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[linnea]

When I was in college, there was some kind of email survey that went around that asked what song you were embarrassed to like. I fully expect my little sister (who just turned 25 so maybe I have to call her my younger sister) to still give me shit about it. I have no idea why I liked the cheesy '80s rock ballad "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight" or why I put it on the list, but there you go.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about other stuff (i.e., guilty pleasures) and I was curious to see if it would make a decent thread.

• Trashy gossip magazines. Ordinarily I wouldn't give a fuck about Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Paris Hilton, or Nichole Richie. But when I'm standing in a long-ass line at the grocery store behind some dude who's buying 4 carts of groceries for his giraffeing boat and the other cashiers are just standing around instead of opening another line...I tend to reach for Us Weekly or Star and I just get totally engrossed. It's like watching a trainwreck, you're disgusted that you can't tear your eyes away. Plus I feel bad that I am essentially putting money into the pockets of asshole paparazzi who try to mow celebrities down with their cars in an attempt to get a shot that they can sell to Us Weekly or Star. Sigh.
• Of course, talking about my cats. I realize that not everybody gives a shit whether Lennybruce's favorite new pastime is stealing my foundation brush, or how damned adorable Milan is when he lies on his back like a little otter, but folks around town generally humor me and say "Awww, how cute" when I whip out my cell phone to show them cat pictures.
  
• Checking out sites like Flickr or MySpace to see how many dudes from small times are on there. It's always weird to pull up an old high school friend's page to see that they have like 6 kids.
   
   

[Gimpson]

Until last night I would have said Michael MacDonald, but after watching (fast-forwarding through, actually) him on Austin City Limits last night I think I realize that it's only a relatively few Doobie Brothers songs that I like. 

The music of America and Toto, nerd rap (I've seen mc chris three times and MC Frontalot twice), and ABBA.  Early in our relationship my fiancee came home to find me sitting on the couch drinking wine and listening to her Best of ABBA CD.  I would not have blamed her if she chose that moment to bail out. 

Also, Adam Sandler movies and Convenience Store Food.  (The Quik Trip Taquito is awesome.)

[pmcd9]

Re:  Michael McDonald

He started on a very high note (pun) and has been on a downward trajectory ever since.  He sings on some of my most favorite songs ever (Steely Dan) although as a backup singer.  He went on to sing for Doobie Brothers and they had some good tunes, but most of their best songs were from before he joined thsm.  Then he went solo and it's much the same as the Doobies, but even less.  The last thing I heard from him was him reworking old Mowtown hits.  It is embarrasing and hard to listen to.

[chuanoplast]

Linnea, I know what you mean about the trashy gossip mags. My friend buys them to read secretly, and I end up reading them too. There must be some sort of magnet in those things. Though I usually end up cutting out heads and body parts and taping them together to make creepy critters. Finger-arms David Bowie is still lurking about somewhere, waiting to kill somebody with Gwen Stefani's boobs.

[V-Adore]

I always read People and Seventeen in the orthodontist's office back in the day. In moderation, they're decent brain candy.

My major guilty pleasures (and I'm not even that guilty about them, truth be told, but they're still kinda embarrassing) are Dungeons & Dragons and the Bravo reality-game shows. I have watched all of the last two seasons of Project Runway and this season of Top Design, and I will watch Shear Genius. I'm not proud.

Also, I still like TMBG, which I'm led to understand is a hanging crime in some nerd circles.

[theinevitable]

um. The fact that I played D&D the other day and kind of enjoyed it.

I mostly enjoyed it through hiply posing and making metacommentary, though.

also, a variety of 90's pop music. I can't think of any examples.

Lately, I enjoy mainstream hip-hop. Getting drunk and dancing to it helps a lot when trying to appreciate this stuff.

[Gimpson]

Also, I still like TMBG, which I'm led to understand is a hanging crime in some nerd circles.

Wait, I didn't get the memo.  What?

[KeithHernandez]

I don't really have any guilty pleasures, everything I do is rock and roll.

However, there are some things I haven't been able to understand that bug me, like most jazz, etc.

[wombat]

I can't think of any guilty pleasures.  I feel like this might mean something is wrong with my life. Or is it just that I am not easily embarrassed?

[Drygioni]

TOUAMB, and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

[pmcd9]

All of my pleasures are guilty pleasures.

[KeithHernandez]

Wait, Billy Bragg.  He isn't cool, is he?

[V-Adore]

Wait, I didn't get the memo.  What?

I have been led to understand that -- in some circles, at least -- liking TMBG and their new albums now that they have a full band, do soundtrack music, have "sold out," &c., is terminally gauche. My guilty pleasure might be that I actually like the later-album, full-band sound better than the early stuff; there are several standout songs from the Then period, but man, a lot of it was just weird gibberish.

Also on the musical front, I think that R.E.M.'s Up was a fine album, that Reveal had several excellent songs, and that Around the Sun might be good with some creative reshuffling.

[linnea]

Wait, Billy Bragg.  He isn't cool, is he?

Billy Bragg is hella cool.

**EDIT: whoa, I totally thought that he sang on Jason Molina's "The Old Black Hen", but it turns out that it's Lawrence Peters singing on that track! Crazy. I need to listen to more Billy Bragg, since all I have is Mermaid Avenue.

[Golfhaus]

Currently, my guilty pleasure is Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart."