30 Day Song Challenge, Day 13: A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure

I fundamentally reject the concept of “guilty pleasure.” What it says is: “Someone of my status should not enjoy this low status song.” It’s often used in sexist and racist ways. (I wrote about this in my first book!).

So instead of a guilty pleasure, I’m going to offer a few songs that I like even though they’re rock-Dad respectable.

Throbbing Gristle, “Hot On The Heels of Love”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgqRXWFaGXw

Throbbing Gristle are serious OG noise/industrial avant-garde. I generally always prefer Psychic TV (Genesis’s post-TG project). But this song, with its rhythmic synths almost heartbeat like rhythms, and its breathy femme vocals, comes in sorta close to “I Feel Love.” You can here Genesis’s pop sensibilities peek through here.

Grace Jones, “Pull Up To The Bumper (Larry Levan Mix)”

Ok, Levan might not get rock-Dad respectability, but he’s Larry fucking Levan. And this mix is so exquisite. He isolates the percussion, brings it forward, and makes it more or less the instrumental melody; you don’t even miss the funky bass in the original (…until he drops it in later!). And Grace JONES. She’s starting to get some recognition for her work, but not in many mainstream spaces. Like, my students have maybe heard of Janet Jackson, but they have no clue who Grace Jones is. And Arthur Russell is the new patron saint of white indie hipster culture….but Jones?

Runners Up: Cabaret Voltaire, “Nag, Nag, Nag“