Bill and Frank’s Guilt-Free Pleasures

07/09/2024

In this week’s episode we envision a less violent world, debate the existence of peaceful werewolves, and disagree on whether or not you are supposed to clean your toilet brush. The story of how Sherman Kelly wrote this tune is remarkable and it has inspired a plethora of versions. King Harvest, of course, is our favourite!

30/08/2024

In the spirit of the sitcoms of our youth, we have released our own Very Special Episode. Backed by Jennifer Love Hewitt and Fergie, Martina’s “Toy Soldiers” is a haunting track on drug addiction. Dave Kitchen also joins us for the 16th (!) time. What was your most memorable Very Special Episode?

16/08/2024

A band of minimal instruments (and strings) but maximum sounds, The Presidents of the United States gifted us with a song about tender fruit and u required love. We hope you enjoy our latest episode and, if you desire it, we hope you can get millions of peaches, peaches for free.

13/08/2024

Ended Frank’s birthday weekend perfectly with a Toad the Wet Sprocket show. were incredible!

10/08/2024

Happy birthday, Frank!

08/08/2024

The timing had to be right to do this one. When you’re discussing the man that Bon Jovi refers to as “The Voice,” you can’t afford to make any beginner errors. Sure, we talk way too long about the music video, but we must spend time on everything we can regarding “Oh Sherrie.” We hope our episode holds on, holds on.

29/07/2024

We bring you one of the most wholesome songs of the guilt-free pleasureverse in this week’s episode. It’s impossible to not sing along too, and Bill sang it to his newborn son when he first held him. Ladies and gentlemen, we present The Jets: “You Got It All.”

22/07/2024

Here at Bill & Frank’s Guilt-Free Pleasures™️, we believe in grace-infused life. So in a sense, every note in our songs is a grace note. We hope you sense that in our latest episode on Cathy Dennis’s “Too Many Walls.” For every “wrong” musical term, we give you the “right” to enjoy great music! (See what we did there?)

18/07/2024

Superfan joins us and brings us our most challenging song yet! Who would have thought a Canadian from Toronto would bring us the highest selling reggae single of all time? In this episode, we revisit the history of this song and we tell you what it actually means.  Buckle up! 

07/07/2024

Breathe’s “Hands to Heaven” has been the soundtrack to many moments in our lives, whether it be to a slow dance with one you love or to the final moments before a devastating break-up. To us, however, “Hands To Heaven” will be forever paired with Brian Boitano’s passionate skating routine to express his love for Katarina Witt during the climactic moments of the 1988 ABC special “Canvas Of Ice.” And speaking of heartbreak, Canadians cannot speak of Boitano without revisiting the moment we raised our hands to heaven during Brian Orser’s 1988 Olympic long program skating routine. We feel it all in this episode, so turn up the volume and hold us in the darkness.

16/06/2024

It’s quite true that just hearing those guitar plucks on Spandau Ballet’s enduring hit will set you adrift on a memory bliss. Don’t fight it; instead, join us as we celebrate this song and discuss its history as well as its incredible power. You will also get to hear Frank do his best Al Green and Tony Hadley impressions while Bill reads from The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock and Lo**ta!

19/05/2024

Do you like fun? Then you will like this one.

17/05/2024

28/04/2024

joins us to discuss corporate prog rock, time signatures, iambic pentameter, incidents, circumstance, etc. He and Frank also come up with possibly the best Hallmark movie we’ve ever created.

21/04/2024

Neil Sedaka’s “Laughter in the Rain” is a triumph: after being disregarded during the British Invasion, Sedaka was able to find success in Britain itself, and he came back a conquering hero with this #1 hit. The story is actually much more peaceful than it sounds with gentleness and goodwill towards all. This song will bring you happiness!

15/04/2024

When it comes to this song, we have lots to talk about - from Bonnie Raitt’s mid-career triumph to Sheila Eikhard’s incredible songwriting and the appearance of Was (Not Was) in the video. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts!

07/04/2024

Bonnie Tyler gives the most heroic vocal in pop/rock history with “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Tom Briehan wrote that “power ballad” doesn’t adequately describe this song because the word “power” doesn’t have enough power. He suggests that an “extinction level event” might be more appropriate. We agree. This is the way a Bill and Frank’s Guilt-Free Pleasures world ends: not with a whimper but with a bang as Bonnie Tyler explodes the sun into darkness. Let’s go!

31/03/2024

We conclude our special movie music series with this triumphant song about the power of love - the type that can bring a department store mannequin to life!

25/03/2024

Thanks for the listens! 🥰

18/03/2024

March movie music month continues with “You’re the Best” by Joe “Bean” Esposito. Despite being written for Rocky III, it found a home in The Karate Kid and boy are we glad. Find us wherever you get your pods!

11/03/2024

Sure, we might not know what suspicious means, but we know what awesome means - and it’s Jon Bon Jovi’s “Blaze of Glory.” Our new episode is out now!

04/03/2024

We’re feeling the Kenergy on this week’s episode!

26/02/2024

I don’t think we ever answered the question of “Who’s going to drive you home tonight?”, but we covered as much ground as we could in discussing “Drive” by The Cars. We have finally brought our good friend and esteemed DJ back to bring his thoughtful analysis to our show. This is one of those songs that immediately transports you back to a time and place once those opening notes begin. We hope this episode brings you joy even as we examine the possibly sinister lyrics! (We’ve included his special version of our cover art in this post!)

11/02/2024

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we’re bringing back Dave Kitchen to discuss a smoochy song… or is it a more sinister tune??? Bill unearths information he wishes he hadn’t and Frank wants to hear none of it. Brace yourself for one of the more shocking episodes of our podcast history!

20/01/2024

Coastal geography be damned, this is one of the coolest songs ever! Check out our Sade episode wherever you get your pods!

08/01/2024

Nostalgia - from the Greek: nostos (homecoming) + algos (despair). In other words, it is revisiting your past but with pain. Some songs trigger true nostalgia better than others, and Paul Young’s version of “Every Time You Go Away” brings back all of that sweet pain of love lost through Pino Palladino‘a fretless bass. At GFP, we can take the shame away, but not necessarily the pain. So join us as Frank feels all the agonizing feels while reminiscing about this tune.

01/01/2024

Bill and Frank aren’t walking into this New Year - we’re flying! Join us, along with very special guest Kahlin Holmes, as we come to grips with frosted tips, incomplete first year pop music courses, and “the California sound that was sweeping the nation.”

24/12/2023

Merry Christmas, friends. Our latest episode is a Christmas Mixtape for you!

17/12/2023

Coming off the heels of the lascivious Rasputin single, who would have thought that Boney M would give us such a reverent Christmas song? Not only did they punch up Harry Belafonte’s calypso original with a Euro-Caribbean disco flare, but they added a whole new song, which is about as powerful as any Christmas sermon we’ve heard. Boney M, we’ll never understand you, but we’re grateful for this Christmas classic!

09/12/2023

We appreciate you all. Time is precious, and you choose to spend some of it with us. Thank you!!!