guilty pleasures

These are the songs that music snobs are not allowed to listen to. These are the artists that you are supposed to turn your nose up at; it’s throw away culture, and you know that. But for some reason, probably because they are just so damn catchy, you find yourself secretly listening to these songs over and over again, rocking out in your apartment/dorm. These are guilty pleasures….shhhh, I won’t tell if you won’t. For your visual as well as auditory pleasure, I present a short list of guilty pleasures, from various genres, in music video form.

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Kelly Clarkson "Since U Been Gone"
This is the ultimate guilty pleasure in my eyes, as there are so many reasons to hate it, yet I still love (or luv..teehee) it. For starters, reasons to hate it: made by a hick pop star( a pop star from American Idol, no less), crappy crappy lyrics, crappy crappy video, and...did I mention American Idol? Anyway, this is a great, catchy rock song, well delivered by a hot-in an accessible, girl next door manner-singer, that has been covered by the likes of alternative rocker Ted Leo. I could make a case for most of her sophomore effort Breakaway , but we'll stick with this song for now.

Linkin Park "Faint"
Some of you may not consider a Linkin Park song a guilty pleasure. Well, to me it is. Their cheap mix of rap, industrial riffs and lame lyrics never sold me; but this song did, probably due to the really catchy beat, electronic string section, and angst ridden chorus. I love it...shhh, don't tell Jim.

Cobra Starship "Snakes on a Plane (Bring it)"
A guilty pleasure lineup (members of Midtown, The Sounds, The Academy is... and Gym Class Heroes) performing the title track to a guilty pleasure movie. Not much else needs to be said, except that cameos are made by Samuel Jackson and Fall out Boy's Pete Wentz. I feel so dirty, but I can't stop listening.

Gym Class Heroes "The Queen and I"
Speaking of Travis McCoy, Gym Class Heroes also make the list. The live band hip-hop quartet from upstate New York feature songs about myspace romances and emo band names, and are just as comfortable on Warped Toured as they are on the hip-hop circuit. Hope you enjoy this guilty little ditty.

Blink 182 "What's My Age Again"
I discovered punk in high school, and as a dedicated listener to "real" punk, I had to hate the sophomoric pop-punk of Travis, Tom, and Mark. But now I am older and wiser, and it's hard to deny how catchy these guys were, before they tried to "mature" and broke up to form pretentious, second rate circa 1980's U2 groups. Anyway, no song is more endearing than the trio's naked antics of 1999's "What's My Age Again," a time when John Henson hosted talk soup and Jim Rome had the last word.

The Juliana Theory "Love Song for the Loveless"
Had to put an emo song on here, because no genre is more guilty. The Juliana Theory have always been a band with some talented songwriting, some really shitty lyrics and song titles, and alot of filler on their albums. Note: This is NOT the actual music video for the song, but one of those amateur anime music videos that are popular on youtube. Sorry, an embed ready version of the real one is impossible to find.