Pop guilt...
 

What is your pop guilty pleasure? I know we have had threads like this before, but people are always to afraid of losing popularity points and play it safe with picks like The Ramones or The Clash. What I want is a TRULY Top 40's/Total Request Live/Real World Soundtrack popular pleasure. Any Britney Spears fans here? Got a Papa Roach poster up on the wall? Can't muster up the strength to take Blink 182 off the ipod rotation? That's what I am looking for here. To get it started, I have a soft spot for bands like Circa Survive and Chiodos. Don't know why, I just like them. Also I can dig some Phantom Planet or Rooney from time to time. It goes against the grain of my usual avante-garde/punk/indie/etc selections I would choose, but I just simply like them.

You?

I've been singing my love of Scissor Sisters from the rooftops for the last ten days, and my love of Girls Aloud and Sugababes for much much longer than that. And I feel no guilt for that. I'm the wrong person to be posting in this thread really.

I've never heard of Circa Survive, Chiodos, Phantom Plant or Rooney, by the way.

I don't feel guilty about any of the music I like because my taste is better than yours is anyways.

Are Choidos named after the brothers Chiodo, who gave us the film "Killer Klowns From Outer Space?"

I remember liking the Phantom Planet's single "Big Brat" but then soon losing interest in their models-with-instruments style. I also resent the shit out of "California."

Not that I know of, although anything is impossible.

I knew this would bring up this sort of response, still nobody opening up their horrible secrets for fear of jeers :)

The only reason I am not offering up any titles is the fact that I am honestly completely out of touch with "top 40" radio/video, and I have been for quite some time. College radio is the only music radio I tune in for, honestly.

For fucks' sake, I've given you Scissor Sisters, Sugababes and Girls Aloud. What more do you want???

Guess we'll just have to wait until Glice signs on next.

Same here, apart from the college radio bit. If the radio's on, it's Radio 3 or 4.

Phantom Planet are fuckin' cool man. I own one of their albums and it's a solid pop record.

People consider Britney etc pop, but I just consider that manufactured shit. Pop is a distinctive thing that can only be caught within a band, and then it's a beautiful thing. Beatles, Built to Spill (with a touch of 'indie'), Silverchair, Lo-tel, all great pop bands to name a few. It can all sound different but it's still got those lush, catchy, beautiful hooks and song structure. I guess that's why I don't consider pop a dirty, embarrasing thing. Although, alot of bands I consider pop are'nt the 'cool' thing to like - not tough enough or something, I guess. I don't know.

I've always been meaning to ask, Norma J, is that Fugazi in your avatar? If not, who?

I was going to avoid posting, I think I've said more than enough on this here subject recently.

I would like to say that sonicl is pretty much right. AND I have tickets for Erasure soon, so in your faces motherfuckers.

Great pop is nothing to feel guilty about.

N-Trance's Set Me Free is a stone classic and receives needletime at DR666 Towers at least once a day.

The first two Avril Lavigne albums are outrageously good. Her 'difficult third' album seems to be riddled with indecision though.

Oh god...

Deep Dish: what can I say I dig good house music
Radiohead & early Smashing Pumpking (blah)
Bob Marley

I haven't heard the third yet, I was planning on getting it this weekend. I might do what I usually do with pop albums and wait for them to appear in the reduced section of HMV or whatever. I don't like shopping at Asda for CDs, it feels oily and wrong. Not quite sure how it's better than HMV, but there we go.

N-Trance's Set me free is, indeed, fine, but is it as fine as this?. Dear God she's unbelievable, why haven't I married her?
Or this one? I was 10 years old when this came out. Madness.

EDIT: This was in response to DR666

Justin Timberlake owns, screw you guys if you disagree.

They're both great, but I always felt Set Me Free was more of a grassroots response type record. It had no industry backing but just kept growing, like a force of nature. You can picture the bedroom it was made in, in a way that you sort of can't with 2 Unlimited or Snap.

Minor points, but there you go.

also, re Avril's third. Be careful not to get the cleaned up radio friendly version. It doesn't make it that clear on the cover.

Considering that I've heard only positive things from basically anyone who has heard FutureSex/LoveSounds, that's not exactly a controversial opinion anymore.

Yeah, I was quite looking forward to hearing Avril sing 'Motherfucking'. It's certainly a step up from the 'shit' of the second.

I was a bit too young for the songs mentioned, and they all sounded weird to me at the time.

Have you noticed that Chemistry is about 5 millions times better than Sound of the Underground? And, did you notice that about the time of Justin's first record pop albums started being good all the way through, rather than 3 singles and a load of gash (including the obligatory, sub-La Isla Bonita 'spanish' track)? I have a theory that says that as soon as the majors started going into freefall (Napster, Audiogalaxy) they suddenly realised they could no longer survive on insubstantial/ half-baked material. And, in contrast to many people, Kelly Clarkson's most recent record is utter shite by comparison to her first (very good) record. Which I wouldn't have bought were it not for Mr Neurotic's recommendation. I never did say thanks. Thanks, Mr Neurotic.