The embarrassment comes mostly from the fact that he has turned into such a vile bigot, but Ted Nugents Terminus Eldorado. I love this bands cover version of it:
Easy-E. His delivery and the production on his solo albums are top notch and stand the test of time but his lyrics are by far the most misogynistic of any music I own.
Oof. When I was originally thinking about this thread, I only considered embarrassment over musical content; this kind of issue never occurred to me, and it should have. There are lots of songs I like from artists who are, or were, really unsavory characters.
Man, that arrangement and the backing track are bloody awful -- the washed out low-rent synths, the cheap electro snare, and that homicide-inducing saxophone. Not to mention, that dude's hair is no substitute for an actual voice. And, yet. Gotta say it still gets me. I think that title line is actually quietly genius, 'Tell my why is it I'm digging your scene.' So epicly cheesy it might actually have worked on a real live girl if one was every stupid enough to try it. I really like some Ivy tracks, but I'd love to hear a real crooner take that song and own it -- Martin Fry, Tracy Thorn, George Michael, even Pharrell Williams.
I was and it did Nice to see you mention Martin Fry and Tracy Thorn. I really don't know many people that realize what a tremendous voice Fry has. Thorn was a secret crush ever since I heard her sing A Paris Match with The Style Council on Cafe' Bleu. Of course her work with Massive Attach and EBTG is quality stuff.
Not really embarrassed; I grew up with them - I've still got their first two albums. But I could see others reluctance.
I have a soft spot for hair metal ballads - and some super cheese Cancon - Imma chalk it up to overexposure to my aunt’s Anne Murray cassette collection.
This got played on cassette in my aunt’s car on the way to the grocery store Saturday mornings as a kid:
Do you BigSoccer any more? Anyway, I made a Poison playlist yesterday and it is amazing. <--- NOT EMBARRASSED. I'm moving to Manhattan Beach.
You had to be there. That was Miller's heyday, and anything about toking was gonna be a hit among young folks who hadn't begun to toke yet. Now, Jet Airliner and Abracadabra and Jungle Love and Swingtown were horrid. But Fly Like An Eagle? Take The Money And Run? Sheeit, those two and The Joker were cool.
Yeah, that's pretty bad. Which is weird. I can dig Wishing You Were Here and If You Leave Me Now. Neither of those is significantly different from YTI, but they were part of an era where those guys made some of the best tunes in rock history. OTOH, YTI was the period in which Chicago was well and truly destroyed from within by Cetera.
I can see where some would say I should be embarrassed, but I'm not. Like I said, you had to be there.
He-- or his producer-- certainly put a lotta powdered sugar on what was already a lotta merengue... But I always liked the melody, and I like dog songs, and it is a unique take on a dog song... so it is a guilty pleasure of sorts to me. I can handle a lotta sweets before I start to get queasy...