I think everyone has run into music they know is terrible but can't help listen to it. Here are some of mine (some of which are laughable) but what are some of your musical vices you rather not have?

Ace of Base
I picked up "The Sign" used for five dollars and man oh man was this a mistake! I can't stop listening to this crap that was HUGE when I was in the sixth grade. It's so cheesy - it's so bad - I love it? Please, someone help me - I need struck with a hammer.

System of Down
I honestly think System of a Down's music it the epitome of crap rock but for some reason songs like "F&$% the System" and "Violent Pornography" catch my attention. The thing that really annoys me is how the band seems to think the messages in their songs are so poignant when I can think of bands/songs that have already done similar stuff eons ago.

Slipknot
A strange thing is happening with Slipknot and I. They released their fourth album "All Hope is Gone" and I'm scared because since they've *somewhat* mellowed and this album seems a lot more accessible than the others - which I think is no accident. Compared to everything my boss plays at work I honestly don't mind when this CD comes up to bat. I almost bought it yesterday but decided against it considering how often I do hear it when I'm there.

I've sang both "Umbrella" by Rihanna and "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood at karaoke. I think that's all I have to say about that.

I've listened to Hanson's Mmmbop at least five times this week.. and I enjoyed it every time.  Save me?

-Mike

Miley Cyrus' "See You Again". Please shoot me.

System of a Down is actually suprisingly talented for the genre and crowd they play to.  Serj Tankian is, if I remember correctly, a classically trained opera singer or something like that. 

I get a lot of flak from people for liking Justin Timberlake, Craig David, Usher, Boyz II Men, Seal, Tori Amos, etc, but what do I care?  I like them and they are extremely talented musicians and vocalists.

I was at work the other day and his "A Kiss from a Rose on the Grave" from the one Batman movie came on; I've always liked that song. I also liked the one song U2 did for the one Batman movie but I can't remember what it was called - something along the lines of "kiss me, kill me, thrill me" or something like that.

"...and did you know that when it snows my eye become alive and the light that you shine can be seen..."

Thanks to Rock Band/Guitar Hero, I've heard two System of a Down tracks (B.Y.O.B. and Chop Suey). I just hear a bunch of yelling and guitar noise, as I see a muddled mess of colored gems fly onto the screen. I'm not a fan, but some people I know like them (non-metal/rock fans). First time I saw what B.Y.O.B.'s pattern looked like, I just calmly took the guitar off and handed it to the guy waiting next in line to play.

I'm a fan of the ultra-cutesy, dancepop/jrock anime songs. Not the slower ones (depends on the singer), but the energetic ones are definitely a guilty pleasure. Similarly, 80's dance-pop (Debbie Gibson) and synthesizer-laced tracks tend to appeal to me.

Actually, one reason I got into hair metal was for all the flack it gets nowadays, so I wanted to see what all the whining was about. The only thing "terrible" about it is the image (which, admittedly, is pretty hard to get over) and there are a lot of average/subpar bands, but I'm a fan of most of the big ones (Poison, Motley, Ratt, Skid Row, GnR, etc). Give me that over modern (or 90's) angst-rock garbage anyday.

And it must be said...Power metal's lyrics are generally universally laughable and cheesy, but they work so well with everything else.

Oh yeah...The Macarena is one of the top 10 songs of mine, according to iTunes.

I'm glad you brought this up; I'm kind of weening some of the power metal out of my collection it's rather ironic that most of the stuff that remains is the really cheesy stuff.

I guess it should be said every type of music is cheesy in its own way...

I just bought two cds by oshare kei band SUG,, shana thinks im turning into a typical fangirl...

God bless eurobeat.

goldfish, i would disagree with you on hair metal. i think the biggest bands are the most annoying ones. How many times do you have to hear the same handful of singles a classic rock station before youre completely sick of them?

For me, my favs remain:
TigerTailz  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fiJUlXeWPY
Pretty boy Floyd  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6dAlp-1CHU
Saigon Kick  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orOiUecSbPY
Tuff  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv-uWu1dzYQ
Sleezbeez  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV8VwzeTS7A
and Southgang http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42u6THtPEew
(their guitarist Butch Walker has apparently been putting out solo albums the past 10 years in the 'alternative music' style, but i think i'll pass)

Yes and no...I figure an album has 8-10 songs on it and 3 are probably singles or at least power ballads. I'm generally interested in the rockers that don't seem to garner much attention. My favorite Poison songs (other than "Talk Dirty to Me" and "Nothin But a Good Time") are "Valley of Lost Souls", "Don't Give Up An Inch", "Let Me Go to the Show" and "Look What the Cat Dragged In". I'm always pulling out Motley songs that are bit players on albums and giving them five stars (I bought New Tattoo the other day, which has some real gems in their classic style). Europe DOES have songs beyond "Final Countdown". And Appetite for Destruction...I'm sick of the "big three", but it would still be one of my favorite albums with just the nine remaining tracks. Plus, I didn't really grow up with an extensive knowledge of what was big and what wasn't (aside from a few hits), so sometimes I'll guess one of the lesser songs is the big hit and be totally off the mark. Not like the 90's, where I hear something I think is total crap, then I have to pull my jaw off the floor when I find out how popular it was. Glad I was busy with VGM the whole decade, for the most part.

Goldfish, i think thats the difference in our views. You didnt get into hair metal until after it was already long dead, while i was in high school during the "Bill & Ted" era when hair metal was at its peak. Im so glad i got the hell out before the grunge and flannel invasion. In my eyes, the last great melodic metal album was Steve Vai's '93 Sex & Religion.

I'm mostly addicted to watching BPM TV here in Canada all weekends...  There's usually nothing else good on.  My penchant for techno/electronica is shameful yes... as I work at a modern rock radio station... =p

I never quite broke on Steve Vai...I'm leaning more towards the classic Malmsteen/Impelitteri camp as far as virtuoso albums go (I loved his DLR work though). I think there's been some fine melodic metal gems in recent years though. Have you seen Wig Wam and Crashdiet? Two recent European groups that mimick the whole glam/sleaze metal era, but are still pretty good in their own right. And then power metal, which is 80's melodic metal on steroids for the most part (though more "epic" lyrics than the booze/party/girls of the 80's groups).

It's just kind of funny that kind of music gives me a lot of what I look for in VGM a whole lot more than a lot of modern VGM does. So it's kind of funny I have more respect for it than most, just because of how things turned out. Probably because I was more weened on 8/16 bit action scores moreso than RPG's (and even then...most of my favorite RPG themes were the battle themes!)

When I was 14, one of my cousins (who lived in the wilderness, of all places) introduced me to rap music. The main draw was that the cassette tapes (remember those?) had Parental Advisory - EXPLICIT LYRICS printed on them. If you had a tape with that on the cover, then you were COOL. No doubt about it. It was your pass to coolness, like being able to obtain cigarettes or alcohol.

I can recall these (I owned tapes by all, slowly moving to CDs by age 15. I got my first CD player - a discman - when I was 15. It was really cheap too, or at least it was at the time. It was $190. It was not uncommon to see them go for $300 and higher.):

DJ Quik
Ice Cube
Ice T
2 Live Crew
Eazy-E
NWA
King Tee
Too Short
Bust Down
Spice 1
Black Sheep
Naughty by Nature
Geto Boys

I stopped listening to rap music in 1993, when I was 17. Some of that stuff is quite bad (irritating, actually) and some is still humorous.

Now, as for recently listening to terrible music, that is easy to explain. As you know, I listen to video game music. That is terrible (or not even music) by the standards of many.

DON'T WORRY WE ACCEPT YOU

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I never understood how people can think Heavy Metal is cheesy; it's always all about demons, Hell, the end of the world, the brutality of human life, etc. Stuff like that. Well, I guess I'm just the type to easily accept something taken seriously when someone's doing it with a straight face...

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As for music that I listen to that could possibly be considered bad, or past its time: Mandy Moore. They say she was a Britney Spears wanna-be, but I think Moore's stuff was far more melodic and catchier than Britney's shit ever was. Mandy still lulls me to sleep with her sweet voice at night. Nevermind that, her 2000 and 2001 albums are a portrait of her voice when she was 17, and now she's some...7-8 years older now? Well, she's about 2-3 years older than me. Yeah, I got her albums mainly for the pretty face on the cover, but I was actually pleased with the music I ended up with.

People also hated Eiffel 65 ~ Europop (1999) back in the day; it was my favorite album of the year, but my entire high school voted it WORST album of the year. Oh well, they were just a bunch of rap/hip-hop nuts anyway, just going along with whatever was cool, and dissing what they think everyone ELSE thought was uncool.

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People actually see System of a Down as a pretty artsy band. En mon opinion, at best, they have a very experimental sound, at the absolute worst, they're just flippin' mental. I mean, really, do they INTENTIONALLY get drunk before they record an album?!

THANK YOU

Haha! You liked it too, eh? Glad to see another fan! It's pretty much what got me into electronica...

I will NEVER get Move Your Body out of my head.

Hand me that gun, pardner..... I just bought her whole album "Breakout."

It's pretty good, actually.  No, I haven't had much exposure to her Hannah Montana discography, or even heard her first self-titled album, but there's some fun, energetic stuff here.  See You Again is admittedly one of the better songs, but Breakout, Full Circle, and Fly on the Wall are addictive as well.  Plus her cover of Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is, well...... fun. :)

The chorus in that Miley Cyrus song is catchy.  The lyrics are about as juvenile as you'd expect but I don't mind it now and then.

I get stuck listening to "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys at work sometimes (Japanese English teachers love old, cheesy songs) but I'll admit I've got a soft spot for that one.

"Informer" by Snow is goodie.

I'm laughing at Angie and Adam right now. Not out of maliciousness, but just the knowledge that they've got guilty pleasures as far as music goes, too just like me.

I might check out Cyrus' album. I do like her work, even if it doesn't pander to my age group. Kinda fits into my game theory that even though a game is fun, doesn't mean it is "good". I wonder if I can say the same for music. Rock on, Miley. You're all right in my book.

Anyone got word on Keri Hilson's debut album? I really like the work she did with Timbaland in 2007 (The Way I Are is incredible).

Final music guilty pleasure? I've had f---ing Ice Ice Baby stuck in my head on and off for about a month.

Flows like a harpoon daily and nightly. WILL IT EVER STOP? Yo, I don't know. Turn off the lights, and I'll glow. To the extreme, I rock a mic like a vandal, light up the stage, and wax a chump like a candle . . . . . . .

DAMMIT.

Also, "Tell Me" by Korean pop group Wondergirls. The accompanying music video is dangerously infectious. Like, quarantine level.

Some would argue that my listening habits as a whole is one, big guilty pleasure. :p

Cyrus' See You Again has become infectious to the point that I bought up all eighteen versions of the song from iTunes.  (Excluding the original and Rock Mafia Mix, which is already on her Breakout CD.)  Nicky Sky's "Power Music Workout / Ronnie Maze Club Mix" cover is one of my favorites.

I don't want to talk about shitty music that I like. I'd rather keep on my poker face. My-my-my poker face, my po-poker face.

I think you've had a little bit too much. Oh, oh, oh oh.

I'd like to re-evaluate my previous post. Lady Gaga is not shitty music that I like. Lady Gaga is awesome and "The Fame" is one of my favorite CDs right now and has been in constant rotation for the past week. There are just so many good songs. So there.

Add Girls' Generations' "Gee" to the list. Goddammit, Korea.

This song by O-Zone came on the other day and made me think of this thread.  Had forgotten to post but then that spam message posted here reminded me.  Curse you and thank you, Spam Bot.

Same to you, Cheeky Euro-pop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP-YuIJx2Nw

I have that album! Every once in a while I'll pull it up and listen to the same three songs.

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How about Joy Electric. Known for his exclusive use of analog synths, with songs ranging from embarrassingly cheesy to haunting and unique (to my ears).
The Romantic Balloons (I think the instrumental solo at 1:30 is a thing of beauty.)
The Phonograph Plays, Part & Parcel

I can't say I'm in love with it per se, but Die Antwoord's Enter the Ninja really is the worst song ever composed. I honestly can't tell if this guy is being self-parodical or not. If he is, simply genius; consider me trolled hard. If not, damn.