The very first record I ever bought was Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”. My mother accompanied me to McDonnell & East and didn’t bat an eyelid when I took my hot piece of Vinyl up to the counter and paid for it with my hard earned pocket money. I played that sucker on repeat in the lounge room on the record player. The following is just a snipped of the lyrics I would sing as loud as possible at any given time. Yeah, I was 9.
Like a Virgin ooh, ooh
Like a Virgin
Feels so good inside
When you hold me, when your heart beats, and you love me.
Oh yeah, inappropriate much??
Clearly I didn’t know what a virgin was. Or what something feeling so good inside was. But my mother did and she was either choosing to ignore me or was just not paying attention. Or both.
But I, well I am a prolific lyric knower (technical term). I love them. I love knowing what a song is about. Although to this day, no matter how much I love them, I still don’t know what the fuck Crowded House were on about. Apparently if you can work that out, the meaning of life is yours.
And, I still remember the days of pressing play on my double tape deck, listening, pressing pause, writing the song line down and repeating the process through the entire way through the song. Imagine how many misheard lyrics were going down. Although even with all the goodness that is Google available to my 11yo, she still sings “Like a G6” as “Like a Cheesestick”. Just for shits and giggles I don’t correct her.
But now, now that I’m a Mum and I do give a shit what my children are listening to, I get panicky when I hear the following come out of Maddisons mouth when she’s beside me in the car seat on the way to school:
Blindfold, feather bed,
tickle me, slippery,
G spot,nasty pose,
in a video,
love machine, by myself,
climax,hot wax
Keep in mind, this song is played by most every major Radio Station in the country. A song about dirty talking. Now Mads doesn’t know what the heck this chick is singing about, much the same as me ala Madonna and her cherry popping, but man, it feels all kinds of wrong to hear your little girl singing about Legs up on the bar in the backseat of your car. All kinds.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4XjmDqG48A&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Rhianna is another one. Don’t get me wrong, I actually really enjoy most of her songs, it’s just that when you hear this from the off-key eleven year old kicking around beside you in Woolies on a Saturday, shit gets kinda real:
Cause I may be bad, but I’m perfectly good at it
Sex in the air, I don’t care, I love the smell of it
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But chains and whips excite me
Let’s just say that and a few other choice songs have recently been erased from her iPod.
But is that what I should be doing? Ban them from listening to the radio? Certain songs? The thing is, even when it’s not completely obvious the lyrics can be sly. Remember Lady GaGa and her disco Stick? Well Maddie questioned her school principal whether they would be selling any at her school Disco last year. I believe his response was “No” with a very quick retreat. What about Kelis bringing all the boys to the yard with her milkshake? My kids loved singing that song with Sam even hoping it was “a chocolate milkshake” she was bringing because “he loves them the most”. Don’t think about that too much.
Am I just being ridiculous or is this getting a little out of control? Any other songs out there you find inappropriate, or were when you were a kid? More to the point, how many people are going to land on my blog now after I’ve mentioned climax and G-Spot in one post?
Hahaha! I dont have kids but this Mystery Mum always makes me laugh. Keep em coming!
It’s not a new problem but possibly getting worse. I clued in back in 2000 watching pre-pubescent girls in black and gold lycra dance on stage at a school fete… to Aqua’s ‘Bumbles Bees’. Check some of the lyrics….
I know I’m not the only flower you see
But what can I do, you are a good looking bee
Wham bam, thank you mam
Bumble bee, bump into me
I am in for pollination
Bumble bee, take what you see
I’m in need for your donation
I can’t wait for your invasion
When I was eight years old, I was singing “2 Become 1″ by the Spice Girls (yes, I am a child of the 90s). Did I know what it meant? Not exactly. Did I have an inkling that I shouldn’t be singing it in front of my parents, due to the song’s ’sultry’ tone? Yes. Kids are an interesting mix of being more clued-in than we give them credit for, and completely oblivious to other things that seem bleedingly obvious to the rest of us.
I think the issue is only going to get worse, though. It’s getting hard to find a song on the radio these days that doesn’t have some sort of underlying sexualised message. It’s like record producers think that how successful a song will be is proportionate to how dirty it is.
I remember my mother going mad at me when I was about 13 or so for listening to the song ’sex on the beach’ with my friends. I thought it was a bit hypocritical – she and dad GAVE me the CD, it’s not my fault they didn’t bother paying attention to the content.
I’m actually more concerned about the graphic nature of the music vids then the lyrics. I go to a dance class that has people ranging from 10 years old to 60. I was talking to a couple of the kids about this the other day, they had mentioned the song grenade – I haven’t seen the film clip for that but they were talking about the bloke jumping in front of a train in that. We also discussed the song F*****’ Perfect by pink – in that film clip you witness a girl kill herself over body image, and this is something these young kids are seeing on MTV and Rage! It’s just wrong to get a 10 year old even thinking about body image like that. We have to many influences in that regard already. I get the song is showing that obsessing about body image is self destructive, but who’s to say a kid isn’t going to see that and go ‘oh, that girl is so skinny and pretty and SHE still isn’t perfect, and I’m so chubby and have frizzy hair!’. You don’t know how different people are going in interrupt and take on board that sort of example.
ok 2 minutes ago I had a post here as did another person (CC or something I believe?) and now they’ve both vanished? o.0
nvm, they appear to have returned (what’s going on with this site today o.0)
I think the sexual explicitness is close to being done to completion and becoming boring. A bit like the use of, say, the f word. No longer shocking. So, hopefully there will be another phase where songs talk about something other than 1. love. 2. lust and 3. debauchery. It’s not that I am shocked by it, but there really is a limit to sexual variations.
Hi guys, thanks for all the comments, love hearing feedback and your experiences. Agree, the filmclips are a whole nother issue. Blog post for another day I think. Thanks again for reading.
I’m certainly no prude, but I was very taken aback when I heard Dirty Talk and S&M playing on SeaFM. I actually quite like both songs, but no I don’t feel it’s appropriate to play on a ‘Family Friendly’ radio station.
I don’t have children, but I can’t imagine how awkward the conversation would be if I was asked “Mummy, what’s a love machine?”
I’m with Jaylo – I think the overt sexualisation of ‘everything’ these days is not only getting boring but I dont think it is good for our kids to have it so ‘in their face’. I think when we were younger the song lyrics (while still suggestive and sexy) were a little less obvious … (well except for this 80s song maybe lol …) “Come said the boy, let’s go down to the sand, let’s do what we want to do, let me be a man for you”.
I’d like to know what a psychologist has to say about this topic.
I am a mother of a 7yo and I do wonder about the impact of Meter Maids, sexy video clips and all these supposed role models and the effect it has on our young girls. I try to balance this stuff out with wholesome activities and a healthy attitude to what she wears, sees and does …. hopefully she’ll grow up to be a well balanced teenager.
im 14 truning 15, and i am one of the only girls in my class that are waiting till in marryed, saddly.
many and most girls from the age of 13 dont care about resecpt for their body.
i wounder what would happen if their mums found out what “mummy’s princess” was doing with the “boy next door”
there are year 8s that wear more make up then a model, and there is no way to tell what they look like anymore.
but thats my opinion…
@Jasmin, kudos for sticking to your beliefs on this topic and not falling to peer pressure