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Everybody has their guilty pleasures, but if you sit down to write a post about them you suddenly find out it’s a hard concept to define. In general I think it’s safe to say that guilty pleasures are the things you like, but don’t tell everybody about because you kind of know you “shouldn’t”.I indulge in my fair share of guilty pleasures. Whether it’s sleeping past noon on weekends, eating an entire bag of Maltesers in one session, idly watching endless amounts of reality TV drivel (The Apprentice, Project Runway, The Real World, America’s Next Top Model), estrogen-targeting formula series (Grey’s Anatomy, The Gilmore Girls, Dawson’s Creek) and of course: Oprah Winfrey (particularly those insane ‘Favourite Things’ shows).
With music it’s no different. I guess guilty pleasures are those songs you love in spite of yourself. A bit like being halfway through the bag of Maltesers with your hand already in for the next one: you know you really shouldn’t, but you just can’t help yourself. Guilty pleasures in music include the tacky, the trashy, the cheesy and the decidedly lowbrow (when of course one usually enjoys the finer highbrow things in life).
But what exactly is the cut off point for ‘guilty’? Here we venture into the dangerous discussion of what is to be considered cool or not, as it implies that you should feel guilty for liking the ‘uncool’. Who decides what’s cool anyway? Pitchfork? NME? Sod them! If something rings your bells, well for god sake turn it up and don’t be ashamed! I’m all for it (as my list will illustrate later on).
But I absolutely disagree with people who choose the other side of the scale, which is to state there is no such thing as a good or bad song, only everyone’s individual opinion. Well I’m sorry, but that just won’t do. I think we can safely say that Jeff Buckley delivers a song with more skill and gutwrenching intensity than Michael Bolton can even dream of, that Fiona Apple’s innovative songs are several dimensions removed from anything that ever came out of Anastacia’s mouth, and that a Back Street Boys ‘composition’ hangs its head in shame when compared to anything by The Beach Boys.
Or as an anonymous poster on a forum topic about guilty pleasures I was reading eloquently puts it: “[...] They are often formulaic, cliché-ridden and lyrically and musically conservative. The uncool songs often use the most basic means to convey emotion (the Westlife key-change) instead of employing some real artistic creativity to make something new and interesting (the Beatles key-change). Others on the list are actually guilty of self-indulgence and overdoing it. This invention for the sake of it, is just as unoriginal and uninspiring as the textbook pop stars. [...] I also disagree that there are no good and bad songs. Good Vibrations is a good song. Mr Blobby is a bad song. We can disagree about the precise order of everything in between but it’s not all objective.”
Well, after that dissertation I present you my list of guilty pleasures. Some are guilty because of their cringeworthy cheese level (case in point: Barry Manilow), some have just been played to death (UB40, Des’ree), some are by artists of questionable talent (Mr. Big) or by artists who walk the line of commercial queasiness (Bryan Adams, Simply Red), or by artists who have later sold out every morsel of artistic integrity they once had (Sting, Elton John) and some are just poptrash delights (Wham!), but I love them all dearly! Click the names for the songs in their full youtube clip glory.
Oldies:
Barry Mannilow – Mandy
Dolly Parton – Jolene (watch this video! Dolly rocks)
John Denver – Annie’s Song
Elton John – Rocket Man
Carpenters – Close To You
Janis Ian – At Seventeen
Billy Joel – Pianoman
10cc – I’m Not In Love
Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now
Supertramp – The Logical Song
Eighties:
Simply Red – New Flame
Wham! -I’m Your Man
UB40 – Red Wine
Paul Young – Come Back And Stay
Split Enz – Message to my Girl
A-ha – Take On Me
Nineties & later:
Sting – Mad About You
Mr. Big – Wild World
Des’ree – You Gotta Be
Wheatus – Teenage Dirtbag
Bryan Adams -Back to You
Sixpence None The Richer – Kiss Me
Kylie – It’s In Your Eyes
Britney Spears - Toxic
Well if there was ever a post to pour your heart out to: let me know your guilty pleasures!! Or heckle my choices by declaring certain songs on the list innocent, I’m up for a debate 
On my daily stroll through blogland I came across this post which talks about cover versions and wethere you always prefer the one your heard first. In addition to Rock Plaza Central’s version of Justin’s Sexy Back and the Travis interpretation of Britney’s classic Hit Me Baby which I posted about a little while ago, thanks to mike vc you now have the pleasure of seeing Alanis Morissette getting freaky with her lady lumps:
I really can’t stand Alanis with all her macrobiotic tarot card new age mystical blabla, but I have to admit she can still hit the right popcultural nerve: her site also pointed me towards this great Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip video, called Letter From God and set to Radiohead’s song Planet Telex:
(For all of you who haven’t heard the commandments of the year 2007 in that other excellent Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip track Thou Shalt Always Kill: go see it here!)
Another grey dismal day with rain bucketing down. What better way to shake off your end of summer depression then with a bit of Conchords? This clip just keeps cracking me up, who needs Prozac anyway?
Think About It, Think, Think About It
Children on the streets using guns and knives
Taking drugs and each other’s lives
Killing each other using knives and forks
And calling each other names like dork
There’s people on the street getting diseases from monkeys
Yeah that’s what I said, their getting diseases from monkeys
Why’s this happening, please, whose been touching these monkeys
Leave these poor sick monkeys alone
They’re sick, they’ve got problems enough as it is
A man is lying on the street, some punk has chopped off his head
And I’m the only one who stops to see if he’s dead, aaoohhh
Turns out he’s dead
That’s why I’m singing, Aaaaoooh what is wrong with the world today?
What’s wrong with the world today, *mumbles* never said nothings wrong with it
Uooo, what is wrong with the world today?
Think about it, think about it, think, think about it
Good cops get framed and put into a can
And all the money that we’re making is going to the man
What man, whose the man, when’s a man a man, why’s it so hard to be a man
Am I a man? Yes, technically, yes…
Oohh, come on, they’re turning kids into slaves
They’re turning kids into slaves just to make cheaper sneakers
But what’s the real cost, ‘cause the sneakers don’t seem that much cheaper
Why are we still paying so much for sneakers when you got little kid slaves making them
What are your overheads?
Well, at the end of your life, you are lucky if you die
Sometimes I wonder why we even try
Why try
I saw a man lying on the street half dead
He had knives and forks sticking out of his leg
He said, Ahh ahh ahh ahhhhhhhhwww
Can somebody get the knife and fork out of my leg, please
Ooh, could somebody please remove these cutleries from my knees
Yeah yeeeahhh
This is where we break it down
This is where we break it down
We’ll break it down
What are they doing, their breaking it down
What do they do, and now they’re keeping it funky
Just having a funky jam and then we’re going to drop the beat
And then we’ll bring it back up
Wah wah wah waaah!
Then we’ll take it low
Fading out, fading out
We’re talking about the issues, but we’re keeping it funky
We’re fading out, we’re just fading out
Why they getting quiet, they’re just fading out
Stop touching that monkey
Hiphop. Should I really be writing a post about hiphop… Browsing through my cd’s I can barely find even a handful of the stuff: A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory, Kanye West’s Late Registration, The Beastie Boys’ Ill Communication, Andre 3000’s The Love Below and N.E.R.D.’s In Search Of. That’s pretty much it.
But lately I’ve been noticing there’s some incredibly catchy stuff being made right here in the land of cloggs and tulips. I won’t even attempt to write some insightful analysis, I’ll just post my three favourites of the moment (though only the first is brand new). All I can say is that when I hear one of these out in town on a Saturday night, they make this predominantly indie shoegazer jump up and get her arse in dancing gear!
The Opposites ft. Dio & Willie Wartaal – Dom, Lomp & Famous:
Duvelduvel – Wie is ut
De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig – Shenkie
[edit: I'm getting an extraordinary amount of traffic from people searching for the lyrics to Dom, Lomp & Famous, so I figured I cater to them directly rather than having to read through the comments. And please people, take it with the pun that is so obviously intended...]
Lyrics “Dom, Lomp & Famous”
Big2 on the beat
Check it out
oke
Wie ben ik, ik ben de shit van al die rappers hier
En al die chicks die wille chille in clip maar die clip is te ver van hier
Doe mij een flesje bier, geef willie xtc
Sletjes daar, sletjes daar, sletjes waar, sletjes hier
Sletjes aan de cocaine, Sletjes aan de Hennessy
Sletjes in de Jimmywoo, sletjes daar ik sterf hem niet
En ze wil met me mee naar me crib, maar ik fock niet met die lelijke chicks
En je weet dat ik leef ik space alsof ik in de motherfucking matrix zit,
Noem mij anonymous, jaa noem mijn anonymous
Schatje wordt niet boos als ik, effetjes niet aan je zit
Hehe ik ben de man, jaja de de man ben ik
En jij gewoon een nicht zoals de dochter van me tante is
………
………
Refrein 2x
Ik ben dom lomp en famous
Ik ben dom lomp en famous
Ik ben dom lomp en famous
Bitches zitten aan me penis
Doe normaal want dan doe je al raar genoeg
Stop met rappen want dan ben je al gaar genoeg
Geen gezeik met die mic want we gaan vanavond weer tuurlijk naar de kroeg
Big smile, tan2 geil, Ik pimp me chicks op msn
Ze willen nooit met die verkreckte boy, maar geen gefock want dat is hoe ik ben
Fock wijven, hou van wijven, maar ik haat die wijven, jaa ik haat die wijven
Wat de fuck zo moeilijk aan om godverdomme normaal te blijven
Urban oeroe dat is dit, ze weten dat ‘ie schattig is
Ik ben aardig veel te aardig dus daarom roep ik fucken bitch
ABN? Ja een beetje, spreek ‘t beter dan de meesten
Heb m’n VWO gedaan maar ik trek te veel op met m’n negers
Door feesten maar! kratjes bier, mensen roepen maar dat is dom
Dom ik ben je vader niet, haat me niet want ik ben de bom
Refrein 2x
Ik ben dom lomp en famous
Ik ben dom lomp en famous
Ik ben dom lomp en famous
Bitches zitten aan mijn penis
Ik doe geen jumpstyle, ik doe Big2-style, ik ben een motherfucking kanjer
Ik kan niet dansen, maar kan wel sjansen, een dunne jongen, maar kan stampen
Oke kom op omlaag, naar beneden, niet stoppen, blijf bewegen,
in, uit, vrede lik het af baby kom op blijf bezig
Jij blij, ik tevreden, high five, babe babe
Ik ben de baas en ik vind je aardig om die kop van je tussen mijn benen
Willes willes is de illest, ik kom zo hard
Bitches willen in me chillen is het zo maar
Niger ho maar, Niger ho maar, neeei
Bitches willen chillen want die kerel komt op tv
Zet je tv aan, en kijk de WW gaan
Nog steeds steeds draan en hij heeft geen baan
Willie motherfucking, Wartaal wat
Niger hup hup
Check me barba truc, ik kom barba-hard, en ik kom barba-dope
En voor ik baar komt doe ik bar bar show
En van je aaijaaijippie nigga, aaijaaijoo
Gooi die tieten in de lucht iedereen zegt ooo
Whoo, die nigers komen hard kijk ze clippen
Hoo, die Nigers worden omringd door bitches
Hoo, dio weer en twan die is er echt
Net zo echt als chickies aan de crack
refrein 4x
Ik ben dom lomp en famous
Ik ben dom lomp en famous
Ik ben dom lomp en famous
Bitches zitten aan mijn penis
The let down album. It’s one of the absolute worst things that can happen in my book.
Every now and again you find a new little gem of a band that skyrockets straight to your “top 5 of the year”, you play their album until you can sing most songs backwards and a year or two later you’re happy to find out they’re releasing a new one! You anxiously press play and you’re ready to be enveloped by a warm blanket of recognition combined with the thrill of discovering the new songs and the impatient feeling of wanting to commit each one to memory word for word as soon as possible.
This happened to me with Turin Brakes. I first got to know them when they were the opening band for a Travis concert I saw back in 2001. They were touring for their first album The Optimist LP (which is great! for instance: Feeling Oblivion, State of Things (my favourite!), and the small hit Emergency 72). I was charmed off my socks by their folky songs, Olly Knights’ rough around the edges style of singing and their on stage muddling (as I remember pretty much every thing that could go wrong did, including about three strings breaking with no backup guitar, but they jammed their way through it).
Their second album Ether Song definitely had the whole warm blanket thing going on, particularly songs like Pain Killer, Blue Hour and Self Help. After that I kind of lost track of Turin Brakes for a bit, missing their 2005 release JackInABox. But when I recently found out they were releasing their fourth: Dark On Fire [September 2007], I was ready to hop back on the bandwagon!
But there it was, the let down album. Listening to the first track, Last Chance, my eager smile already started to sag, some kind of full on generic rock sound appears to have taken over from the acoustic magic. I quickly skipped to the next song, hoping it was just a startup glitch. Alas…
In short, the powerful folky fuel has been diluted into middle of the road rock. There are some songs that still stand out, most notably the wonderful title track Dark On Fire (the opening strum and the strings are definitely warm blanket material). But all the brooding energy of The Optimist seems to have fizzled out. What a shame!
Watch the clip to the first single Stalker here. Creepy lyrics (and dito video!), but somehow I’m not convinced.
But for the sake of the warm blanket, here’s a clip of two great Turin Brakes songs back to back: Over & Over and Feeling Oblivion:
This summer I was lucky enough to catch an open air concert of Björk in the Westerpark in Amsterdam with my two great friends MB&MB. She was just mesmerising with her special little dances and gestures and that voice that can be childlike and innocent one moment and then roar like a lion the next. The way Volta producer Damien Taylor worked his magic on the reactable was fascinating to watch and he kicked out some incredible beats. We were also very impressed by the ten Teletubby-styled women who were both the brass section and the backing choir.
I was therefore very pleased to read Björk has been recording some ‘live sessions’ with this year’s tour setup and expects to be releasing them on cd this year already! Eat that, Radiohead….
While we wait for the cd, let’s do a little summer reminiscing. Here’s Björk performing at Glastonbury this year, two weeks before the Westerpark concert. I’ve picked two of my favourite songs out of the set: Pluto and Declare Independence, both also really showcase the use of the reactable!!
Pluto
Declare Independence (raise your flag!!!)
So far I’ve restrained myself. I might have mentioned Radiohead once or twice, and sure the name for this blog comes from a Radiohead song, but overall I think I’ve kept my tad of an obsession neatly under wraps.
But I have to be honest with you: I’m bursting at the seams. In case you’re not in the know, Radiohead released their last album Hail To The Thief in 2003 and I’ve been patiently waiting for the next one ever since. The band took their leisurely time, but just recently the long awaited news finally arrived: they have now finished recording and mixing what fans have been lovingly referring to as ‘LP7′ for months!!
However. A BIG however. With Hail To The Thief, Radiohead’s six album deal with EMI ended and there is as of yet no sign of a new deal. They taunt me so! Just think, somewhere a brand spanking new Radiohead album is just sitting there, waiting to make its way into my house, god only knows when. Persistent rumours maintain it won’t be released until 2008! Oh the horror.
This leaves me with a big dilemma. I prefer not to listen to whatever dodgy material has leaked online or watch shaky pixilated live recordings before the finished material is put out there by the band for the world to listen to. But come on people, 2008? I need my fix.
One of the most promising ‘fixes’ I came across over the last year, is a solo performance by Thom of a song called ‘Videotape’ which is a definite contender for LP7. The recording dates from late 2006 and comes from Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich’s From The Basement. If this is any indication of what’s to be expected, I can’t bloody well wait!!!
Hope you enjoy Videotape as mush as I do:
I would say about 99,9% of all my music is foreign, meaning: not made in Holland. If I’m honest, our homegrown produce just doesn’t interest me enough, put off by omni-present chart topping bands like Kane and Di-Rect. I don’t go and see many local acts and pretty much everything I buy or download has American or British roots. I recently found out this snobby outlook means I’m missing out on a very interesting underground music scene right here in my hometown.
How did I find this out you might wonder? Well that requires a little peek into an average week in the life of this brokenbranches writer. I tend to spend every Thursday night with friend MB in our local Irish pub, kickstarting the weekend with a pub quiz. On occasion we (team “Filthy Gorgeous“) are a quiz team force to be reckoned with! But most of the time we have a pint too many, get sloppy and end up somewhere in the middle of the score list…
One night we got chatting to our barman and found out he’s in a local band called NiCad with another member of the bar staff. A quick check of their website was a very pleasant surprise! Indie rock with an infusion of (experimental) electronic elements, which makes sense as they met each other studying electronic music composition at the Royal Conservatory. They put out their first full length album Everyday I Grow last year. I was struck by the diversity of their songs and compositions, which keeps you curious about what’s coming up next, without getting schizophrenic.
Check out a video for their song Sell Me Something:
There are some more youtube clips of NiCad live performances, for instance In Color, Paralyzed and personal favourite Fall Through (a live experiment). If you want to catch them live, they’re playing Havana on Wednesday night during ‘De Haagse Popweek 2007′.
This discovery definitely stirred my interest in what else is going on in The Hague and I was in luck, because our barman connection provided a compilation cd of “the underground music coming out of and around The Hague in 2007″. If your curiosity is getting the better of you too, check out (most of) the songs on this compilation, called Combine The Hague 2007, right here:
1. Doll House Drama - Sketches
download it: Doll House Drama - Sketches, visit the website, or just listen to it here:
2. Noblesse – Walking Away
download it: Noblesse – Walking Away, visit the website, or just listen to it here:
3. Juice – Wake Up, Dreamer
download it: Juice – Wake Up, Dreamer, visit the website, or just listen to it here:
4. Pourquoi Me Reveiller – All I Want
download it: Pourquoi Me Reveiller – All I Want, visit the website, or just listen to it here:
5. NiCad – In Color
download it: NiCad – In Color, visit the website, or just listen to it here:
6. Mummy’s A Tree – A Lifetime Overseas
download it: Mummy’s A Tree – A Lifetime Overseas, visit the website, or just listen to it here:
7. Can of Be – Don Quichot
download it: Can of Be – Don Quichot, visit the website, or just listen to it here:
8. Pitch Blond - Bubblegum
download it: Pitch Blond - Bubblegum, visit the website, or just listen to it here:
9. Atombox – Hotel Paradise
download it: Atombox – Hotel Paradise, visit the website, or just listen to it here:
In conclusion: The Hague rocks much more than I realised! And it seems the brokenbranches subtitle (music obsessed ramblings from The Hague) has now taken on a new meaning.
You might have read me raving about Rock Plaza Central’s album Are We Not Horses? in a post a few weeks ago. In a recent moment of boredom I was clicking through youtube and to my surprise I came across a Rock Plaza Central cover of Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack!! It’s definitely a different take on it, lyrics like “I’ll let you whip me if I misbehave” take on a whole new meaning when stripped of all Timbaland’s production layers…
This reminded me of one of my favourite ‘rock covers’: Travis‘ take on Britney’s Hit Me Baby One More Time. All of a sudden the song is full of pleading and longing and it’s actually a great song!
Tell me if you know of other bubblegum songs that have been covered with some indie cred.
