Trashy tunes that still feel good...

Last night I listened to Lady Gaga's new hit, "Telephone," and read an article about it by NPR's Douglas Hopper www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124909700&ft=1&f=1008 in which he suggests that her Lady-ship is to 2010 what Cyndi Lauper was to the 90s, and I found a whole new appreciation for the world of Gaga. From the start I have seen her as a smart, savvy, sexy and sophisticated pop diva who not only knows how to craft pop-hooks that get under your skin, but shake your booty, too. Just check out her current playful/faux cynicism with Beyonce in this interracial nouveaux "Thelma and Louise" dance track that already has 250 MILLION youtube hits...

OMG - I started having visions of Madonna - Cyndi Lauper - Mick Jagger - James Brown - Little Richard - Bob Dylan as the Trickster - Frank Zappa and countless others. Now most of the time I write about music from the perspective of the sacred, incarnational and compassionate. But let's face it: there are some terrific trashy tunes that just make us FEEL good! And that is a blessing, too, yes?

And that set my troubled mind on a search last night and this morning for some of my all-time favorite trashy songs that I once loved and still cherish. You probably have your own and I would love to know what they are. VH1 calls them "Guilty Pleasures" (in a show hosted by one of my favorite guilty pleasures: William Shatner!) So here's my list - send me yours.

1950s: There are five that NEVER fail to get my mojo workin' - and have had pretty much the same effect on me since I first heard them at about age 5 in my auntie's basement:
+ "Good Golly Miss Molly" and "Tuitti Fruitti" by the incomparable Little Richard
+ "Hard Headed Woman" by the King himself: Elvis Presley
+ "Carol" by another giant: Chuck Berry
+ "Great Balls of Fire" by the MAN - the Killer - Jerry Lee (freakin') Lewis

1960s: I could got totally mental here but have kept the list down to the five essentials in the trashy songs department that always get my ass out onto the dance floor...
+ "Liar, Liar" by the Castaways (dig this clip from under appreciated film classic "It's a Bikini World")
+ "Lies" by the Beatles sound alike band from NYC: the Knickerbockers
+ "Gloria" by the Shadows of the Night
+ "Sally Go Round the Roses" by the Jaynettes
+ "Pushin Too Hard" by the Seeds

1970s: this was an equally daunting decade to keep the list to five but here we go... (and as the lists continue I see why I am a Lady Gaga-ite.)
+ "Shake Your Booty" by the Florida legends KC and the Sunshine Band
+ "Brown Sugar" in what was their least PC hit ever: the Rolling Stones
+ "Play That Funky Music White Boy" by Wild Cherry
+ "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees
+ "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer

1980s: and the songs keep getting trashier... and now my children are dancing to them, too!
+ "Funky Cold Medina" by Tone Loc
+ "Nasty Boys" by Janet Jackson all grown up
+ "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by the one armed drummer et al in Def Leppard
+ "Addicted to Love" by the late Robert Palmer (who had a GREAT video)
+ "Money" by the dadaist band Flying Lizards

1990s: what do you think: are there more?
+ "Respect Yourself" by another great trashy lady: Madonna
+ "Cream" by the master of men's trashy music: Prince
+ "U Can't Touch This" by the man with the great pants: MC Hammer
+ "Cowboy" in which Kid Rock blends Run DMC with Lynyrd Skynyrd

2000: only four so far...
+ "Unbelievable" - by EMF
+ "Lady Marmalade" by the new trashy queens: Christina Aquilera, Lil Kim and Pink
+ "Shut Up and Drive" by Rhianna (my all time favorite)
+ "Girl Friend" by the totally nasty Avril Lavigne

Well, this is clearly not my most edifying list of tunes - BUT - they do get some of us back into our bodies and dancing and I think that is a damn good thing.