I really have an issue with this...

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You know, responding to the TV thread got me thinkin' (oh no). I really don't listen to much top 40, pop-type music. But every once in a while I tune in just so I can hear what the hip teenyboppers listen to, or at least I don't sound like a total moron in conversation (uhhh, Limp Bizkit, is that a new cookie?)

I've noticed a disturbing trend among the female hip-hop groups in which they brag about the stuff that men buy them. Like that song, "did you hear about the brand-new Benz he just bought for me?" or whatever. And I know I've heard more songs like that. That really fucking bothers me.

Sure, there is that lame-o Destiny's Child song about Charlie's Angels, but that is the exception to the rule.

I don't know why that bothers me - I guess if I had a little girl, I wouldn't want her listening to a song and thinking success = a guy buying her expensive shit. And to maybe stay with a jackass guy because he bought her Versace.

Anyway, so sorry to rant....

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

Answers

The Destiny's Child song you mention is a big hit, though, and Pink put a similar message in her hit song, "Most Girls." That's the trend I've heard, I haven't heard it the other way.

But no matter how many songs there are telling girls they should aspire to getting a man to buy things for her, girls deserve better examples than that. I'm with you, SweetJane.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001


Um, here's how big of a dork I am.

The only song that I can think of that falls into that category would be "What have you done for me lately", by Miss Jackson (if you're nasty).

Someone get me a walker and some Ensure. I'm hopelessly out of touch with the youth of today.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001


The funny thing about Destiny's Child and their "Independant Women" song getting all sorts of props for showing that women can buy their own stuff is that their first hit single is called "Pay My Bills"

Jennifer Hopez's latest #1 song is about how her love is free and she can afford to buy her own Mercedes, thankyouverymuch.

I hope both trends of songs die a quick death.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001


I just read about the exact opposite of this at An American Boy.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

yeah, i find it really funny that destiny's child was like "well can he pay my bills" and then two weeks later they're all "we're independent women!" uh yeeeahhh. not. hopefully, no one will like destiny's child in a few years. i'm really sick of bee-yon-SAY! doing little stints on E! and Mtv. i don't like the rest of the group either but at least give them a little camera time even if they suck. why the hell did destiny give birth to such a bunch of obnoxious hacks?

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001


I've never heard them sing, but I like looking at their pictures. Do I turn them into sex objects in my mind? Nothing quite so sexist. I just try to picture them with their clothes off. At a Naturist camp to Save the Whales, of course. Ahem.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

Well,I guess I really am a moron when it comes to pop culture, because I've never even heard that J-Lo song ( could it be because I run screaming at the mere mention of her name?).

Ok, maybe my problem falls to the inherent , well, GAYNESS (sorry, but it fit) in writing a song about payin' bills, drivin' Mercedes, the shoes on my feet, I bought 'em type shit on the radio. You know?

Consumerism strikes! It's fucking EVERYWHERE

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001


You know, when I first heard "No Scrubs," I LOVED it! As I listened to it, all I could think was "DAMN, if I had a teen daughter, I'd play this for her 24/7!" I loved the fact that it repeated "No." No, don't whistle at me, loser. No, I won't give you my phone number. No, I don't think you're all that. No. No. No. And then "Wanna get with me with no money...?" with the implication of "You can't buy me stuff!"... *sigh*

Yeah, you can take the angle of "If he lives at home and doesn't have a job, he's an irresponsible loser," but the wording made it extremely clear that "get with me" requires money. Piss me off.

I see the beginnings of this idea with The Spice Girls and Girl Powah. There was a line in "Wannabe" that Easy V (Victoria/Posh) doesn't come for free, she's a real lady"... again, the implication being lady = you have to buy her expensive stuff... lady = EXPENSIVE whore.

Consumerism indeed!

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2001


On my way to work this morning I listened fully to Shaggy's hit "Red Handed" or whatever it is titled, and was pretty disgusted with the subject, which is that his girlfriend walks into his apt b/c he forgot that he had given her a key, and caught him doing the girl from next door. It goes on to tell all of the places they had done it, which I guess is to prove his manhood. It was just sort of annoying, because I remember dealing with guys who thought that fucking anything that moves was a sign that they were someone, and I don't have that patience anymore.

As annoying as the words were to this song, I can see why it's a hit, because it would be good to dance to if I were drunk in a bar somewhere.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2001


Sharon -- first of all, fucking HI -- second, I've been telling everybody that I love the music on that song but hate the words so much that it's hard to listen to. So I'm torn, like Natalie Imbruglia and shit.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2001


Yeah...so true. But then, again, Sharon there's necrophiliacs. They want to fuck everything that DOESN'T move. It puts a new twist on the phrase: "I could really go for a cold, stiff one right now." Huh?

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2001

Word on that Shaggy song. I heard it when it was performed on SNL, and I couldn't believe that cool ass reggae guy allowed that New Kid on the Block on the same stage. Now I've heard it a couple of times since, and if I just didn't know what the lyrics were, or that it was such a smarmy guy singing, I could almost dig it.

They just don't write love songs like they used to.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2001


Yeah, like "I Used To Love Her, But I Had To Kill Her"

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2001

Hellloooo Gwen!

So today on my drive in, I was grooving to some pop song by a girl group who I believe is called Dream, and it's a great song, in that it's all about some girl who wants to steal the singer's boyfriend, and the singer is saying that the guy's hands aren't tied, so feel free to do what you want, but he's not going to go with her. I love that, that it's not saying to kick her whore-y ass, you bitch.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2001


That's right, Bubba. Reminds me of what Melanie Griffith said in Body Double, "What are you, some sort of corpse-fucker?"

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2001


I quite agree with everything said here. And while we're dissecting song lyrics, how lame is it to write a song that's basically a laundry list of one's brand preferences? "I like a lotta...Prada" etc. etc.

How asanine.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2001


"I like girls that wear Abercrombie and Fitch..."

That has got to be one of the more retarded lyrics I've ever heard. I mean, if I don't wear A&F, you won't like me? DAMN - I'm so upset...

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2001


First of all, I don't really look to those girls for guidance - from Waterfalls, to Creep, to No Scrubs, I hardly care what T-Boz,Chili and Left-Eye have to say about how we should be as women. That said, I already proved I know their names and I know all the lyrics to their songs. She said, a little bit ashamed.

Secondly, this was funny - I have a nephew who's almost 9, and a few months ago I went to visit and take him and two kids of my friend's to see a show. On the way back, the three of them were in the backseat (two are 9, one's 11) and they were discussing music, comparing how many Britney cd's they had, and whether or not the "Burger King" cd counted for a Backstreet Boys CD. Anyway, the Shaggy song came on (Red-Handed). I had only heard it a few times, I certainly hadn't heard all the lyrics, and I thought it was a pretty catchy tune, so when they asked me to turn it up I did. So we're jamming to this song, I'm singing away and when I get to the "banging on the bathroom floor", I catch my sister's eye and was like "uh.oh." It was too late to do anything about it then but the next day I asked him about it. I said to him, very casually, "Parker, about that Shaggy song..." and he said, very seriously, "Josie, I am NOT allowed to listen to that song". Foiled by the nine year old!

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2001


Wish I knew what ya'all were talking about. Sigh, I'm older than I wanna be.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2001

Heh. My dad called me the other day to ask if I'd heard the new Shaggy song- and I was shocked. I said "Daddy, you would never have let me listen to that! It's about..." and I couldn't even bring myself to say sex. Then he explained he meant the "Angel" one. It was such a relief.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2001

How old are you scrnwrt? You seem so sweet. I have three daughters and that's ALL they want to tell me...they go into great, sticky detail about their sex lives and are real smug about it. Pleeeez. Your father does NOT want to hear what a great hump so-in-so is, fer crissake. And ex-boyfriends really get the grilling. In anatomical detail. How inadequate, etc. Of course, they're thirty and over...but still. Jeez.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2001

23.

And I realized last night at karaoke that the predecessor to the J. Lo song is "Mr. Big Stuff."

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001


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