Guilty Pleasures

by Liz Burke

I’ve been poisoned. Well that’s what it feels like anyway. Having long been known amongst my social circles as an aficionado of all things new, different and often alternative, especially in the musical realm, I feel like my newly developed tainted musical taste has infected me like a disease and is poisoning my soul, not to mention reputation. Like any disorder, I guess the first step is admitting it, so here I go…

I like pop music. No, I love it. I love Fergie, I love Chris Brown and I love Britney. I don’t know how it happened, but I know I’m not the only one. It’s an epidemic affecting sales assistants, hospitality workers, health and fitness trainers and hairdressers all over. Working in an environment with the top 40 constantly screeching from overhead speakers for 35 hours a week for almost two years now, it’s been hard to fight. For the first few months I would cringe and complain every time the music would change from Justin to Beyonce to Shakira and Panic! At the Disco. Then the guilty pleasures came… some songs are so lame they’re entertaining, so listening turns in to a fun mimicking game amongst colleagues rather being overcome by the urge to escape the department or reach for a scarf or some tissue paper to use as mufflers over the ears. It’s when these lame, terrible songs are so catchy that you can’t help singing along that it becomes a problem. Then you take it out of the workplace and into the car on the radio, you find these cheesy, predictably formulaic, electronically manufactured tunes coming to your aid as a pick me up when you hear the bouncy bass line booming over the pounding in your head on a seedy Sunday morning in front of Video Hits. Finally, you have your favourites, you know the words, you start waiting for those songs to come on the store soundtrack to brighten up your day. It all seems innocent enough until you’re hit with the realisation when you least expect it.

Because I don’t download music at home, and would never dream of buying any CD from the popular section these days, listening at home is not an option. It wasn’t until last week, visiting my sister, whom this realisation shocked even more then me, that I was faced with the ultimate test. An iTunes playlist of over 8000 songs. Six months ago I would have picked something from perhaps the punk, hardcore, alternative or indie genres, but on this occasion, all I could think was “how could she have so much music and not have downloaded Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love.” I was shocked, appalled and embarrassed and felt like I died a little inside… then proceeded to modify her playlist adding some of my new favourites.