Lewd Lyrics in current pop music
Too much of the pop music today contains lewd lyrics that sometimes get by parents, or parents have just given up. Money-hungry label owners should act more responsibly. Pop music artists and their music have a huge impact on the younger generation.
Lady Gaga wearing raw meat? Pop artists singing about rough sex, suicide, self-destruction, abuse; that's not cool or trendy and it's irresponsible.
I am talking about bubblegum pop, the music 9, 10, 11, and 12 year old girls listen to.
Here’s a saying I heard recently that sums it up: “You Can’t Unring the Bell.” Vulgar curse words and blatant sexual connotations are now allowed on the pop airwaves. It will move forward, based on the slippery slope syndrome. Seems that pop has joined the hip hop and rap music industry in constantly striving to descend to the next level. Most rap and hip hop music that succeeds on the charts is misogynistic and violent, promoting negative stereotypes.
Nothing compares to meeting the school bus to pick up your precious 12-year-old granddaughter and hearing Eminem screaming “Tie you to the bed and set the house on fire,” when the doors open, except perhaps Rihanna bellowing “Rude Boy, Can You Get It Up ?” Yes, our middle school allows the buses to play the current FM pop radio station and they play a steady stream of Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Eminem, Rihanna, etc.
A June 2008 CMI study of Billboard’s top 50 songs found that nearly half contained sexually suggestive lyrics and over 25 percent featured sexually degrading lyrics and looks like it’s holding steady in 2010.
Song lyrics affect teens. A study published in Pediatrics found that adolescents who listen to music with degrading sexual lyrics were more likely to initiate sexual intercourse and engage in other sexual behavior.
Britney Spears’ hit, “If You Seek Amy” and Flo Rida’s number one hit “Right Round” snuck in themes without some parents knowing but I assure you that young kids are picking up on those themes. Kids as young as 10 were listening to Spears sing “F**K Me” and are now listening to Flo Rida sing about oral sex. These are the messages young kids are receiving from popular music today.
Sadly, it looks like lewd is gaining ground; just glancing at the current lineup on the Billboard (October 2010), here’s my opinion of the lyrics:
Teenage Dream, Katy Perry, Take It Off, Ke$ha, California Gurls, Katy Perry; all three lewd
DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love, Usher; most of the lyrics are okay but they slip in one MF and a slimy reference to being your gyno. Tacky.
I Like It, Enrique Iglesias; suggestive but not blatantly lewd
Club Can’t Handle Me, Flo Rida; not blatant - suggestive
Only Girl In the World, Rihanna; suggestive but not overtly lewd
Love the Way You Lie, Eminem and Rihanna; horribly violent and misogynist
Just the Way You Are, Bruno Mars; Dynamite, Taio Cruz; Just a Dream, Nelly; not lewd
Like a G6, Far*East Movement; stupid and who knows what it means, not overtly lewd
Mine, Taylor Swift; inspiring and not lewd
Secrets, OneRepublic; not lewd
Cooler Than Me, Mike Posner; laughable but not lewd
Animal, Neon Trees; freaky but not lewd
Airplanes, B.o.B; not lewd (love Hayley Williams’ voice)
If I Had You, Adam Lambert, Misery, Maroon 5, Magic, B.o.B; not lewd
Pop artists don’t NEED to bombard and corrupt the ten, eleven, and twelve-year-old children with dirty lyrics. Their music is going to sell anyway, based on the beat, the rhythm, and a unique voice.
Since they don’t need to do it – why do they? What kind of unpleasant personality would corrupt 10-year-olds -- just because they can?
News flash to Ke$ha, in real life when a girl starts “taking it off” in a mosh pit, she doesn’t turn into stardust, like in your video; she is probably going to be sexually assaulted.
How many young girls are lured by the lyrics and wake up the next morning bruised, diseased, pregnant, and reputation tarnished at school.
How many criminals are spurred on by lyrics such as Tie her to the bed and set the house on fire ?
Children don't really consider the fact that these artists are heavily-processed money makers for behind-the-scene moguls who are raking in millions of dollars.
It’s a tragically cynical business where young girls like Ke$ha and Rihanna are turned into money-making caricatures. If you get pregnant, Ke$ha isn't going to help you financially to raise your baby. If you contract HIV, Rihanna isn't going to visit you in hospice. If you are murdered, Eminem isn't going to attend your funeral and comfort your mother.
These music stars are making lots and lots of money off of young teens while singing lewd lyrics that are affecting their personalities in a negative way. Britney Spears earns $64,000,000.00 a year. Lady Ga Ga earns $62,000,000.00 a year. They don’t need to pound out nasty, degrading lyrics. Their music would sell based on their name and the beat.
"Don't Trust Me" by 3OH!3, became the band's breakout hit. It is their first top ten hit in the U.S, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in its twenty-third week on the chart. It has sold over 2,000,000 copies and has been certified Double Platinum. This is the one that goes: Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips. Sadly, cynically, they are referring to a real girl, Helen Keller, who could not see, speak or hear. Lovely message for our beautiful young girls? Great for their image and self-esteem! Shut up and grind your hips.
Money-hungry label owners, you've made millions off the backs of children and their parents. Please, act more responsibly.
http://www.lyrics.com/index.php/artists/lyric/blues-traveler-lyrics-hook
Remember the Spongebob episode. Mr. Krabs told Spongebob and Patrick, Watch out for the hook.
We are Young (by Fun) 2012
First the singer tries to “get his story straight,” so he starts off with a lie.
Then he mentions his friends are in the bathroom, getting high
Then an ambiguous mention of a scar he gave her (a physical scar?)
Then it mentions that if she gets so drunk tonight that she is falling down, he will carry her home.
The chorus soars dramatically, and the lyrics go into how "We are young....." etc. and the piano pounds into a crescendo, all appealing to the young teens who blissfully sing along, while their subconscious absorbs the bits about the lies, drugs, beating, and carrying her home when she’s too drunk to walk. All encapsulated in a catchy, tuneful little song that the 12 and 13-year-olds are singing.
Why?
Reminds me of Pumped Up Kicks, another catchy, lilting little song that all the young ones were singing a year ago.
I don’t get it. My point is this:
Music moguls, the kids will buy your music;
they are all about the sound and the beat;
you don’t have to infiltrate their psyches and mess them up mentally in order to make your millions.
"Where'd all the good people go?
I've been changing channels
I don't see them on the TV shows
Where'd all the good people go?
We got heaps and heaps of what we sow . . . "
- Jack Jackson
Happy
Check out this wonderful song by Pharrell Williams -- clean lyrics, fabulous rhythm, and extreme success world-wide.