File this one under Kids These Days.
After the juice in my iPod was tapped, somewhere along I-78 West, I was flipping through radio stations, which I never do at home, as my dial is permanently set to 91.5 WUNC, the local Public Radio frequency. Anyhow, I heard “Rude Boy” by Rihanna. Have you heard this song?
OK, lemme just start by saying, I like pop music. I ain’t got no beef with some happy, up-tempo, synthesized tune with simple melody lines.
And at first, I was like it’s-got-a-good-beat-you-can-dance-to-it. But Christ, the lyrics suck. Here’s my favorite sample:
What I want want want Is what you want want want Give it to me, baby, Like boom boom boom What I want want want Is what you want want want Nah naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahThat shit is Shakespearean yo. And this is the chorus:
Come here, rude boy Boy, can you get it up? Come here, rude boy Boy, is you big enough? Take it, take it, baby, baby Take it, take it, love me, love meI was talking out loud to myself in the car. “What the hell is wrong with people? How can they like this song?”
Then I remembered that my favorite song in 1986 was “Two of Hearts” by Stacey Q.
I even made up a routine to it.
I kid you not, Two of Hearts was the song playing in my lobby this morning. I was bouncing and singing even as I was puzzled as to why this song was playing, at ALL, in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria… Regardless, now it’s even funnier!
I suppose there will always be the shocking and the simplistic where pop music is concerned. Just remember one of our old Punchline skits- we made fun of lyrical mind-benders like “Dyermaker” and “Great Balls of Fire”. It does sometimes flip me out when I hear what’s coming out of Quinn’s room. So do the pictures he can view on the internet even with every kind of filter and net nanny service available.
I guess it just makes me a more diligent parent and reminds me that I wasn’t part of the only generation to test the limits. I just wonder at how many parents out there don’t give two hoots and what that means for the future of the world my son will inhabit.
I’m not delusional enough to think I’m part of the first generation to fear what those “darn kids these day” are going to do to the world, but I can try to make sure my little contribution is a positive one.
Anyway, hope you’re having a wonderful summer.
Download a little Stacey Q. today and bop around while you walk the dogs.
It’ll be good for you :)
Love you-
cort
This reminds me of an absolutely hilarious Dave Barry column which I will try to find (in all my spare time, ha ha ha). He was complaining about his young daughter’s favorite song, The Wheels on the Bus, which she insisted on singing over and over and over and over and over and over and over …. And not only did she sing it, but she wanted *him* to sing it! His point was that he wanted her to like a *good* song that had great meaning, something like “Sha na na na na na na na na!”
And speaking of songs you absolutely loved that were a little horrifying to your elders: what was that one about gonorrhea and the shot in the butt? Sixth grade, as I recall!
Cort, good point about musical and web content. I wasn’t even thinking about that–just the inanity of the lyrics–but “Rude Boy” is all about cheap, dirty sex. And I’m not opposed to cheap, dirty sex; it’s just that the target audience for this chart topper is teenagers.
The first time I realized our world had become hyper-sexualized was when my first niece was old enough to notice a billboard with a half-naked woman on it. Which, of course, was advertising pens or something.
Mom, I can’t remember the song, but it was probably by 2 Live Crew.