“Pride attaches undue importance to the superiority of one’s status in the eyes of others; And shame is fear of humiliation at one’s inferior status in the estimation of others. When one sets his heart on being highly esteemed, and achieves such rating, then he is automatically involved in fear of losing his status.”
– Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher
This week’s iPod challenge requires you to check your shame at the door. Too often, there is embarrassment associated with our favorite music. We worry about the cool factor.
When I started Country Universe, I was determined to write honestly about what I like and dislike, regardless of how it might affect my credibility in the eyes of others. But I often keep mum about the guiltiest of my guilty pleasures.
So with this iPod check, I’m hitting shuffle and listing the first twenty songs that I’d normally be too embarrassed to share. Just to keep it fully honest, I’m using my “Favorites” playlist, the 3,000 or so songs that I truly enjoy, so you know these aren’t songs that I like. They’re songs that I love:
- Kellie Pickler, “Best Days of Your Life”
- Grease 2, “Back to School Again”
- Mr. Mister, “Broken Wings”
- N*SYNC, “Pop”
- Paula Cole, “I Don’t Want to Wait”
- Alabama, “Love in the First Degree”
- Guns ‘n Roses, “November Rain”
- Blondie, “Rapture”
- Billy Ray Cyrus, “In the Heart of a Woman”
- Neil Diamond, “Yesterday’s Songs”
- Sinead O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2 U”
- Doug Stone, “Little Houses”
- Trick Daddy, “Nann…”
- They Might Be Giants, “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)”
- Dexy’s Midnight Runners, “Come On Eileen”
- TLC, “No Scrubs”
- Arrested Development, “Tennessee” (A game of horseshoes!)
- Michael Bolton, “How Can We Be Lovers”
- Olivia Newton-John, “Have You Never Been Mellow”
- Shakespear’s Sister, “I Don’t Care”
Cast off your shame and share your own list in the comments!
Surprisingly, the first 12 that came up were completely shameless. Anyway…
(I’m not exactly ashamed of all these, I just might not mention them in the usual iPod Check)
1. The Exies – These are the Days*
2. Jerry Seinfeld – Late TV
3. Keith Urban – Live to Love Another Day*
4. Alanis Morisette – You Oughtta Know
5. 2-Pac – Strictly for My …
6. Dangerous Toys – Here Comes Trouble*
7. Seether – Don’t Believe*
8. OutKast – ATLiens
9. Patrick Gibson – Florida (need to delete this… awful song)*
10. Lil’ Wayne – Playin’ With Fire
11. OneRepublic – Mercy*
12. Megadeth – Washington is Next!
13. Linda Rondstadt – That’ll Be the Day (my wife’s… I can’t stand LR)
14. 10 Years – 11AM*
15. Billy Preston – Outa Space
16. Small Town USA – Justin Moore*
17. Def Leppard – Foolin’
18. Five Finger Death Punch – Meet the Monster
19. Rascal Flatts – These Days (one of the few songs of theirs I enjoy)*
20. Midlake – Bandits
*ashamed of
I’m NEVER ashamed of what I have on my iPod. After all it was me who put it there…
1. Rhett Akins – “She Said Yes”
2. Lenny Kravits – “Fly Away”
3. Graham Colton – “Take You Back”
4. Orrall & Wright – “I’m Outta Here”
5. Natalie Imbruglia – “Torn”
6. Mat Kearney – “Wait”
7. Nelly Furtado – “Maneater”
8. Patrick Wolf – “Accident & Emergency”
9. Kyle Cease – “For Hacky Travel Jokes”
10. Delta Goodrem – “Posessionless”
11. Savage Garden – “Wonder Why”
12. Grand Funk Railroad – “We’re An American Band”
13. Chicago – “Saturday In The Park”
14. Jim Witter – “Turn! Turn! Turn!” (yes’ it’s his cover of the classic folk song)
15. Travis – “Eyes Wide Open”
16. Bucky Covington – “Empty Handed”
17. Regie Hamm – “They Know Not What They Do” (his album was an early decade pop gem that nobody heard)
18. “Finding Neverland” Opening Sequence. (My Niece is a figure skater so I often look for stuff for her to skate to).
19. Tokio Hotel – Instant Karma (from the international version of the Lennon Darfur benefit)
20. Duncan James – Amazed (A track from the former boyband member’s only CD. He was in the popular uk boyband “Blue”). The track is a paint-by-numbers remake of lonestar.
I just have one thing to confess…
I love Taylor Swift!
*shame*
These are the first 20 I got when I pressed shuffle – nothing left out. So go easy on me.
1. Tanya Tucker – You Just Watch Me
2. Doug Stone – I Thought It Was You
3. Reba McEntire – Invitation to the Blues
4. Dolly Parton – Wings of a Dove
5. Randy Houser – Something Real
6. Dolly Parton – Potential New Boyfriend
7. Jamie O’Neal – Trying to Find Atlantis
8. Vince Gill – I Can’t Tell You Why
9. George Strait – Famous Last Words of a Fool
10. Mary Chapin Carpenter – On and On It Goes
11. Tanya Tucker – Heartache Number Three
12. Emmylou Harris – You Never Can Tell
13. Kelly Clarkson – Miss Independent
14. Rodney Crowell – Heartbroke
15. Shelby Lynne – This Time I Almost Made It
16. Jo Dee Messina – Lesson In Leavin
17. Sarah Buxton – That Kind of Day
18. Mary Chapin Carpenter – Come On Come On
19. Rosanne & Johnny Cash – That’s How I Got to Memphis
20. Janie Fricke – It Ain’t Easy Being Easy
… I expected a wider range or artists to pop up. But I did use my ‘favorites’ list too.
Okay, here we go:
1. “Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)” by Lady GaGa
2. “Then I Did” by Rascal Flatts (And the rest of their discography)
3. “No One Mourns The Wicked” by The Wicked Cast
4. “Petals” by Mariah Carey
5. “If You Want A Mother” by Gretchen Wilson
6. “Diva” by Beyonce
7. “Dancin’ For The Groceries” by Kenny Chesney
8. “Fifteen” by taylor Swift
9. ‘The Scientist” by Coldplay
10. “Best Days Of Your Life” by Kellie Pickler
11. “Painters” by Jewel
12. “Still Feels Good” by Rascal Flatts
13. “About The South” by Rodney Atkins
14. “Pon de Replay” by Rihanna
15. “Pocketbook” by Jennifer Hudson
16. “Oxygen” by Colbie Caillat
17. “Secret Smile” by Rascal Flatts
18. “Urei” by Puffy Amiyumi
19. “Comin’ To Your City” by Big & Rich
20. “What About Now” by Lonestar
These are just ones I’m ashamed of, kind of. Some of these I’ve never heard before, like #20.
6. Alabama, “Love in the First Degree”
7. Guns ‘n Roses, “November Rain”
9. Billy Ray Cyrus, “In the Heart of a Woman”
11. Sinead O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2 U”
16. TLC, “No Scrubs”
19. Olivia Newton-John, “Have You Never Been Mellow”
Kevin, those are the songs from your list that I’m securing in admitting that I like.:)
I don’t have any shameful songs on my ipod right now…I’m still working on getting it done. But here are some songs that I pretty much love that will strip me of any credibility I may have had. If you have to fire me, Kevin, I’ll understand.:)
Avril Lavign, “Complicated” and Sk8er Boy”
Michael Bolton, “I Said I Loved You, But I Lied”
Nickelback, “Gotta Be Somebody”
Justin Timberlake, “Love Stoned”
Okay…I think all my dignity’s gone right about now, so I’ll stop.
Oh boy here we go,
1.)Kelly Clarkson “My Life Would Suck Without You”
2.) Cher-“Save up all Your Tears” lol
3.)Maroon 5 “Wont Go Home Without You”
4.)”Younger Men” K.T. Oslin(in my defense, i loaded the whole album on)
5.) “One Song Glory” Adam Pascal from ‘RENT’
6.)”For Good” from Wicked
7.)”Nothin Compares 2 U” Sinead O’Connor-yea i got this one too
8.)”This Love-Maroon 5
9.)”Unchained Melody”-LeAnn Rimes
10.)”Secrets that we keep”-Sara Evans
11.)”I Love You”-Martina McBride
12.)”Believe”-Cher
13. “Better Man”-Pearl Jammer
14.”Dont Stop Believing”-Journey
15.”Who Knew?”-Pink
16.”Unforgettable”-Megan Mullally & Sean Hayes from the “Will & Grace” finale
17-“Step Too Far”-OBC of Aida
18-“She’s My Kind of Rain”-Tim McGraw
19-“Inside Your Heaven”-Carrie Underwood-alot of shame
20.”Ride”-Martina McBride
Maybe I’m just not thinking like a typical country fan, but I cannot for the life in me figure out what’s shameful about Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” or any of Blondie’s pre-1999 singles.
I can’t figure out what’s shameful about “November Rain” either.
Leeann,
Ah, I thought your affections for ONJ began and ended with Grease! God help all of you if I ever write the Favorite Songs feature on her that’s been gestating in my head for the past year. Maybe the George Strait one I’m working on will help be build up enough good will to pull it off.
I have both Avril Lavigne songs that you listed, actually, and I would recommend a third: “Girlfriend.”
Lately all I keep blasting is T-Pain and Rihanna’s “Live Your Life” and Eminem and Dre’s “Crack the Bottle.”
Jonathan,
True that about Blondie and Sinead. I don’t know why I put Blondie in there. It certainly didn’t cross my mind to include any of the Madonna songs that I came across. I guess I assumed that Blondie’s considerable significance might not be widely known in these parts.
Mike M,
Perhaps it’s the memories of the video that make “November Rain” a guilty pleasure for me. I’ll give it up for “Don’t Cry” and “You Could Be Mine”, but “November Rain” makes Donna Summer’s “Macarthur Park” sound cohesive and concise. Still love it, though.
Cory,
I have about half of the songs on your favorite list. Same with J.R’s!
Naw, Kevin, I definitely like more ONJ songs than even Grease and “Have You Never Been Mellow”, which definitely isn’t helping my street cred, I know. My taste outside of country music isn’t something to be proud of, I don’t think.:)
Well, this isn’t going to take long.
1. Ingrid Michaelson, “The Way I Am”
2. Lonestar, “My Front Porch Looking In” (not gonna lie, still really like this aside from that horrible “sippy cup of milk” bit)
3. Pokemon Cast, “Pokemon Christmas Bash.” I miss being a kid and not having to feel guilty about finding this so delightful.
4. Daphne Rubin-Vega, “Out Tonight” (from Rent)
5. No Doubt, “Don’t Speak”
6. The Wonders, “I Need You (That Thing You Do)” (from That Thing You Do!. Love that movie.)
7. The Lost Trailers, “Holler Back”
8. Pokemon Cast (again), “Christmas Song”
9. Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown, “No Air”
10. Peabo Bryson, “If Ever You’re In My Arms Again”
11. Beyonce, “Dreamgirls” (from Dreamgirls)
12. Phil Vassar, “Carlene”
13. Diana Ross, “The Boss”
14. Rockie Lynne, “Lipstick”
15. Hanson, “Weird” (by the way, I love Hanson)
16. The Wonders (again), “Dance With Me Tonight” (also from That Thing You Do!, and this is my favorite track)
17. Meat Loaf, “I Would Do Anything for Love” (my enjoyment is only partially ironic)
18. Mandy Moore, “Only Hope” (from A Walk to Remember)
19. Melinda Doolittle, “Have a Nice Day” (oh, an American Idol cover of a Bon Jovi song. Perfect.)
20. Daniel Powter, “Song 6”
…That was way worse than I realized it would be. Uh oh.
My mp3 player is only the 8 gig variety, so I constantly have to take songs off to put new songs on — that means that those that have survived the cut, I LIKE. That being said, here are guilty pleasures that popped up on shuffle:
1. Firehouse – Don’t Treat Me Bad
2. Paul Stanley – Hold Me Touch Me
3. Rex Smith – You Take My Breath Away (probably shouldn’t admit this one, but it was high school girlfriend’s favorite song for awhile…)
4. Queensryche – Silent Lucidity
5. Benny Mardones – Into The Night (I will list this, but it is one of my favorite songs of all time)
6. Tim Moore – Second Avenue
7. Marie Osmond – Who’s Sorry Now
8. David Soul – Don’t Give Up On Us
9. Kermit – Rainbow Connection
10. Classics IV – Traces
11. Neil and Barbara – You Don’t Bring Me Flowers
12. John Rich – Shuttin’ Detroit Down (I was curious, but it won’t be on here long)
13. Grand Funk – Closer To Home / I’m Your Captain
14. Tori Amos – Smells Like Teen Spirit
15. Reunion – Life Is A Rock
16. Krokus – Tokyo Nights
17. Styx – The Grand Illusion
18. Guiffria – Love You Forever
19. Perry Como – And I Love You So
20. Dionne Warwick – I’ll Never Love This Way Again
1. Either Way – Leann Womack
2. She Lays it All on the Line – George Strait
3. God’s Will – Martina McBride
4. She Likes to Get out on the Town – Brooks & Dunn
5. Lost in the Feeling – Conway Twitty
6. Check Yes or No – George Strait
7. Angels in Waiting – Tammy Cochran
8. A Good Run – Trent Tomlinson
9. Make the World Go Away – Martina McBride
10. Amazing Grace – Charlotte Church
11. Faster than the Speed of Night – Bonnie Tyler
12. If I were You – Terri Clark
13. Crying aint Dying – Tracy Lawrence
14. A Girl’s Gotta Do (What A GIrls Gotta Do) Mindy McCready
15 . New York Minute – The Eagles
16. I Can’t Outrun You – Trace Adkins
17. What’s Not to Love – Trick Pony
18. Rodeo – Joey + Rory
19. A Far Cry from You – Tracy Lawrence
20. More Love – Dixie Chicks
Not too bad, but a couple….
I don’t think I followed the directions on this assignment. Here are a few I am somewhat ashamed of …
Dolly Parton (with Smoky Robinson) – I Know You By Heart
Reba – Great Ball of Fire (live)
George Strait – I Just Want to Dance With You
O-Town – We Fit Together
Wilkinsons – Jimmy’s Got a Girlfriend
Taylor Swift – The Way I Loved You (in my defense, I haven’t deleted her Fearless album yet)
Toby Keith – I Got It For You Girl (same with the Taylor album – needs deleted)
SheDaisy – What This Woman Needs
David Allan Coe – Susie Shallow Throat
REO Speedwagon – Take It On the Run
Whitney Houston – Didn’t We Almost Have It All
David Archuleta – Crush
… and it took me nearly 100 skips to get that many. I love most all the songs on my iPod – and am not ashamed of them. But I wouldn’t really play any of those if you came to my house.
“Taylor Swift – The Way I Loved You (in my defense, I haven’t deleted her Fearless album yet)”
That’s no defense. What was it doing there in the first place? ;)
I wanted to listen to it out of curiosity, Razor. And I wasn’t about to buy a physical copy of the CD, so I uploaded it from my friend Angel’s computer one day.
1. I Only Wanted You — Marie Osmond
2. Niagra — Sara Evans
3. Politically Uncorrect — Gretchen Wilson
4. Don’t Stop Believin’ — Martina McBride
5. You Still Own Me — Emerson Drive
6. I’ve Waited All My Life For You — Reba McEntire
7. Tell Me True — Juice Newton
8. Romeo — Dolly Parton (I thought I’d deleted this one)
9. Planet Texas — Kenny Rogers
10. Touch and Go Crazy — Lee Greenwood
I had to go through 500 songs to come up with these.
LOL.
Here are mine that other people might scoff at, but in general i kinda love them all.
1. Donnie Klang – “Catch My Breath”
2. Cece Peniston – “Finally”
3. The System – “Don’t Disturb This groove”
4. Utada – “Santuary”
5. Vanessa Hudgens – “Come Back to Me”
6. “Touch Me” from Spring Awakening
7. John Michael Montgomery – “Rope The Moon” (still my favorite song from him)
8. R. Kelly – “Bump N Grind” lol
9. Bobby Brown – “My Perogative”
10. Jordin Sparks – “Tattoo”
JR, that is a great SHeDAISY song! What’s so shameful about them?
Also, sorry Kevin, but “Live Your Life” is by T.I., not T-Pain… xD
“JR, that is a great SHeDAISY song! What’s so shameful about them?”
If you have to ask, it really doesn’t matter … ;)
Pre-1993 Bobby Brown is not shameful. Afterwards, yep.
Using the Genius feature on my iTunes library.
Midnight Rider ~ Jimmy Wayne
Brown Eyed Girl ~ Everclear
Up on the Roof ~ James Taylor
Turn The Beat Around ~ Gloria Estefan
The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss) ~ Cher
Can’t Help Falling In Love ~ UB40
Life Is Beautiful ~ Vega4
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) ~ James Taylor
Coming Back For You ~ Keith Harling
Ramblin’ Man ~ James Otto
Only The Lonely ~ Chris Isaak
You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine ~ Michael Buble’
Home ~ Marc Broussard
Superstar ~ Sonic Youth
Cruisin’ ~ Gwyneth Paltrow & Huey Lewis
I Say A Little Prayer ~ Diana King
Please Mr. Postman ~ The Carpenters
Legs ~ Trace Adkins
Drift Away ~ Uncle Kracker Featuring Doby Gray
Sway ~ Michael Buble’
Looks like we have our winner for the Worst iTunes Library ever ….
Not gonna lie, y’all; I really enjoy Fearless. It’s not country music by any stretch except maybe that the songs have a storytelling component, but Taylor Swift sure knows how to build a great pop hook. It’s easy to scoff at her because so many things about her act (including some previous songs) have been very childish and gimmicky, but I think she writes from her particular perspective with more focus and clarity than most people twice her age. I wouldn’t call myself a huge fan, and obviously I can’t relate to some of her subject matter, but her songwriting on Fearless has definitely impressed me. I feel no shame about owning the album.
Her debut, on the other hand, is a different story in lots of ways…
This should be fun!
1. I’d Just Be With You – Julianne Hough (LOVE Julianne!)
2. The Easy Part – Chuck Wicks (my favorite song from his cd!)
3. Because of You – Kelly Clarkson
4. Baby’s on the Way – Luke Bryan
5. Penguin, James Penguin – Brad Paisley (haha love this christmas song!)
6. I Wanna Make You close Your Eyes – Dierks Bentley
7. Don’t – Shania Twain
8. A Place to Land – Little Big Town
9. The Remedy (I won’t Worry) – Jason Mraz (lovin’ Jason’s stuff!)
10. A Little Gasoline – Terri Clark
11. Hicktown – Jason Aldean
12. One Bud Wiser – Gretchen Wilson
13. Never Again, Again – Lee Ann Womack
14. Don’t I Have a Heart – The Wilkinsons (LOVED them as a kid! still do!)
15. Love – Sugarland
16. Different Breed – Carter’s Chord
17. Tu Compania – Keith Urban
18. I Don’t Know what she Said – Blaine Larsen (love his Rockin’ You Tonight album!)
19. Angeles – Josh Kelley (slowly gettin into his stuff!)
20. Never Loved a Man – Alexis Grace (just got this from iTunes, it’s her performance on American Idol)
Haha not too bad! All my embarassing stuff didn’t come on thank goodness! haha
By the way Dan…I also have Melinda Doolittle’s version of “Have a Nice Day” on my iPod too! haha Actually, I have all the performances from Bon Jovi night on there! I love Jordin’s version of “Livin’ on a Prayer” and Phil Stacey’s version of “Blaze of Glory.” I’ll guess I’ll continue to out myself…but I’m an American Idol-aholic! I can’t get enough of that show! I’ve already started downloading performances from this season! haha oh the shame!
@ Music Man…
Marc Broussard’s HOME is nothing to be ashamed of,
Great Bluesy song, and great video…I wish he’d do more stuff like that!
@Cory, Yeah, Sara’s “Secrets That We Keep” is the most embarrassing, cringe-inducing song she ever made, IMO..good choice.
I gotta admit, much to my shame, I like some of Maroon 5’s stuff.,
I am really enjoying readiing everyones posts…..unfortunately, I think I embarrassed myself enough on my response to “That’s On My Ipod?” It’s so nice to know I’m not the only one whose musical tastes are all over the place! Great post!
I’m not really ashamed of anything on my iPod, except for “Fearless” by Taylor Swift and “Still Feels Good” by Rascal Flatts.
All the Pokemon songs (proud of them all!, but I do get weird looks)
“The More Boys I Meet” by Carrie Underwood…but hey, I’m still a guy, just find the song funny
“It’s America” by Rodney Atkins Love the song greatly respect America, but I’m Australian
I like the production of Taylor Swift’s first album better than the second one.
I have so many of the songs listed above, it’s not even funny. Off Kevin’s list alone, I have:
1. Kellie Pickler, “Best Days of Your Life”
2. Alabama, “Love in the First Degree” (I actually like a lot of Alabama songs)
3. Guns ‘n Roses, “November Rain” (I used to steal my brother’s G&R cd just for this song, so he put the song on a cassette tape for me on repeat)
4. They Might Be Giants, “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” (everyone should own Flood; it will make you smile on a bad day)
5. Dexy’s Midnight Runners, “Come On Eileen” (sadly, a classic – who doesn’t know it? remembering the artist is always the trick-who?)
6. TLC, “No Scrubs” (and Waterfalls…)
Dan…you and Peabo Bryson. Hmm… ;)
Truthfully, flipping through my shuffle I have very little shame about what’s on my iPod, although it may not be to everyone’s taste. That’s probably because a lot of the potentially more embarrassing songs have great stories behind them, so it’s hard to be ashamed of them.
The first song I stopped to listen to during my browsing – “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie.
I own the Pickler song, though I don’t really listen to it much. So, I guess I don’t love it. I have :Waterfalls” too.
Some of the following I’m relatively sure only a few people here have heard recently (if ever), but I’m not ashamed to say that I like them. So many of them, incidentally, are instrumental hits from the 1970s, and I am absolutely proud of that fact:
ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA (2001)–Eumir Deodato
BAKER STREET–Gerry Rafferty
DREAM WEAVER–Gary Wright
A FIFTH OF BEETHOVEN–Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band
LOVE’S THEME–Barry White/Love Unlimited Orchestra
STAR WARS THEME/CANTINA BAND–Meco
HAWAII FIVE-O–The Ventures
STAYING ALIVE–The Bee Gees
AIRPORT LOVE THEME–Vincent Bell
VENUS–Shocking Blue
Razor X says:
February 28, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Looks like we have our winner for the Worst iTunes Library ever ….
ah, that’s just the tip of the iceberg, I’ve thousands of LP’s and CD’s in a wide variety genres, would take me years to put them all on the computer.
What did I win?
You win my utmost respect for your unwavering commitment to the challenge that I presented. And I have to say that while there are only a few songs on your list that I’ve heard, I own all of them that I’m familiar with.
I guess it’s a testament to my oddball nature, but I find very little shame in a LOT of these selections…and I grew up with a lot of these songs as well and think many of them are pretty cool. ;)
But I do have a confession, I do like a lot of Taylor Swift’s singles, and if anyone quotes me outside of this thread, I’ll deny it till the end of time! Her brand of Country (pop) is not my favorite…but I think she does it well and her songs are quite catchy…And I also object to the disproportionate acclaim she receives, but whaddya gonna do…the kid can write good tunes!
and Cory, I don’t want to get too far off topic here, but do you remember on which thread we discussed the use of autotuners? I have a few more questions, but like I said, I don’t want to get too far OT here…
These are songs that get stuck in my head, playing over and over until I finally give in and sing them out loud!
1. “Something to Talk About ” Bonnie Raitt
2. “Dancing in the Dark” Bruce Springstein
3 ” Cheater Cheater” Joey + Rory
4. ” Redneck Woman” Gretchen Wilson
When a guest registers with me, there is a $50 minimum, I will send my client a confirmation that $50 has been applied to their account from Mr. ,
…then what?
I know I’m late to this one, but okay, here goes.
“Picture to Burn,” by Taylor Swift… or just about any Taylor Swift song. I’m sure the fact that I like Taylor Swift will totally destroy my credibility, but it’s true. I know she can’t sing, and I know she’s not that “country,” but there’s always been a little teeny-bopper inside of me that always wants to like her. It kills me to admit it, but I think I know what I’ll be doing on October 25 when the new “Speak Now” album comes out.
“Telephone,” by Lady GaGa and Beyonce. This is the ONLY GaGa song on my iPod, but it has been in heavy rotation lately. I’m not usually a big fan of heavy dance-pop like this, but something about this song hooked me.
“Wannabe,” by the Spice Girls. I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want… WHAT? Oh, NO. I don’t listen to THAT. That must be somebody else’s iPod you’ve got. Or maybe I just happen to be attracted to singers who can’t sing.
“Undo It,” by Carrie Underwood. Interesting fact: I have a two-sided personality. My primary self is Ben Foster, the impossible-to-please country music critic who thinks this is the dumbest bubblegum-pop-country song ever – an opinion that was reflected in his scathing revew of this song. But I have an alter ego who occasionally comes out and starts singing along when this song comes on the radio.
“Keep On Lovin’ You,” by Steel Magnolia. It’s ear candy, but it’s tasty ear candy.
That’s all I could think of right now.
I hear you, Ben. The discerning country music fan in me wants to hate all things Taylor Swift, but I’d be lying if I didn’t occasionally play “Love Story.” Enjoyable teen-pop it is, but I wouldn’t go as far as to buy any of her albums.
Some other songs I like that I wouldn’t exactly be eager to share with others:
Kenny Chesney – Out Last Night
Billy Ray Cyrus – In the Heart of a Woman
Emerson Drive – A Good Man
Faith Hill – The Secret of Life
Jamey Johnson – Rebelicious
Martina McBride – God’s Will (cloying and mawkish, but I eat it up)
Andrew. I love “The Secret of Life” which was solely written by Gretchen Peters. The only Faith Hill song I like better is “Let Me Let Go” by Steve Diamond and Dennis Morgan.
Gretchen Peters is one of my favorite songwriters, but it’s a bit too “inspirational” for my tastes. Not a bad song by any means, though, and on second thought it probably doesn’t belong on my list.
My iTunes library includes “Star Trek Sound Effects.” I don’t believe in feeling guilty about liking something.
(That said, I do wish I didn’t enjoy Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” as much as I do.)