Look at the charts from a decade ago for proof. Back then, lest we forget, dance music was where it was at: 1996 was the year that The Prodigy scored number ones with 'Firestarter' and 'Breathe'. The Britpop era had already shot its load; Oasis's What's The Story (Morning Glory) was still selling millions, but little did anyone know the band were already spent as a creative force.

The Spice Girls were set to release their debut single. And Babylon Zoo spent five weeks at the top of the UK charts with 'Spaceman'. Remember . . . every generation is forever destined to lament that the charts aren't as good as they used to be. And every generation is wrong. Pick any golden year, and you won't have to dig too deep to find the shite.

Today, however, we've finally arrived at a place beyond any conventional notion of cool. A land beyond retro, kitch, or irony. A world in which Leo Sayer can still score a number one hit. When punters hit the dance floor these days, they're not interested in cool or cutting edge . . . they just want to have a good time. Enter Guilty Pleasures.

The brainchild of DJ, obscure cultural icon and solitary party groover Sean Rowley, Guilty Pleasures is a phenomenon. A right and proper phenomenon, too, one largely generated through word of mouth, or at least its virtual counterpart (that'd be the internet).

Rowley is also the man behind the acclaimed All Back To Mine concept, expanded into a TV series, radio show and series of albums, where he invited musicians to reveal their own musical influences, with often surprising results . . . the Chemical Brothers are, it turns out, big fans of the Guys And Dolls soundtrack. He's a man with a knack of being in the right place at the right time . . . that's him on the aforementioned What's The Story (Morning Glory) album sleeve.

Rowley was manning the Friday night slot on BBC Radio London, trying his best to expand his show's musical horizons without getting, as his bosses had warned him, "too clever". His solution? He invited his listeners to suggest the records they loved in spite of themselves, the guilty pleasures hiding at the back of their record collections.

The notion proved outrageously popular . . . within weeks, Guilty Pleasures was a monster. The musical skeletons came tumbling out thick and fast: 'Love Will Keep Us Together' by the Captain & Tennille, 'Sweet Talkin' Woman' by Electric Light Orchestra, 10cc's 'The Things We Do For Love' and the mighty 'Gonna Make You A Star' by David Essex. You'll find them all on the first bestselling Guilty Pleasures compilation album.

The second volume, Guilty Pleasures Rides Again rehabilitated such unmentionables as the Starland Vocal Band's 'Afternoon Delight' (a big favourite with any fans of the immortal movie Anchorman), the Doobie Brothers' 'What A Fool Believes', cockney icons Chas 'n' Dave's 'Ain't No Pleasing You' (we hear Pete Doherty is a big fan), Foreigner's 'Cold As Ice', Kim Carnes' 'Bette Davis Eyes' and 'Rock On By', yes, David Essex. David Essex is, you might have figured out by now, a serious Guilty Pleasure.

Now Rowley has taken his crusade to the clubs; 1,600 rabid punters regularly pile into Guilty Pleasures' regular sell-out night at London's KOKO (formerly the legendary Camden Palace).

GP residencies have also been established in Brighton and Nottingham, and later this year, Rowley will take the club to New York, Singapore, Sydney and, yesf it's rumoured he's coming to Ireland for an eagerly anticipated appearance at the start of the summer. We'll be there, for starters.

Sure, sure, sure . . .

we've seen it all before:

outfits like School Disco (and its innumerable ripoffs) trade rather successfully in rehashing the sounds of our youth in the name of debauched nostalgia.

Here's the thing, though . . .

we've seen everything everything before.

The concept of keeping up with the latest big thing has never been more tiring, or tiresome.

Anybody who's ahead of the game is gleefully abandoning his or her CD collection in favour of the iPod shuffle. If you think it's cool, then it's probably cool. Unless it's by Chris DeBurgh. That said, Chris DeBurgh rocks. 'The Getaway' changed our life.

Sean Rowley has gone to pains to insist that Guilty Pleasures is anything but another cheese-tastic retro night . . .

instead, he claims that the GP philosophy, with its 'anti-everything' stance, is more punk rock than anything.

"I'm not going to play shit for the sake of feeling guilty, " he said recently. "I couldn't play records with an ironic twist. I have to love these records. It's a liberating celebration."

All bets are off . . . this is a musical revolution of the mind and the feet. The vibe at your average Guilty Pleasures night has been compared by Rowley to "a wedding reception . . . without a bride or groom"; the everexpanding band of rotating Guilty Pleasures DJs to date include Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, former Specials frontman Terry Hall, and Saint Etienne's Pete Wiggs.

Diehard fans download Guilty Pleasures podcasts and discuss the dodgy records they can't help but love on the club's website.

Some of them even bring their own records to the club nights. Sometimes, the DJ even plays them.

The phrase "That's so Guilty Pleasures" has officially entered the cultural lexicon. So free yourself, for once and for all, from all those officially sanctioned notions of what's hot and what's not, delve into the furthest reaches of your record collection and rediscover your own guilty pleasure today. You know it makes sense.

Now . . . anybody want to hear 'Take 5' by Northside again?

The 'Guilty Pleasures' and 'Guilty Pleasures Ride Again' CDs are available now. For further info, check out www. guiltypleasures. co. uk. We won't tell anybody. . .