Socially Irresponsible Pop Songs

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And the first person to cite "Papa Don't Preach" has to go stand in a corner and recite the Old Testament in ancient Aramaic.

I heard this song over the weekend in Texas (where, evidently, sickly balladry dipped in rancid uber-tweeness never goes out of style), and it struck me as a sort've irresponsible sentiment:

"I'll Never Get Over You (Getting Over Me)" by Expose. It seems to somewhat dubiously vindicate ever jilted stalker's worst inclination (i.e. if I keep trying to win her back, she'll eventually acquiesce, `cos she's secretly digging that I'm still carrying a torch).

Or at least that's how I heard it at the time.

Feel free to dispute this, or cite other examples...

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 14:50 (twenty years ago)

"he hit me (and it felt like a kiss)".

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

and if we're talking stalking: gedge to thread.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

girls aloud: 'no good advice'

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 9 August 2005 14:53 (twenty years ago)

Joanie Sommers - "Johnny Get Angry"

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 15:03 (twenty years ago)

all sorts of songs about driving cars* - but notably mungo jerry's "in the summertime" and (haha) "drive blind" by ride.

*from an environmental perspective, arguably all pro-car songs are "socially irresponsible"

― zebedee (zebedee), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 15:05 (twenty years ago)

actually: shouldn't all pop be socially irresponsible, just to fuck off the man?

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 15:05 (twenty years ago)

actually: shouldn't all pop be socially irresponsible, just to fuck off the man?

I thought that was rock's job, not pop's.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 15:07 (twenty years ago)

Flowers and Love is Never Ending--Brad Paisley

― anthony easton (anthony), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

I thought that was rock's job, not pop's.

i thought rock was to fuck off your mum and dad?

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

"wham! rap" ... didn't it advocate sitting on your arse all day and sponging off the dole, rather than getting a real job shovelling shit in maggie's glorious britain?

i wish i'd been old enough to enjoy the eighties properly :)

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 15:11 (twenty years ago)

'Wham Rap' is golden, and a perfect example.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

notably mungo jerry's "in the summertime"

Have a drink, have a drive/ Go out and see what you can find!

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

how about "Better the Devil You Know" by Kylie

― ryansf (ryansf), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 15:21 (twenty years ago)

would songs like LL Cool J's "Big Ole Butt" count for this? Or is that more irrepressible ("Oh, LL, you'll never change") than irresponsible?

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 15:33 (twenty years ago)

TED NUGENT - BEST OF !!!!!!!!!!!!

― Rob Uptight. (Rob Uptight.), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

Dead Kennedys "Kill the Poor"

!!!!!

― Declan Zimmerman, Tuesday, 9 August 2005 16:03 (twenty years ago)

"I wanna destroy passerby" That's not very nice is it?
"Beat on the brat with a baseball bat"!? how rude.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 16:07 (twenty years ago)

Steppenwolf, "Born to Be Wild": "Fire all of your guns and watch them explode into space." Aren't there more ecologically responsible ways of disposing of unused artillery?

Stylistics, "People Make the World Go 'Round": "Buses on strike, wanna raise the fare / So they can help pollute the air." They should be commending the use of public transportation as a pollution reduction mechanism, not condemning it!

I dare say I shall never have the chance to talk about the Stylistics and Steppenwolf in the same post again.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

"Back in school again
Maxwell plays the fool again
Teacher gets annoyed
Wishing to avoid an unpleasant scene
She tells Max to stay
when the class has gone away
So he waits behind
Writing 50 times "I must not be so" (oh oh oh)
But when she turns her back on the boy
He creeps up from behind..."

― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 16:14 (twenty years ago)

pop songs

― b. bennett (gcannon), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 16:15 (twenty years ago)

"In Da Club" advocates assorted irresponsible behavior (e.g. drinking Bacardi like it's your birthday even though it isn't).

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 16:28 (twenty years ago)

Mungo Jerry, "In the Summertime": "Have a drink, have a drive, go out and see what you can find."

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

Dead Kennedys "Kill the Poor"

You'd have to be pretty damn dense not to take this song at face value and not faint from the fumes of irony.

Not sure the DK's really qualify as "pop" anyway.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 16:45 (twenty years ago)

You'd have to be pretty damn dense not to take this song at face value and not faint from the fumes of irony.

Speaking of being pretty damn dense, that NOT should be excised.

I'm dumb today.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 16:45 (twenty years ago)

"Gin and Juice," yo.

― The Mad Puffin (The Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)

Rainy Day Women #12 & 35?

― kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 18:25 (twenty years ago)

the police "every breath you take"

― peter in montreal (spaces are allowed), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 19:06 (twenty years ago)

Bruce Springsteen: Dancing In The Dark

Dancing in a room without proper lighting could lead to injury.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

Also, surely not everybody should wang chung tonight.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 19:28 (twenty years ago)

U2: Where The Streets Have No Name

This would most certainly lead to a dramatic increase in accidents, not to mention all the gridlock.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 19:31 (twenty years ago)

Also, surely not everybody should wang chung tonight.

i think if we did, we would solve the problems of the world in an instant.

we might also knock it off its orbit.

which would be cool.

for a couple of seconds, until we began plunging, screaming, into the sun/the icy abyss.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

so no, all things considered you're probably right.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

re: Kill the Poor

You'd have to be pretty damn dense not to take this song at face value and not faint from the fumes of irony.

Speaking of being pretty damn dense, that NOT should be excised.

I'm dumb today.

A satirical post for a satirical song ... at least that was how it was intended. But perhaps it didn't read that way.

Not sure the DK's really qualify as "pop" anyway.

To me "pop" is anything where the hook is a melody that's intended to get stuck in your head, and DK's certainly qualify. Kill the Poor is quite hummable, if a bit trite musically.

But I'm new here. I'm guessing what constitues pop is probably discussed somewhere else on this board.

― Declan Zimmerman, Tuesday, 9 August 2005 19:46 (twenty years ago)

Boom Boom Boom let's go back to my room.

― Mr. Yuck, Tuesday, 9 August 2005 20:01 (twenty years ago)

In The Air Tonight: Phil Collins

If Phil can really feel it coming in the air, he should alert the proper authorities, ie poison control service or maybe even the FBI.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 20:12 (twenty years ago)

missy elliot: 'lose control' -- permissible only in certain circumstances.

― N_RQ, Wednesday, 10 August 2005 08:55 (twenty years ago)

Shaggy - 'It wasn't me' because, to the impartial observer, it clearly was. Shaggy needs to take ownership of his actions

― Seuss, Wednesday, 10 August 2005 09:06 (twenty years ago)

outkast: 'ms jackson': you can't plan the weather, but you can pack a raincoat, dogg.

― N_RQ, Wednesday, 10 August 2005 09:08 (twenty years ago)

Britney "Slave 4 u" - underage clubbing, tsk tsk.

― Roz (Roz), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 09:37 (twenty years ago)

Pussycat Dolls, 'Don't Cha' - encourages people to fantasise about other, unobtainable lust objects, while remaining in increasingly frustrated relationships with someone they are only settling for.

I don't see what's socially irresponsible about 'No Good Advice'.

― Flyboy (Flyboy), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 10:18 (twenty years ago)

HINT: this might be a JOKE THREAD.

― N_RQ, Wednesday, 10 August 2005 10:19 (twenty years ago)

the song says I DON'T DO MY HOMEWORK OMG

― N_RQ, Wednesday, 10 August 2005 10:20 (twenty years ago)

REM--Shiny Happy People

Oily skin is nothing to be happy about. These people should be exfoliating, for crying out loud!

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:18 (twenty years ago)

Stephen Foster, "I Dream of Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair"

Objectifies women, devalues women of other hair colors, bald women, women not named Jeannie.

― Curt (cgould), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:53 (twenty years ago)

Beach Boys, "California Girls"

Proposes gender-based mass migration to a single state, resulting in widespread social consequences, tough time getting a date in other states, etc.

― Curt (cgould), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:06 (twenty years ago)

outkast: 'ms jackson': you can't plan the weather, but you can pack a raincoat, dogg.

Bahahahahaha

Stephen Foster, "I Dream of Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair"

Objectifies women, devalues women of other hair colors, bald women, women not named Jeannie.

BAahahahahahahahaha

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 11 August 2005 13:56 (twenty years ago)

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