Twenty-Five Favorite (Not So) Guilty Pleasure Albums
(I question the whole idea of the “guilty pleasure”—doesn’t everybody?—but here are 25 albums from which I do take pleasure, even though I know others would judge me guilty for it and in fact, when it comes down to it, I judge them guilty for judging me guilty. I’ve tried to avoid albums that are understood to be very good outside the American context (anything by Dexys Midnight Runners, for instance); albums that everybody likes but for whatever reason pretends not to like (Billy Joel); or albums that are so obscure that they’re secretly cool (Weak in the Presence of Beauty by Floy Joy). Also, when a band presented me with more than one possible “guilty pleasure album," I decided in favor of the least outwardly respectable of the two—so Chicago 19, say, rather than Chicago 17. I’ve arranged this list alphabetically by artist.)
Ultimate Air Supply by Air Supply
Feels So Right by Alabama
All That Jazz by Breathe
Chicago 19 by Chicago
Cool Night by Paul Davis
Feeling Cavalier by ĒBN-ŌZN
Wild Wild West by The Escape Club
The Heritage Collection by Jermaine Jackson
Oran “Juice” Jones by Oran “Juice” Jones
White Feathers by Kajagoogoo
Glenn Medeiros by Glenn Medeiros
Girl You Know It’s True by Milli Vanilli
New Edition by New Edition
Q-Feel by Q-Feel
Can’t Slow Down by Lionel Richie
Silverbird by Leo Sayer
America’s Greatest Hero by Joey Scarbury
Bossa Nova Hotel by Michael Sembello
Let’s Go All the Way by Sly Fox
Andrea by The Sunrays
Here’s to Future Days by Thompson Twins
Grease 2: Original Soundtrack Recording by Various Artists
Warmer by Randy Vanwarmer
I Don’t Speak the Language by Matthew Wilder
Lights Out by Peter Wolf
— April 10, 2026