Music that you were embarrassed for liking but have embraced as you got older

[Teenage Fansub]

Girl pop while being a pure indie rockist in the early/mid 00s.

Thought Pure Shores and Kylie's singles were fantastic, but didn't dare buy a CD.

edit: When Kylie got a Michel Gondry video I think I was like "Okay. Phew. She's cool"

 

[dphrygian]

Savage Garden/Darren Hayes for sure.

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Oh yeah, absolutely this. I love Darren Hayes, and I truly believe listening to his music helped shape me into a better person. This Delicate Thing We've Made is an incredible and underrated album.

 

[AstronaughtE]

I'm embarrassed by all the music I listen to.

 

[take_marsh]

Way way back, Genki Rockets. They were my first experience with J-pop.

 

[Cipher Peon]

Linkin Park.

I liked them but I thought they were shallow "I hate my dad" music so I was embarrassed about them.. Now I think they're just awesome. A little too late sadly.

 

[GlitchyDegree]

I didn't really have this phase. I was pretty open about what I listened to, even as a kid, whether it was boy band stuff like Jonas Brothers or nu-metal like Limp Bizkit.

 

[Nevi]

Eurovision kitsch.

 

[RedCrake]

I have always loved and will always love Peter Cetera. And I don't mean cool, early Chicago-era Cetera… we're talking exclusively solo Cetera.

 

[Exist 2 Inspire]

I remember hating Lionel Richie. I hated a lot of great stuff as a child in the 80's, but All Night Long is a freaking banger.

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Yep, All Night Long is soo damn good. I also really like Dancing on the Ceiling but other than that Richie is really not my cup of tea lol.

 

[Hrodulf]

Can't say I ever felt embarrassed about liking them, but I do roll my eyes nowadays when people make snide comments about game OSTs or "nerd metal" like Blind Guardian.

 

[shaneo632]

Nickelback. They're generic rock, I don't care.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

I've always been into all sorts of music. Pop, orchestral, country, oldies, game music, Weird Al, you name it. Never been ashamed of any of it, but then again I never really talked about it with anyone so how would they know to mock? I always listened at home or with headphones on and it just never came up. Nobody ever came up to me and said "So, what do you listen to?", at least not until I was older and past the point where anyone cares.

 

[Marmoka]

Britney Spears. During my teenage years, everything was rock where I live, and people made fun of me because I listened to her, apparently many people couldn't accept some teenage boy liking pop music and enjoying Britney, they said it was gay. When I arrived to collegue, I never told my new classmates and friends I liked pop music, meanwhile I listened Toxic at home with my MP3 player and headphones.

And now I love her, it's gay to see a man of my age listening and liking her. I am gay and I am proud of what I am and what I listen. Best of all, I can see where I live that many many girls and also centenials of all genders love Britney as well, and I also have the feeling many straight men from my generation also like her songs but do not want to admit it. Somehow I feel our society is advancing for the best, even if sometimes it's hard to see it.

 

[Praxis]

Cradle of Filth, specifically the album Cruelty and the Beast. Listened to it constantly in college, went to see them at the Astoria is 99. Still listen to it now occasionally, so much nostalgia and the guitar still rocks.

 

[teruterubozu]

I'm from the old generation that loved 80s Hair Metal as a kid, then became too cool and jaded with grunge and hip-hop in my 20s. Then rediscovered juvenile buttrock when the beer belly and follicle loss arrived.

 

[Rob's Zombie]

Another one for Linkin Park.

Use to get a lot of grief listening to them from various friends when I was 16/17 years old. It really annoyed me, I did shortly get into heavier music but as I've gotten older I've started to listen to music again from over 20 years ago, feels good rediscovering something like that.

 

[RMChoodie]

INXS I thought they were sound of corporate office parties and shitty commercials when I was 10-12 years old
Now most of the music is just so damn sexy and dark
I adore Welcome To Wherever You are and feel they were the more commercial Depeche Mode of their era

Van Halen with Sammy Hagar I was too young to understand why every man I knew older than me shitted on Sammy because Roth was gone but the first album I ever heard was 1984 so I had no frame of reference now I actually think of the Hagar era as really good songs like Runaround or When It's Love
5150 is the on level of Def Leppard Hysteria the songs are so damn catchy and stick with you for days

 

[flatearthpandas]

I really liked the Backstreet Boys when i was a kid lol. Definitely didn't go around telling everybody when i got a CD, nowadays i have zero problem singing along when they come on the radio or whatever.

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I wouldn't say I liked them as a kid, more like it was important not to like them. Liking a boy band was seen as just the worst thing you could do as a boy when I was in elementary and middle school. In high school, liking them ironically started to be okay until finally sometime in college we started to realize that we genuinely did like some of them--Backstreet being one of the standouts. Would have been nice for that revelation to have come way earlier.

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

Most female pop singers. I liked them but was embarrassed to admit to it.

 

[Aiqops]

Girl and boy bands. Would have felt embarassed listening to them openly in my teens. Early 20s got into kpop, jpop and never looked back. Since then I have been openly listening to whatever genres I want.

 

[Roubjon]

J-Pop. And now that I dipped my toe in it's all Spotify ever recommends lol.

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

I do like stuff that annoyed the hell out of me when I was a kid.
I'll happily sing along with NSYNC and a lot of pop music. Stuff is just catchy.
I didn't secretly like it back then though.

 

[Soma]

It was Linkin Park. I was super into them during high school but after college I kinda just distanced myself from the genre altogether. When Chester passed away (on my birthday no less) I revisited their discography and since then I've just been like "know what fuck all y'all some of these are still bangers".

 

[SomeOneInaHat]

Loved Linkin Park growing up, felt bad when everyone was mocking them ruthlessly so I stopped listening, rediscovered my love for the first two albums in my 20s

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A new greatest hits album titled Papercuts dropped a couple weeks ago. It really puts their work into perspective. Can't lie, got misty-eyed listening to Numb thinking about Chester. RIP

As far as my guilty pleasure, I have really embraced hyper-pop in a real way. 100 Gecs sing with meaning, the beats are blowing up with texture and the lyrics are absurdist in feeling and meaning, while not taking things overly serious.

 

[TaySan]

I liked a lot of Euro dance music as a kid and from time to time i still enjoy it on occasion:)

 

[nachum00]

Bush. I know they're the beginning of the end for grunge, but I still think their first few albums are great.

 

[Alcoremortis]

I like weird shit like bardcore, folk rock, electroswing, and ska so I've always had to be unapologetic about my music preferences.