I mean your musical guilty secrets but, hey, I’m not fussy.
On another thread I admitted to liking some music that is trashy. Nobody rushed to join me. But I have a hunch that we all like trash of some kind or another. For years I clung to my list of favourite magical trashy records and couldn’t understand why so many Americans liked records that were just trashy. Then it dawned on me; we all like the trash we grew up with. Americans grew up with the Kingsmen’s ‘Louie Louie’, I grew up with the Pink Finks’ version. I’ll never find the former even listenable; I’ll always love the latter. Each age has its own trash. Gee, some people even like Abba.
Here’s some of my favourite trash:
The Rivingtons —The Bird is the Word
The Troggs — Wild Thing
The Stooges — I Wanna Be Your Dog
The Mar-Keys — Last Night
The Chips — Rubber Biscuit
The Sex Pistols — God Save the Queen
The Regents — Barbara Ann
The Eternals — Babalu’s Wedding Day
Nathanial Mayer — Village of Love
Gary US Bonds — Quarter to Three
I believe I’m of an odd sort (go figure). I don’t listen to the music with which I grew up (and am currently growing up). But, really, can you blame me, considering?
STORY TIME:
When I was in middle school, my dad started me on the local classic rock station. We’d listen to it in his truck on the way to and from school, and every time a song came on he’d ask, “What band’s that?” and I’d do my best to answer. Of course, I didn’t know anything at all at first, but as the weeks and years passed, and as I could actually answer with the band name, the questions became, “Okay, who’s the lead singer? What about the Bass player?” And thus I am me.
Eventually, I realized that I hate a lot of classic rock, but that a good deal of it is amazing. The Beatles were my first love, and thus it shall remain. The first band that I decided I absolutely despise was Def Leppard, and God help me if I ever pay for anything they recorded.
JUST ANSWER THE POST, KID:
Nonetheless, I have developed a taste for music that I am well aware is not… of a calibur. Granted, I’m sure a lot of people on this board like some of these people, but I’m nonetheless ashamed that my musical collection includes them.
The Doobie Brothers
Herb Alpert
Boz Scaggs
Chicago
Tiny Tim (and I don’t just like Tiny Tim, I love him)
That song “Hello, It’s Me,” by Todd Rundgren
And…
I knew I liked you Slude-- the Bobs are astounding! Have you had the pleasure of seeing them in person? Unbelievable. Catch them in a small venue if you can so you can get up close and personal.
First time I heard them was in my car on NPR. I turned on the radio and there was this astounding rendition of the Beatles’ Helter Skelter. I literally pulled off the road so I could devote my attention to the song. I became an instant fan.
The one I really want to hear is not out on CD quite yet: Rhapsody in Bob. It’s Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue with Bob Malone on piano (the guy has MAJOR chops!) and the Bobs doing the rest of the orchestra.
Yeah, but some people don’t “get” the Bobs. I’ve seen them live (in a small venue) once, and have several of their albums. I was hooked the first time I heard “My Husband Was A Weatherman”. Their cover of “Particle Man” is also outstanding. They’re coming to Seattle just after Christmas… must see about getting tickets…
I like ABBA.
I don’t have any of their CDs but when they come on the radio I don’t jump up to turn it off. A great little pop band.
The Doobies get an airing around hear from time to time and I’ve always been a grret admirer of Judy Collins version of Send in the Clowns - that song is a masterclass in the art of songwriting.Very few songs of that genre can compress such a multiplicity of meaning into so few lines.
Oh yea..Anne Murry - you needed me - what a voice.
OK. I confess.
My favorite rock band is (was, sadly): Phish.
I’m also a huge Indigo Girls fan (though I confess not recently - mostly their older stuff).
And, when I’m doing work around the house, I listen to a Classic rock station, since I like to sing so much, and everything they play, I know all the words to. (Check out cool102.com -that’s the station).
And I’m a huge fan of “Prairie Home Companion”.
If you don’t know what that is, Google it.
I like to play stuff like “Born to be Wild” (Steppenwolf) and “Radar Love” (Golden Earring) and “Mr Roboto” (Styx) in the car. Makes me drive faster, so I use less gas. Yeah, that’s it.
…and I don’t think “A Prairie Home Companion” should be either guilty or a secret; I’ll take “The Powdermilk Song” over Abba any ol’ day.
I couldn’t begin to list all the bad music I like. It all started with Gene Pitney in that bad period before the Beatles. Isn’t it terrible what a town without pity can do. Meatloaf was good for a while. There are celine dion songs I like.
I seem to like You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone. It’s so fun to sing along into a pretend microphone with, especially if you want to drive someone crazy. I used to think I loved to hate it. But I think I actually like it. And I finally found a website that has it!
Anyway, this thread got me wondering about the whole idea of trashy music. A long time ago (in a mind-set far, far away) there was an article in The Whole Earth Catalog on how to manage a rock band. The author said that you had to remember that successful bands made good music, maybe not the kind of music you liked or thought of as art, but music that reliably met the audience’s expectations. So is there anything better of its kind than “I Fought the Law and the Law Won”–when Lou Reed quoted it on “Street Hassle,” that was more arty, but was it really any better?
My current guilty pleasure is a cd that my son passed along, in his continuing efforts to educate me, by a British rapper, The Streets, “A Grand Ain’t Nothing.” I don’t know enough about rap to be any kind of judge, but I read a lot of fiction, and this guy creates an interesting character and puts him through a bunch of changes with some good music backing it. It’s like a bunch of linked short stories, and just the right length for my commute.
