Guilty Pleasures: the phrase alone implies a form of aesthetic righteousness. Your personal preferences (unique and subjective by definition), are kept in line by a higher standard of objective good (as defined by the community). The experts have agreed upon art that is right and superior. And in spite of the warnings from the authorities you insist on listening to things like Mariah Carey or New Kids on the Block. Not to mention the Michael Bolton tattoo. You must repent, my friend, for you have chosen Boy George over Radiohead.
Your joy is shameful; your pleasures are guilty. Scandalous even. It's just the truth... the ones who are qualified to have an opinion have made it perfectly clear. Thomas Kinkade and Kenny G are artistically wrong. Any pleasure that you might have received from their respective work will be rendered shameful and regrettable. You have succumbed to your tasteless tastes: this is contraband art.
Are you having trouble fitting in at school? Do you want to feel more accepted by your coworkers or peers? Tell them you prefer Fela Kuti. Or Pavement. Or J Dilla. anything other than Justin Bieber. What's that on your iPod? Oh, you poor dear. Trust me. Compliance can do wonders for your social life. Blend in, surrender, submit.
You say, "What about rock and roll? What about punk rock? Aren't these forms of rebellion? Can't my subjective tastes manifest my unique artistic identity to the world?" Sure, you want to dress differently, just like everyone else. However, the experts agree: it's just not that easy. If opinions were that straightforward, everyone would have them! No, you need someone to help lead you through the dangerous waters of taste and personality.
Sure there are grey areas. There are artistic works whose culpability is still in question. Is my Annie poster a guilty pleasure or an iconic, hipster throw-back? Well, it depends on which tribe you belong to. You see, there are many different tribes with different understandings of style and taste.
Every tribal code has a set of strict demands; so it's crucial to know your own clique before speaking up. Are your buddies wearing non-ironic handlebar mustaches and Moterhead T-shirts to your sister's wedding? It is most likely, this tribe will not respect your newfound appreciation of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." Nor will they appreciate the Deerhoof sticker on the back of your car.
We've all felt the regret of being on the wrong side of popular opinion. Fortunately, there are professionals who can help you fit in. You want to come across as an independent thinker who needs no one's opinion? You want to be on the cusp of the next big thing? There are many publications and online tribal guides that can help you to find the flavorless identity that blends in with your chosen group.
But beware: the opinion of the tribe is always evolving. Yes, my friend -- you have to be ready to adapt to new trends. For example, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Nirvana, and Radiohead have released records that received horrible reviews. However, the same publications that dismissed these releases have now declared these former duds to be among the most timeless records that rock and roll has to offer.
For example, Rolling Stone's review of the first Zeppelin release stated that Jimmy Page was, "a very limited producer and a writer of weak, unimaginative songs." Were you listening to that eight-track in the shame of an air-conditioned car? Well, roll the windows down and turn it up! It's not a guilty pleasure anymore -- it's sanctioned by the authorities! More recently the publication has decided to throw Page, Plant, Bonham, and Jones the full five stars instead of the original three.
Led Zeppelin's story is hardly unusual. The professionals might even say that this is a common trend in all artistic endeavors. Swan Lake's debut in 1877 was a critical flop. E.E. Cummings was widely panned by the experts. Van Gogh was so disregarded that he committed suicide in obscurity as an artistic failure. All of that to say, timing is everything: you have to jump on the bandwagon at the right moment.
When it comes to guilty pleasures, it's always best to trust the experts. Not sure which opinion is the best to regurgitate as your own? It's always safe to say that the earlier stuff was better. Also, remember that there's always safety in numbers. That's what democracy is all about, right? Majority rules.
Human society depends on moral order: the lawyers, the cooks, the janitors -- none of us are immune to the code. In a democracy, all of us depend on a mutually agreed upon system of right and wrong. Why would you be allowed outside of the regulations? Individual opinions are dangerous things. They can start wars and riots and worse: hip-hop. Why should the artist have special privileges to break the societal norms and disregard the rules?
Do not raise your head above the crowd. Rest assured social deviants will be punished. Like a blade of grass taller than the rest: the aberrations will be cut down. Trust the authorities. Cool is tricky business; it's best that you leave it to the experts. In fact, let me tell you the safest way to survive without the ridicule of your peers: mock everything; tear it all down with your tongue, stand seven feet tall on your blog. Smile with smug condescension on the idealist dreamers who stray outside the societal constraints. Above all: stay within the lines!
Dear reader, beware: outside those fences lies a dangerous place. Are you strong enough to form your own opinion? Can you withstand the guilt, the shame, the humiliation from the tribe? Are confident enough to defy the crowd? If not, stay where it's safe. Remain within the fences -- the experts will keep you safe, making sure that your personal preferences don't stray too far from the common consensus.
Outside the fences of convention lies an untamed wilderness awaiting the reckless souls who have the nerve to cut their own path. Are you daring enough to defy the dictatorship of the critics? Are you strong enough to wander outside the lines? To dance to your own drum? To thrill to the ecstasy of unrepentant, unabashed euphoria?
Outside the fences, the explorers ignore the experts. They call to us:
"Come my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes?
Pioneers! O pioneers!" -- Walt Whitman
***
"Only in humility can we begin to find the beauty in everything. Do you have the
barefaced wonder to drift outside the lines? If you dare, you could rise up to be
the shameless architect of the unknown, charting new ground that the critics will
never know. For the rest of the crowd, there's safety in numbers. But for you- you
and your brave soul, there are no guilty pleasures. Just pleasures." -- Jon Foreman
Jon, you raise an issue of paramount importance: Is the individual or the collective ultimately sovereign? Who has the final say, the man or woman with an idea that is unusual, abnormal, or unlike those around him? Or is whatever is established to be considered normative?
Your statement regarding the moral order of the world is true. However, you seem to state it with disdain. There certainly is a moral order in the world and to contradict that is to refute oneself. I do not believe you are making such a mistake. However, you seem intent on validating artistic expression universally. In other words, your words suggest the following: expression (whether artistic or of another nature) is the only part of reality that is exempt from the moral order of the universe, in which there are rules, and there must be an ability to discern, compare, contrast, accept, and discard.
Is this a turn you really want to take? I don't believe that it is. There is another turn to take on this road other than this one.
You are the sneakiest condemner I have ever read. Very impressive article adding perspective to going outside the metaphorical gates of the norms of society. I'm still left to ponder how much the author is a hypocrite after reading this article, or maybe you don't have any guilty pleasures and live in perfect harmony.
Either way Jon, you were strait to the point and didn't beat around the bush for once. Your wrath was all too impressive.
Oh yeeeeeeeeeeah!
I totally agree that you have to free your mind to be able to see the beauty in everything.
But his final quote, "For the brave... there are no guilty pleasures... just pleasures," is quite provocative... dangerous... heretical. But I think I agree. There are no guilty pleasures. Because if you're a prisoner of guilt, what pleasure can you really have? True pleasure must be guiltless. And only those with liberated minds are guiltless.
popular trend is Conformity to Anti-conformity. What really drives us to make the choices we make or like the things we like? I guess we should always be keeping ourselves in check, no?
"
tolerance - intolerance
don't raise your voice
keep the music down
don't let the kids shriek
keep the wild inside held down
shouting is for the violent
and the occasional exciting sporting event
screaming is for babies
and the mentally disconnected
don't let the men cry
keep the women's tears quiet
no loud cymbals
no crazy dancing
each to his own opinion
excluding any fanaticism
keep away from extremism
absolutely no reckless abandon
keep the volume down
use high pressure containment fields
keep the volume down
do what you have to
don't let go
don't cry out
don't turn the volume up
keep the music down
am i the only one this compromises?
no other screams inside?
no other pounding rhythms
giving meaning to this life?
no other hearts in transit
with living melodies...
...at deafening levels?
i don't want to offend you
don't want to encroach on your space
but i'm looking for a place
to turn the music up
to crash the loud cymbals
to shout myself hoarse
to get out of the constraining harness
and explore..
"
I doubt that I understood everything that you wanted to convey in this article, however I do think from my standpoint it was very refreshing to hear. I'll have to disagree with Diannaa in saying I believe all art is good art is exactly what I thought you were saying. Making a choice based only on what you enjoy is good regardless of what Experts, So called critics and everyone else thinks about your choice. We should of course always listen to a new song with an open mind regardless of if it was written by the most famous or the most unknown artists on earth and make our own opinions about if we like the sound and conveyed message of the song. I am probably misunderstanding what you wrote Mr. Foreman, but I do love what I think I read. Thank you for the post.