Have you ever listened to a song you enjoy, and after a while realized the lyrics are questionable?

[BreakfastMan]

So, I love 80's music. Most everything from thrash metal (Metallica), to hair metal (Def Leppard), and reggae (The Police). One genre I particularly enjoy is 80s pop. Yes, it is cheesy, silly, and usually not very well made, but it is also catchy and fun. It is the music equivalent of delicious junk food. One song I like is Eddie Money's "Take Me home tonight"

But when I actually looked at the lyrics they looked a little... questionable. To be more specific, a bit "rapey", so to speak (ex: "I don't want to let you go till you see the light", "It isn't safe to walk the city streets alone", stuff like that). Has anyone else had this happen to them? You are listening to a song you really enjoy, but when you start to actually pay attention to the lyrics you find them a bit sketchy?

 

[BlueberryMUNCH]

You mean *ever ;D.

But...yeah I know what you mean. There's this really good UK hardcore band called TRC who's lyrics are a bit...mmh...sometimes. They preach things I don't necessarily agree with.

...Well, didn't agree with. I found that when I really listened to the lyrics and really had a think about it, I found them to actually help improve my day to day confidence haha.

Strange, but hey, not gonna complain!

 

[Bad Jim]

If the lyrics aren't questionable then the artist has nothing to say and I won't bother to listen.

 

[Total LOLige]

Well the pixies have a few songs about incest. They're still awesome songs I find Nimrod's Son and Holiday Song are quite catchy

 

[Biodeamon]

there was one vocaloid song i listened to for a bit but never saw the music video to. I'm pretty sure it's called "circle you". I thought it was just a song about people stabbing you in the back but, nope, it's about lobamatized orphans seeking their revenge. hmmmmmm.....

 

[BreakfastMan]

there was one vocaloid song i listened to for a bit but never saw the music video to. I'm pretty sure it's called "circle you". I thought it was just a song about people stabbing you in the back but, nope, it's about lobamatized orphans seeking their revenge. hmmmmmm.....

There are a lot of vocaloid songs like that. Suicide, murder, shilling awful veggie juice... I have heard them all (have my little sister to thank for that).

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Rainbow's All Night Long


I mean, the song is truly rocking, and it's obviously not an Amish hymn, but the lyrics, well...

"You're so young but you're overage,
I don't care 'cause I like your style,
Don't know about your brain but you look alright."

Gosh. That's really specific, and totally unneccessary. Why on earth is that line even there?!?

 

[GoaThief]

Spoiler: Billy Idol - Dancing with myself

Is actually a song about masturbation

 

[GoaThief]

and reggae (The Police)

Well, I wouldn't call them reggae per-se... but as you mentioned them, one of their best-known songs is actually about a sinister stalker and the lyrics are intended to be menacing but public perception considers it a love song. Great example, have a listen again with that in mind;

Spoiler: The Police - Every Breath You Take

 

[Hoplon]

Every single Led Zeppelin song ever.

Fuckin' Robert Plant was way to fond of Tolkien and girls.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

I like the old 70's punk sound, and I was the vocalist in a band that played covers from that era... I am also pro-monarchy and I am now in the militry... Yes... there was a clash of interest there! I used to analyse the lyrics before deciding whether the song clashed with my actual beleifs, or whether it was safe to sing! As much as I will listen to Anarchy in the UK, or God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols, I hate what the songs are about and disagree whole heartedly!

Then again I have a lot of songs I like from that era with 'sketchy' lyrics... Orgamsm Addict, Holiday in Cambodia, Belsen was a gas, Bondage up Yours... A lot of people frown on songs like that... even though most of them are not what they appear at first!

'Black man got a lot of problems, but he don't mind to throw a brick, white people go to school, where they teach you how to be thick...' is an anti-racism song by the Clash! (White Riot)

 

[game-lover]

All the damn time.

Most of them are ones that are ripe with cheating and more cheating and I have no idea. Due to events, I can't listen to those songs anymore. I'll basically lose my shit.

But there are also other sketchy ones that make me listen more as though I'm not sure what I've heard.

 

[BreakfastMan]

and reggae (The Police)

Well, I wouldn't call them reggae per-se... but as you mentioned them, one of their best-known songs is actually about a sinister stalker and the lyrics are intended to be menacing but public perception considers it a love song. Great example, have a listen again with that in mind;

Spoiler: The Police - Every Breath You Take

Wow. Never noticed that, and that is one of my favorite songs of theirs! :/ Thanks for ruining it you assholes... Same with Dancing with Myself! But, then again, I was kind of asking for it by creating this thread. Bring on the squick!

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Well I listen to quite a handful of National Socialist black metal bands. I also listen to a lot of death metal with perverse/gore/brutal lyrics. So naturally, I have felt that way. But it doesn't bother me, it is just art and entertainment after all and unlike some, I can keep fiction and reality separate.

 

[Melon Hunter]

and reggae (The Police)

Well, I wouldn't call them reggae per-se... but as you mentioned them, one of their best-known songs is actually about a sinister stalker and the lyrics are intended to be menacing but public perception considers it a love song. Great example, have a listen again with that in mind;

Spoiler: The Police - Every Breath You Take

Wow. Never noticed that, and that is one of my favorite songs of theirs! :/ Thanks for ruining it you assholes... Same with Dancing with Myself! But, then again, I was kind of asking for it by creating this thread. Bring on the squick!

Hungry Like The Wolf by Duran Duran is another one of those stalker songs. "I'm on the hunt, I'm after you" and "I'm hungry like the wolf"? Yeah, backing away right now...

Spoiler

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Most songs by Oingo Boingo. They're the guys who made this well known song:
I used to like them when I was a kid so I got a few of their albums, including their first full album 'Only a Lad', which had this on it:


And now for some trivia! Oingo Boingo was a new wave band fronted by now famous movie composer Danny Elfman. He wrote, composed and sang the song above. So, uh ... yeah.

 

[Throwitawaynow]

Definitely this.
As much as I would like to quote the song, the lyrics may give me a warning.

 

[El Dwarfio]

I suppose "Nothin to Lose" turned out to be about anal sex... is that questionable?