I have a bone to pick with MSNBC.com. They have an article in their entertainment section about musical guilty pleasures (which must mean that there is NOTHING going on in music news in the past few days, because writing a "guilty pleasures" article is a guilty pleasure in and of itself: totally stupid and useless, but readers get a kick out of it because it sparks giggles when they see the name "Debbie Gibson" and then spend all day humming "Out of the Blue").
My problem with their specific article is that the first "guilty pleasure" mentioned is one of the best albums ever made..."Thriller" by Michael Jackson. That is absolutely NOT a guilty pleasure. Guilty pleasures are artists, songs and albums that are lame and/or just suck based on musical talent (other G.P.'s listed in this article include John Denver, The Spice Girls and Air Supply...all of which fit into the G.P. category perfectly). Author Denise Hazlick's reason for condemning "Thriller" to G.P. status is based solely on the fact that Jackson's public personna and character is creepy and scandelous. She admits the music is incredible, which automatically disqualifies it from even contending to be a G.P. Ms. Hazlick needs to take a few classes on the art of identifying guilty pleasures.
If she were to just say that Michael Jackson himself was the G.P., she could get away with it (thanks to the crappy songs that make "Dangerous" only half good, and especially thanks to "You Are Not Alone" *cringe*), but to involve "Thriller" is just plain mean.
I apologize to you, "Thriller," on behalf of Denise Hazlick.
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