My
love of music has its drawbacks. It means that I love and own music that
really doesn't match with my character - and seems to other people to be utterly
absurd! As such, as I have nothing to hide, and I will lay out the
skeletons in my closet - you will find below all the albums and singles that I
own that I consider to be a guilty pleasure. Of course - you might think
that these are ok to like, or you might think that some of these should be
consigned to the fiery pits of hell... or maybe you might even think that some
of the artists on other parts of my website belong here! However - these
are my own choices. These are people and bands who I consider to myself to
be a guilty pleasure...
A-Ha
A-Ha, I think were
they only music influence I kind of picked up upon from my (younger) sister.
Although I only own a compilation album of their best songs, I do really
love what they released in the mid 1980's to the early 1990's. Their
first song, Take On Me is still one of the greatest pop songs of all time!
All Saints
I have loved the
All Saints since their I Know Where It's At single. An all-girl pop
group with elements of R 'n B, they were all both very sexy and sung with
the most marvellous of harmonies. Although they have now disbanded,
they were one of the few artists where I had all of their releases
(excepting those from before I Know Where It's At). I even saw them
perform their song Black Coffee live on a Top Of The Pops recording too!
Vanessa Amorosi
Vanessa is here
for two reasons. Firstly, I remember this great song from when she
performed Absolutely Everybody at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney
Olympics, and secondly, hearing this at a night club not long afterwards and
just loving the song even more!
Hilary Duff
Hilary is a recent
addition to my Guilty Pleasures. Her song Come Clean really should be
a track I should hate with as much contempt as is humanly possible, but I just
can't.
East 17
These are here for
their first song that they released, which I thought was flaming great when
I first heard it! A 'boy band' who wrote their own songs, East 17 were
a 'cheeky' alternative to Take That. Their first song, House Of Love
was an absolute gem of pop classic which I really fell in love with when it
first came out.
Gina G
I'm a straight guy - but I still couldn't get enough of Gina G when she was
around in the charts in the mid to late 1990's. Although she didn't
win the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Just A Little Bit, she
went on to enjoy further chart success in the UK. Some of Gina's later
releases were really great pop songs, especially I Belong To You, my
favourite of hers by a long way.
Avril Lavigne
Avril is another
case, where I should be old enough to know better - but the truth is that I
really got into her first album long before she really became famous
worldwide. That's no excuse I know though! I even think that her
Under My Skin album is a really great album, full of genuinely well
comprised lyrics.
Richard Marx
Richard Marx's
Hazard is still one of my all time favourite songs. It conjures up so
many visual images in your mind as you listen to this from the beginning to
end. I don't like anything else by Richard at all, and although he is
an artist I know I should really detest, this song is just utterly
marvellous.
Oceanic
Released in 1991,
Insanity was just
one of the greatest rave/dance/pop songs ever! Loving this song is
probably bad enough, but I have absolutely everything that Oceanic have ever
commercially released!
S Club 7
How embarrassed am
I to love this S Club 7 album? I reckon I should be hung, drawn, then
quartered for even thinking about loving this great great slice of pop!
And I know that I
really should know better. The album is never too pretentious or
overblown, and it's always a great thing to listen to in order to cheer
yourself up. And my favourite S Club member? (Yes, I did have
one!) It was the absolute divine Jo
O'Meara.
Shakespears Sister
Shakespears Sister
were great! I absolutely loved their song Stay, even though it was at
number one in the Uk charts for about a billion weeks in 1992. Their
Hormonally Yours album was just the coolest from beginning to end, and I was
quite sad when they eventually called it a day.
Shampoo
Before the
almighty reign of the Spice Girls, Shampoo were the riotous girl group of
choice. Not only did they pave the way for the Spice Girls, they were
also used as role models by them. Shampoo were really great -
admittedly they really couldn't exactly sing as such, but I absolutely loved
their image. Their song Delicious still ranks as a favourite of mine,
even now.
Sixpence None The Richer
I adore their song
Kiss Me (which I think was used in the TV series Dawsons Creek, but I've
never watched it to find out). This is such a sweet song, with
melt-in-the-mouth vocals. They did a terrible cover version of the
classic La's song There She Goes, which I would murder them all for if
I saw them now, but Kiss Me still ranks as a great song.
Britney Spears
Should I be
publicly disowned for liking Britney? Ultimately, she is everything I
should despise, but for some inexplicable reason I just can't hate her.
Her hypnotically great song Toxic is one of my favourite songs of 2004.
Spice Girls
I own the first
two Spice Girls albums. Now that I've admitted to that - let me just
say that for the same reason I love Shampoo is the same reason I love the
Spice Girls. My favourite members of the group? In order from my
favourites to my least favourites: Sporty, Ginger, Posh, Scary and Baby!
Now how embarrassed should I be to admit that to everyone??!
Sugababes
I have loved the
Sugababes since they were first formed (even though, from my point of view,
they were really quite young when they first started out!) Their debut
album One Touch is still a great soulful pop album even today.
Nowadays, they have grown up a lot, and turned out to produce the most
amazing pop songs. Hole In The Head and Round Round are fine examples
of this.
t.A.T.u.
Yeah, yeah... make
your jokes now! All The Things She Said, is, despite all the
pretensions about the image of the group - a fine example of great pop
music. Apart from a great cover version of the Smiths classic How Soon
Is Now that they released, this is the only decent thing they ever did.
