Just shake your rump

Alright, there are lots of songs that I like. I listen to the radio, and I enjoy it. This may not seem like a huge revelation to you, and it's not to people who know me, but I think it still sort of disappoints those friends of mine who introduce me to good new music that I would never ever know about if it weren't for them, or my few years in college radio. Luckily, my friends like me anyway, and because I have a knack for knowing names of songs & artists and can sometimes extrapolate this information from half-hummed bits of songs and misheard lyrics, they keep me around and make me playlists to broaden my horizons and stuff.

That being said, there are songs that I like that also drive me up the wall... I mean, I like them. I sing along when they come on the radio. I dance in my car. But later, when they're stuck in my head, I detest them, can't believe I even like them in the first place. They're bits of unimpressive digitized fluff, spanning several decades, and still, pop music is pop because that's short for "popular" and it wouldn't be popular if people didn't listen to it, and I'm one of those people, so I should just suck it up and baaaa along with all the other sheep and enjoy my happy dance tunes and realize that they won't make my eardrums pop from repeated listening, which I think is a more accurate description of why it's called pop music... but I digress.

Friday's list is "Songs I like that are guilty pleasures but also make me wish I were cooler but not so cool that I turned all pretentious and elitist and stopped enjoying simple pleasures like pop music" or perhaps "Songs that I just love and I'm not afraid of the looks I get from people because whether they have 'artistic value' or not, they make my life better because I get happier when I listen to them:

• ABBA... all the songs, even the ones from Mama Mia
• Shoop- Salt-N-Pepa (My friend Gruss & I do a pretty good Salt und Paprika)
• Toxic- Britney Spears (don't give me that look)
• Pretty much everything by Pink, even though I'm a sissy who couldn't throw a real punch, it would just end up on my shoes because I throw like the kind of girl that makes the statement such an insult
• Take it off- Ke$ha (it's the tune... there's a place in France... it's just contagious, much like Ke$ha)
• California Love- Tupac
• Uprising- Muse (the guitar talks... seriously, how can I resist that?!?!)
• Mystify-INXS
• Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go- Wham! (I still do the dance)
• Vogue- Madonna
• Girls Just Wanna Have Fun- Cyndi Lauper (I wanted to be just like her when I was 4)
• On My Own- Les Miserables (because I was a teenage girl once)
• Bust A Move- Young MC (and the Glee version does not suck!)
• Fergalicious- Fergie (I know, I know... but I can't help myself!)
• Rock DJ- Robbie Williams (the video is disturbing though...)
• Poker Face- Lady Gaga

That's really just scratching the surface of a deep well of radio-friendly tunes, but now for a smaller list that goes with that t-shirt that I don't own but should. These are songs that I adore that I never would have heard of if it weren't for the wonderful people in my life who think I'm just cool enough to share good music with, but not so cool as to already know all the songs, and if you want any of these, you should let me know because I can totally point you in the right direction:

• Oh Comely- Neutral Milk Hotel (my college roommate Vanessa, who had a prosthetic leg, and there are some funny stories to be told there)
• Gravity- Nico Vega (HeyDan, on the 3rd cd he made for me)
• Kids-MGMT (The Gruss)
• Megalomaniacal- KMFDM (Shane)
• Squares- The Beta Band (Neal Obermeyer)
• Passionate- Kind of Like Spitting (my Andrew)
• Dancing Barefoot- U2 (MBFJC)
• Last Laugh of the Laughter-Travis (Fourthisto... whose real name is Brian)
• Mrs. You & Me- Smoking Popes (Tarlowski)
• The Trees-Rush (my brother)
• Lover I don't have to love- Bright Eyes (Michelle, who did the local show on KRNU)
• Don't Let Me Down- Leahy (my hubby)
• Collide- Howie Day (Kyle)
• Clockwork Punk- Bis (My Broadcast buddy Tina!)
• Backstabber- The Dresden Dolls (Cluegirl)
• Chunari Chunari- Monsoon Wedding Soundtrack (KRho)
• Wonder Woman-Frankmusik (Joel)

So there's a sample of some of the things on my iPod that make me exclaim very excitedly "Ooooh! I love this song!" And when I do, my husband gives me this ridiculous look as if to say "Ofcourse you like this song, otherwise why would it be on your iPod you ninny!" Still, there are so many songs on my iPod that when one that I really like (more than the sort of like, or kind of like songs) comes on, I get excited. I'm easily excited by little things like that. It keeps life interesting. You should try it sometime.