"Bad" Songs You Actually Like

 

Bring it, motherfuckers.

Whew, I was prepared to get a pummeling there. I can't tell you often I've gotten caught & had to lie to my friends about my 80s music proclivities. Kajagoogoo, Hall & Oates, Queen's FLASH GORDON soundtrack, Deee-Lite, Spandau Ballet, Michael McDonald-era Doobie Brothers, some E.L.O., Toto, Level 42, INXS (whom I love), etc. All of these bands I listen to often & unironically.

 

I am male & straight. I was raised on Punk, Metal, & Britrock. I think this is one of the most transcendent songs ever recorded:

Actually, of most of the bands I'd named, I actually only like one or two songs by each of them. But those one or two songs? I will defend them to the death!

 

Like this one (which I think is a prime example of PERFECT song craftsmanship): (Click to show)

 

..or this one: (Click to show) un-guilty pleasure #3 (Click to show) un-guilty pleasure #4 (Click to show) un-guilty pleasure #5 (Click to show) un-guilty pleasure #6 (Click to show)

 

Again - inexplicably - I am straight.

Edited by Art Decade - 10/30/11 at 7:23pm

Is Tubthumping by Chumbawamba considered bad? (Probably.) Then that one. And not the cool, somewhat ironic cover of it TMBG did for The AV Club. I'm talking original, baby. I can never not blast it in my car.

 

Oh, and Chris -- Scandal's The Warrior is awesome. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Edited by zak chase - 10/30/11 at 7:15pm

Alone in a drafty room with two other guys, talking about the occasional musical greatness of Chumbawumba & Celine Dion...Christ, it's Prom Night all over again.

 

I kid, I kid...I never went to Prom. I was too busy taping Spice Girls songs off the radio to bother going.

Man, I can't believe I'm going to put this out there, but:

 

 

I question my straightness every time I listen to this and love it.

 

Also, Queen's Flash Gordon album and their sorta-Highlander album, A Kind of Magic, are arguably Queen at their Queen-iest.

[With a heavy sigh] One of my favourite flicks is The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert. That Charlene song was on the soundtrack, which I enjoyed thoroughly & repeatedly for months at a time around 2001. You are not alone.

 

Wow. I have never told anyone that. Uhh...I think I'd better spend some time in the Salma thread for a while.

 

Oh, and I listen to the Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack every single day & have for years. Make of that what you will.

Faith remake by Limp Bizkit... sue me, it brings back memories of High School and playing football.  

One Vision is on A Kind of Magic, meaning it's not "bad awesome" but just plain awesome.

 

Also, no one should ever have to apologize for liking Abba. Goddamn, could those crazy Swedes spin a melody.

 

And now for a true story: Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne is in my iTunes master playlist. Please don't tell anyone.

My Little Pony, huh? I'm afraid you're on your own there, friend. That said, I respect you no less for digging it.

"Brony"? Warning: Nightmare Fuel (Click to show)

 

It's totally catchy!

 

 

 

Gayest video?

 

Ahem... (Click to show)

 

 

Pretty cool that the bassist has a Chapman Stick.  But yeah, uber gay.Used to LOVE that song back in the 80s.

 

ABBA is my secret weakness.  Great melodies and incredible production.  Also, Agnetha had a hell of an ass.  Yes.

 

My #1 guilty pleasure:

 

The melody is infectious and gets my toe a tapping.

 

#2: another one-hit wonder:

 

It's really, really hard to make all of those cheesy 80s elements work together...synths, space drums, overly bright production.  This song nails it perfectly.

Dexy's Midnight Runners is not a "guilty pleasure" band. At all. They are genuine quality 80s soul-revivalists.

 

Dressing like them? That's a different story.

Add me to the list of people that find this song catchy as hell.

 

True, but try and admit that you like them and see the looks of derision that you'll get...yeeeeeesh.

 

JD, that Real Life song isn't a guilty pleasure tune either. It's old but not "cheesy" old. Fuck, it makes wanna wear a headband & ride through the L.A. night in my Ferrari. When it comes to 80s synthpop, you could do alot worse.

I lived through and thoroughly enjoyed the 80s.  It's cheesy as fuck and you know it, Art.  It's a great song in spite of the band that recorded it...I know, I've listened to the discography of Real Life.  This is, truly, their one good song.  'Catch Me I'm Falling'?  It may have charted but it's garbage.

 

For the record, I love Will Smith's rap songs from MIB, MIIB, and WILD WILD WEST

 

 

EDIT: also a big fan of the Vanilla Ice NINJA RAP from TMNTIITSOTO

Ok, I'll concede that "Come On, Eileen" was cheesy in the 80s & 90s but we're so far away from that period now that DMR are ripe for genuine appreciation.
 

I'd rate their Mod 80s Soul output alongside the eternally hip 80s 2Tone flavour.

 

Example: "Dance Stance" 1980 (Click to show)

 

And Real Life? Cheesy? Yes, but like I said, there are cheesier.

 

Kill it with fire. (Click to show)

 

Ooh, I also find the BLOOD DIAMOND END CREDITS RAP  from BLOOD DIAMOND (2008) to be very listenable 

 

A guilty pleasure, mainly for 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'.  Absolutely zero talent.

I was in Amsterdam when this particular song came out.  Holy fuck did it take Europe by storm and land with an absolute THUD over here in the states.  I guess the intro part was in some sort of commercial?  Don't recall the details.  

 

Anyways, I mainly like it for the guitar tone and the catchy melody.

I don't think any of the songs mentioned here are overly bad, the soaring majesty and bombast of Toto's Africa is just 80s overproduced for example. Queen and ELO can do no wrong, but the I was raised on these things. Even Phil Collins Face Value and Genesis' Invisible Touch I think are great.

My bad song, and I genuinely cringe, is Angels by Robbie Williams. No nostalgia factor, I can just sing that fucker at the top of my lungs when it comes on the radio.

This isn't necessarily bad but I'm always embarrassed if people hear me play it:

 

It's total "ear porn" (Click to show)

 

I'll keep it simple:

 

Think of the cheesiest, lamest '80s pop/new wave/metal/whatever hit you possibly can.

 

Odds are I probably like it.

 

What, you mean like this? (Click to show)

 

I'd say "Breathless" by The Corrs, but that would suggest it is a bad song.  Which it's not.

Haven't heard it, would probably like it just from looking at the video with the sound off.

That's not very good, but why did you have to bring Jane Wiedlin into it?

 

 

 

 

Great pop song, and such a crush. SUCH a goddamn crush.

 

Never seen that, but holy shit I'd forgotten how much she reminded me of Winona Ryder with a voice.

 

On the subject of crushes:

 

 

 

I don't care what anyone says, this is a great song for teenagers. I wish I'd had it when I was that age.

Am I the only one who can tell how bad ass this is?

 

Also: God help me, this makes me wanna move... (Click to show)

 

 

The bit where she winks at the camera at 2.37 makes my heart melt every time.

"Muskrat Love" as performed by The Captain & Tennille = the music of Erich Zann. The mere fact of its existence makes me question my sanity, but it's just impossibly catchy in a cannot-get-it-out-of-my-brain way.

For the unironic-appreciation pile, I saw some ABBA upthread and I'll add my vote for them. Innovative and well-constructed pop with great vocals and lyrics that are always catchy, if sometimes cheesy beyond belief. Also, Richard Harris's version of "Macarthur Park" = the reason audio recording was invented.

 God help me for liking this song. ELO are a good band. One of the MANY bands that should be in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.

 

 

This is one I DO cop to as being a "guilty pleasure" (most songs that people would call a "guilty pleasure" I take the aformentioned "Fuck you, I am only guilty of liking awesome shit!" approach), but Britny Fox was probably a 3rd-tier glam metal band who totally ripped off Cinderella (which is like copying a copied videotape) and Dean Davidson's voice verges on nerve-rending....

 

....but goddamn this is catchy. And stoopid fun - "bad girl, smokin in school/breakin the rules, actin real cool" - not to mention the video is its own reward. 

RE - Xanadu - thesis - this soundtrack gets no respect as superior pop craftsmanship because: 

 

1) the movie sucks balls. Like, I watched it to pull and MST3K on it and it was so bad I had to turn it off. I think it literally killed Gene Kelly when he watched it at the premiere. 

 

2) ELO and ON-J are have little to no cachet, ergo people will dismiss what they do out of hand without considering whether it was good or not. 

 

3) um, that's all I got. But not having heard the ENTIRE soundtrack, I'll go out on a limb and say that "Magic", "Xanadu", and "All Over the World" would justify most ANY album's existence, unless the other 9 tracks were Hitler speeches or something.