A thread for guilty pleasures which you unashamedly enjoy

I enjoy the David Byrne release entitled Look Into the Eyeball.

More than nine years ago, I saw Broken Social Scene play a surprisingly ecstatic and fun set in Tokyo.  They at one point had some awestruck Japanese high schoolers on stage with them to play brass on a song or two.  It was a euphoric and exhilarating night for quite a few of the people in attendance, and (though it had even, by then, been quite a few years since I'd actively enjoyed the band) it was a night full of memories I'll likely cherish for the rest of my life--I remember listening to both Scratch Acid and The Magnetic Fields (they'd just released Distortion, lol) on my iPod after getting off of work, that afternoon; I remember the Indian buffet where I ate dinner, before the show; I remember shopping for twelve-inches for a little while, after eating (I didn't buy anything); I remember the ride over to Shibuya with a big, gay, Canadian coworker who was fucking AMPED to see the band; I remember meeting up with my then-girlfriend and Deej's brother to wait in line (we ran into a mutual friend of theirs with whom he'd gone to prom in Evanston, five years earlier) outside of the club; I remember the ride home, afterwards (the last train of the night), and a lovely walk back to my apartment with the then-girlfriend.  She'd fallen asleep on the train and wasn't too happy about being awoken, but it was a good time in the end.  And I remember the show, too!  They played well and with both energy and plenty of good humor.  It was a great night. I had a lot of fun.

But I remember the opening set by Stars far, far, far more fondly than I do any of those other things.  

I remember the opening set by Stars because Amy Millan was singing for both acts, that night.  And I remember that because Amy Millan was, if not by any means obese, certainly a good deal broader, taller, and heavier than 90% of the Japanese people (men or women) in attendance at the show.  And I remember that because, when she took an ill-advised stage-dive near the end of the Stars set, she fucking crushed a group of poor bastards at the foot of the stage.  They stood no chance, and she laid waste to the motherfuckers.  It was carnage, man.

Anyway, I bring that up because I really fucking enjoy her indie-country-post-rock-lite-lol solo record, Honey from the Tombs, even though it's very likely awful.  I'm sure it is.  But I can't hear them shits.  I love KC Accidental, too.  Like, I still actively love these records; I didn't just love them in 2005/2006 and then think better of it.  Fuck that.  Ride or die, bitches.

And I should note that I didn't even know who Deej was, at the time. I'd never heard of SOMB. I just lurked on ILX and shit.

I unironically enjoy Atari Teenage Riot

have not heard the new stuff and don't really want to

I was singing along with an Erasure song playing in Wal-Mart, earlier. Some middle-aged Mexican jabroni gave me a nasty stink-eye. An historically elite singles band, if you ask me. Unstoppable.

wrd. and not just the singles. I listened to The Innocents and The Circus the other day and even the deep cuts pop the fuck off.

Oh, no doubt. The Circus is the shit. But, like...you know. It's mostly a singles act.

A few weeks ago the words "Together we'll break these chains of love" sprung into my head and I couldn't remember what they were from and I spent a good two hours scraping together the melody in my brain meats and was pleased to find it was an Erasure song.

Five years ago or whenever every poptimist writer was riding Bruno Mars, hooting and hollering and loving every minute of it, I absolutely hated both the man and his music. His songs fucking sucked, to say nothing of his focus-grouped persona.

These days (judging by his hits alone, mind you) I think he’s making the best music of his career, thoroughly enjoyable and fun songs that really sound great, and suddenly he’s worse than Satan and everything wrong with music today.

Everyone loved this guy when he was releasing “Young Girls,” “The Lazy Song” and “Just the Way You Are” (because it’s awesome to root for a winner? u tell me.) but now he releases “24K Magic” (which is awesome, I’m sorry, just ban me I guess) and everyone online is like whoa maybe we need to make some big changes around here

undo wrote:but now he releases “24K Magic” (which is awesome, I’m sorry, just ban me I guess) and everyone online is like whoa maybe we need to make some big changes around here

24K Magic is an amazing song that I'm not sure many suburban moms realize is loosely about pimping.

the post-Grammy hot take train has reinforced the idea that people will force the narrative no matter what is happening. a person of color swept the big awards and a woman won Best New Artist, but it wasn't Kendrick or SZA so it doesn't count?

what's wrong with the Grammy's, a popular music awards show, giving awards to popular music?

Did he win Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental?

The hot takes I've read (admittedly few) were careful to say "Yeah Mars is great and everything" but the focus has been on more or less shutting out hip-hop from non-hip-hop awards and for once again prizing light, fun, backwards-looking (which, love or hate, Mars decidedly is) music over more thoughtful, dificult work.

As an aside, I've been considering making a thread called "Bruno Mars: I dunno. I just don't know" for this entire song cycle.

I’m listening to a new Brandi Carlile album right now. Not feeling guilty.

it's wild to me how popular it is in "cool circles" online to say "The Doors suck" when its so clear they put out a bunch of quality shit. this board does it too.

they put out a ton of hot garbage as well and i guess things like an Oliver Stone movie are too much for some people to handle, but not every band needs to be impeccable to be very enjoyable. just because Manzarek's organ noodling and Morrison's "poetry" is a little corny for this decade doesn't invalidate the fact that you've enjoyed "Light My Fire" or "Love Me Two Times" a bunch. not everything needs to be "great" or "awful".

this is my opinion and it's about 3 years late.

I’m in the Bruce Mculloch school of Doors fandom.

LA Woman is a genuinely great album imco

The only good Doors song is “Touch Me.”

The "The Doors suck" stance is of course an over correction on what most of has had to endure from, if not the "cool circles" exactly then the "popular" and "vocal" ones, driving this idea that The Doors were part of some four horsemen of rock greatness, and quite possibly the greatest rock band of all time. When it comes down to it they were fine and little else, and it kinda seems like at this point it's "the cool circles" leading the "The Doors own" narrative anyway.

I have always liked and will always like The Doors. I'm not a fucking monster.

The Doors had some good songs that classic rock radio has played to death.

When I was in high school, seemed like about 1/2 the people I knew had read the book on Morrison, No One Gets Out of Here Alive.

That Oliver Stone movie on the Doors is fucking hilarious. One of the best unintentional comedies ever made.

tjenz wrote:
When I was in high school, seemed like about 1/2 the people I knew had read the book on Morrison, No One Gets Out of Here Alive.  

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyup.

the most listenable The Doors song at this point is probably "Peace Frog"

I heard "Peace Frog" on the radio, a few weeks ago. Easily the highlight of my 2018, thus far.