Just FYI, there's a lot of thrash metal out there that's actually got complex musicianship and relevant lyrics, so I wouldn't call it "bad" at all. As for hip-hop, I maintain that most of it isn't music, but the best hip-hop
is poetry. I know you said "most" hip-hop, though. This is just the opinion of someone who, for the most part, can't stand either genre.
I do like some really cheesy stuff--this music isn't really bad at all but many people think it is because they don't dig deep enough. I love power metal bands like Rhapsody of Fire, for example, but I can't imagine anyone taking RoF's Tolkienesque lyrics seriously. It seems like most of what they sing about are dragons and swords and war, and they do all of it in this really heavy Italian accent with imperfect English (I've never understood why they don't just sing everything in Italian). On the other hand,
their music is absolutely spectacular, and anyone who dismisses them just because of their subject matter is seriously missing out. I love both aspects; without the cheesy, overdone lyrics, the music just wouldn't have the same punch. Other bands with similar execution are the Japanese power metal band Galneryus, Finnish metal band Sonata Arctica, and even to an extent the prog/power metal band Symphony X. I love all of 'em, cheesy lyrics and all. It's just hard to convince people these bands' music is serious when you have song titles like
The Dark Tower of Abyss, regardless of how good the musicianship is.
There's also glam metal, though I'm not extremely familiar with the genre. Whitesnake is popular enough, but what about the over-the-top Christian glam metal band, Stryper? Even as a Christian band, their lyrics aren't very good, and their music is not as complex as metal should be(
all of it is made to be immediately accessible). One example is
Calling on You
I also love some 70's and 80's pop music which most people would consider sappy, but I actually consider decent. That said, I don't usually go around shouting that
Honey is genuinely moving for me.
Finally, there are some bands I like that I'm willing to admit are less than great. In 2004, I took a liking to AFI's album Sing the Sorrow, which was sort of the beginning of the band's decline. I still love that album and the previous one, and while they're certainly listenable, their lyrics are laughable and they try hard to make their music "extreme" and kind of repulsive. I also like My Chemical Romance and while they're not great I think they're decent. My girlfriend introduced me to them a few years ago and it took me awhile to appreciate them--then I heard the song
The Black Parade. It's ridiculously catchy, as are several of their other songs (specifically Ghost of You, another favorite) so in spite of their "emo" image and their silly videos, I have no trouble liking them. Unfortunately, Chise stopped liking them as soon as I began appreciating them, so that left me very much alone. :< I also like pop-punk when I hear it. Pop-punk is pretty vapid and pointless, but it was the music of my teenage years and I haven't really shaken my fondness for it, even as I've since moved on to heavy metal and prog rock.
Finally, here's the clincher--American Idiot is my favorite Green Day album. I'll concede this isn't the greatest music in the world, though I don't think
any Green Day album is very good, and I actually appreciate American Idiot for being an ambitious concept album.
That's about it.