Posted in: Musicouching by Mnofdichotomy on January 3, 2010 | 7 Comments
Crudity as art?
This is the new video from the artist Ke$ha. Take a moment to listen to it. It is, in short, one of the crudest songs I have ever heard on the radio. And my 10 year old daughter loves it. It saddens me. I try to stay current on my kids’ music; at the same time, I try to give them as much leeway as i can. Music is a big part of who we are, and I want them to have every opportunity to shape their own musical tastes. I wish my daughter preferred something a bit more intelligent than Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne, and the afore mentioned Ke$ha, but she needs to be able to find what she enjoys on her own.
And ironically, the vast majority of offensive music comes not from the usual suspects; heavy metal and rap music have to sit this one out. The culprit this time is Top 40 pop music. Take a look at some of these:
Lady Gaga Love Game
You heard right… Lady Gaga said “I wanna take a ride on your disco stick”.
Lollipop Lil Wayne
How crude is Lil Wayne? Good thing he’s going to jail.
I Love College Asher Roth
Nothing like telling your kids to get f*cked up, smoke weed, and hump everything. Asher Roth.. stoner icon.
These are songs that are in heavy circulation at virtually every top 40 radio station in America. And sadly, with technology being what it is, there is no way to completely shelter them; nor should you want to. My parents took that route, and it backfired badly. When I was about 12, I suddenly discovered that there were songs that actually used the F Word. I was blown away. And I spent the next year or so actually trying to find it. Not that it influenced me too much… But this is a different time, and a different message. These songs actually tell our kids that being tramps who dress like prostitutes is a good thing.
So what are we supposed to do? It’s simple… there’s only one thing we can do. It’s called communicating. Talk to your kids. Teach them to think for themselves. I loved the song F*ck tha Police when I was in junior High… but my parents bestowed upon me a little thing called common sense. It never occurred to me that I might go out and shoot police because a song mentioned it. I never contemplated suicide or murder because a song said so; nor did I shoot up my school because of a Marilyn Manson tune.
We can’t keep our kids away from music we don’t approve of… but we shouldn’t need to. If our kids can’t differentiate music from reality, or discern that Eminem, Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, and Lil Wayne are not role models, we have failed as parents. Some of the music I listen to is offensive; that doesn’t mean it isn’t good music. I’m not near conservative enough to think that way. Teach your kids the difference, people. It’s your job… not the radio’s.
Littlekid137 January 3rd, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Good points. I never realized tic toc was so bad until this. Thanks.
Borneon January 3rd, 2010 at 11:26 pm
It’s pretty hard to stop people from listening to what they want. I think with kids, the more we forbid them, the more they want to do it. The best shot is I guess, is to guide them with when they are listening to these kinds of songs and point to them which element is bad and which is good.
athena goodlight January 4th, 2010 at 2:32 am
You’re right, we need to make the kids aware what the song is all about. Sometimes they can’t see beyond the rhythm and music video.
Faith Hodge January 4th, 2010 at 3:42 am
And I grew up with Lawrence Welk!
Darla Smith January 4th, 2010 at 10:02 am
You’ve made some very good points here.
hcutting January 4th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
This was an interesting read! Being a teenager myself I love to hear different points of view. Personally, I have a similar music taste to your daughter, but I look back on songs that I liked when I was 10 and can hardly believe the lyrics myself. At 10, thankfully, you like the song for the song and dont really understand or look into the lyrics.
BKG May 8th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Just stop worrying nothing will happen. Music doesn\’t make anyone do bad shit. Friends, parents, and real influences do. Listening to Lil Wayne say he wants to fuck every girl? Doesn\’t mean your son will have the same goals in life. And him being in jail won\’t halt his career at all.