Danko detests the term and he claims that it only exists because self-appointed "style bullies" act as musical gatekeepers to deem what is cool and what is not.
"You should never feel guilty about the music you like," Danko asserts at the end of his post.
Now my admiration for Danko knows practically no bounds. It is uncomplicated, like having a taste for french fries. I don't understand why Danko isn't among the most well known and loved musicians on the planet. The man is bona fide.
So, it pains me to call bullshit on him and his assertion. He doesn't actually believe it and furthermore, it neglects to consider many beneficial aspects of guilt when mixed with pleasure.
Proving that Danko is just as complicit in passing judgement on another's musical taste is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel but should be done regardless so we can move on...
Consider Exhibit A: His blog post at the end of last year where he describes his reaction after finally watching the video for Gangam Style:
Upon watching the video (on Dec. 9 at 12:55 p.m.) and seeing the view count, I promptly tweeted this to the world:
"This Gangnam Style phenomenon is more proof we are on a planet overrun by village idiots." He then goes on to say that his tweet got "over 100 retweets and 100% support." Does that sound like someone smugly claiming to having a mob of gatekeeping, taste-making bullies behind his knee-jerk tweeting to you? Yeah, me too.
C'mon Danko! Do you really expect me to believe that you don't believe in rules? You opened your set proclaiming The Rules for over a year and we loved you for it.
Now, maybe what those interviewers should be asking Danko and other musicians is something more akin to: "What musical styles or artists do you enjoy that your fans might not be able to easily discern based on a similarity to your own style?" It is a bit more of a mouthful than just asking for guilty pleasures but maybe Danko truly does listen to everything guilt-free.
But the claim that feeling guilty about some of the music you like is solely a insecure byproduct of external forces is pure scapegoating. Being a lapsed Catholic myself, I have an admittedly complex relationship with guilt. But I am here to tell you that a little guilt can help you to refine, defend and explore the emotional underpinnings of your unique and personal relationship to music.
In other words, guilt is sometimes (not always) good for you. Thanks to guilty pleasures, you get to experience more types of music and enjoy them in different ways.
Hallmarks of a true guilty pleasure can be any one of the following:
Pop Candy: You know from the start that it isn't going to stand the test of time and that eventually you will grow tired of it. It is cheap and easy. If they routinely play this music on a station that you don't have pre-programmed into your car, then you are a taking a detour in the candy aisle.
The Ted Nugent Stranglehold Defense: You find the musician(s) that created this music morally repugnant. Or you find the lyrical content to be vile and reprehensible but you keep coming back.
Eye Candy: A variation of the pop candy guilt, this time the factors that drew you to fixate on this music heavily skews towards the sex appeal of the performer. Do I really like Shakira's music that much?
Apple Polishing a Tarnished Legacy: When your rock gods start delivering substandard fare and you just are not willing to admit it. Aerosmith's Permanent Vacation was a favorite guilty pleasure of mine for quite a while.
Stroke of Luck: This music gets bound up to some pivotal memories and then is powered by that context. If REO Speedwagon "I Can't Fight This Feeling" was playing during your first kiss at the sock hop with your sweetheart, that song is lashed to your life, like it or not.
For example, I like Gagnam Style even though I happen to agree that the song is an insipid fad. My appreciation may have started as purely contextual - you can blame my kids.
They started hearing it sung by other children on the playground. That was their only experience with the song so they would come home and ape what they heard and it would come out like this when they sang: "Whuppa-cana-stile. Ohhh, Saxy Lady. Saxee Lay-DEE!"
First this confounded it me but soon it delighted me to hear my baby girl playing with her blocks while softly singing to herself about a saxy lady.
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My friend Brian V. told me back in college that people have more fun when they are dancing to music that in some ways they consider bad. If you have been to a wedding in the past thirty years your own experience should bear witness to this.
Do you know anyone that is a devout fan of Kool & The Gang, B-52s, Village People and Nick Lowe? And yet the removable parquet dance floor is full of people dancing like simpletons that were handed sparklers at all those staples of the Wedding DJs set. We are all guilty of banality sometimes and occasionally we wallow in it together to absolve ourselves of our private sins.
I saw his post and was curious to your reaction. I am firmly on your side. And still love listening to DJ.
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