I’m pretty up front about music I love, and music I can’t stand.

But really, any music that’s got something that grabs me in the liver can rock my musical world – hence, there’s a third category; music done by artists that I should detest, but I just can’t help it, I love it anyway. It’s usually got a hook to it that makes me feel all minty, but whatever, its’ all good.

Just…guilty.

• Rocky Mountain High, John Denver – Not to say I’m a huge John Denver fan, but…oh, who am I kidding? I taught myself to play guitar from John Denver records. And while most of his stuff has fallen out of my conscience over the years, I still love this song; partly because it’s not a bad tune, and partly because the album for which it was the title cut featured one really good acoustic band, including Mike Taylor on the guitar – and Mike Taylor could play that thing.
• Cry, Mandy Moore – The worst thing about being in my mid-forties is the realization that I’ll probably never get a shot at nailing Mandy Moore (motto: “80% less embarassing than Britney, more PG-rated than Christina Aguilera“). But “Cry” has a really, really cool hook (especially the roll out of the bridge), it’s from a very underrated movie (that would have been less underrated, perhaps, if they’d hacked out the stupid “terminal illness” stuff), and I just like it, and I don’t care what you think.
• Kids in America, Kim Wilde/Lem/New Radicals – Oh, shut up. You know you love it. It’s that moment just before English synth-pop tipped over the edge from desperately un-funky to desperately un-fun. (And I love both the covers, including the New Radicals‘ thrashy cover, if only because it helps answer the question “whatever happened to Danielle Brisebois“)
• Do You Sleep, Lisa Loeb – Lisa Loeb, during her razor-thin heyday maybe ten years ago, was the Sarah Vowell of pop music. No, that’s not a good thing. But I always liked this song; I chalk it up to the background vocal part. It doesn’t take much, sometimes, for me to rationalize my way into liking something. (And since we’re talking hooks…). But I still want to break horn-rimmed glasses worn for ironic purposes on basic principle, so I’m still OK.
• If She Knew What She Wants, Bangles – Let’s get one thing straight; there was nothing guilty about the pleasure of the Bangles’ debut album, 1984’s All Over The Place. It was chock full of really great stuff,and I’ll beat the crap out of anyone who wants to argue it. But Different Light was a little different; loaded with covers and beating us over the head with Susanna Hoffs (not that there’s anything wrong with that), it was an obvious play for Top40 wuv (not that there’s anything wrong with that, either). But this song had the most gorgeous hook of the 1980’s, so all is totally forgiven.
• This Woman’s Work, Kate Bush – Kate Bush is usually just…too…weird for me. She’s an acquired taste that I’ve tried, oh lord I’ve tried, to acquire, over and over again. And I enjoy her stuff, in the same way that I enjoy Rachmaninoff piano concertos; “how the hell do they do that?” Oh, she’s musically interesting, and, um, interesting otherwise as well, but most of her music I can take or leave. And yet this one absolutely shreds me. Every damn time. Even when it was in that stupid Kevin Bacon movie.
• She Said, She Said, The Beatles – Time for a shameful declaration; I’ve never been a huge Beatles fan. I don’t care for anything after Sergeant Pepper, to be perfectly honest.
• But I Do Love You, LeAnn Rimes – Do I even have to say it?
• A Long December, Counting Crows – Adam Duritz has always bugged the bejeebers out of me. But this song has always ripped me up from the inside out – never more than this past year.
• She Said, She Said, The Beatles – Here’s a surprising revelation; I’ve never been a yuuuge Beatles fan. Oh, I like lots of their stuff, don’t worry – although most of their stuff after Sergeant Pepper honestly bores me stiff. Really. It just doesn’t grab me. ‘Strooth. But this song just totally hypnotizes me. And that’s a good thing.
• Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Hanoi Rocks – Ok, nothing remotely guilty about it. No, wait; they’re from Finland.Hm.Nope. Still not guilty.
• You Really Had Me Going, Holly Dunn – Holly Dunn, the queen of twangy honky-tonk country back before twang was cool again, was saving country-western from the “Crossover-Pop” nightmare of the seventies and early eighties when Garth Brooks was still greasing palms in Nashville. Her disappearance is proof positive that the country music business is just plain stupid.

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Friday, December 28th, 2007 at 5:36 am and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.