The New Guilty Pleasures Item

May 5 12:08 UTC 2002

I figured it was time to revive an old item from the previous 
conference, and maybe get in some good-natured ribbing of Ken and 
others who are able and/or willing to follow mostly music that is 
somewhat obscure to the masses.

What music and artists do you secretly enjoy, even though they may be 
gross and crass examples of commercialistic drivel, pop media, 
business machine slaves, or the latest incarnation of adolescent 
trends?

Me--

I love the Spice Girls, and I thought their movie, Spice World, was 
hilarious.  It is ruefully ironic that their popularity plummeted 
after Geri Halliwell ("Ginger") left, as she was generally considered 
the sexiest of the Spice Hoochies.  Although they claimed to write 
their own songs, I think they just came up with melodies working with 
studio professionals.  They are a clear-cut example of what studio 
magic and careful choosing can do, and the Brits have gotten very good 
at it.

Speaking of Brits, S Club 7 is another group I just love to watch and 
listen to.  They are just kids, and for the most part too young to 
really be sexually appealing in their skimpy attire, and the group is 
strengthened by the show, which serves as their promotion instead of 
music video.  Even though the show is an old concept, it works-- there 
is a sense that the members are all just good buddies.

I also love htv, which is a Miami Hispanic version of MTV.  A lot of 
lesser-known Miami and Argentine artists are really fun to watch in 
their videos; they are still doing a lot of the old techniques that 
MTV considers rather cliche now.  It is a different music scene that I 
don't expect many of my Causasian friends (like me) to understand much.

Many Grexers in another item think Abba just sucks pond scum.  Lousy 
lyrics, but I do not put them in the "bad disco" category (that's 
reserved for songs like Boogie Oogie Oogie).  I deliver a large 
raspberry to them, although I will admit Electric Light Orchestra will 
earn a larger share of my listening time.  In that vein, I just loved 
Xanadu, although much of the script was bad there, too.  ELO, Olivia 
Newton John, *and* Gene Kelly in the same movie =)  heh.

response 2 of 11:

May 6 02:19 UTC 2002

I loved Spice World. The movie was purposely campy and the singers tried to
convince us that they knew each other from childhood. Plus, Roger Moore was
priceless!

As for guilty pleasures, I'd have to say I enjoyed Can't Stop the Music, the
Village People movie. Watching the leatherman sing Danny Boy was hilarious.

response 4 of 11:

May 6 05:46 UTC 2002

  I'm starting to think *all** of your pleasures are guilty ones..

response 6 of 11:

May 6 23:29 UTC 2002

In the movie world, "guilty pleasures" seems to be the operating 
principle, so much so that I find movies of that sort distinctly 
unpleasant.  I haven't seen "Spice World", but I found the first Austin 
Powers film rather tedious, except for the opening sequence (a 
brilliant capture of an obsolete style) and a few of the jokes 
involving Dr. Evil.  I've avoided the entire "American Pie" genre.

OK, "Josie and the Pussycats" was watchable, but the last pop-music 
spinoff film I actually liked was "Earth Girls are Easy".

response 8 of 11:

May 14 16:57 UTC 2002

I liked "Earth Girls are Easy", but not because it's a guilty 
pleasure.  I liked it because it's ... a good comedy film.  (It was one 
of Jim Carrey's early films, imagine that.)

My idea of a guilty pleasure is the Barnabas Collins Joke Book.  Yes, 
one was actually published:

Q. What's Barnabas's favorite song?
A. Fangs for the Memories.

response 10 of 11:

May 20 20:51 UTC 2002

I did have a copy of the Barnabas joke book, Twila, but alas I got rid 
of it after much travail a few years ago.

After much travail, I say, because I know some equally passionate 
Barnabas fans, and even they didn't want the thing.  Eventually I 
donated it to a fan auction.

Trust me, it's not the sort of thing even the biggest DS fan would 
want.  It's just a collection of every completely lame vampire joke 
ever written, with Barnabas's name attached whether it's appropriate or 
not.  (And really, do you think Barnabas would have been caught singing 
filk versions of old Bob Hope songs?)