EW’s Music Mix is searching for the Greatest Guilty Pleasure Musical Act of All Time. With 32 seeded contestants (see all the matchups), this tournament is sure to change hearts, minds, and lives for weeks to come. Read/listen to the following, and then cast your vote in the poll after the jump; reader comments will be used in subsequent rounds, so we encourage you to also post a comment explaining why you chose the way you did. Note: In case of a tie, please select the artist you feel more ashamed to adore. Thank you.
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I’m probably not the right person to talk about Barry Manilow. It seems to me that in order to fully appreciate the man’s genius, you had to grow up in a household where lots of parents and older chain-smoking aunts liked to get drunk and jiggle awkwardly to “Copacabana” before the night inevitably ended with “Weekend in New England” and everyone weeping into their peppermint schnapps. This in no way resembles my childhood. And so all those sweeping symphonic backdrops, all the bleeding-heart emotion, the glassily unadorned vocals, the hair – oy, I just don’t get it. I also suspect it’s not a coincidence that America embraced fondue and Manilow at approximately the same time.
Nowadays, he’s headlining Vegas, of course, and actually looks like someone’s older, chain-smoking aunt. Preserved in this cultural amber, he could probably go on forever. So here’s what I got: I feel guilty that I’ve had “Can’t Smile Without You” on repeat for the past 15 minutes, without realizing it was on repeat. I derive great pleasure from the fact that Barry sings a song called “I Write the Songs” that he did not in fact write. And now, since dozens upon dozens of you EW readers named him your top guilty pleasure, I turn the floor over to you. — WP
Jeez. Between this and the Hootie entry today, I think I have to admit I miss the ’90s. Listening to music was so much easier then! I wasn’t a music critic yet — in fact, during the heyday of Matchbox Twenty (WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO SPELL IT OUT NOW PLS), I was doing manual labor in Arkansas, and all that mattered was getting the Top 40 station out of Hot Springs to come in clear on cloudy afternoons. The opening chords of “Push” can whip me right back to those halcyon days, uncluttered by indie elitism, when I bought CDs via Columbia House and/or Wal-Mart, watched videos on VH1′s “Insomniac Music Theater,” and the internet didn’t really do anything yet. And I’ll go ahead and admit it: I kind of miss these songs. Or at least the ability to enjoy them without shame.
This is not to say that missing Matchbox Twenty (SRSLY, IT IS NOT A NUMERAL ANYMORE OK THNX) is anything worth losing sleep over. Their songs are overproduced entities churned out factory-style — tunes that could have been recorded by virtually any middle-of-the-road band from the past two decades. They’re also full of sturm und drang that far outweighs their subject matter: it’s just not that hard to be a white rock star in America, but with his matted hair and perpetually hangdog expression, Rob Thomas has always struck me as the kind of guy whose leather jacket smells of sadness. Were there plenty of other bands with a stronger jawline (so to speak) that I could have included in this slot? Sure. But I defend my decision to include these gentlemen for the following five reasons:
1) I downloaded their recent greatest-hits release Exile on Mainstream this morning, and eight of the songs immediately put a smile on my face. The other ten I immediately discarded.
2) They named their recent greatest-hits release Exile on Mainstream.
3) In 2003 or thereabouts, Rob Thomas wrote an essay for GQ about being the most hated man in music. It had the exact blend of pride and self-deprecation that John Mayer so aggressively strives for and so often overshoots, and it made me think what I’d always mistaken for dour sincerity was in fact just Thomas trying not to crack up. And then I decided, no, that’s dour sincerity.
4) The video for “Bent,” in which the other band members beat the everloving crap out of Rob Thomas.
5) Someone put banjo on “Unwell.” Banjo! It secretly pleases me! Why? I don’t know. And that, my lovelies, is the definition of a guilty pleasure. — WP
Want to vote in a previous matchup? Click here to visit Guilty Pleasure Bracket Central!
Photo Credit: Manilow: Everett Collection
The first upset perhaps??
if you don’t consider the way Phish is currently creaming Nickelback an upset, sure.
I think so. The Wallflowers can share in this victory.
I was not aware that Matchbox 20 was anything to be ashamed of. As for the criticism of the band it’s an entirely false statement to say that any middle of the road band could have produced the songs they do. Certainly the sound is similar to many other bands, but if you go back and listen to any genre of music (not excluding top forty radio) it is bound to have spots where it sounds alike. As for the substance of the band a song like Push is a revelation. It’s a song about the dynamic of power in a relationship that may be somewhat abusive. That’s a heavy theme, especially for pop radio. Or what about the song Bent in which the psychology of a person who is so scared to make any real commitment to another human being is so fully realized? Or even what about the song 3 AM where Thomas as a song writer so skillfully and lovingly crafts a portrait of his mother who was sick with cancer and captures the pain and sadness of sickness when it’s someone you love, in a way that uniquely his own. It’s a brave song, and I doubt anybody else could have written it. That’s the point though with music is that as much as a sound of one group may be similar to that of another, it’s the point of view of the song that matters, not so much the sound. If it was the sound then The Beatles would universally be acknowledged as the worst band ever. Their early records are nothing to be proud of, their covers are shameless and artless retreads of better songs by better artists. The true point of cover song is to add something new to the song, reveal another dimension to it. The Beatles never did that, not even with the sound; their Twist and Shout cover is a sound alike, nothing new added to the subtext of the original, it’ just a repeat of the sounds they heard. They took a sound they heard and liked to play but they didn’t know how to say new things within the confines or the context of the sound. Matchbox 20 does. They know how to produce a record, they know how to subvert the genre of music they work in. They know how to add depth and weight both emotionally and psychologically to a song while maintaining their pop sensibilities. I don’t think the same can be said for most of the the other middle of the road pop groups you and the other critics seem to group Matchbox 20 into.
Matchbox 20 and the Beatles? Seriously? I mean SERIOUSLY??? That was funny.
Agreed.
Are you for real??? Matchbox 20 compared to The Beatles?? That’s like comparing Janis Joplin to musical stylings of Miss Piggy….
Or comparing Pink Floyd to ICP!
Or The Rolling Stones to Limp Bizkit…
“…it’s the point of view of the song that matters, not so much the sound. If it was the sound then The Beatles would universally be acknowledged as the worst band ever.”
Pfft… yeah, right, you keep thinking that.
The purpose of this game is to i.d. your “guilty pleasure.” Barry Manilow hands down b/c when u admit this people’s reactions are so OVER the top. Admitting to liking Matchbox 20, not so much reaction.
Agreed! We all love Barry Manilow’s catchy and kitchy songs but not many admit it! It’s like Neil Diamond! And, this particular Manilow is awesome! How can you not both love it and be embarrased to admit it and not want to run around your living room singing it!
“I Write the Songs” is not Barry Manilow saying he writes the songs! The song is about “music” – it’s music that “writes the songs.”
I will gladly admit to enjoying both. But I how is Matchbox 20 a guilty pleasure?!? Rob Thomas’ work has been hit and miss as a solo artist, but he was pretty solid with Matchbox.
Have to put in a vote for Matchbox 20. Oh and Whitney, they still are played occasionally on KLAZ 105.9
Ain’t nothing guilty about the pleasure I get from listening to anything Rob Thomas writes or sings so that should eliminate them right there. Of course, Manilow bores me to tears, so there’s no pleasure, guilty or otherwise, there at all.
Matchbox doesn’t even fit in this competition. Millions of Matchbox 20 lovers are LOUD & PROUD, baby. Say it with me and stand up and be counted!
One word: Copacabana
Good point here as well!
good point!
Barry’s song, “I Write the Songs”. It is about the personification of MUSIC. He is not saying, he, himself, BARRY has written the songs at all. At the end, he says “I am Music, and *I* write the songs.” He is speaking from Music’s point of view.
People always misunderstand this one.
Manilow – hands down. No guilt, but lots of pleasure over the years.
There is no comparison. Manilow is a musical icon, for good reason, with a 30-year history of music characterized by sincerity and integrity. (Forget Copacabana; it was a novelty song, unrepresentative of his normal musical catalog.) Let’s see if anybody remembers the name Rob Thomas in 30 years.
I’m a fan of Matchbox Twenty and there’s no guilt there. Their songs are some of the best written, and Rob Thomas is one of the better singers around. Barry Manilow gets my vote because although I like some of his songs, I’d sure feel guilty to admit it!
when I first glanced at the Barry Manilow picture, I thought it was Simon from SYTYCD
Nigel, not Simon.
I’m 18 years old and have grown up with matchbox twenty since the band started. Rob Thomas/Matchbox twenty is BY FAR my favorite band/singer/songwiter. One of the things I appreciate most about them is that the songs have catchy lyrics and they can all apply to something in your life in someway. They mean something to me. If only they didn’t sell so many records and become so successful, and if only rob would quit writing songs that a wide variety of people could relate too and enjoy. I can see why people don’t give them the respect that they deserve(that’s sarcasm for those of you who don’t get that sort of thing). And to add to it I have every album they’ve got! BLAM!!!
why is Matchbox Twenty a guilty pleasure? They are great and Rob Thomas is beautiful and talented.