Guilty Pleasures

Even though it's no longer uncommon to spot a fan of Atomic Kitten donning a Motorhead t-shirt, try and tell your date about your secret stash of CDs and your chances may be at risk. Here's to some of the bands that defy any notion of 'cool'.


I will have to say Fool No More by S Club Juniors. Yesh, you read correctly ;)I think it is a wicked discopop choon and it reminds me of some bird I used to fancy back then.
(Sarah De Nardi, London)

My musical guilty pleasure is (after much thought) Enya!! And the song is, Orinoco Flow, I think. I have always really liked this song but have up to now never admitted it to anyone. It was only later that i found out that she sung the theme tune for the Lord of the Rings film that it all made sense. :0). I "love" the magical feeling that the song and her voice bring and how it takes you away (as it is so obviously intended). This song has a very fantasy based foundation to it so this is why this is my choice.

(Darren Whitcombe, Birmingham)

Girls Aloud. Don't laugh - Xenomania, who write all of their music, are fantastic at writing pop songs.It all started during a particulary boring job, where I would just listen to Radio One all day and wish that I was anywhere but work. After a while, I realised that the only time I felt something other than terminal boredom was when Girls Aloud came on. This isn't to say that I enjoy all of their songs - some are just downright terrible - but when it's a good song, it tends to be a little bit special.

(John McNally, Birmingham)

I'd say my musical guilty pleasure is probably A-Ha. I have the DVD. I have the vinyl. I have a poster of Morten Harket hidden behind the clothes that hang on my bedroom door.....the sticker album, the cds, the pin badges, the magazines and the 1986 A-Ha special christmas annual which I lovingly caress at night. I went to see them play on their Analogue tour and took a flag and held a lighter in the air (yes, far enough away not to melt Morten's face). It was great. They are great. But don't tell anyone.
(Liz Lunney, Birmingham)

Um, I dunno, what counts in these days of post-ironic i-pods?At a push, Fine Young Cannibals- Raw and the Cooked is a really good album, but doesn't everyone think that? I guess I'm too much of a veteran of the late eighties indie wars to re-evaluate most Eighties stuff, and I never had time for prog rock, which rules out two major sources of guilty pleasure music.

(Ceri Ames, Swansea)

It's incredibly embarrassing, I know, but I'd have to go for Wind of Change by Scorpions. It's just so catchy and I also think it's an incredibly positive song. I could listen to it on repeat. Which doesn't necessarily mean I've done it.
(Johnny Taronja, Grimsby)

The one band I am highly embarrassed about loving is..... Extreme.... I loved them for the music the really bad hair the really cheesey song titles the lot, I played Bill and Teds' Excellent Adventure about a million times just for the bit when Beethoven plays Play With Me off the Extreme album called Extreme. Pornograffiti was the first album I brought with my own, earnt money. I once watched them play the NEC twice in two days. Nuno Bettoncourt is a fantastic guitarist, looking back though was a bit of a knob! I had the guitar music book and tried to learn all the solos on a beat up shitty old acoustic...It was never going to work out.
(Dave Hopson, Birmingham)

I think for me it would have to be Marilyn...perhaps Calling Your Name for the blonde dreads and sequinned blazer...and saxophone solo by faux-pepsi and shirley types. Or You Don't Love Me for the jazzy trumpets and green saree (not that my love of Marilyn is based only on his fashion choices!)

(Laura Gregory, Cardiff)

Is it shameful to admit that when 21 Seconds by So Solid Crew comes on I get a flashback and start shaking my head without even realising it?
(Justin Williams, South Africa)

I'm obsessed with ELO. I mean, they are like my Beatles and I can honestly say the Time album is the album that does it for me, vocal harmonies, falsetto vocorder and songs about his girl going away... Oh and flanger on the drums ha ha ha...I often preach about this band to anybody who will listen, and when people reply they are rubbish, I feel the need to explain (in bullet points ) why they are amazing. In my jaded sight I'm right and they are wrong.
(Adam Thompson, Birmingham)

Mandy by Barry Manilow. I like it because it's sad without being depressing, and has a lovely tune. I think the arrangement is rather good, the sparkling piano flourishes and the big sweeping strings. I like a nice big finale, and I also like lyrics about staggering through a landscape of emotional devastation, tormented by memories of the past, while clutching your pain in a dramatic fashion.
(MM Lyle, London)

When I was a child, my parents used to listen to Level 42. Even though they're undoubtedly crap, they remind me of happy times. They also have a very unique sound because the singer plays lead bass, but strangely it works. If I had to pick one song I'd go for Lessons in Love.
(Emma Munn, East Sussex)

When the lights are off, and it appears that nobody is home, The Chris is scatting to Scatman John! Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop!!

(Chris Hands, Birmingham)

I've always been a bit of a rocker, but for some reason Mariah Carey has always had a strange grip on me. I even have Fantasy on my iPod and I'm not ashamed to say it's at odds with everything else I like. She's a bloody good singer. And it may have to do with the fact that I fancy her.
(Stan Moss, Wolverhampton)

I suppose as embarrasing as it gets, I may be having a penchant for Jewel, whom most people find laughable as far as I can fathom. She's never afraid to tackle a subject head on, unbiased, and with the vocal innocence of someone who clearly grew up without access to books or mass human interaction. It's not the most exciting music around, nor do I listen all that frequently to be honest as it's about as uplifting as Dolly Parton's nighty, but there's definitely something about a simple acoustic guitar and trailer trash voice combo that really floats my boat.
(Nick Sheppard, Birmingham)

I'll defend one record I bought; Picture Book, the first album from Simply Red. The record is a bunch of soul songs, many of them covers, and the ginger oaf's voice is amazing. As a first album it's a great debut with much promise. Also, it came out when I was at that age where love songs meant a lot to me (I was still a virgin - or at the very least, very confused about things - still am, but now I'm used to it). I even had a picture disc of the record, with a picture of Mick Hucknall on it, dressed up like Huckleberry Finn, and on the other side pictures of the group. The biggest ameliorating factor behind my love for this record is that it was too early to know about Hucknall's incredible ego. I'll finish with this thought. If you analyse pop music too much, you'll find it's all pretty embarrassing, be it The Smiths or The Sugababes. Freak Like Me is one of the best singles ever, and Morrissey is now a boring old git, so there you go.

(Stephen 'Rossi', Japan)