I have no CDs or records by any of 'em. Now, there's one guy who I can honestly say I could never say that about even one of his songs, EVER, and that's Barry Manilow. My wife loves his music from childhood, though. Thankfully she never plays any of it. Anyone hear 'Manilow Sings Sinatra?' What a cash-in. What a wuss. What a travesty. What a ta-ra-ra-boom-dee-yay. If only that album had been instrumental-only...

[tugmcmartin]

Wow, i'm kinda shocked that there are some not-so-negative comments about John Denver. Just goes to show that musical tastes in here are extremely varied and there's probably going to be more common ground amongst us than not.

For me, a lot of John Denver's songs hit home. "Rocky Mountain High" for one. Especially the part about "He was born in the summer of his 27th year... coming home to a place he'd never been before." I'm an east coaster who moved to Colorado in the summer of my 27th year (with my wife who is originally from here) and its definitely my home now. Love it here. His lyrics just paint such an accurate portrait of what its like in the Rockies. My mom, i'm sure, identifies with "I Guess He'd Rather Be In Colorado" since she thinks i kinda ran away from Virginia to be here. Kind of true, but kind of not. I came out here for my wife, but love it so much that i don't know if i'll ever move back.

Anyway, enough about some trivial personal BS. Nice to see John Denver isn't mockingly scorned by some.

T-

[-Jar-]

Wow, i'm kinda shocked that there are some not-so-negative comments about John Denver. Just goes to show that musical tastes in here are extremely varied and there's probably going to be more common ground amongst us than not.

For me, a lot of John Denver's songs hit home. "Rocky Mountain High" for one. Especially the part about "He was born in the summer of his 27th year... coming home to a place he'd never been before." I'm an east coaster who moved to Colorado in the summer of my 27th year (with my wife who is originally from here) and its definitely my home now. Love it here. His lyrics just paint such an accurate portrait of what its like in the Rockies. My mom, i'm sure, identifies with "I Guess He'd Rather Be In Colorado" since she thinks i kinda ran away from Virginia to be here. Kind of true, but kind of not. I came out here for my wife, but love it so much that i don't know if i'll ever move back.

Anyway, enough about some trivial personal BS. Nice to see John Denver isn't mockingly scorned by some.

T-

I associate several John Denver songs with different points in my life. When I was 10, my dad moved our family from town out to the country to the Farmhouse he grew up in. So, the song with the line "sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend" from "Back Home Again" seemed to fit his life at that time. My favorite tune by JD is "Looking For Space" - I can't get through that song for some reason w/o getting choked up.. I guess I associate it with the feeling that sometimes I have that I wish I could somehow hit the reset button on my life.. what it's like to be a child, or a teenager, with your whole life ahead of you.. all the doubts, etc.. sometimes you think you're on top of the world then the cold hand of reality slaps you back to earth.. It's amazing what a link to the past music can be. Yea, John could be pretty cheezy, but I'll never say a bad thing about his music.

Looking for Space

On the road of experience
I’m trying to find my own way
Sometimes I wish that I could fly away
When I think that I’m moving
Suddenly things stand still
I’m afraid ‘cause I think they always will

And I’m looking for space
And to find out who I am
And I’m looking to know and understand
It’s a sweet sweet dream
Sometimes I’m almost there
Sometimes I fly like an eagle and
Sometimes I’m deep in despair

All alone in the universe
Sometimes that’s how it seems
I get lost in the sadness and the screams
Then I look in the centre
Suddenly everything’s clear
I find myself in the sunshine and my dreams

And I’m looking for space
And to find out who I am
And I’m looking to know and understand
It’s a sweet sweet dream
Sometimes I’m almost there
Sometimes I fly like an eagle and
Sometimes I’m deep in despair

On the road of experience
Join in the living day
If there’s an answer
It’s just that it’s just that way

When you’re looking for space
And to find out who you are
When you’re looking to try and reach the stars
It’s a sweet sweet sweet dream
Sometimes I’m almost there
Sometimes I fly like an eagle and
Sometimes I’m deep in despair
Sometimes I fly like an eagle
Like an eagle, I go flying high, ooh