Guilty Pleasures Are Not Real

In the time I have spent living on this rock, I have spent about 99% of it enjoying things that make me feel like myself. There has rarely been a gap of time that was dedicated towards appeasing a group or subculture by submitting to their demands, their meta, their standards of quality. I learned this at a VERY young age, bordering on second nature. The earliest example that comes to mind is when I received Dark Horse by Nickelback in 2009. I’m not even sure how I obtained the CD, I don’t remember even asking for it, but regardless it sat on my shelf with my various other albums: The Reason by Hoobastank, Even More Crazy Hits by Crazy Frog, Kidz Bop 9, and whatever else was spinning in my Discman. Throughout time a lot of that early childhood collection disappeared through yard sales, library and good will donations, and just giving stuff to friends. I will admit that Dark Horse somehow lost its place on my shelf, partly because I got rid of said shelf, but I still have the many songs engrained in my brain and pump my fists whenever I hear them on a bar jukebox. Pure joy is abound and there is never a moment I have to look around before I decide to recite the lyrics to Burn It to the Ground. Little did I know that most of the Internet, and most of the music world, were already against Nickelback.

They deemed the songs a product of post-9/11 dudebro jock jerkoff sessions, Chad Kroeger’s voice an insufferable chordal abortion, the music video for Photograph was memed into oblivion, the list goes on. The point is I was enjoying a band I was supposedly not supposed to. This still never got my attention, or really bothered me enough to consider reading a room, most of my friends in school still enjoyed Nickelback, so much as to continue supporting their future releases. It really wasn’t until Photograph and other similar songs resurfaced in online circles that the band became a lot more of a “guilty pleasure”.

I will admit, I was well aware of this peer pressure tactic. That is essentially all a guilty pleasure is after all. Most conversations involving the topic go sort of like:

“Oh wow you like THAT band?”
Haha, yeah man they are so corny now but the kid in me still digs ’em. Wouldn’t be
caught dead with that in the car though don’t worry!

“Didn’t you read reviews for THAT movie? THE ACTING IS ATROCIOUS!”
But it’s sooooo cheesy! I can’t help if it’s cringe but it’s so fun!

These are one of a thousand cuts to your preferences. Instead of entertaining these opinions, simply challenge them. What makes a good song? What makes a great scene in a film? What makes a book stand out in a sea of smut? People are very quick to make dismissive remarks, but never back them up because there is already such a prominent audience against it. This only adds to the continued guilty pleasure dynamic feed loop.

For another personal example, take a listen to this song, “I Hate Jimmy Page” by Mindless Self Indulgence.

This song is energetic, well paced, has a funny chorus, and most interesting of all carries a great sentiment (I’ll let you figure that out, please leave a comment with what you think it’s about besides your thoughts on the article overall). These are quick statements that sell anything to most people in the mood for anything lively or simply driving to work. MSI however are often disregarded because of barriers in the vocals and genre (digital hardcore).

Talking about what makes anything good, let alone entertaining is usually boring. Nobody likes praise because it is usually earned through some rigorous mind game, and praising everything is just as shallow as hating everything. You could compare this issue to smiling. It takes less energy to smile, but it doesn’t feel like it does. Quite the contrary, frowning or just a neutral expression worsens one’s mood and has even been adjacent in other studies for health. I’m not telling you to put a jawbreaker in your mouth and find everything redeemable about Spice World, I AM asking however, DO you like Spice World? Why? I don’t like Spice World, but you do. Tell me more.

There never seems to be a time when a conversation engages where the bothered person is challenged. Why do so many people think a simple retort is confrontational now? Why do so many people not understand how such a small lack of friction gives you a false reality of what is actually enjoyable? Why are people fucking cucks to their own entertainment value?

The backbone principles of individuality lie within a simple transaction of words, are you going to pay with exact change or hand them an IOU? Excuses build up inside, they eat away at your being, and eventually you’ll find yourself in the company of others that can’t handle healthy disagreement, any sense of self, and worst of all can ONLY list off items that they despise.

This unintentional tribalism leads itself to creating a very potent reaction that has the opposite effects and only enables both sides of the guilty pleasure problem: CRINGECORE.

Cringecore acknowledges all the supposed negative aspects of media that is consumed by common denominators openly, “fully aware”, and it is the sole driving force for the people involved to appreciate the media they are surrounded by. To reuse my previous song example, Mindless Self Indulgence is in this realm of “cringecore”, because of the aforementioned barriers of vocals, niche genre, and imagery that invokes a bygone era that many find obnoxious. However that is enough for most people who latch on to the cringecore label to listen to MSI daily. What are they getting out of listening to a band they are enjoying because they were told is not enjoyable?

Addressing the public and private observations to consume nothing but “shit”. This has been a recent sentiment among online communities, this idea that you are cringe but you’re free. Free from what? Criticism? From being offended that others don’t enjoy what you do?

Guess what? That means you’re not actually cringe at all. It means you don’t believe in any kind of meta. Your enjoyment is not special or confined to a group of people. It is supposed to be your own will, this isn’t about admitting what is bad and what is good, this scenario is about making the claims on what you appreciate and why that is all the proof you need to say something is good. When put into a situation where the appreciated object is devalued, simply retort with questions of your own, and you will probably be surprised with how quickly the average response will fall apart in front of you. Most of these people don’t like being a jerk, and will usually move the topic to something else, but you can continue the conversation in a healthy direction and create a more productive experience for both involved.

We need to end the self hatred aspects of open dialogue, we need to end requirements for artificial scenes, and we start with ending the thinking patterns of a guilty pleasure.