I’m not a big fan of the category “guilty pleasure” when it comes to music. Unlike other pleasures, which can lead to illegal, immoral, or unhealthy actions, there isn’t anything about taking pleasure in music that ought to make one feel “guilty” as far as I can tell. You like what you like. Taste is a funny thing.
Still, we know what it means to say that a particular song is a “guilty pleasure.” It means that, despite the pleasure it generates, you can still recognize it as not an “objectively” good song. You get why other people don’t like it. You know it’s stupid, or corny, or overplayed, or formulaic. When it comes on the radio, you still get that immediate rush of good feels, but you hesitate for a moment before squealing omg I loooooove this song! because, you know, people may hear you.
My pick for today is Nelly’s “Country Grammar,” one of the party songs of the early 2000’s. (Nelly himself may also be a guilty pleasure for me.) “Country Grammar” came at the tail-end of the rise “Dirty South” genre of Southern hip-hop that dominated late-90’s radio and it gave us what is, in my view, one of the most enduring hooky choruses of that era and genre. Shimmy shimmy cocoa what, listen to it pound. Light it up and take a puff, pass it to me now.
Here’s Nelly, cocked ready to let it go:
Runners-up for #30DaySongChallenge, Day 13:
- Shaggy’s “Boombastic”
- REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling”
- Christina Aguilera’s “Genie In A Bottle”
- Smash Mouth’s “All Star”