This one is just for fun.
What things musical, cultural or culinary do you enjoy, which have little or no redeeming value, or which run contrary to your principles?
I am not talking about things which are objectively sinful; those are matters for your confessor, only about junk food of the soul or body, things which, while not in themselves evil, do not contribute to your sanctification, do not nurture your theosis.
Let me start.
My guilty pleasures:
Burt Bacharach music. What the World Needs Now is Love Sweet Love can bring tears to my eyes, probably because the local Top 40 radio station played it over and over in 1968 when Bobby Kennedy was killed. Even the schlocky stuff conjures up images of the mellow world of the sophisticated 60′s square, martini in hand. I also like other easy listening music, like Nat King Cole after he went pop, and Mel Torme.
The handful of 60′s existentialist Rolling Stones tunes: Paint it Black, Satisfaction, Get Off of My Cloud, Mother’s Little Helper, Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown. I’ve never been much of a Stones fan since, but boy did they capture urban alienation in those songs.
60′s psychedelic music: The Dead, Jefferson Airplane, pre-Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd, Hendrix, The Byrds’ Notorious Byrds Brothers album, and the little known Millenium.
60′s hippie folk music: Donovan, the Incredible String Band, Nick Drake, Pearls Before Swine, Fairport Convention.
Post-punk 80′s music: Psychedelic Furs, X, early U2, Wire Train, Big Country.
90′s dreamy rock: the Cure, Catherine Wheel, Slowdive.
Wait, did I leave out the 70′s? You bet I did. Except for the early years of the decade, which really were still the 60′s, it was a musical wasteland.
Sentimental country music. Almost anything by Tom T. Hall, and about every song about betrayal or tragic death or one’s dear dead ma brings tears to my eyes.
Patriotic sentimental country music. There was a song out a year or so ago called Driving with Private Malone, I don’t know the artist, about a guy who buys an old classic car that was owned by a guy who died in Vietnam, and man, that song tears me up. (I am not counting the jingoistic country songs, ala America’s Gonna Kick Your Ass.)
Waitresses and nurses who call you "hon".
Heart-unfriendly Eastern European foods: Hungarian sausage, cabbage rolls, pierogis; a new taste acquired at Slavic church suppers. (Self interest dictates only occasional indulgence).
Cheese puffs. Hey, if I could afford the whole grain, organic parmesan ones, which must exist, I’d eat them. However I can’t, and the artificially orange ones make a great side dish to a turkey, sprout and avocado sandwich….
Cheap bourbon: Early Times, Heaven Hill, Evan Williams. I draw the line at Old Crow; can’t get past the name. I mean, what next? Buzzard Pee?
Old TV shows from my childhood: Andy Griffith, Leave it to Beaver, the Rifleman, Bonanza.
Cowboy movies from the 40′s, 50′s, and early 60′s.
Dastardly Mash. What’s that, you say? Ben and Jerry’s sells several ice cream flavors in their stores that never make it to the grocery store. When I lived in Vermont, nearly twenty years ago, I would too regularly visit the original Ben and Jerry’s, in a converted gas station in downtown Burlington. There they sold Dastardly Mash: deep chocolate, raisins, pecans, almonds, chocolate chunks, and marshmallows. Thank God my time in Vermont was brief; if I had settled there I would be obese long ago.
Come to think of it, some of these pleasures are not so guilty. I can offer a pretty good defense for Nick Drake, Andy Griffith, and cabbage rolls.
Then there’s cheese puffs and Dastardly Mash….
So. What are your guilty pleasures?
–Daniel Nichols
I have to argue that a lot of what you’ve named, especially the musical stuff, is not guilty pleasure. I mean–Richard Thompson? Fairport? The IBS? And as you note, Nick Drake?!? I make no apologies whatsoever for liking them. If any case at all can be made for anything in the realm of pop music–and I think it can–these make the cut. And Burt Bacharach wrote some great songs. They just didn’t happen to be hip at the time.
Defining a guilty pleasure in the realm of aesthetics as something that I like against my better judgment (but as you say short of actual sin) here are a couple of mine:
Action movies. Bruce Willis Die Hard-type stuff. Very hard to tear myself away from one of these if I see the first five minutes.
Certain kinds of heavy metal music. This one is sort of self-limiting, because about fifteen minutes of it is plenty, but there’s a primitive appeal about a guitar/bass/drum riff that sounds like a composed sequence of thunderclaps. Kind of the sonic equivalent of a jalapeno pepper.
So-called “lounge” music–Martin Denny is the archetype. It had an ironic sort of vogue a few years ago but I’ve always secretly kind of liked it un-ironically.
In the realm of food, I guess cheese curls–the hard crunchy kind, not the softer puffy ones–are about the ultimate. They probably should be on the list of controlled substances.
I still enjoy Beatles stuff and Dion, everything from his Doo-wop, Rock and Roll, R & B, to his Christian stuff. What a talented and decent guy who can still hit the high notes. Grand Funk Railroad, Crosby Stills and Nash, the Beach Boys (though we used to rib those who liked them)The Doors are all groups I all still enjoy from time to time. Basically I’m listing all the groups that contributed to my present hearing loss. I too can sit and enjoy “The Beaver”, “Andy Griffith”, “Mash”, “The Waltons” and “Little House on the Praire”. Now this is true confession time. I enjoy watching the chick flick, “You’ve Got Mail”. Love the ending…pass the tissue. As for food, it doesn’t get any better than fried chicken cooked by my wife of 31 years from Possum Kingdom, SC. I still watch Clemson football games and Braves baseball. I’m sure I’ll come up with some more things during the week, but my brain is still dealing with stuff I did in the late 60′s and early 70′s!
Oops! Sorry the last post is from William.
thrash, melancholic, gothic, industrial, death…
is there a way of muting the lyrics and just listening to the melodies instead?
*sigh*
When I was young I loved the 50s and 60s rock and ignored the contemporary 70s. Now, I’ve developed a taste for “Classic Rock,” including Clapton, Ozark Mtn Daredevils (esp. Chicken Train!), and others. The comments about the music over the lyrics are very to the point. Bob Dylan was once asked about a strange song he wrote. He answered that he was working with certain musical elements and that the lyrics were secondary. In contrast, we rationalists (stupidly) tend to see the music as ornamentation. There’s a place in this world for songs like Chicken Train and Cocaine.
That said, I must judge everything that I watch or listen to according to Christ. I can learn something new even about songs I’ve heard over and over again. One time, I may discover authentic human longing and desire for something more. Another time, I may feel a sadness that Christ is not more clearly evident in the lyrics and/or music.
Fred
Well, I did say at the end that I can defend liking Nick Drake and a few other things. Now, liking heavy metal; there’s a guilty pleasure, one I fortunately do not share…
Guilty pleasures? An occational smoke, a good beer with guacamole and chips, watching Dr. Phil, listening to Billy Joel, reading People magazine in the Library, reading Mothering magazine at Borders, reading blogs, buying Caramel Bites at Trader Joe’s, and stopping at a coffee shop for a cup of coffee when I am supposed to be grocery shopping.
Writing polemics on the Net since I work over 80 hours a week and thus it takes away from time I should spend with the family. Such as right now for instance. Yikes :-} . Although I should add, the more intellectual polemics sites, ( such as the Chronicles magazine blogs or Jon Luker’s Polemics ), have been very useful for stimulating the ol’ brain cells.
As for the rest of the ‘guilty pleasures’ listed above by others, those that I indulge, I do so with glee, gusto and mirth..
Techno/dance music (rather than classical), chocolate truffles, and collecting expensive, antique teacups (that I can’t really afford and will probably never use).
Hmm, y’all are reminding me of more of mine. Like the very occasional cigar. People mag, on the other hand, is not a pleasure, guilty or otherwise. And I definitely spend more time reading blogs than I ought to. It gets kind of addictive. But beer & chips & guacamole: I consider those essential parts of a healthy diet.
I like what Fred K says above about judging everything according to Christ. Stuff which is non- or even anti-Christian can sometimes illuminate in a negative sort of way. Still, anti, you want to be careful with that stuff (industrial etc.)–not your steady diet, I hope. The metal I like is more specifically goth-metal, where the lyrics are mostly just gloomy, not evil.
I’m slightly surprised no one has reacted to Daniel’s dismissal of the ’70s by pointing to the rise of punk. Never cared much for it myself (actually never heard all that much) but I have a Mennonite friend who loves the Ramones and the Clash.
Speaking of the ’70s, Daniel: depending on where you locate the official starting date, there was some great (non-punk) stuff, just not much of it. Richard & Linda Thompson, Bruce Cockburn, John Martyn, Steeleye Span, Al Stewart, all produced some of their best work then. At least one great Van Morrison album (Veedon Fleece, 1974, two (St. Dominic’s Preview) if you include 1972. Although I haven’t heard them for a long time, I used to think Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Shuffle and Born to Run were great.
Maclin- You are right of course; there was a lot I overlooked, including some of my favorite artists. I do think the 70s started in 1975 or so, around when disco made its appearance.
As for punk, I always thought it inferior to its precursers, the 60s Michigan bands MC5 and the Stooges, really raw music that I grew up with [they were both local bands].
OK, I feel much better. I am not the only traditional Catholic that listens to heavy metal.
Kevin writes: “OK, I feel much better. I am not the only traditional Catholic that listens to heavy metal.”
I’ve been wondering if there are any other traditional Catholics other than myself who likewise practice blood sacrifices. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with hanging living creatures from tenter hooks and watching them writhe, but as Kevin indicates, I would likewise feel much better for some more company.
I can not say I indulge with Kevin in hanging my soul likewise from merciless piercing metal, although circumstance has forced me on occasion to listen to it. But otherwise, it appears our past times have much in common. I simply prefer to sacrifice lesser creatures to a greater good.
Yesterday evening while walking along the lake’s beach with my 5 years old daughter, we watched a boat slowing coming into shore gliding through the calm waters. It was very lovely indeed. And then over those same calm waves came the disordered sounds of hell. And the beauty vanished, replaced by the modern corruption which is our culture and which heavy metal so very ably imitates and furthers in its method of, and to madness.
Music is the one medium of the culture which it is virtually impossible to barricade from ourselves, and to protect our children from. Cheese puff may have all the glory of a leisurely swim in a chemical waste site, but at least the swim is chosen by those who partake.
steady diet? i’m fasting!
Franklin appears to share my attitude toward heavy metal music. The first night in the home we bought seven years ago revealed the horrible truth: we had moved in next door to a heavy metal band. It was awful; when they practiced we would close the windows, put on our own music and pray for an electrical outage.
Thankfully, the band eventually disbanded. However, their teenage son now has a taste for rap, played loudly. To quote the Animals: We gotta get out of this place.
Speaking of guilty pleasures, how could I have forgotten Sponge Bob?
SuDoku
crossword puzzles
Cat Stevens
mysteries
wacthing movies of my sons wrestling over & over
That general in-your-face-ness that Franklin refers to merits a discussion of its own.
I sure don’t want to sound like my example is enabling somebody’s vices, so let me say a bit more about the heavy metal thing. Like most areas of pop music, it’s split into a number of overlapping sub-genres, some of which are much worse than others. I’m not talking about those dumb old riffers like Black Sabbath, or more truly evil-minded newer groups like Burzum. (How do I even know about a “truly evil-minded” group? Stumbled across a reference on some music site and read on in horrified fascination.) The stuff I occasionally listen to can really be considered a new version of progressive rock, with very complex and elaborate structures. One example, which I would place in the sub-genre progressive metal: a group called Opeth. I’ve been an aficionado of electric guitar for almost as long as I can remember, and these guys are very, very good. The guitar work is what I like about it.
The other sub-genre is symphonic or goth metal, which adds all sorts of stuff like keyboards, strings, female vocals, and choirs to the basic kit. What I like about it is the sheer power and what can often be a surprisingly yearning and even beautiful kind of mood. Example: the Gathering or Tristania.
In both cases the lyrics are (a) largely unintelligible and (b) if understaood or read, not exactly healthy but more akin to Edgar Allen Poe than Aleister Crowley or slasher movies, and, because they’re so pompous, seem to me at any rate less potentially harmful than a lot of more mainstream pop. Also, to repeat, I steer clear of anything that’s overtly satanic or violent.
I wouldn’t worry about an otherwise healthy young person who listened to some of this stuff some of the time. I would worry about one who listened to it all the time. And I think I’m going to write a new post about the whole question of protecting children.
“I sure don’t want to sound like my example is enabling somebody’s vices…”
no, you didn’t sound like it.
anyway, your further elaboration should put any question of that to rest.
I have to confess, my guilty pleasure just became finding my brothers guilty pleasures online! I know we are beyond the age of sibling blackmail, but it is certainly intriguing.
I have to admit there is quite a few things I would have never imagined, Burt Bacharach and cheese puffs with turkey???
I don’t think you’re ever beyond the age of sibling blackmail.
I must say, Burt Bacharach kind of surprised me, too.
Hey, Monica, I thought we had a long-standing truce. I still have stuff on you from forty years ago. Knock it off or I’m telling Mom.
My bride was raised on Burt Bacharach and I got her an album for her birthday, and in so doing finally admitted that I always liked his tunes, in spite of myself.
Our new baby, one month old, who started out so calm, has become fussy. Almost without fail if we put the Bacharach album on he will quiet down immediately [having heard it so much in the womb, I guess]. Especially funny is that his favorite song, the first on the cd, is an obscure one that I had never heard before, and the lyrics go like this: “Like a grain of sand that wants to be a rolling stone I want to be something I’m not; reach for all the things I haven’t got and that’s a lot…something something crying and laughter, something big is what I’m after yes it’s what I’m after now.” It is really a perfect song for a baby to love….
For you rock-n-rollers here’s a new tune :
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=6914