Guilty Pleasures: Beloved Nashville cover band will celebrate 20th anniversary at hit-filled show

There was the time ‘80s pop star Tiffany took the stage with them to sing her signature hit “I Think We’re Alone Now,” and the night Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain played a string of his band’s biggest songs in a 500-capacity club.

“It literally sounded like there were 20,000 people in Mercy Lounge,” says Mike Grimes, co-founder of Nashville’s premier pop/rock cover band, Guilty Pleasures. “I'm not kidding.”

But for every surprise cameo and high-profile gig, there have been dozens and dozens of “typical” nights when this crew of accomplished Nashville musicians simply played the songs they and their fans know and love – and had the time of their lives.

That spirit has kept them going now for 20 years, and they’ll celebrate the massive milestone with a 20th anniversary show at Grimes’ venue, The Basement East, on Saturday.

Since 2001, Guilty Pleasures has tackled their favorite hits of the ‘70s, ‘80s and the tip of the ‘90s with twin priorities: make every song sound uncannily close to the original, and ensure the performance is fun, first and foremost, for everyone in the room.

Their approach – and immediate success – unwittingly set a template for the countless tribute bands and covers nights that are now a constant in the city’s club scene.

And it likely wouldn’t exist without Grimes’ first music venue, the Slow Bar, which was one of a small handful of hipster haunts in East Nashville’s Five Points from 2000 to 2003.

“I had to find ways to fill the calendar,” he recalls.

One idea was for Grimes and his musician pals to form a band with female singers to tackle their favorite hits of their youth.

They called it “Girls, Girls, Girls,” and that first show in 2001 attracted an audience of nearly 100. That might not sound like much now, but in the Slow Bar’s cozy confines – and turn-of-the-21st-century East Nashville – it was a big deal.

By the second gig, they brought male singers into the mix as well and changed the name to Guilty Pleasures. They were greeted by an even larger crowd, just one week after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Soon, sold-out Guilty Pleasures shows were the norm at 500 to 1,000-capacity clubs like Mercy Lounge and Cannery Ballroom. These days, the band can often be found at 3rd & Lindsley or Basement East.

They’ve now lasted twice as long as the 1980s, but in 2021, songs like George Michael’s “Freedom” and Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” continue to bring the house down. Despite their moniker, the band loves playing these songs, too.

“Guilty Pleasures is just a name. I mean, if you’re gonna really do ‘guilty pleasure’ songs, we would be doing (The Dream Academy’s 1985 hit) ‘Life In A Morning Town’ all night or whatever.”

This being Nashville, it’s little surprise several of these musicians have had day jobs playing for the original artists behind the hits. Grimes notes that the Guilty Pleasures gigs are often two months apart, while “the rest of the time, they were out playing with the Dixie Chicks, and Meatloaf, Michael McDonald and Patty Griffin.”

That goes for their regular guest vocalists too, like, Dez Dickerson, who played guitar and sang in Prince’s band, The Revolution.

Guilty Pleasures celebrates their 20th anniversary this Saturday at The Basement East. The show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets are $20.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Guilty Pleasures: Nashville cover band will celebrate 20th anniversary