Into The Ears of Babes
A few weeks ago my son's grammar school had an end of the year picnic that we all attended. There was lots of food, and games for the kids, and since it was held at the school, the kids had the run of the playground. They had a water balloon toss, a hula hoop contest and it was a generally fun event for the whole community. One of my sons friends dad said, it was a Mayberry moment. Good clean family fun. Oh yes,and they also had a DJ playing top 40 music.
The previous year they had had a local band play. The band wasn't very notable and I'm not sure anyone really noticed they were there.
Now the DJ for this event was a local professional DJ, who makes his living spinning tunes for corporate events, holiday parties and private bashes. For this party he was playing mostly top 40 type stuff, just about what you'd hear on the radio.
Does anyone listen to what top 40 radio plays? If rated like movies are, top 40 radio would garner a PG-13 label and sometimes an R. Most of the songs contain lyrics with not so subtle references to sex, drug use or sex during drug use.
As someone who is aware of current music and who listens to top 40 radio I know who the artists are and I know what they are saying and referring to. And this is what made the event so remarkable.
Here we were at this triple G rated family event focusing on kids aged 10 years old and below, eating ice cream and playing tag in the school yard, and in the back ground was Britney Spears declaring that we were all begging to If-You-Seek-Amy. Then we heard how we couldn't read Lady GaGa's poker face, and what she was going to surprise us with. At that point I wasn't sure whether the party was really a cover for a subliminal sex ed class for preteens.
If you aren't aware of the controversy surrounding the Britney Spears tune, she has cleverly found a way to say something naughty without actually saying it. If you say the lyrics quickly, sure enough they begin to morph into "begging to F-U-C-K-me." Now I find the whole thing pretty funny, and I have to give Britney credit for being so darn subversive. I love stuff like that. I've read news reports of horrified parents hearing there young children singing along going la-la-la-la-F-U-C-K-me. Now that's funny. As long as it's not my kid.
Now some may say the DJ must have played the edited version where she says "seen Amy" vs. "Seek Amy". No, he played the naughty version. I heard it clearly and she repeats it many times during the song. Lady GaGa's lyrics were far more explicit and direct that Britney's, and I couldn't believe the DJ had the balls to play it at a school party. More than likely it hadn't even occurred to him that some of these songs were wholly inappropriate.
As funny and as entertaining songs like that may be for grownups,they are not the kind of tunes that should be played at a kids party.
Most amazing of all was the fact that absolutely no one appeared to react to any of it. Not one word. Not one angry glance at the DJ. I started laughing from shock as soon as I heard the lyrics, but I when I looked around no one else seemed to be aware of what was going on. If I had been the principal of the school, who happenend to be there at the time, I would have not so quietly ripped the DJ a new one.
Can all of these parents and school staff be so completely unaware of the music that our kids are being routinely exposed to? This ain't pay-per-view porn, it's on almost every station on the dial! It really makes me worry about what all these kids are being exposed to at home and if the parents have any clue at all. It would explain a lot about the state of things I guess.
I was so tempted to try to get the DJ to play something really racy, but I figured he'd not want to go that far. It would have been fun to see just how far we could have pushed it before anyone actually noticed.
I finally asked him to play Green Day. He didn't have the new CD yet, so he played Basket Case. In a moment of remarkable irony, he came up to me after it had played and said that the song had the lyrics "sex" and "whore" and that I should have warned him about that. I kid you not. At least they didn't refer to my disco stick.
Parents, wake up. Pay attention to what your kids are listening to and watching on the tube and on the computer. Someday they'll be old enough and mature enough to handle the adult nature of the sounds and images the media bombards us with everyday. Let them remain sweet and innocent as long as possible.
The previous year they had had a local band play. The band wasn't very notable and I'm not sure anyone really noticed they were there.
Now the DJ for this event was a local professional DJ, who makes his living spinning tunes for corporate events, holiday parties and private bashes. For this party he was playing mostly top 40 type stuff, just about what you'd hear on the radio.
Does anyone listen to what top 40 radio plays? If rated like movies are, top 40 radio would garner a PG-13 label and sometimes an R. Most of the songs contain lyrics with not so subtle references to sex, drug use or sex during drug use.
As someone who is aware of current music and who listens to top 40 radio I know who the artists are and I know what they are saying and referring to. And this is what made the event so remarkable.
Here we were at this triple G rated family event focusing on kids aged 10 years old and below, eating ice cream and playing tag in the school yard, and in the back ground was Britney Spears declaring that we were all begging to If-You-Seek-Amy. Then we heard how we couldn't read Lady GaGa's poker face, and what she was going to surprise us with. At that point I wasn't sure whether the party was really a cover for a subliminal sex ed class for preteens.
If you aren't aware of the controversy surrounding the Britney Spears tune, she has cleverly found a way to say something naughty without actually saying it. If you say the lyrics quickly, sure enough they begin to morph into "begging to F-U-C-K-me." Now I find the whole thing pretty funny, and I have to give Britney credit for being so darn subversive. I love stuff like that. I've read news reports of horrified parents hearing there young children singing along going la-la-la-la-F-U-C-K-me. Now that's funny. As long as it's not my kid.
Now some may say the DJ must have played the edited version where she says "seen Amy" vs. "Seek Amy". No, he played the naughty version. I heard it clearly and she repeats it many times during the song. Lady GaGa's lyrics were far more explicit and direct that Britney's, and I couldn't believe the DJ had the balls to play it at a school party. More than likely it hadn't even occurred to him that some of these songs were wholly inappropriate.
As funny and as entertaining songs like that may be for grownups,they are not the kind of tunes that should be played at a kids party.
Most amazing of all was the fact that absolutely no one appeared to react to any of it. Not one word. Not one angry glance at the DJ. I started laughing from shock as soon as I heard the lyrics, but I when I looked around no one else seemed to be aware of what was going on. If I had been the principal of the school, who happenend to be there at the time, I would have not so quietly ripped the DJ a new one.
Can all of these parents and school staff be so completely unaware of the music that our kids are being routinely exposed to? This ain't pay-per-view porn, it's on almost every station on the dial! It really makes me worry about what all these kids are being exposed to at home and if the parents have any clue at all. It would explain a lot about the state of things I guess.
I was so tempted to try to get the DJ to play something really racy, but I figured he'd not want to go that far. It would have been fun to see just how far we could have pushed it before anyone actually noticed.
I finally asked him to play Green Day. He didn't have the new CD yet, so he played Basket Case. In a moment of remarkable irony, he came up to me after it had played and said that the song had the lyrics "sex" and "whore" and that I should have warned him about that. I kid you not. At least they didn't refer to my disco stick.
Parents, wake up. Pay attention to what your kids are listening to and watching on the tube and on the computer. Someday they'll be old enough and mature enough to handle the adult nature of the sounds and images the media bombards us with everyday. Let them remain sweet and innocent as long as possible.
posted 6/25/2009 01:40:00 PM
2 Comments:
Stiffy makes a good point. Unequivocally, free speech is free speech, so I can't do much more than wish folks would use appropriate language - but it's also clear that my policing of my daughters' musical intake now really involves my pointing out when they're likely to get in trouble if they sing along, rather than trying to keep them away from the offending material. Also, I don't cuss, though that's more an artifact of having to be on the radio than out of any puritanical tendencies.
Of course, I try to play wholesome classics for them, like "I Want Candy" and "Turning Japanese", and...
...wait, what?
Here's why no one reacted, Frank: because no one was really HEARING to the music. I'm of the opinion that nobody really cares what the lyrics to throwaway pop songs are. Very likely you care because a) you now have kids, and b) because you're a music guy. Emphasis on b).
Seriously...I'm not a big lyrics person myself, unless it's Nicole Atkins or Dramarama or another artist who might actually have something to say. I'm sure not many of the parents--or kids at that party--think Britney has anything to say that's worth paying attention to. All a pop audience really cares about is the dance beat and the pretty package in which it's delivered.
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