Does Pat Brothwell’s guilty pleasures playlist match yours?
I’m about the farthest thing from a music snob. There’s plenty of songs most respectable music enthusiasts would scoff at that I consider favorites. And I’m no stranger to getting judged for my musical selections either. When you routinely request that cover bands play Toto’s “Africa” or Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” is your jukebox go-to, it comes with the territory.
That being said, there are still a handful of songs that I’d rather the general public not know that I not only like, but listen to on the regular. You know the songs, the ones that send you into a panic when they accidentally come on in your car when you have passengers, the ones that you claim your girlfriend downloaded (my friends: what girlfriend?) when friends find them in your iTunes, the ones that as a guy, you know you shouldn’t like, yet sing in the shower when you’re sure that no one else is in the house.
Today, because I feel like losing the small sense of shame I still retain, I’m going to share with you the playlist I’m embarrassed to admit exists.
“My Life Would Suck Without You,” Kelly Clarkson. No matter what you think about her music, you’ve got to respect Kelly Clarkson. She can actually sing, she stands up for her music and she described this year’s VMA’s as being dominated by “pitchy strippers.” I particularly like this one because the refrain could describe not only love but friendships as well. This is a rage-to-on-the-highway-with-the-windows-down favorite.
“Crash and Burn,” Savage Garden. There’s some music that should be embarrassing but isn’t because of nostalgia. Any self-respecting child who came of age during the reign of MTV’s TRL knows at least the refrains of N*Sync’s “Bye Bye Bye” or most of a Britney Spears song. Savage Garden’s “Crash and Burn” does not fall into this category. It’s mushy and awful, although the music video does have me nostalgic in a way that makes me want to go reinvest in Sun-In and dig out some sweaters from Structure.
“Dancing on my Own,” Robyn. Technically this song isn’t known well enough to really be that embarrassing, and the fact that Robyn is Swedish should earn me some international credibility. What I’m actually embarrassed about is that I Shazamed this song while watching Girls. On a related note, Kings of Leon does an awesome cover of this.
“Rockstar,” Nickelback. Does anybody like Nickelback? At this point it feels a bit like piling on but I always equated them with the epitome of musical generic-ness. Still, I like” Rockstar” and its bizarre/entertaining music video.
“It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” Celine Dion. My favorite college bar played “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” late almost every night, well past the point where inhibitions kept you from embarrassing yourself. I include it on a ton of playlists, and while my college friends would back this up, I found myself lying the other day when someone at the gym asked me, “Are you listening to Celine Dion?” (I said it was Queen, don’t ask me where that came from.)
“Super Bass,” Nicki Minaj. I’m not necessarily embarrassed that I like “Super Bass”, which is the only song on this list that appears on my iTunes “Top 25 Plays” but I am embarrassed that I spent 2 weeks last year listening to this and only this on my ride to and from work so that I could learn to rap it verbatim…
“Where’s the Love,” Hanson. You know how you have that first album you had that you listened to front to back over and over and over again? I always wish mine was Born to Run but the sad truth is that it was Hanson’s Middle of Nowhere. Rather than go with their classic “MmmBop,” which falls under the nostalgia safety cloak, I’ll include this lesser remembered single. Side note: If you want to be surprised and a little impressed, check out some of the stuff Hanson has put out since.
“Picture to Burn,” Taylor Swift. So I sort of like most Taylor Swift songs and upon double checking found the she takes up a sizeable chunk of my iTunes library, While my love of “Love Story” was publically documented in a very sad and very alcohol fueled karaoke performance, “Picture to Burn” is heavily featured on my workout playlist. What can I say? It gets me pumped up.
“Dirrty,” Christina Aguilera. I’m neither going to try to rationalize why I like this song or why it’s spelled with two R’s.
“Chapel of Love,” Dixie Cups. I blame this one solely on my mother.
So do you disagree with any of these? Should I be out and proud of these selections? What songs do you listen to on the sly and why?
photo Kjetil Korslien / Flickr
Great stuff, Pat. Here are my eighties guilty pleasures: http://wp.me/p1caRd-2Am
In the interest of full disclosure I feel I should probably point out that my favorite album of 2006 might have been Fergie’s “The Duchess,” although this is less a guilty pleasure and more a well-known fact.
Loved this article Pat. I almost always find other people’s ‘guilty pleasures’ interesting. Dirrty could be included in mine.
When you spoke about Taylor Swift taking up a sizeable chunk of your itunes library, this reminded me of my discovery that I obviously love Paramour, since their albums take up a sizeable chunk in my own library. This is often a no no for rock/metal fans such as myself, but….my library also contains Whitney Houston, so anything goes.
I always find it funny to find out what some people consider to be “guilty pleasures.” I know in the past people have told me, “this is my guilty pleasure” and I thought to myself, “that’s one of my favorite songs of all time.”