2006-08-03

Guilty Pleasures

I was looking att he latest issue of Q yesterday int he library and reading through their list of '50 Guiltiest Pleasures'. And it got me to thinking - is the idea of a 'guilty pleasure' inherently rockist? Most of the songs I 'like but shouldn't like' are songs I wouldn't normally listen to except because of association/nostalgic reasons because they're a bit rubbish. But not liking ELO's Living Thing just because the rock canon doesn't like them? And don't even get me started on Macarthur Park...

So does poptimism recognise the concept of the guilty pleasure, or - as it should be - music is music and whether it's the gaspings of a tortured soul or the wall of sound rebuilt in Duplo, what matters is whether it's ANY GOOD AT ALL?

There should be a poll on this, maybe, but I don't have the issue to hand.

Emo Reference Points

A quick summary of what yesterday's post about Emo turned up:

Almost Definitely Emo:
- anime and manga (for graphic style as much as for watching/reading)
- Ghost World
- Donnie Darko
- One Tree Hill
- Wes Anderson films
- Igby Goes Down
- Blue Monday and other Toykopop comics
- Johnny The Homicidal Maniac

Might Be Emo, But Disputed:
- Adrian Tomine comics
- James Kochalka comics

Emo-Friendly But Probably Not Specifically Emo Because Someone Else Got There First:
- Emily the Strange
- Catcher In The Rye
- Kurt Cobain as cultural icon
- Watership Down
- St Swithins Day by Grant Morrison (as edited by

martinskidmore!) (this is hugely emo-friendly but they won't have read it) (it is also way better than GMo's other embarassing down-with-the-kids comics) (please don't let him write an emo one now)

Claimed As Emo But I Personally Am Not Sure:
- Harry Potter (I think atommickbrane is right about HP but maybe the emo side manifests more in fanfic and slash...)
- Garth Ennis' Preacher (I am pretty sure Ennis is too macho to create any emo icons)

Entry tags:

now polls

The History Of Pop Part 62 aka Thanks to you now I get what I want

Now 62 brings us almost up to date - when we started the Now polls this was the most current Now album available. Since then there have been two more, which we'll deal with next week, and then that's yer lot. Now 62 has plenty of meat on it, unlike the last one, which has yielded our lowest-rating winner ever, with only 60% tickys. And that winner is...either Gorillaz or Rachel Stevens. When I did this poll I didn't know it was a draw, though, so the tie-breaker question will be on a separate poll, probably bunged on the end of a POPFITE. Sorry about that!

( B-A-N-A-N-A-S )

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