Gwen Stefani has officially jumped the shark.

That anyone said “Sure Gwen, this is a GREAT idea!” scares me.

That anyone will BUY this crap scares me even more. Poor Gwen. She used to be all that back in the day. Now she’s just a yodeling goatherd.

It’s all because of Snakes on a Plane and it’s soundtrack. See, if you stick around for the credits at the end of the movie (which DH and I do, as a matter of principle) you get to watch the video for “Snakes On A Plane (Bring It)” which is about the darned catchiest song I’ve heard in a while. So naturally, as soon as I got home I had to know all about the band etc.

This led me to discovering The Academy Is…, and Gym Class Heroes. I already knew about Panic! at the Disco (who are also on the soundtrack), but was pleased to learn they are on the same record label. I really, really want Almost Here, the album by The Academy Is… Their lead singer is one FINE LOOKING man, oh yes he is. And he can really belt out a rock song! Sadly, my venture into Everyday Music with DH tonight did not yield me any CDs by The Academy Is…

However, I did manage to pick up a copy of Gym Class Heroes’ As Cruel as School Children. Yay! I also really want The Papercut Chronicles. YouTube has a channel devoted to bands on their label, and I watched the video for Papercuts – it’s a great song.

It’s interesting, because in general I am not a hip-hop fan. I just DO NOT care for the whole bitches/ho’s/drugs/bling/pimpin’ whatever subject matter of most hip-hop today. Gym Class Heroes seem to be more of the fun, funky, not demeaning-towards-women hip-hop, and I really like their music. They are well worth checking out.

I bought the newest Coldplay cd a while back, and it totally rocks. It’s called X & Y.

It’s a bit of a departure from their first two albums. I was commenting to DH that it seems like they’re seriously channelling U2 on this record, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’ve been driving a Volkswagen Passat since I put a dent in my car, with a pretty decent stereo and the cd sounds great on it.

If you’re looking for songs like “Spies” and “Yellow” you won’t find them here. But the cd still rocks and I like to see my favorite bands challenge themselves to do something different, and do it well. Bravo.

Over at My Whim Is Law Betsy asked what our musical guilty pleasures are.

I guess that’s a tough one for me… does “She’s So Unusual”-era Cyndi Lauper count? I adored Cyndi and thought she was waaay cooler than Madonna. That cassette was one of the first ones I owned. I bought it on CD a few years ago and like to play it in the car. When I was a tween I thought Tiffany (best known for a covers of I Saw Him (Her) Standing There and I Think We’re Alone Now) was waay cooler than Debbie Gibson. However, I do not currently own any Tiffany.

Most people outside of my close circle of friends (consisting namely of DH and our co-best friend I’ve known since 8th grade) don’t know of my deep abiding love of early-to-mid-90′s grunge rock/alt rock. Oh yeah. Green Day, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots… I heard a Weezer song in the sandwich shop at lunch today from their first album and KNEW ALL THE WORDS. My dad was responsible for that one. It was a 2.5 hour drive from my mom’s house to his house and he introduced me to both Green Day and Stone Temple Pilots via car cassette player and I was totally hooked. My dad is the coolest.

Current day guilty pleasures? Alanis Morissette is a little guilt-inducing. My love of the Dixie Chicks is guilt-worthy. Is Sting guilt-worthy? Possibly. I love all of Depeche Mode’s music, from 1981 to present-day. That might be cringe-worthy – that early 80′s synth-pop was pretty cheesy.

Ah well. My musical tastes really run the gamut so it’s hard to label something a guilty pleasure. I think the Dixie Chicks probably rate the highest because I’m the only one who likes them in my group of friends, and I sing along loudly to all their songs when I’m in the car.

edited to add the biggest guilty pleasure: Bon Jovi. Enough said.

I just love the name of this duo. I was introduced to Frou Frou because one of their songs was on the Garden State soundtrack, which I promptly bought after seeing movie. (While I’m recommending things, I loved Garden State – we saw it three times we liked it so much.) Anyway, after a little more time went by (and money was saved for such things) I bought Details, Frou Frou’s cd.

It was in my car on constant rotation for the better part of a month. I guess when I find something I like, I immerse myself in it (wow, I guess that’s true of my life in general, come to think of it). I think the Garden State soundtrack played for at least a month, followed by The Shins (Oh, Inverted World, to be specific, which also rocks my world) for many weeks. Now I want Last.FM for my car…