Guilty Pleasure or just bad taste?  You tell me.  I have a ridiculously large amount of “one hit wonders” in my iTunes library.  I use the term “one hit wonder” loosely.  I define “one hit wonder” not only as that one popular song an artist had and then disappeared, but that song an artist had that was so unlike their typical music it really stood out.  Some of them…okay maybe a lot of them, most people have never heard of.  When I started thinking about my own musical memories, I had to look over my playlist.  What does this odd collection of songs say about me?

I’ve come up with a theory…Here’s where I think my long list of one hit wonders comes from…

Our musical tastes are developed in part by those we socialize with.   First our parents, then when in High School we liked what all the other kids were listening to.  When we were in College we searched out and found the kids who liked what we liked.  As adults we tend to keep our musical tastes to ourselves if it doesn’t fit in with the “cool kids” at the office.  That’s when we begin calling the music on our playlist “guilty pleasures”.

When I was a kid, my parents didn’t listen to music, with the exception of Mitch Miller and Lawrence Welk.  Other than that I found my own music in a cardboard box filled with old 45’s discarded by my two older brothers.

I was one of those kids in High School that was friendly with everybody, but belonged to no clicks.   I came home from school everyday (when I wasn’t babysitting) and tried cooking dinner, so while other kids were hanging out and listening to the radio I was deep into the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and baking adventure and watching Mike Douglas on TV.

While the others were at College looking for the new circle to join, I was a stay at home mom.  And in those early years, SAHM meant something different than it does now.  There was no connection to the outside world, like we have now.  Emails,  text messages, Facebook, etc., didn’t exist.  We had a telephone.  There wasn’t a second car in the driveway, and perhaps that’s where the term Stay At Home Mom came from…

When I finally went to work, the water cooler conversations seemed to revolve more around what was happening in everybody’s life.  I didn’t have to hide any guilty pleasures….I didn’t know they were guilty pleasures.

My theory then is; left to ourselves our musical tastes may not reflect that of our cohorts, but more accurately is a reflection of what we liked at that moment in time with out influence by the masses. When we are in constant company with other people we tend to take on the likes and dislikes of the rest of “the tribe”.

So what’s your favorite “one hit wonder”?  Here’s some of mine.  And yes, I have repurchased all of these, AGAIN, on iTunes.  Now, that I have them digitally, I’ll never have to repurchase them again.  Just click the red arrow to listen to the songs….click on the name of the song to take you to iTunes to download.

Abergavenny by Marty Wilde  19 Abergavenny

Alone Again Naturally by Gilbert O’ Sullivan  Gilbert O’Sullivan – Alone Again (Naturally)

Before My Heart Finds Out by Gene Cotton  01 Before My Heart Finds Out

Don’t Give Up On Us by David Soul  david soul-don’t give up on us

Making It by David Naughton  David Naughton – Makin’ it

I Wanna Be Rich by Calloway  I like Money

It’s Raining Men by The Weather Girls  01 It’s Raining Men

Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood  Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Relax with Lyrics

Hole Hearted by Extreme  Whole Hearted

and 10 years from now…

Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen  01 Call Me Maybe