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I have so many. In fact, half of my iTunes catalogue is filled with guilty pleasures, which makes me think... maybe this is not about guilty pleasures, but rather, my questionable taste for camp and shlock. Or, maybe I'm just not as hip as I would like to think I am. My play count over the last few weeks has been much higher for the Carpenters', "Rainy Day Mondays" then any of songs on "In Rainbows" (Radiohead's latest).

So, I was talking with Michelle about doing a post on this and she of course had her opinion (see below).  But I also asked a couple of my rock and roll pals what their guilty pleasure songs were.  Shocking.

Oh, first I'm gonna break out two more of mine: "Stop" by  the Spice Girls, and that Winnie the Pooh song by Kenny Loggins.

Tom Morello:
"Piece of Me" by Britney Spears

Amy Rigby:
"I've Had the Time of My Life" by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes (Dirty Dancing)
"Evergreen" by Barbara Streisand (A Star is Born).
Amy adds, "she actually plays it on the acoustic guitar, nails and all".
"Magic" by Olivia Newton John (Xanadu)

John Doe:
"Whose Gonna Take You Home" by the Cars" and "I'm Not in Love" by 10CC.
John also adds, " did you know that their name is a sperm reference?" (eewwww!)

Harry Shearer:
"Philadelphia Freedom" by Elton John

Kim Dickens (Joanie Stubbs of Deadwood):
"Baby Hold On to Me" by Eddie Money
"1-2-3 by Gloria Estefan

Roy Secoff (Huffington Post):
"Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas
"Troglodyte" by The Jimmy Castor Bunch  ("but not when I hear the sequel,
"The Bertha Butt Boogie" -- ya gotta have standards")
"Miracles" by Jefferson Starship -" it always slams me back to my teen years, when I tried to convince my girlfriend that an interest in cunnilingus didn't make me a pervert by turning up the radio when Marty Balin sings "I had a taste of the real world (a drop of it), when I went down on you girl!"

Al Kooper:
"The Name Of The Game" - Abba
"Autumn Leaves" - Roger Williams
"It's Not 4 Me 2 Say" - Johnny Mathis
"The Good Life" - Tony Bennet
"Round & Round" - Perry Como
"Take It Like A Man" - Gene Pitney
"I Kissed A Girl" - Jill Sobule

(Funny, Mr. Kooper, but does everyone know that you were in the band  that did "Short Shorts"? And you did produce "Free  Bird" for Skynard (which is a good song, but has annoyed every live performer around the world for years with shouts  from drunks to..."Play Free Bird". )

Michelle adds:

I know...  we Provocateurs have been laying some heavies on you lately - between our anorexia and drug sentencing posts and of course, the on-going election drama.  

So to lighten the mood, as Jill mentioned earlier, she and I tried to out-shame one another with our love of embarrassing pop songs.  I came clean with "This Is It" by Kenny Loggins.  Jill tried to up the Kenny Loggins ante with "that Winnie the Pooh song" (along with "Stop" by the Spice Girls and "True" by Spandau Ballet)

Whatever, Jill.  That's the best you've got?!?

First of all, "House at Pooh Corner" is SO not more embarrassing than "This Is It!"  "HAPC" was Loggins and Messina, for one thing.  It was meant to be sappy and singalong-y, just like that "even though we ain't got money" song.  I mean, come on... no shame in that!  Kenny L was one of those real 70's singer/songwriters.  And those guys and gals were writing real life and it was smooth and poignant at the same time - like you could either fall asleep or get deep.  And I loved how they used the word "lady" in songs... "she's my - LAYDEH!!!" So cool...

Anyway, it was in the early 80's with his hit song "This Is It" when Kenny Loggins helped establish the genre that has come to be known as Yacht Rock - thanks to the series of the same name on Channel 101. 

Oh, those signature piano riffs, those smokey Michael McDonald backgrounds, those hot funky session musician-slick tracks!  How I love them.   Other Yacht Rockers would be: the Doobie Brothers (with Michael McDonald), Steely Dan, Toto, Ambrosia and Christopher Cross. Yes, it's all on Lite FM now, but at the time it was groovin'AND rockin'.  I was too young to have a yacht at the time, being in elementary school and all.  But my best friend's older brother would show us the album sleeves (aaah, LP's!) and point out how the SAME drummer who played on the Toto record was ALSO playing on the Tubes record!  AND the Kenny Loggins record....and he was AWESOME!  (yes, I know it was Jeff Porcaro - for all you music geeks out there).

Yacht Rock is the opposite of cool.  And unlike most other genres of old music, it has not had its ironically hip comeback.  I have never publicly admitted to liking the Dan (until now)... or to having listened to them by choice in the last decade.  But I do and I have.   In fact, I would go so far as to say that I have had a transcendent moment or two, driving around in LA, when the song "Babylon Sister" starts playing on the radio ("drive West on Sunset to the sea") and have felt no guilt about it whatsoever.