These guys are the reason I started playing guitar after seeing them on Ed Sullivan in February 1964 - as well as seeing Dave Von Ronk and Michael Cooney (two classic folkies) play "Cocaine Blues at a small club in New Haven - and I thought of the Beatles today during worship when my little guitar protege, Ethan, joined me for his debut. He just finished the 2nd grade and has been playing guitar little bit since Christmas. Today, along with 19 adult voices, my little buddy played a G chord along with me as we shared our version of "I'll Fly Away" with the congregation. It was too, too sweet...
And sweet moments with music is what
keeps us who play going, yes? I think of sweet guitar moments as a part of the larger "guilty pleasures" genre of little blessings that make life just a little easier to embrace. I will probably be sharing a decade by decade collection of my "guilty pleasures" with you over the next few weeks before we head out on vacation because it is just so much fun! What's more, my guilty pleasures will evoke yours... and the blessings will just keep rolling on and on. So, because I happened to get hooked on a VH1 80s show last night: here are 10 guilty pleasures from the 80s in no real order. (It would be a blast if you share your with me in return...)1. Love Shack: The B52s know how to dance, laugh, boogie to the cows come home and make fun of themselves all at once - and this song is freakin' infectious. Every time I hear it I have to shake my bootie and I can't help but smile... which is a sweet guilty pleasure AND a little blessing, too.
2. Walk Like an Egyptian: the Bangles. My youngest daughter LOVED this band of sexy, fun young women - and we would dance throughout our Cleveland house whenever this song came on the radio (or our stereo.) Many years later, my Tucson band made it our own all over again with a multi-generational cover version.
3. Legs: ZZ Top. Who remembers seeing the fur brothers on a "St. Elsewhere" episode with a bunch of interns and sexy nurses in mini-skirts singing this song throughout the hospital? Certainly not a source of redemption in the traditional sense but... come on! This was fun and hot all at once.
4. Nasty Boys: Janet Jackson. There isn't a hotter 80s song that this one from the fabulous sister of Michael Jackson - the sister with talent. Janet smokes her way through this tune with such a sassy style, strong attitude and bold sensuality that if you don't give thanks to God for being alive when you hear it... then you are already in the grave. Check out the moves on this girl!
5. I Need You Tonight: INXS. Another totally smokin' song of sensuality... hmmmm I am discerning a theme? Any how, my kids turned me onto this one, too, and it still rocks.
6. Here I Go: Whitesnake. Who can EVER forget the video for this song? It stopped the heart of weaker men.. .and found a perfect parody a number of years later when Bowling for Soup put out "1985."
7. Money: The Flying Lizards. This is perhaps the BEST remake of this song ever. It is funny, rude, sexy and social critique all at the same time with their Dada-esque refashioning of the Motown gem.
8. I Melt with You: Modern English. I can't help myself for loving this song... it is just addictive and I hate it and love it at the same time.
9. You Shook Me All Night Long: AC/DC. I often pair this song with Bob Franke's "Thanksgiving Eve" as the inner battle I used to fight between the rock and roll freak and the spiritual good boy before therapy! I actually got to play this song with a Tucson bar band a few times and crowds ALWAYS love it.
10. Pour Some Sugar on Me: Def Leppard. What's not to like about a one armed drummer with a backbeat almost as strong as Ringo's? Or a stripper song that drives both women and men crazy on the dance floor? It is just a PERFECT guilty pleasure.
As this sweet Sunday comes to a close with LOTS of sweet tunes running through my head, I give thanks to God for all the little blessings that have come my way through these guilty pleasures. What about you?
Yesterday at work, "Copacabana" by Barry Manilow came on the radio, and the 21-year-old woman I was working with said, "I love this song!" It was such a release to hear a young person admit to a love of Barry Manilow, and to be able to say, "I do too!" without fear of shaming and embarassment from the Cooler People.
ReplyDeletehaha! you list covered a lot of mine... i must say i have a lot of guilty pleasures when it comes to music.. Marilyn Manson and Slipknot would shock most church people but Royksopp, Daft Punk, and the country i listen to would shock my metal-head friends.
ReplyDeleteI Think my guilty pleasures vary depending upon what mood I'm in. One day I want some good ole time county from The Album "Oh Brother Where Art thou" and the next music of Bon Jovi. I particularly like Livin on a prayer and Keep the Faith or something from Meatloaf's Bat out of Hell album.
ReplyDeleteLately I have been enjoying The Frey. They have one song that has been particularly meaningful to me for the past several months. I didn't notice the song until about 2 weeks after my beloved Bob died. Everytime I turned on the radio this song was on.T he first line caught my attention, "I found God on the corner of first and Amastead..." Its called "Found" by the Frey... marvelous song says a lot.
One other song is by my favorite groups Savage Garden, such a smooth sound they have, it's Crash and Burn. You can find it on YouTube if you aren't familiar with it.
B.
actually my wife named my guilty pleasures.. it's Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. i love chick-pop!
ReplyDeleteI love chick pop tunes, too: omg another secret is revealed!
ReplyDelete