The Spice Girls – Eclecticism

My friend D has just gone live with her newest project: LISTBlog.

The objective here is simple – compose lists based on the topic chosen by the post’s author. Feel free to leave your list in the comments or on your own blog with a link and/or TrackBack to the particular list you’re participating in.

List #1 — Songs you hate to love.

I am so going to lose what credibility I have for my taste in music with this list. The majority of the time, my musical tastes focus on the goth/industrial/alternative side of things, though I listen to a wide range of different styles, and I’m not sure there’s a genre out there that I don’t enjoy something from.

I do, however, have a weakness for well-crafted “pop” music. What used to be a perfectly acceptable genre — “pop”, or “bubblegum pop” — has of late become the realm of such quality acts as Britney Spears and her ilk, and overall isn’t nearly as listenable as it has been in years past. However, occasionally, a song will come along that, even when voiced by an artist that will cause most sane, rational people to run screaming from the stereo, I find myself liking. It rarely, if ever, has anything to do with whatever flavor of the week is providing the voice for the song. Instead, what will catch me is the hook, the production values, and the writing. Even if it’s a hideously dumb song, if it’s assembled well, it’ll often work its way into my brain.

Here, then, are five songs destined to cause me to hang my head in shame and forever regret publicly admitting that I actually enjoy them. ;)

Spice Girls: “Wannabe” (And, incidentally — as long as I’m damning myself — the Spice World movie was far more entertaining than I expected it to be, and is solidly in my “guilty pleasure” movie list. Pick it up sometime, try to ignore the fact that it’s “THE SPICE GIRLS”, and just watch it for the zany British humor.)
Britney Spears: “Oops! I Did It Again…” (I can’t explain it. I really can’t. But this song makes me laugh every time I hear it.)
Los Del Rio: “The Macarena” (Back when I was DJ’ing and the Macarena was at the height of its popularity, it got played about weekly, and [since I have no shame] I’d get up onto a stage area by the DJ booth and do the dance. It didn’t take long before I’d end up with a group of girls watching me — apparently, in their words, I “do good things for the Macarena.” I’m still occasionally tempted to break into it in the middle of a Sisters of Mercy tune at The Vogue, though I haven’t been that crazy/tipsy yet….)
Ricky Martin: “Cup of Life” (I actually think Ricky gets short shrift much of the time. While the more “American” pop-oriented tracks I’ve heard from him generally fail to impress me, the songs with a stronger Latin feel aren’t bad at all.)
Kid Rock: “Wasting Time” (Actually, any Kid Rock song off of Devil Without a Cause. I was just berating myself for this the other day. I know I generally have decent taste in music. I know I shouldn’t like Kid Rock in the least. But for some reason, every so often, his blatantly ridiculous pot-smokin’, 40oz-drinkin’, wife-beater wearin’ white trash attitude is just what I need. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go kill myself.)

Well, okay — since you asked…

I do, occasionally, like some really bad music. I can rationalize it well, but…(sigh)…the occasional song does come along that I know I shouldn’t like, but I do. For example:
- Britney Spears’ ‘Oops…I did it again!’: I don’t really know why, but for some reason, this song amuses me to no end. It’s not one I’d play over and over, but it’s not going to get shut off when it comes up in the playlist, either.
- Celine Dion’s ‘All Coming Back To Me Now’: This one, there’s actually a reason for. The first time I heard this song, I had no clue who sang it, but it sounded like a Meatloaf song. Now, I’ve always liked Meatloaf, and both of his ‘Bat out of Hell’ albums were actually written and produced by Jim Steinman. So, just after hearing this song, I called the radio station and asked them who it was, but first I wanted to know if Jim Steinman wrote and produced the song. Turns out he did — then they told me who the vocalist was. Celine Dion? (sigh) Ah, well — to me, it’s a Jim Steinman song.
- The Spice Girls’ ‘Wannabe’: Again, I’m not sure I can really give it a reason. It’s a fun, bouncy, brainless piece of bubblegum pop, and okay, I like it. Besides, the line “If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends” sounds far too much like she’s telling some guy that if he’s going to sleep with her, he’s going to have to sleep with all of her friends, too. This amuses me (not to mention that it sounds like a damn good deal…).
Kind of tied to the last of the three guilty pleasure songs above — Spice World (the Spice Girls movie) is surprisingly funny. Just trust me on this one — forget the fact that they were a manufactured pop group, and just sit back and enjoy the silly British humor and the multitudes of cameos. It’s not nearly as bad as you think. Really.

You know, that’s enough embarassing myself for the moment. Time to stop before I dig myself any deeper. ;)