Top 10 Guilty Pleasure Pop Songs

It used to happen infrequently in a public setting before we had MP3 players and iPods. You're in a car with friends and Helen Reddy's version of "Delta Dawn" comes on the radio on some obscure oldies station. You want to hit the tuner, but you can't. You know this song. You love this song. This tired, old lowbrow pop tune that you're pretty sure Tanya Tucker did better. You know all the lyrics and soon you are singing along even though you are miles from the safe confines of any karaoke bar. Now, all anyone has to do to discover your darkest, dorkiest lyrical favorites, is to scan your digital music device. It's time to give it up and admit we all love some really sappy music sometimes.

The 1970s was a boom decade for guilty pleasures ("Brandy" by Looking Glass, "Thank you for Being a Friend" by Andrew Gold, "I Honestly Love You" by Olivia Newton John. etc.) but the 80s ("You Spin Me 'Round (like a Record)" by Dead or Alive, "Don't You Want Me" by Human League, etc.) 90s ("Fly" by Sugar Ray, "How Bizzare" by OMC, "Hit me Baby" by Britney Spears, etc.) and more than the first half of the first decade of the 21st century have been kind to lovers of fluffy, finger poppers too. It's hard to say if it started back in the 1960s, with Oliver's "Good Morning Star Shine" (brilliantly set to video in the second "Brady Bunch" spoof movie as TIm Matheson trips on mushrooms). Or maybe it was earlier than that, with Wayne Newton's classic that everyone knows but no one admits to singing in the shower, "Danke Shoen". But, these songs blast momentarily onto the scene, and then for decades and decades we hold them close to our hearts shamefully, silently, and ultimately, happily. For me it started simply enough when I was a small child and my father had all those Andy Williams ("Can't Get Used to Losing You", a classic) and Claudine Longet ( "Here, There and Everywhere" in her subtle, French whisper - who could convict such a woman of manslaughter!) albums. I had no idea how dorky and uncool those songs were. But, I revere them today, along with all of these others:

10. Kiss - "Rock and Roll All Night" - next to "Calling Dr. Love" (okay, and "Beth"), I put this in the shuffle most often of all my Kiss faves...
9. Melanie - "Brand New Key" - "Some people say I done allright for a girl" - love it....
8. The Shocking Blue - "Venus" - yeah baby, she's got it
7. Starship - "We Built This City" - obviously Grace Slick, Paul Kantner and the rest of the Airplane finally came down off the good drugs and took some happy pills instead
6. Spice Girls - "Wannabe" - I can't even explain why I like it, I just do
5. Sir Mix A Lot - "Baby Got Back" ties with EU's "Da Butt" - because singing about ample butts is fun...."Tanya got a big ol' butt, (oh yeah?)"
4. Andy Kim - "Rock Me Gently" - Makes me think of all those older guys with the feathered hair, tight Angel Flight slacks and Conquistador boots
3. King Harvest - "Dancing in the Moonlight" - 7,000,000 High School dance theme committees can't be wrong...
2. Tom Jones - "It's not Unusual" - Tight pants, furry chest, swiveling hips, coming to you on your parents' console TV in living color
1. Herman's Hermits - "Henry the 8th"- Second verse, same as the first.....

And, my very honorable mention goes to Sammy Davis, Jr. for "Candy Man" - because we all know who can make the sun shine, sprinkle it with dew, cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two....