My admission is the equivalent of your metalhead friend having a Gaga fetish or watching your dad rap to Snoop Dogg. I love infectious radio pop with a fiery passion, belting it with teenage enthusiasm. Here is the literary equivalent of handing you my iPod, allowing you to find the most embarrassing artists I listen to. I’m not ashamed — let me try to convert you to the dark side.
John Mayer
John Mayer is a douche in its most eloquent form. What he lacks in charm, he makes up for in fretwork, branding himself as a musician’s musician despite his media image. Whatever your personal take on him may be, it’s undeniable that Mayer possesses the qualities of an icon: temperamental, a longstanding and variated career, and an ardor for his craft. Granted, we all could have done without “Waiting On The World to Change” or “Your Body Is A Wonderland,” but his work with his short-lived blues trio is a testament to the prowess he possesses. Listen to “No Such Thing” from 2001’s Room For Squares for a perfected high school sentiment.
Justin Timberlake
He’s the quintessential crooning, dancing, honorary “Saturday Night Live” cast member, and I’m not talking about the entertainment atrocity that is Jimmy Fallon. Justin Timberlake is affable in almost all forms (except his ‘N Sync cornrow phase), becoming an icon to Generation Y while appealing to the masses. He’s a singing-yet-unsung Lothario who navigated the heady waters of the post-boy band generation and came out on top, proving that transitionary periods can be handled with newfound musical aplomb. Timberlake proved this with his solo debut, Justified, which has gone on to sell more than 10 million albums worldwide. Sales aside, cuts like “Nothin’ Else” and “Rock Your Body” are great for shaking your car in more ways than one.
Fall Out Boy and Cartel
High school throwbacks can be a shame-filled walk down memory lane, and the pop-punk era that characterized our freshman years is usually no exception. Of all the cookie-cutter MTV-core, Fall Out Boy and Cartel tended to lead the pack with the catchiest of hooks. Fall Out Boy’s 2005 breakthrough From Under The Cork Tree was the hit-making machine of the summer, giving us “Sugar, We’re Going Down,” while also making virtually every other song on the album a single. FOB’s melodic senses were a similar language found on Cartel’s Chroma, in which the Atlanta-based band utilized a three-guitar attack to its fullest potential, creating arena-anthem riffs. The emo phase in pop-rock may have been a gutter phenomenon, but there should be no chastisement for indulging in either of these bands.
‘Glee’
“Glee” is one of the most polarizing shows on television today, driving Dave Grohl to lash out and devoting a full episode to Britney Spears. From a musical standpoint, the show is immaculate from its rearrangements to its mashups. Its crown jewel is Darren Criss’ “Teenage Dream.” From the Warblers’ acapella opening to the vocal swells building into the chorus, this song is made to belt at the top of your lungs. Nothing feels quite as good as a good singalong in the car, and there are few tracks tailored for it quite as well as this one is — if only Katy Perry could have made it this well the first time around.
