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Underground > Radio & Music >

'Guilty Pleasure' Pimpin' [Song Pimpin' Club Special Edition]

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Matthew Fluxington

21:57 / 02.04.02

Bring it on - let us know specific songs which you love, but feel a bit guilty about. Please, no huge hit singles - let's focus on the less obvious guilty pleasures.

C'mon. Don't be afraid. We'll try not to mock you.

23:09 / 02.04.02

Uh, Flux? You go first.

00:03 / 03.04.02

"If you could read my mind" by Stars on 54

Matthew Fluxington

04:55 / 03.04.02

I'd like to mention that I really quite like the song "Here We Go Again" by Everclear. It's an album cut of theirs that really should have been a real hit, especially compared to the crap songs that they've done that have been huge smashes.

I imagine that when people think of Everclear they think "alt-rock grunge clones", and that's normally true, but this song is a LOT closer to Huey Lewis and The News or Christina Aguilera than anything Pearl Jam or Nirvana ever did... it's about a guy who's down and out, speaking frankly to his girlfriend about the good and bad in their lives - the beat is quasi-funky, very bouncey, there are samples all over the place (including a Public Enemy lyric that gives the song its name), it's got horns and keyboards, it's huge and bombastic, it's fucking poptastic. It makes me smile.

13:36 / 03.04.02

I will admit to enjoying some of the Puddle of Mud hits. Verrry guiltily.

Especially the one "You could be my savior/You could be my scene/ Can you take it all away-hey, can you take it all away-hey..."

There's something about that takes me back to my teen angst years. Even though I know on a conscious level, it's a sad excuse for teen angst.

13:48 / 03.04.02

"More Than A Feeling" by Boston. Give me seven pints of lager, an air guitar, and watch me go. I can even do real tears when it comes to the line: "Close my eyes and she slips awaaaaaaaaay". Reminds me of too many teenage rejections.

14:09 / 03.04.02

There are various tracks off Jethro Tull's Songs From the Wood that bring back fond memories of my adolescence, and ludicrously over-the-top Solstice or Equinox parties thrown by fellow Pagans: fancy dress, homemade absinthe/mead/wassail, hookah pipes, mushroom tea, conversations that deftly balanced the ridiculous and the sublime, and a fiercely unashamed attachment to early 70's prog-rock bands.

I'll pimp the title track, as well as a song titled either "Solstice Bells," "Ring Out the Solstice Bells" or some permutation thereof.

This thread is going to be very, very wicked.

14:35 / 03.04.02

Waaay too many to mention 'em all, but here's one:

I really, really liked "The Freshmen" by the Verve Pipe. I didn't want to like it, mind you, but y'know, there it is.

No star here laces

15:29 / 03.04.02

C'mon y'all - you have to pimp the damn tune, not just say you like it but it's embarassing.

I'm going to pimp Stockholm, demo version by the New Fast Automatic Daffodils.

This is a guilty pleasure for me for a couple of reasons. Firstly it's brit guitar music and I'm not supposed to like that. Secondly it's Manchester and reminiscing about Manchester as the glory days of music is what cunty junior lawyer types who want to be seen as 'down to earth' tend to do.

Anyway, the demo version is basically identical to the album version except it was released as a limited edition 10" vinyl with a nifty electric blue sleeve (making it even more of a guilty pleasure - I am sad enough to own all the NFADS releases except for the remixes off the first album) and the glorious looped guitar riff is played on the bass instead making it even better. Said riff is incredibly catchy and rolls remorselessly onward like a brakeless steamroller on a 1 in 10 grade. The chorus includes the incredibly pompous but somehow satisfying line "you'll soon be dust your dreams already aaaah-are".

I can't help feeling that this is grown up, responsible, man's music and therefore detestable. But I do enjoy it, and not just for the memories. Shucks.

Matthew Fluxington

16:06 / 03.04.02

Cherry - I think the Puddle of Mudd song that really gets my 'guilty pleasure' juices flowing is the one where at the end, he's screaming about "I love the way you SLAP MY ASS!!!". That there is a hard rock song with that lyric that is a huge hit is a thing of beauty in some ways...

17:47 / 03.04.02

Well, having just been a wanky junior lawyer type in the Man U thread, I have now got a terrible urge to hear:

MC Tunes; "Tunes Splits The Atom."

Which I'm fairly sure would sound dire nowadays. It's got poor rapping, poor rhyming, and a dodgy early 90's production.

But it is also based around a loop of one of the finest ten or so seconds of music ever, the bass which kicks off the instrumental wig-out at the end of the Stone Roses' 'I am the Resurrection.'

17:51 / 03.04.02

NewFADs!

Jesus. I dread to go bcak to my old NewFADs records, just in case.

20:19 / 03.04.02

But you must admit Flux that "Puddle of Mud" is one of the worst names for a band, ever.

Matthew Fluxington

05:53 / 04.04.02

Puddle of Mud is a very bad name. But the real name of the band is Puddle of Mudd, which makes it that much more awful...

07:46 / 04.04.02

That such an impossibly shit z-rate grunge-angst band are having HITS in 2002 is a sure sign of social decay, but, uh, anyway..

my choice - Planet Caravan by Black Sabbath
I'd like to make clear that I ordinarily feel no guilt for liking Black Sabbath, but this one's, like, you know, the token *quiet* track on 'Paranoid', with bongo drums and twiddly hippy guitar playing and Ozzy wailing silly lyrics about flying through space .. sounds awful doesn't it? Except it's not, it's quite, quite wonderful.. (and Mercury Rev's recent cover version is doubley so).

18:13 / 04.04.02

Can-Utility and the Coastliners by Peter Gabriel-era Genesis. The instrumental break in the middle is particularly thrilling!

00:12 / 05.04.02

Flux, my team of researchers have revealed that the ass-slapping song is "Control," and the "Can you take it all a-way-HEY, can you shove it in my FAY-HACE..." song is "Blurry." This was hard work, because they basically sound like variations of the same song.

I can see why these songs would make the strip circuit, even if they're not all that sexy.

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

02:12 / 05.04.02

Oooer....

I don't understand why, but I really dig Incubus when I hear them. I would never buy 'em, but when I hear them I dig it completely. There's something so soothing yet rocking about those songs that I find myself singing along heartily.

Shall I revoke my hipness card now?

No star here laces

08:47 / 05.04.02

Riz, my mate used to play that Sabbath song in Jazz clubs. The punters there loved it. My personal Sabbath dj trick is that "Fairies wear boots" is just about the right tempo to mix into house records with fairly devastating effects...

09:24 / 06.04.02

that is cool.

The Return Of Rothkoid

09:46 / 08.04.02

Ok.

Gulp.

The Rollins Band. I can't help it. Henry's so over-the-top-the-lady-doth-protest-too-much butch that it's great. The only two I really stick with are Weight and End Of The Silence, both of which have recently been remastered, and are fantastic in a HULK SMASH! kind of way. "Low Self-Opinion" is the most fantastic, motivational tune, while so much of the stuff on Weight just rocks like a bastard. Even if it is a belligerent, Ritalin-boy bastard. Sharp, sharp guitar with some rather melodic drumming. And a bassline that sounds like dinosaur flatulence. But better, I'd imagine.

To my shame, I have to say that the "new" Rollins Band disc, Nice is really quite good. None of the other band play on it, but it's surprisingly palatable. Hey, it features Hank wearing Ricky-Martin-alike leather trou, and singing a song called "Up For It", backed by some soul-singers. Truly, truly odd stuff.

But secretly, I love it.

Matthew Fluxington

15:03 / 22.04.02

There is no good or logical reason to why I really enjoy Natalie Merchant's version of "Sympathy for the Devil". It shouldn't be good. It doesn't make sense. But it works. I swear to God, it works!

17:03 / 22.04.02

Talking about Rollins Band in terms of HULK SMASH! is just too perfect. But I was disappointed when I accidentally saw them live; not enough smashing! Go on, Hank, get angry.

Anyway. Everyone seems to think I should feel guilty over my love for Blink 182, but I don't. Perfect tight Southern California pop-punk for those of us in our 20s who still wind up feeling like we're sitting at the lunch table alone in high school from time to time. And they're pissy and snotty and even, sometimes, witty. And they make me jump up and down with glee. There just seems to be a genuine enjoyment in what they're doing that too many far more respectable bands are lacking.

So there.

Matthew Fluxington

19:48 / 25.04.02

It feels so weird, but I've got to say that I like that song "No Such Thing" by Dave Matthews-clone John Mayer. It's just so pleasant and catchy, I can't help it, even though I know better.

He does a nice acoustic cover of Radiohead's "Kid A" too, which scores him big points with me, cos it seems like no one is willing to acknowledge that song as being one of the catchiest Radiohead songs ever...

20:02 / 25.04.02

I second CAN-UTILITY AND THE COASTLINERS, the best Genesis song ever.

How can anybody feel guilty over listening to "If you could read my mind" by Stars on 54 is beyond me.

12:10 / 25.04.06

Which is sadder- That I own, adore, and regularly listen to the entire Kula Shaker back catalogue or that the prospect of their imminent return fills me with unrepentant glee?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

14:26 / 25.04.06

There's an imminent return?

Dear God...

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

17:15 / 25.04.06

Complete and total guilty pleasure at the moment?

What's the Story, Morning Glory - Oasis.

The. entire. CD.

I'm sheepish and embarrassed because I talked such shit about them for forever.

18:12 / 25.04.06

Mick, are you ill? Can we do anything to help? I mean, exposure to Kula Shaker makes me feel sick...

18:27 / 25.04.06

Oh, come now! Doesn't King Mob listen to "K" when they're all in New Mexico. A recommendation from George is surely more than enough.

It's not the cod mysticism side..I suppose it's a mixture of nostalgia for my vanished teenhood and a general love of all things vaguely psych. rock/60s-tastic.

C'mon, there must be more of us out there..

20:33 / 25.04.06

Are you, like, young enough to have enjoyed them as a child/spritely teenager? That's your only viable excuse, I'm afraid, and that's pushing it.

With regards to their cod-mysticism (verging on, and probably over, some rather dodgy ideas about race), how the bugger can you keep it arms' length? They beat you 'round the face with it.

I gotta say, there are few bands I hate with such venom, hence the last two posts. Normally I try not to put a downer on people's sexy music love.

00:01 / 26.04.06

I am indeed of the right age to have seen them on TV and thought "like, wow...hippies!"

So, the hippie-dippy stuff is kinda embarassing but likewise, if I listen to Throbbing Gristle I don't find my appreciation undermined by the fact that my personal interest in sex magick goes little further than the 'sex' part.

Alongside this I'll place some fantastic songwriting (You're telling me "sound of drums" woouldn't get your hips a-shakin'?) and a spirit of experimnenation which far outshone the 3 chord pub rock of their contemporaries

Regrettable Juvenilia

07:24 / 26.04.06

some rather dodgy ideas about race

How can you say that! It's not as if Crispin Mills said "Hitler knew a lot more than he made out. Hitler and his whole gang weren't just a bunch of fucking psychos." in the NME in March 1997!

It's also a really scandalous accusation considering that:

Mills' unsuccessful previous band, The Objects of Desire, used the motto "England will rise again," and also played at a 1993 conference at London's Wembley Stadium called "Global Deception," at which infamous anti-Semitic speaker William Cooper gave a lecture. Cooper is a visible Nazi supporter who reprinted "Protocols of the Elders of Zion." The book describes a conspiracy in which a handful of Jewish men control the world's money supply and power. Cooper can also be seen on the cover of Kula Shaker's debut album, "K," as well as being thanked the liner notes.

And as for that time when a member of Kula Shaker's contribution as a guest singles reviewer (for either the NME or Melody Maker, can't remember now) included saying he didn't like hip hop because "I'm not a 'black bitch'" (yes, the inverted commas were his and I'm sure he was trying to make a satirical point about misogyny fishcakes - does that really make it any better?) - well, that proves nothing. Nothing at all!

09:22 / 26.04.06

Bah-limy, I knew they had some rather questionable ideas about England and the return of Arthur, but Christ on a bike. Reading the NME is good for something, then.

I should own up and stress that my Shaker hate isn't just tied to their music (which I think is utterly embarassingly awful). In the spring of 1997 I was 21, had just started uni, and was living with a rather narcissitic coke dealer, who thought he was rock star and not just a kid from Brighton with dreadlocks and a bunch of bad tunes, and, by default, his band mates (they didn't actually live with us, but they kind of did). Needless to say, they loved Kula Shaker, they thought it was deep, and exciting, and anthemic, and would talk about Karma whilst blasting out the album and snorting charlie.

Ever since then admittingly to liking Kula Shaker in my presence has been a bit like admitting to being a complete arsehole. Unfair I know, but it's a pavlovian response that I have to monitor.

09:26 / 26.04.06

I'm sure you're not an arsehole, Mick.

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