A young Britney Spears smiles innocently
The Kaiser Chiefs got us thinking with their recent hit Never Miss A Beat, how is it that so much goes uncensored in music? Forget bleeped expletives and stickers indicative of profanity within; the Leeds likely lads found they still had plenty at their disposal by way of encouraging bad behaviour.
"It's cool to know nothing" they tell us which is all very well coming from those too young to know better, but the Chiefs, with the exception of their drummer, have all been to university. Surely they appreciate the importance of a strong academic background in young people's lives - not if that song's anything to go by.
Much better known for courting controversy in his lyrics - not to mention his on-stage antics - is American rap artist Marshall Mathers. Eminem, Slim Shady, whatever you want to call him, the chances are he'll call you every name under the sun. He's been slammed by countless organisations around the world for his allegedly racist, homophobic, misogynistic and downright mischievous musings.
His 2002 foray into film met with a mixed bag of reviews, but if Eight Mile's autobiographical plot is anything to go by, the star didn't have it particularly easy growing up. Not that anyone's giving him an excuse to actively encourage gang warfare and glorify the use of guns in settling disputes - We all have problems Em, it's just some of us know better how to deal with them!
Alright, so we know it's easy to side with the oldies on this, but it's not just in recent years that songs have had the 'bad influence' finger pointed at them. Back in 1988, Guns N' Roses inspired squablles over the lyrics to their song Mr. Brownstone which many believed to contain strong references to illegal drugs. "I used ta do a little but a little wouldn't do, so the little got more and more" - What were people thinking? It's clearly a song about ironing.
But let's not forget the girls in all of this; more often than not they're just as bad an influence as the boys. Also back in the day was Cyndi Lauper's hit single She Bop, which clearly alluded to certain acts of feminine self-pleasure with lines like "I'm picking up and good vibration" and "I better stop or I'll go blind". It's never the ones you expect, is it?
Back to recent times though, and two pure-as-silk - ahem! - pop princesses to be exact. Katy Perry and Britney Spears both made equally large splashes last year with their raunchy offerings I Kissed A Girl and If You Seek Amy repectively. While the former is a full-on descriptive account that pandered to the oldest male fantasy in the book, the latter included a clever use of language to disguise the song's explicit meaning.
"All of the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek Amy" chirps Britney. Utter nonsense but perfectly acceptable you might argue when reading this, but speak the words aloud and you begin to catch the many angry dads' drift!
FemaleFirst - Anthony Hill
Tagged in Britney Spears Eminem