Guilty Pleasures

[mippy.livejournal.com]

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.

Comments

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Wasn't there a thread about this on The Other Place?

I think this is one of those questions that goes to the heart of "What is Poptimism?" I'm not sure I feel any guilt about music that I like anymore.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Dunno about the concept: but I know I feel a bit guilty for liking, well Twin Cinema by the New Pornographers is the example that springs to mind. It's just it feels a bit too much like aural comfort food -- warm and familiar. Whether this is actually a case of indie guilt would be for a qualified professional to diagnose.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I feel no guilt whatsoever about owning 3 Skunk Anansie albums.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Ans so far seems to be:

poptimism = refusing to acknowledge 'social' guilt i.e. there are no guilty pleasures based on what other people think about music (refusal of the cool / naff dichotomy in all its multi-variate and shifting forms (i.e. it's essentially relational not a general social norm)).

but are we going to use poptimism in the dubdobdee sense of 'lazy listening' in which case bothering to set a rule for yourself is sukrat territory c.f. 'concrete so as to dubdobdee'.

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

I would say, yes, the concept of "guilty pleasure" is rockist. I have no guilty pleasures, I see nothing wrong with being excited about the release of "Bat Out of Hell III".

[celentari.livejournal.com]

What about liking Gary Glitter's music? Morals/music/guilt conflict thinger.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Poptimism = being open-minded about a bit of music, at least until you've heard it/given it a chance to grow on you. That's all, surely? It's only because this would imply an unfeasible policy of listening to EVERYTHING that we tend to take on board recommendations (both positive and negative), to ensure we make the best use of our listening time.

[whalefish.livejournal.com]

I find the whole guilty pleasures thing a bit confusing really - as if there is music that we're not meant to like, music that's illegal. Apparently I'm meant to be guilty about liking Jet (song, not band), Wired For Sound, Bat Out Of Hell...whyyy? They're good tunes! Especially Bat Out Of Hell!

I have to confess that I did originally listen to stuff like that because I found it funny, but eventually I realised that I enjoyed it because I liked it and thought it was good stuff. Same with a lot of current and current-ish pop music, really.

No such thing as...

[giddyoldgoat.livejournal.com]

The film critic Robin Wood likes to say that there's no such thing as a guilty pleasure - ie it isn't pleasure if there's guilt involved

The magazine Film Comment used to run a 'Guilty Pleasures' column (I think it's where the term first caught on) which allowed toney auteurs and critics to admit that they liked all kinds of rub. When it came to John Waters, his 'guilty pleasures' were all art movies by Bresson, Bergman, Chantal Akkerman etc - END OF FEATURE

Context

[(Anonymous)]

I don't buy the guilty pleasures notion, but to test it properly you have choose something that rubs up against your ideology. So obviously around here nobody is going to get uptight about liking ELO. But what if you found yourself humming along to Jurassic 5 or Conor Oberst?