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pinky

dude! altered images was great and completely awesome! there was that movie with Claire Grogan in it, and then Happy Birthday! and all of that!

(i might still have my highly-treasured altered images tape I bought when I was a teen)

irony just keeps people at arms-length. as does "cool."

lastewie

That's a great lesson! And if one finds it hard to be all "eff you, sucker, I love Shakira" then it's fun to turn it back on them. "What? How could you not like Shakira? Man, that's messed up."

(Disclaimer: I don't really like Shakira. Or maybe I do. Depends on whether you like her or not.)

Jerry

Some kid in grade school once called me "gay" for not liking REO Speedwagon. I still don't like them, but I have been on "REO Speedwagon Way" in Champaign, Illinois.

I had completely forgotten that Clare Grogan was in the movies ("Gregory's Girl" and "Comfort and Joy," if others are curious -- both directed by Bill "Local Hero" Forsyth -- and I did have to look it up), and now, of course, I can't picture who she was in them. And I just watched "Comfort and Joy" again last December. Man.

lastewie

How could you not like REO? That's effed up. Man. I thought you had better taste than that.

minty

I realize that my personality is the sum of my record collection and my book collection AND my DVD collection.

I am, coincidentally, working on a mix CD called "Guilty Pleasures." Maybe I will come to terms with the music I love, as a result of reading this entry, and just call it "Pleasures."

Marianne

Altered Images, Claire Grogan and Gregory's Girl are freaking great because they're SCOTTISH!!!

I will confess to my secret unhip shames, one of which I already confessed to Minty and she didn't laugh in my face. Though that coughing fit was mighty suspicious.

I think that that 'Mister, I'll make a man out of you' song from Mulan isn't half bad. And sometimes Everybody Loves Raymond makes me laugh.

I have an extremely bad habit of making sweeping generalizations about someone based on their music and movie tastes. This in spite of the fact that I am way behind the curve on this stuff. For example, if someone tells me their favorite movie is Top Gun, then any respect I had for them - pouf!

Jerry

Stewpants: OH SNAP

Minty: Good point. I'll have to add "DVD collection" to the list of "things in which my soul is stored."

Marianne: I somehow sensed that mentioning enough Scottish stuff would draw a favorable comment from you. I'm about a fourth Scottish myself, so... solidarity, my sister! Or whatever Scottish people say. And "Everybody Loves Raymond" sometimes doesn't suck nearly as much as I might expect it to. And I try to only make sweeping generalizations about people based on their spelling and grammar. (Everybody who comments on this blog employs exemplary spelling and grammar, by the way, even if sometimes the author of this blog does not. Give yourselves a hand, everyone!)

Amanda

Making fun of someone for liking Adam Ant is like making fun of someone for liking puppies. They probably only listen to boring, "correct" old man rock!

I wonder if YouTube has that Motown 25 clip. I had no idea about that!

Fikri

My motto has always been "no guilty pleasures, only shameless ones." Whenever someone attempts to ridicule my affection for some band (or book or film, etc.) or another, I merely gape at them in astonishment, and then arrange my features in a look of gentle disappointment that they should be so closed-minded.

Of course, if they happen to like something that patently sucks, I just say something like, "yeah, I guess that's just not really meant for me," which of course clearly implies that the sort of person for whom such a thing was meant is obviously crack-addled. And if they try to call me out on my witheringly dismissive attitude, I just deny it, saying, "What? I didn't say anything bad about it, I just said it's not for me."

I have my cake and eat it too! Aces!

(OK, as far as that second paragraph goes, I don't really do that anymore on account of it's really not very nice. But, oh my, once upon a time I had fewer compunctions about being not-very-nice...)

minty

You know, I haven't been able to stop thinking about Adam Ant since yesterday. I remember that "Friend or Foe" was in the shipment of free albums I got the first time I joined Columbia House record club, in 1982, and I remember exactly where I was sitting when I opened the box, and trying to decide which of the dozen or so albums to listen to first. The only other album I remember from that group is Marvin Gaye's "Midnight Love" (the one with "Sexual Healing" on it). I just looked at the tracklisting for "Friend or Foe" and was amazed at how many of the songs came back to me just from seeing their titles—even the ones that weren't on the radio. I haven't listened to that (vinyl) album in many many years, but I must have played the hell out of it back in '82. And I think I might be playing it again this weekend! Antmusic 4-evah!

Jerry

Amanda: I couldn't find it on YouTube, but I just spent about an hour looking at old XTC videos. (Infuriatingly, I couldn't find "Senses Working Overtime.") I love XTC even more than I love Adam and the Ants, but it was always "okay" to like them, so I felt no Music Shame.

Fikri: I should have mentioned that you were a big inspiration to me in dismissing the idea of guilty pleasures. In fact, I think the words "Fuck irony, man," came out of your mouth while we were talking about this once. Your motto sums up in six words what it took me over 1000 to try to express.

Minty: My first shipment from the RCA Record (cassette, in my case) Club included "Ghost in the Machine" and "Abacab," and I don't remember what else. I think I had requested "Beauty and the Beat," but it was out of stock. I never owned "Friend or Foe," but a lot of the stuff from it ended up on "Antics." The first time I ever tried to make a tape full of dancable music for a party, much of the stuff I put on was pretty ineffective. But the minute "Goody Two-Shoes" came on, there was a huge collective stampede to the dance floor. People didn't even have to think about it; they just heard the "bang-a-BANG-a-bang-a-BANG-a-bang-a-BANG-a-bang-a-BANG-a" and the "doot doot doot de doo-doot" of the opening and their lizardlike hindbrains took over. It was beautiful. I learned something that night.

pinky

I am a big old snob (and I reserve the right to contradict myself, too) but shopping at snottier-than-you indie record stores for many years gave me an "f-you, supercilious clerk" attitude for a while. Now I either buy music at CD Alley (where everyone is nice) or online, where no one will give you the You Are So Uncool Look for buying..whatever.

I loved Abacab, and I knew it by heart. Foreigner 4, too.

Tarus

I used to be a musical fascist, and I looked down with disdain on those with other tastes. But then I discovered girls. In the early 80s, I wanted to impress one such girl (she had a rattail) so I got tickets to an Adam Ant concert in Fayetteville. I kept trying to social engineer my way past the hotel security (I even grabbed some cases and tried to blend in with the roadies but got busted) to win her heart with back stage access. Despite failing at that (and ultimately with the girl) I really enjoyed the concert, and since then I tend to find something with almost any artist and genre that I can appreciate.

michele

I will take this opportunity to finally admit to others (as I just recently admitted to myself) that I have been a closet fan of Phil Collins for many years. Only the love songs, though. Not all the Sussudio bullshit. And that I recently bought a cd called "Phil Collins Love Songs". And that I listen to it a lot.

I'm trying to ditch the shame here, but no dice.

La BellaDonna

I had maybe three assorted albums when I was in high school, and yet, curiously enough, I was not lacking in personality. Just albums.

Through my life, much of what I really, really like has wandered far off the beaten path, and I just didn't care what people thought, because, most of the time, they don't.

And Phil Collins has excellent love songs.

Lee

I still have a soft spot in my heart for Duran Duran. When I replaced my stolen "7 and the Ragged Tiger", I made sure to buy it from the snootiest place in town. 'Cos I like being sneered at by people making money selling stuff they hate. Or I'm a glutton for punishment. Either way.

michelle

I saw Duran Duran play at the House of Blues for the reunion tour in 2004 - I waited 20 years to see them (they were the sole reason for my being during their heyday). It was me, a gazillion other 30-something women, their misfortunate significant others, and a bunch of gay guys. It was awesome. And, oddly enough, the second loudest concert that I've ever attended (Metallica being the loudest).

But now, I have to admit, I'm a total music snob. With secrets!

Phil

Back when Jerry and I were sharing a high school, I used to write "Adam and the Ants" (with the requisite backward D) on the blackboards at the beginning of my English and algebra classes. I even learned got Mrs. Wentz to show me how to (sort of) do it in Latin. One day I was mocked by Copland Arnold who wrote "Phil and the Pharts" on the blackboard. I felt no shame. Only pride.

"Ridicule is nothing to be scared of", indeed.

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