Guilty Pleasures are BACK AT KOKO to celebrate their 20th birthday on Saturday Feb 24th!
Starting as a slot on Sean’s BBC London radio show the concept then quickly established itself as a huge club night. The premise of Guilty Pleasures – to shine a light on fabulous pop music that was often sneered at by music critics as uncool – even made front page news of the Guardian in 2006!
It may seem odd now but playing Queen, Dolly Parton, Fleetwood Mac and Toto was frowned upon in the early 00s. Guilty Pleasures changed all that putting pop proudly front and centre, pop is a three letter word not a four letter one! DJ guests that agreed whole heartedly included Jarvis Cocker, Saint Etienne and the dearly departed Terry Hall who was a resident at KOKO each month.
It became a phenomenon and Sean was soon asked to open the Other Stage at Glastonbury (with a band that included Suggs and Guy Garvey). The legends slot on the Sunday of the festival is often called the Guilty Pleasures slot having had Kylie, Lionel and ELO grace the stage. Guilty Pleasures also became a regular at Latitude (that lasts to this day) and in 2007 Sean and his gang opened for George Michael at the inaugural new Wembley Stadium and closed for Take That after their NYE 02 event.
Sean recalls those early days, “I remember being blown away by the incredible response we got from people who attended those early Guilty Pleasures parties, the atmosphere was giddy with crowds dancing & singing to these tunes they were ashamed to admit to loving and feeling liberated by the whole experience.”
To further commemorate the twenty years, Sean has partnered with Demon to make the original compilation ‘Guilty Pleasures’ available on vinyl for the very first time and curated a deluxe expanded 4 CD box set that adds deep cuts, one-hit wonders and USA chart toppers.
Both formats are presented in ‘Red Album’ and ‘Blue Album’ packaging, including extensive track-by-track sleeve notes from Sean.
we’re all guilty.”