BY OLIVER KOGOD//
One idea that really annoys me is the concept of guilty pleasures of one’s music listening. Bustle.com puts it in simple terms with this definition: “The term ‘guilty pleasure’ is often used to describe music that is supposedly so bad that people feel ‘embarrassed’ listening to it.” Generally an uncool or lame band might be someone’s guilty pleasure. Spotify even has a ten hour playlist titled Guilty Pleasures that has nearly 3 million followers. I would say that guilty pleasures are a component of most everyone’s music taste.
My feeling with all this is that no one should feel guilty about listening to music they like. If you like it, you like it. Why should you feel bad about that? I guess the only time I see this not being true is if you like the music of an artist who is a shitty/bad person. But even at that point, I wouldn’t use the term “guilty pleasure” to describe that situation.
To put it simply, the music that I enjoy, I enjoy. I have trouble understanding why I should feel embarrassed for enjoying it. I have trouble understanding why anyone should feel embarrassed for enjoying the music they enjoy. Avril Lavigne, Blink-182, Sugar Ray, Insane Clown Posse, I will gladly admit I like all of that. Put on “Fat Lip” by Sum 41 and you know I’ll be singing along. This whole guilty pleasures idea seems so childish to me.
Embracing who you are and what you like makes you who you truly are. I wouldn’t want to hide away some music I like the same way I wouldn’t want to hide away a part of my identity when meeting a new person. It’s all connected.
Embrace what music you enjoy… abolish guilty pleasures!