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July 05, 2008 | 73°F mist

Soundcheck

Guilty Displeasures

Carl Wilson of Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper did what other music critics might find unfathomable: He listened to Celine Dion. A lot. In the book Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste, Wilson explores the idea of a "guilty displeasure": something we're quick to dismiss because, well, "it's just not me." We find out what Wilson learned from his ordeal -- and if he changed his mind about Dion.

Tell us: What's your "guilty displeasure?" Do you have a music-snob sin to confess?

Carl Wilson's blog Zoilus.com
Wilson's article about Dion's Las Vegas show


Listener Comments Comment | Refresh | Back to Episode
[1]
Posted by: Connie
January 03, 2008 - 02:17PM

I can't stand Billy Joel. I feel kind of bad because I've seen him interviewed and he seems kind of nice, and he didn't seem to like his own music much either, at least in that interview (this was a number of years ago).

[2]
Posted by: Valerie
January 03, 2008 - 02:17PM
Bushwick

I hate Liz Phair. I can't stand the sound of her voice. I am all for the changes she was said to represent in pop music, but I can't stand to listen to her.

[3]
Posted by: Peter Knutson
January 03, 2008 - 02:18PM
Brooklyn

For better or for worse I hate Pink Floyd. For everything that they may or may not have contributed to 20th century rock, I just can't separate them from the sad, sandal wearing cookie cutter Fraternity kids from my college years.

That association has colored my perspective ever since

[4]
Posted by: sarah
January 03, 2008 - 02:18PM
Williamsburg

OMG! Celine makes my ears bleed. She seems like she might nice but she's so TOTALLY phony in interviews it's hard to figure out.

[5]
Posted by: Kat
January 03, 2008 - 02:19PM
New York, NY

Where do you get off criticizing Celine Dion. She has sold most albums of any female recording artist. More than Shania Twain. Get off your high horse and stop wasting valuable air time on this junk!

Devoted Celine Dion Fan

[6]
Posted by: Emily
January 03, 2008 - 02:19PM
Manhattan

There is one artist (older) and one group (new) who unfailingly make me lunge for the radio dial. Frank Sinatra (gasp, I know) and Maroon 5. Yuerch.

[7]
Posted by: Brent
January 03, 2008 - 02:19PM
New Haven, CT

Paul McCartney, without a doubt. I know it's virtually heresy, but it's true. The only McCartney song I can really stand is "Mother Nature's Son." Otherwise I think he unnecessarily cheesed the Beatles and has had a truly lamentable career ever since. Look at the cover of his latest CD, put it on, and revel in something truly awful.

[8]
Posted by: Valerie
January 03, 2008 - 02:19PM
Bushwick

I hate Liz Phair. I can't stand the sound of her voice, although I like the direction she represents in music. she probably a wonderful person but she sounds terrible.

[9]
Posted by: sean
January 03, 2008 - 02:19PM
brooklyn

where do i start

can't stand bob dylan,

no likey eric clapton except with cream...

i could go on but i'll spare you

[10]
Posted by: Jonathan Gregg
January 03, 2008 - 02:20PM
nyc

I think Brian Wilson's Smile is one of the most overrated CDs of recent times. Gorgeous production and some good melodies, but yikes... some of these lyrics are just cringesome, and the tunes are not that incredible. The revised lyric of Good Vibrations is awful -- from the same source, try to sing Don't Worry Baby using the lyric sheet. It cannot be done. Paul McCartney has nothing to fear.

[11]
Posted by: wendy
January 03, 2008 - 02:22PM
Wilton, CT

I feel bad about hating Billy Joel too. How refreshing to know I'm not the only one.

[12]
Posted by: jethro
January 03, 2008 - 02:23PM
ny

I simply dont get the Talking Heads. I just don't.

[13]
Posted by: jonny sender
January 03, 2008 - 02:23PM
brooklyn

Watching the Celine youtube video on Carl's blog with the sound off while listening to sound check seems to sum up the the esthetic area of the musical world that she inhabits.

[14]
Posted by: Mike Koen
January 03, 2008 - 02:23PM
Austin TExas

My is Alicia Keyes. I am getting very tired of the host of perfectly pretty girls sing perfectly pretty songs with perfect voices. In all genres. I must be a bad person.

[15]
Posted by: tkramer
January 03, 2008 - 02:24PM
NYC

Smug people with nothing substantive to offer themselves can only make themselves feel better by claiming that they have "better" taste. There is no such operator as "better" because as we all know -- de gustibus non disputantum estr

[16]
Posted by: benjamin
January 03, 2008 - 02:24PM
nyc

Oh lord

I can't stand Radiohead

they are the most overrated band ever!!!

They are Cold Play for hipsters

not much guilt here

:)

[17]
Posted by: Katie
January 03, 2008 - 02:25PM
San Francisco, CA

Celine Dion is not the top selling female artist of all time....it is....

Mariah Carey!

Ha! Perhaps not much better. I guess we snobs are still off!

[18]
Posted by: Will
January 03, 2008 - 02:25PM
Oakland

The funniest thing is always how the fans don't realize how bad their taste is [and no doubt is in other areas].

The rest of us are supposed to apologize for the immense time we've spent, the immersion, in studying art.

[19]
Posted by: Gary Powell
January 03, 2008 - 02:26PM
Bloomington, IN

My guilty displeasure is Led Zepplin. While I really enjoy a lot of groups that are heavily inspired by them, I cannot stand the lead singer's voice and their lyrics.

[20]
Posted by: Claudia
January 03, 2008 - 02:27PM
NYC

I can't stand Andrea Bocelli...he's the Celine of tenors!

[21]
Posted by: Connie
January 03, 2008 - 02:29PM

Oh, Frank Sinatra!--can't stand him either, but I don't feel bad about it.

[22]
Posted by: manco
January 03, 2008 - 02:33PM
Brooklyn

Coldplay! Classic Billy Joel is far more interesting than Cold Play any day.

[23]
Posted by: Ashton
January 03, 2008 - 02:34PM
Manhattan

I am a black man who was born in New Orleans 68 years ago. I am a an amateur pianist and I consider music to be the major joy of my life.

I never understood why Elvis Presley was the music pheonomenon that he was (I always thought it might have been because of the difference in our ethnic backgrounds). As an adult, I recognized that my greatest music joys were found in the American Song Book: Rodgers, Gershwin, Porter, Hammerstein, Berlin, Ellington, Wonder and the like. My favorite music maker was Carmen McRae. She was astonished that I could not abide HER favorite music maker: Billy Holiday. Recently, I have sensed what it is about Holiday that people love, but I still can only take her in small doses. Go figure.

Oh. I never knew anyone "hated" Celine Dion. It seems to me that she sings her butt off. ;-)

[24]
Posted by: judy
January 03, 2008 - 02:36PM
NYC

I don't like Celine Dion and also Barbra Sreisand. Both hurt my brain. Worse yet, I hated Spring Awakening.

[25]
Posted by: Connie
January 03, 2008 - 03:14PM

Well, the world would be a boring place if we all had the same taste in music. I'm not sure it's really possible to be totally objective about music, and you know what?--I don't really care. I like what I like, but I try to keep my mind open to new stuff. I don't feel guilty about whether or not I like some type of music or not--I can always change my mind later if I want to. I've always disliked country music, but in the past year, I've started to get drawn into some aspects of it. I'm looking forward to getting to know more about it [Gene Watson, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, etc etc]. There are interesting people in every genre, and in between genres too.

[26]
Posted by: Pat Smith
January 07, 2008 - 02:44PM
Hawaii

This is a great show. For the record, I can't listen to Celine Dion. To me, she's the poster child for all that's wrong with music.

But, I can't help wonder what all this commentary and yammering might mean to Celine. My guess, not a thing. 200 million albums sold. Wasn't it Liberace or someone like that who said "...crying all the way to the bank." about all the bad reviews?

[27]
Posted by: Tim Moran
April 25, 2008 - 02:21PM
Brooklyn

Steely Dan. Just don't get it.

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