Guilty Pleasures

Boybands have never been my music for pleasure. I prefer ‘proper’ bands with guitars and good hair. Take That never fell into either category but suddenly, I’m finding myself singing along to Shine on the radio. “It sounds a bit Beatle-y,” I try to justify it to myself, “and anyway, it’s not that smug Gary Barlow singing it.”

Take That did nothing at all for me when I met them at a radio station years ago. They were on the cusp of fame; I was more interested in Nirvana and finishing an awkward story so I could go home. But a flock of screeching teenage girls who’d been unable to squeeze into the studio were using the newsroom as an overflow.

“If I go and get one of them, will you shut up?” I said. Oh yes, they agreed, they certainly would if a fetched an idol to worship. They didn’t even express a preference, so I found the first tall, male person in the studio and grabbed him by the hand. We walked up the corridor accompanied by further frenzied screaming. And I’d believed them when they said they’d shut up …

Confessing a fondness for the reformed Take That is one of those Guilty Pleasures that add texture to our lives. I came across this BBC Radio London programme quite by chance via the online listen again system – and now I’m addicted. I plug in my headphones every Monday morning at work and am transported into a different world of 1970s and ‘80s cheese; stuff that’s faintly embarrassing, just like confessing a liking for Take That…