Unfortunate Implications/Music: Difference between revisions

** The strip tease on his FutureSex/LoveSound show, it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. The women were almost entirely naked.

** He defamed [[Britney Spears]] after she broke up with him, describing how they had sex in public. To this day he still hasn't faced serious consequences for this.

* "Do They Know It's Christmas?", the song that effectively launched the [[Charity Motivation Song]] genre in 1984 in response to famine in Ethiopia, wears its heart on its sleeve and clearly has it in the right place... if you overlook the fact that many of the people whom it's exhorting the listener to wonder about whether they know it's Christmas either celebrate the holiday at a different time to the (presumably Western) listener or don't actually celebrate the holiday. The song was parodied by one of the GTA games with a name-drop of a song called "Do They Know It's the Fourth of July?"

** [[South Park]] mercilessly lampooned it in a Christmas special, giving Mr. Garrison a song where he obscenity fueled, racist rant about how he travels the world to wish all the non-Christians a merry Christmas. It [[Crosses the Line Twice|crosses the line about six times]] with lines such as "God is going to kick your ass you infidel pagan scum."

** Irreverent trivia game [[You Don't Know Jack]] suggested Africa pen a response song, "Don't They Know We're Muslims?"

*** [[Did Not Do the Research|In Ethiopia?]]

** Producer Quincy Jones actually noted that they had to be careful not to sound like they were patting themselves on the back, which was how they were convinced to change the line ''There's a chance we're taking'' to ''There's a'' choice ''we're making''. Unfortunately, the very next line -- "We're saving our own lives!" -- opens the song up to narcissistic interpretations again; it's not about helping the millions suffering from famine and despair, it's about helping ourselves ''through'' them!

** Also, Bobby Gandolf (he hates that) came on the telly to tell us that it was "forever to his shame" that Prince didn't attend the "We Are the World" recording session. Yeah he really is a self-righteous prick. Prince fired back with the song "Hello"; SNL parodied the whole thing with Prince and his bodyguards busting in on the recording session with the song "I Am Also the World", One of the best SNL skits ever, BTW.

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hEJQbEYjRg And now Rainn Wilson/Selma Blair, for Gap].

* [[Shakira]]:

** ''Don't Bother" is about passive-aggressively telling her cheating boyfriend that she'll be fine. "She-Wolf" is about gleefully telling a boyfriend about how she's going to cheat on him, and how she deserves it because the relationship is unsatisfying.

* Some people have pointed to unfortunate racial implications in the video for "Cupid's Chokehold" by Gym Class Heroes, which shows the singer having two unsuccessful relationships with black women (one of whom argues with him, the other cheats on him) before apparently settling down happily with a white girlfriend, portrayed by Katy Perry.

* [[Michael Jackson]]'s ''Ghosts'' was a 38-minute short film/music video from 1997, with a story serving as a metaphor for his 1993 child molestation scandal. Jackson's hero Maestro, a loner in a creepy Gothic mansion, is set upon by a [[Torches and Pitchforks]] mob when they learn he's been secretly sharing ghost stories with local boys. The Mayor (Jackson in heavy makeup) demands the "freak" leave; Maestro summons a troupe of ghouls to dazzle and terrify the crowd. This clip didn't get wide U.S. exposure until 2001 and hasn't been run again there since 2003 (when Jackson was once again accused of molestation). It doesn't even appear in full in the advertised-as-complete ''Michael Jackson's Vision'' DVD box set of his videos, because even [[Dead Artists Are Better]] can't overcome its ugly implications:

** A black male adult in the mob (played by Mos Def) is an example of [[Uncle Tomfoolery]]. As [[The Agony Booth]] recap put it, "Never invite Urkel along on your lynching."

** The townspeople accepting the Maestro, despite his imprisoning and emotionally manipulating them (especially with the fake suicide), carries a whiff of [[Stockholm Syndrome]] and [[Jerk Sue]]. They don't even try to help the Mayor when he's being tortured!

* Another notorious example of [[Michael Jackson]]'s work going wrong was "They Don't Care About Us", from 1995's ''HIStory''. It's supposed to be a [[Protest Song]], but is so vague about who "they" and "us" are that his use of anti-Semetic slurs in the second verse suspiciously stood out. He insisted he was speaking up for all oppressed people, but nevertheless rerecorded it for later pressings of the album and the single version.

* The Ides of March song, "Vehicle". Peppy and upbeat with an ''awesome'' trombone part, it's pretty creepy if you listen to the lyrics. A sexy stranger in a black sedan wants you to hop inside his car? He's got candy? He'll take you places? He wants you, needs you, and (great God in Heaven) he loves you?

* The rap bridge of the song "Eenie Meenie" by [[Justin Bieber]] and Sean Kingston. As [[Todd in the Shadows]] pointed out, the artists are basically saying that if a girl is being indecisive about who she wants to be with, then one should restrain her by her feet and refuse to release her until she screams enough for one's satisfaction.

** Another Katy Perry example is the video for "Last Friday Night". Binge drinking aside, it basically says that to get anyone to like her, the [[Hollywood Nerd]] had to pull a [[Beautiful All Along]]. Thanks for that, Katy. Even if it was supposed to be a parody of 80s movies which had similar stories, the parody falls a bit flat.

** And then there's her alter ego Kathy Beth Terry stroking the abdomen of an unconscious jock and then later peeking into his underwear to check out his package. Technically, [[Double Standard Rape (Female on Male)|this is sexual assault as sleep negates consent]].

** ''[[Camp Straight|Ur So Gay.]]'' (again, her spelling) All of it. And to a lesser extent, ''[[Kissing Under the Influence|I Kissed A Girl.]]''

** "I Kissed A Girl" also plays into the L.U.G. (Lesbian Until Graduation) stereotype, also refers to the eponymous girl as "My experimental game" and the singer doesn't even bother to learn her name. Yowch.

** The violent one was the original intention, but that didn't stop the British press making lewd jokes about the other.

** Their new ''No Light, No Light'' video has a voodoo person who happens to be black manipulating her white innocence with a voodoo doll while she get's rescued by a group of white young male boys in a choir. The racism implied in this video is immense. It gets even worse when you factor in that the Voodoo priest is played by an Asian man in dark body paint. They could have at least hired a Black guy to play the really racist Black stereotype. You just chalk it up as Blackface and leave it at that, but there's an even more unfortunate implication that it expands the axis of evil from just Black people to ANYBODY who isn't White.

** Not to mentions "I'm A Slave For You."

* [[Toby Keith]]'s "Beer for my Horses". The song is about lynching, isn't it? Not to mention getting drunk, as well as getting a horse drunk.

** Another unfortunate aspect of the "Stupid Girls" video is the scene where P!nk and an extra are vomiting in the restroom with P!nk shouting "I WILL BE SKINNY!" It comes off as girls who suffer from Bulimia are stupid. Never mind that this is a very serious mental disorder that can affect anyone (yes even intelligent people).

** "U and Ur Hand". The framing device is a book depicting the adventures of a character named Lady Delish.

*** Then she goes to some sort of party, and sits on the balcony where faceless, shirtless men jump around more like apes in a dominance display than people actually dancing. No women are present. "All brawn, and no brain makes these guys too lame" declares the subtitles.

*** Then she goes to the garden to read a good book, but really "[searching] for a man who can parallel her interests". A guy on the next bench is apparently checking her out, but does nothing. The narrative says that "at least a book with substance isn't hard to find", with the inference that the guy who ''didn't'' hit on her ''when she wanted him to'' lacks "substance".

*** And finally, the song's title and lyrics all but state that [[A Man Is Not a Virgin|a man that cannot attract women is somehow less of a man]]. "You know who you are," Pink snarks. "High fivin', talkin' shit<ref>It is not said that they were speaking poorly of women, or doing anything other than having fun in Delish's presence.</ref>, but you're going home alone, aren't ya?" She doesn't want his attention, but she'll ''gladly'' take--in fact, ''demand''--his money, then mock him ''again''.

It's just you and your hand tonight! }}

* Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" music video has plenty of these, a great many of which get called out in the [[Literal Music Video]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olsqjmn-MYY parody] of it.

* Hilary Duff's song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c6wFIsLjsQ Gypsy Woman]:

** It has some ''big'' stereotypes about Roma people:

Her sick and twisted Gypsy curse." }}

** And:

Out of all the thieves that trained her, none of them could tame her." }}

** It also paints all gypsy woman [[Hot Gypsy Woman|as being slutty]] and using men for their own ends. Another interpretation is that the singer is using "gypsy woman" as a euphemism for any temptress, and not really aware that Roma are real. Which, obviously, [[Did Not To The Research|isn't better]].

* United Kingdom's performance in the 2011 [[Eurovision Song Contest|ESC]] Was made by the boy bland Blue, which has three white members and one black. On stage, three of them were dolled up in what looked like elaborate tuxes, while one of them was wearing nothing but a vest that vaguely resembled one of those tuxes with the sleeves ripped off. You may guess which one...

* Rap and hip-hop culture have been criticized, on both casual and academic levels, for promoting misogyny, distrust or outright hate for the police, glorifying criminal culture, and a few dozen other things.

* Craig Morgan's ''International Harvester'' opens with the line "I'm the son of a third generation farmer, I've been married ten years to the farmer's daughter", which serves as an excellent opportunity to teach listeners about the proper use of articles: the way it's written, the singer has been married ten years to his own sister, with whom he apparently has two sons as later stated in the song. So he and his wife are married siblings, and his sons are inbred. All this, on top of the song's ''actual'' meaning, which is that the singer is so pleased with himself for being a good ol' boy that he doesn't care what an inconvenience he is to the three mile's worth of traffic jam he's causing by driving a combine harvester on a highway. Some Southerners believe this song promotes negative stereotypes.

* Beyonces "If I Were A Boy" basically boils down to "Men can't love or understand women" and "Being a man is all cake and cupcakes." Several other songs by her have the same basic message, something [[Todd in the Shadows]] take special issue with since no one seems to call her out on her misandry.

 

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