5 Guilty Pleasures on the iPod Meme

I've been tagged by Dan Drezner with the “what five songs in my iTunes are my guiltiest pleasures” meme. I guess Dan and I are the two remaining people in America without an iPod, so I have to tweak this post. I thought about giving the 5 reasons that I've never gotten an iPod, but instead I'll list the 5 guilty pleasures on the living room Bose.

For the longest time, I haven't been able to listen to music at home. For years, one kid demanded Raffi and audio books of Thomas stories. Then the other kid became too sensitive to music and would scream whenever I put on the stereo. Over the past few months, the mute kid has being shedding his music phobia, so I'm slowly rediscovering my music collection. I've been going back to the 80s stuff to see what works and what doesn't. Here's what's on our stereo:

1. Under the Blood Red Sky. U2.
2. Armed Forces, Elvis Costello
3. Monster, REM
4. Tom Tom Club, Tom Tom Club
5. Odelay, Beck (one from the 90s)

I tag Harry Brighouse, Tim Burke, and Jo(e).

Comments

[Russell Arben Fox]

I guess Dan and I are the two remaining people in America without an iPod...

Sorry, but I don't have one either. Are we the only people--or, at least, the only white social science academics--left in America without this essential tool of the 21st century? Wow. We should have celebrated when we had breakfast together at last year's APSA; who knew we were making history?

As for guilty pleasures, I can at least confess that, for reasons I'd rather not go into at the moment, I've spent the last several months collecting and burning on to CDs old 80s love songs. I've got some Cure and Pet Shop Boys on there, but lets stick with the really cheesy pop stuff. The top five? Let's try:

1. Erasure, "Oh, L'amour"
2. Janet Jackson, "Escapade"
3. Debbie Gibson, "Only In My Dreams"
4. Wang Chung, "Hypnotize Me"
5. Steve Winwood, "What the Night Can Do"

Beat that, Laura, if you dare.

[Amy P]

No ipod here, but I'm a card-carrying technophobe. I do take a PDA to the gym and listen to Jane Austen on the treadmill. I'm about to finish my last Austen novel.

[Wendy]

Ooh, 80s music. My "guilty" pleasures (which, really, I don't feel guilty about, but if I had a guilt gene, I'd feel guilty about these):
5. They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Ha (Napolean something)
4. A Fifth of Beethoven (Walter Murphy)
3. One Night in Bangkok (Murray Head/Chess Sndtrk)
2. The Warrior (Patty Smyth/Scandal)
1. I've Never Been to Me (Charlene (I know all the words, including the spoken interlude, and I've been known to torment friends by performing it in a breathy voice)

I don't count the HSM, Ashley Tisdale, Miley Cyrus, or Camp Rock stuff because they're for my kids.