Guilty Pleasures!

Today we are going to talk about guilty pleasures.  Musically, that is.  Monday’s blog got a lot of great reaction and so today we are going to bare our soul and let loose our dirty little musical secrets.  Clearly, we have some love for David Cassidy and Howard Jones. 

Several people readily admitted that they did/do listen to some of the music that resides on the list of music you should not listen to.  The majority of those people also admitted that they listened to it when it was new and fresh and did not have the open disdain that might be associated with it today. 

However, we all have hidden secrets that we keep hidden deep on our iPod or tucked away on an unmarked CD.  There are also songs that we are connected to that we will roll the windows down, open the sun roof, or drop the rag top and crank up the tunes.  What are the songs that you will sit in the car, risk being late, and listen/sing until it is over?  What are the songs that you clandestinely listen to but do not or would not openly lay claim to? 

For today’s blog, we will have three; count them, 1, 2, 3 categories:

1. Top(car, not clothing) down & loud
2. Sit in car and be late
3. Guilty & A Little Ashamed

Below are some of my guilty musical pleasures:

Artist	Song	Category	Own CD
R.E.M.	It’s the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine)	Top Down & Loud & Sit in Car	Yes
Bon Jovi	Blaze of Glory	Guilty & A Little Ashamed	No
Elton John	Little Jeanie	Sit In Car	Yes
Cinderella	Don’t Know What You Got Tell It’s Gone	Sit In Car	No
Corey Hart	Sunglasses at Night	Guilty & A Little Ashamed	No
Tom Petty	Break Down	Top Down & Loud	Yes
Violent Femmes	Blister In the Sun	Top Down & Loud	Yes
Van Halen	Right Now	Sit In Car & Guilty & A Little Ashamed	Yes
Stevie Nicks & Don Henley	Leather & Lace	Sit In Car & Guilty & A Little Ashamed	Yes
Styx	Renegade	Top Down & Loud	Yes
Foreigner	Juke Box Hero	Guilty & A Little Ashamed	Yes
Journey	Wheel In the Sky	Top Down & Loud	Yes
Beck	Loser	Top Down & Loud	Yes
Butthole Surfers	Pepper	Top Down & Loud	Yes
The Cult	She Sells Sanctuary	Top Down & Loud	Yes
Elton John	Tiny Dancer	Top Down & Loud & Sit in Car	Yes
Faith No More	Epic	Top Down & Loud	Yes
Fine Young Cannibals	Good Thing	Guilty & A Little Ashamed	Yes
Five For Fighting	Superman (It’s Not Easy)	Sit In Car & Guilty & A Little Ashamed	Yes
Gin Blossoms	Hey Jealousy	Top Down & Loud	Yes
Grateful Dead	Touch of Grey	Top Down & Loud & Sit in Car	Yes
David & David	Welcome to the Boomtown	Sit in Car	Yes
Billy Squier	The Stroke	Guilty & A Little Ashamed	Yes
Charlie Sexton	Beat’s So Lonely	Guilty & A Little Ashamed	No
The Moody Blues	The Voice	Guilty & A Little Ashamed	No
Glenn Frey	Smuggler’s Blues	Guilty & A Little Ashamed	No
REO Speedwagon	Time for Me To Fly	Guilty & A Little Ashamed	No
Night Ranger	Sister Christian	Guilty & A Little Ashamed	No

Great music awaits!

Music you should NOT be listening to!

Greetings music lovers and readers and possible lovers of my blog,

Over the course of the last few months I’ve taken the time to let you know what music you should be listening to.  Cleary, my vast, superior musical knowledge needed an outlet and you needed another time waste in your day to avoid doing some menial form of drudgery.

So, today, I’ve decided to tell you what music you should NOT be listening to.  The impetus for this blog can unwittingly, and will be, attributed to a friend of mine whose name I will absolutely and unabashedly use.  Drum roll please………Tommy Blake ,formerly of DeSoto TX, now living in Ohio, thank you for your face book post yesterday recalling some of the ghastly music of the 80’s.  Actually his post might have used an adjective that was more offensive than “ghastly” but I am not here to judge him or his intolerant ways.  However, I am pretty sure it started with a G.

Anyway, the gist of his post was that while there was some good music to come from the 80’s there was also some really lame music and bands that scarred all of us 80’s children.  As mentioned in previous posts, I completed my public school tour of duty in 1989 and was an ardent music fan from way back.  I am not without sin when it comes to the music of my youth and I’m not looking for absolution for my errant ways.

This got me to thinking how each decade of music seems to scorch the musical earth at some point and the early period of the next decade is where some of the great music comes from.  All decades have lame artists and bands.  Those that have some meteoric rise never seem to last more than an album or two and once we have some distance, we realize how bad the music really was.  The artists and bands that have had longevity are the ones that have persevered and not tried to ride the wave of the latest musical craze.  They have stayed true to their art and what inspires them. 

I realize that everyone has their own musical taste and that certain things are appealing to certain people.  So, if you have ever listened to the artists mentioned in this blog, I feel your pain(trying to be empathetic) because I too listened to some (very few), not all of the artists mentioned.  However, if you still listen to them, you need to never, ever read my blog again and for the love of all that is right in this world, stop reproducing. 

So, with all of that out of the way, here is a list of artists you should NOT be listening to! 

Autograph Winger Milli Vanilli Debbie Gibson Ray Parker Jr. Glass Tiger Taylor Dayne Don Johnson Backstreet Boys Billy Ray Cyrus The Heights Ace of Base M.C. Hammer Chumbawamba Mr. Big Ugly Kid Joe Shaun Cassidy Howard Jones Warrant White Lion Europe Kenny G. Bad English Mr. Mister Falco Patrick Swayze NSYNC Celine Dion Ricky Martin Lou Bega Brittany Spears Extreme Nelson Tiffany Baha Men Wang Chung Slaughter Enuff Z Nuff Cutting Crew Richard Marx Michael Damien Mike & the Mechanics Bulletboys Skid Row Paula Abdul Hanson Wilson Philips Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch New Kids on the Block Right Said Fred Saigon Kick David Cassidy Aldo Nova

This is by no means a complete list!

Great music awaits!