Guilty Pleasures

Spotify is, without a doubt, the greatest way to listen to music ever. Until I signed up, I had been listening to crappy lyric videos on YouTube, but now I can discover and share music to my heart's content. The only problem is the ads - in fact, it has been determined in a recent poll (aka: me and my friends complaining) that these ads are literally the most obnoxious things on the planet. As soon as you get really into an album or a song, they pop up, talking loudly and annoyingly and ruining your entire day (if not life). Usually they're either generic (mmm try this Coca-Cola), or random (Do you like this song? Then you need to buy car insurance!), but the other day I heard one that really made me think. Basically, it was promoting making playlists and sharing them with friends, and it ended by saying "What better way to define yourself than through your music?"

This seems like a strange way of looking at sharing your musical tastes, almost implying that you choose the music you do because of how it will affect your image (rather than because you genuinely like it). This really shows the division that has sprung up between the idea of liking something just because you like it, and the concept of creating an image. 

Spotify obviously knows how music tastes can change when it seems like they're on display, because they've made it possible to listen to music in a private session. I'll admit, I've used this setting before (I didn't think the world needed to know I had listened to "Applause" 37 times in a row) but I've been wondering why I feel the need to hide the fact that I've listened to "that kind of music." I don't pretend to know much (okay, anything) about music and what's good or bad, but I do know that I feel a lot more comfortable admitting I like Nirvana than, say, Carly Rae Jepson.

Sometimes, though, when I'm studying, or getting ready to go out, or driving in the car, or doing chores, or going on a walk (or basically anything), I'll want to listen to "trashy" music. Usually I attempt to write this off as a guilty pleasure, or, worse, as an "ironic appreciation." Yeah, I listened to "Kiss You" for three hours - but it's okay, because I did it ironically.

Then I read this amazing article, which completely changed my point of view. Dylan writes, "[My love of pop music] is not an ironic love, which is stupid, and also, what does that even mean? It’s not like I’m snickering in the corner when I loop “Call Me Maybe” in the morning. I loop “Call Me Maybe” because it’s the jam."

This shouldn't be a thing.

A few days later, I saw this quote from Dave Grohl:

I don’t believe in guilty pleasures. If you [freaking] like something, like it. That’s what’s wrong with our generation: that residual punk rock guilt, like, “You’re not supposed to like that. That’s not [freaking] cool.” Don’t [freaking] think it’s not cool to like Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” It is cool to like Britney Spears’ “Toxic”! Why the [freak] not? [Freak] you! That’s who I am, [gosh darn] it! That whole guilty pleasure thing is full of [freaking] [poop].* 

*Obviously, the only thing cooler than liking "Toxic" is substituting [freaking] for a naughty no-no word.

As Dylan concludes, "The coolest people I know are the ones who couldn’t care less about their personal cultural boundaries and just enjoy life and do whatever they want. They’re not too cool for anything, they’re cool enough for everything. That’s a much more exciting way to be."

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go listen to Mass Text. For three hours. Just because I can.

~Maya