“Step by step! Ooh baby! Gonna get to ya gii-iii-iiii-rl!”

Yes, track one of this three-disc compilation really is Step By Step by New Kids On The Block. From there Guilty Pleasures Volume 2 is a very slippery slide into the forgotten world of musical cheese.

Knowing that Donna Summer, Wham, Kiss, ABC, Cyndi Lauper and Roxette have all been resurrected for this album, your immediate reaction may be one of dismissal. My advice is to give this compilation a chance. Can you really pretend that MC Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This doesn’t make you smile? Could you ever despise Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up or Barry Manilow’s Mandy?

Billed as “all those tracks we secretly love on 3 CDs”, the Guilty Pleasures title couldn’t be more apt. A sense of guilt mixed with naughty pleasure truly does fill me each time I listen to this album.

I’m just waiting for my neighbours to laugh when they hear The Weather Girls singing It’s Raining Men pumping out my window. At the gym I can’t help but shoot furtive sideway glances when Aqua’s Barbie Girl starts playing on my iPod.

Laugh if you must, but the shame of indulging in these supposed musical crimes is never enough to make me hit the stop button.

For the karaoke queens and gay anthem lovers this album brings more good news. RuPaul’s Supermodel, CeCe Peniston’s Finally and Sister Sledge’s We Are Family are all in there, officially making Guilty Pleasures Volume 2 camper than Carson Kressley.

But before you begin to wonder if Universal has paid me to write this glowing review, let’s move on to some other tracks on the album – songs that I absolutely loathe.

When the Rednex start singing Cotton Eye Joe I can’t find the skip button fast enough. Likewise, Olivia Newton John can take her song If Not For You, along with that awful slide guitar, and lodge them in a place where the sun don’t shine.

Excuse my anger (I realise that some people equate anything anti-Olivia with blasphemy), but the downside of these once-were-popular songs is that they polarise listeners. If you dig them, you’ll love them. If you hate them, they will become interminable, stuck-in-your-head nemeses.

On the whole I’d recommend this album to anyone. Whether you’re a die hard fan of techno, rock, or bubblegum pop, there’s a lot to be said about giving in to this kind of music.

Grabbing the nearest makeshift microphone (a bottle of water, a hairbrush, a can of deodorant – you choose) and letting loose in your bedroom or car is just, well, fun. And when you do end up tiring of these guilty pleasures (and trust me – you will), simply hide this compilation at the bottom of your collection. Like that ex that just won’t go away, you’ll be ready to give Guilty Pleasures Volume 2 another chance in a few months.

Guilty Pleasures Volume 2 is out now through Universal Music.