Stuff I'm Listening to #98 - Guilty Pleasures #4 - Tonight - NKOTB

Artist: New Kids on the Block

Title: Tonight, Tonight

Choice Lyrics: 
Remember when we said, "Girl, please don't go"
And how I'd be loving you forever
Taught you 'bout hangin' tough
As long as you've got the right stuff

Why?: I'm not going to bother defending myself. I was never a huge NKOTB fan. Just a casual fan who happened to like their singles. They are one of those polished, over processed bands I was talking about. I don't have a problem admitting I like their songs. What I take issue with is everyone assuming I was a giant fan of the band. I was never a fan like that. I didn't think they were hot. I didn't have a favourite. If pressed, I suppose it was Jonathan. The shy, gay one, of course! His shyness made him cute to me. 

So for all the songs I could have chosen, why this one? Because it kinda sounds like a Beatles song, and I really like the Beatles. If you wanted a deeper reason, I can't give you one. It's a guilty pleasure after all. 

For what it's worth, I did see these guys in concert back in 1990, at Exhibition Stadium, a venue that has long since been torn down. I went along because it was a group of us and tickets were reasonably priced, but up in the nose bleeds.

They put on a reasonably entertaining dance routine. What was brutally obvious was how badly they were lip syncing. But it didn't matter. There's something pretty amazing about a stadium filled with screaming pre-teen and teenage girls. There is no energy in the world like it. It's... terrifying.

Stuff I'm Listening To #96 - Guilty Pleasures #2 - Haddaway

Artist: Haddaway

Title: What Is Love? 

Favourite Lyrics: 

What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more

Why?: 
I actually don't know the song outside of this Saturday Night Live sketch and the movie 'Night At The Roxbury'. I do have a vague memory of this song being blasted on repeat from all the Cameros, IROC-Zs and Mustangs that cruised along the Danforth (Greektown) in Toronto, all with all the other Eurobeat songs that reigned in Greektown and Woodbridge.
This was 1992 after all. I detested the song at the time as I had started to bury myself firmly in the middle of punk. So I was anti-establishment and this song was, in my head, part of the establishment. I hated the mainstream. I hated the whole preppies scene. I found I needed to label myself, and mod became that label, though looking back, I was probably something in between an emo, goth and mod.

So here I was, stuck in my beaten down 1987 Ford Mustang with a 2.3L engine, trying to out aggress the big boys and their souped up machines. What I lacked in horsepower I made up in loud punk and ska. And weirdly, Japan and Duran Duran, blasting from the stock speakers that my brother had already blown when he owned the car. But this SNL sketch came along, and turned the whole preppie scene on it's head and made it funny. Now the song was funny.

Today, you will see me, in my TARDIS blue Honda Civic, occasionally blasting this hated song, doing that head thing because it's funny. It's fun to be stopped at a set of lights and see the car next to you doing the head thing with you. It's also fun to be on your motorcycle and have a car load of people blasting said song and you join them in your head bobbing because nothing seems to unite Canadians better than a reasonably funny comedy sketch.

Stuff I'm Listening To #95 - Guilty Pleasures Week #1 - Psy

Artist: 싸이 (Psy)

Title: 강남스타일 (Gangnam Style)

Lyrics: 
정숙해 보이지만 놀 땐 노는 여자
이때다 싶으면 묶었던 머리 푸는 여자
가렸지만 웬만한 노출보다 야한 여자
그런 감각적인 여자

(A girl who seems good but plays when she plays
A girl who puts her hair down when the right time comes
A girl who covers herself but is more sexy than a girl who exposes it all
A sensible girl like that)

Why?: This was a difficult list to compile. I am generally not ashamed of anything on my playlists. So while other people might deny knowing how certain questionable tunes somehow magically appeared on their playlists, me? Not so much. I have weird tastes and am very much one of those people that will gravitate towards the those songs that everyone else is already sick of because they're overplayed, overproduced, annoyingly catchy, ear worms. 

I like all manner of strange things. Mash-ups, some remixes, covers, commercial jingles, TV show theme songs... was it set to music? I probably liked it. 

I'm sure you all know Psy. You can't have existed in 2012 and not known about this song. Suffice to say, I can't explain much except it was Korean, it was hilarious and I made fun of everyone who mispronounced "Gangnam". Plus, there is something that needs to be noted about being able to teach the chief of the UN your signature Gangnam Style moves. I would have dressed up like Psy for Hallowe'en that year, except do you know how hard it was to find a powder blue tuxedo that year? 

Ban Ki Moon with Psy in 2012