# Classic Songs That Glorified Pretty Rotten Behaviour ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745 "2008-02-22T17:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/81 "2008-02-23T15:30:05Z")
[QUOTE=CaerieD] Am I being whooshed? I thought this song was referencing the YMCA as a gay cruising spot. Unsanitary perhaps, but no one’s being taken advantage of such as in the other “cad” examples. [/QUOTE] Perhaps it is my interpretation, but I understand the song to be a call-out to unsuspecting lads merely looking for a place to stay (insert obligatory “not that there’s anything wrong with that” statement here) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/82 "2008-02-23T16:27:39Z")
Oh - and what’s a thread about glorifying rotten behavior without a favorite Big Dumb Rock song of mine, \*\*Lit Up by Buckcherry \*\* (read my thinking-way-too-much analysis of it in this earlier [SDMB Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=415484)… ---
**Author:** ![chocolatefrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/41988e/32.png) [@chocolatefrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chocolatefrog)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/83 "2008-02-23T16:54:23Z")
_Lovefool_ by the Cardigans basically has a woman encouraging a guy who no longer loves her to treat her like dirt. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/84 "2008-02-23T16:55:45Z")
[QUOTE=Sleeps With Butterflies] **My Sharona** _Never gonna stop, give it up. Such a dirty mind. Always get it up for the touch of the younger kind._ The man who wrote it was 26 at the time and was lusting after a 17 year old named Sharona. [/QUOTE] And when you think they couldn’t sink any lower, they finish off their little misogynist trilogy with the even more despicable Baby Talks Dirty and She’s So Selfish… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/85 "2008-02-23T17:02:49Z")
[QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman] Funny, but I keep thinking up more & more: From Tammy Wynette: [/QUOTE] I don’t think “Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad” counts for this. She’s not glorifying that behavior, she’s berating her man about it, and sarcastically saying, “If you like painted-up tarts in bars so much, then maybe I should become one so you’ll pay attention to me.” > [@The Late Queen of Country](#): > > If you like 'em painted up, powdered up, > then you oughtta be glad > 'cause your good girls gonna go bad. The tone of it just sounds ironic to me, not straight. It kind of helps if you think of the song as coming in the middle of a huge argument between them. “Okay, FINE…if you like all that stuff so much I’ll join you! How do you like THAT?!” ---
**Author:** ![Carm6773](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/86 "2008-02-23T17:36:25Z")
[Goodbye Earl](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GovJ4jAnr14) This guy deserved to die too. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/87 "2008-02-23T17:37:20Z")
Thinking about this, we could have a whole category of bounder women, too. Some examples fer ya - “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” by Kenny Rogers (guy’s a paralyzed veteran with not much longer to live, but his itchy wife can’t wait to get some) “You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille” by Kenny Rogers (wife leaves farmer with four hungry children and a crop in the field - she’s out picking up singer/songwriters) “Goodbye Earl” by the Dixie Chicks (guy has to die because he was abusive - vigilante justice!) “Criminal” by Fiona Apple (girl breaks a boy, just because she can, although in her defense she is repentant) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/88 "2008-02-23T17:44:33Z")
Kristopherson’s “Silver Tongued Devil.” Yeah, he does a lot of nasty stuff, but he’s not really _me_. ---
**Author:** ![muzzynyc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@muzzynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muzzynyc)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/89 "2008-02-23T17:52:43Z")
**Lose Your Love** by The Outfield A song about a guy who sleeps with another guy’s girl and then tells her to be quiet about it: _As you leave me please would you close the door and don’t forget what I told you Just 'cause you’re right - that don’t mean I’m wrong Another shoulder to cry upon I just wanna use your love tonight I don’t wanna lose your love tonight_ ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/90 "2008-02-23T18:29:22Z")
[Rape Me](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Rape-Me-lyrics-Nirvana/DD7DCBBF70A75BE44825682D000D84B0) by Nirvana: > [@](#): > > Rape me > Rape me, my friend > Rape me > Rape me again There was considerable [controversy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_Me#Controversy) about the meaning, which Cobain said was an “anti-rape song”. Stone Temple Pilots’ [Sex Type Thing](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/stone+temple+pilots/sex+type+thing_20132550.html) also has a sexual aggression theme > [@](#): > > I am, I am, I am > I said I wanna get next to you > I said I gonna get close to you > You wouldnt want me have to hurt you too, hurt you too? ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/91 "2008-02-23T18:31:19Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] 😕 She was talking about “Every Breath You Take” by The Police… [/QUOTE] Sorry. I was going to mention that one as well, as another inappropriate wedding reception song. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2008, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/92 "2008-02-24T05:11:30Z")
Slight correction on Convoy. It’s not mindless destruction. It’s a bunch of truckers and their hippy friends smuggling a huge quantity of contraband (including a load of dynamite) to the East Coast, along the way cheerfully smashing through police cars, roadblocks, and National Guard tanks. And a toll gate. (But only 'cause they were short on cash! Nothing personal!) Still a pretty high “yeesh” factor. And it was the _70’s_ when this became hugely popular. I also need to give a shout out to Taking Care of Business (by Bachman Turner Overdrive) here. Okay, playing in a band for a living and shunning regular work isn’t the most reprehensible behavior, but I’m wagering that most of the people who choose that song for their business function/political rally/job fair etc. would be pretty critical of that kind of lifestyle. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/93 "2008-02-24T05:23:23Z")
[QUOTE=Gail] Johnny Cash’s _Cocaine Blues_–A cocaine- addled man shoots his cheating girlfriend and flees to Mexico, but gets caught and sent to prison. The tune is very upbeat for the subject matter. [/QUOTE] Believe it or not, Cash \*cleaned that song up \* from its 1946 original by Billy Hughes, where the bad guy kills two people - his baby and a rounder, the rounder with spectacularly cold-hearted “I heard somebody calling my baby’s name/ I opened up the door and I blew out his brains”. Hughes’ character is also callously unrepentant (If I had the chance/ I would do it again) and the Sherriff who arrests him (in El Paso) is sympathetic, offering “they may have had it coming, but this is bad for you”. What surprises me about both those song is the shooter does not get the death penalty. Which is just, but surprisingly so. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2008, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/94 "2008-02-24T05:27:04Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] There’s kind of a category of songs like “Freebird” and “Ramblin’ Man” which are about men ditching women and explaining that they can’t stay because they have to “ramble.” They don’t _want_ to – they _have_ to. It’s not her fault, there’s just no way he can stay. This bird has to be free. [/QUOTE] I can maybe accept that the guy in Freebird needs to be free, but what gets me is that he asks her to remember him, as if he deserves it. [QUOTE=Gail] Johnny Cash’s _Cocaine Blues_–A cocaine- addled man shoots his cheating girlfriend and flees to Mexico, but gets caught and sent to prison. The tune is very upbeat for the subject matter. [/quote] Yeah, but at the end he says to “lay off the whiskey and let that cocaine be”. It’s a cautionary tale. BTW, I don’t think he wrote that. It does work well for him though. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2008, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/95 "2008-02-24T05:36:33Z")
[QUOTE=DKW] I also need to give a shout out to Taking Care of Business (by Bachman Turner Overdrive) here. Okay, playing in a band for a living and shunning regular work isn’t the most reprehensible behavior, but I’m wagering that most of the people who choose that song for their business function/political rally/job fair etc. would be pretty critical of that kind of lifestyle. [/QUOTE] Speaking of BTO, I think “Share the Land” sounds kind of obnoxious in retrospect. _Maybe I’ll be there to shake your hand. Maybe I’ll be there to share the land that they’ll be givin’ away when we all get together now._ Who, exactly is going to be giving away this land and where did they get it from? Wouldn’t they have had to take it away from somebody else? And what would Randy Bachman do with the land if he had it? Are he and his band really going to get up at 5 A.M. and go pick rocks and do everything else it takes to actually work the land? Nothing against the band really (Bachman is actually a pretty good songwriter), but that song has some pretty shallow, fatuous hippie sentiment in it. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2008, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/96 "2008-02-24T06:22:24Z")
[QUOTE=Freudian Slit] To the topic of girlfriend killing–“Used to Love Her” by Guns N Roses. Most of Dusty Springfield’s songs (“I’ll Do Anything,” “Only Want to Be With You,” “Wishin’ and Hopin’”) are about doing anything to get the guy you want. And then there’s the domestic abuse ones…“He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss)” comes to mind. [/QUOTE] “He Hit Me And It Felt Like a Kiss” was one of those songs that just didn’t quite work, because the satirical element just didn’t come through. But let’s be very clear" Gerry Goffin and Carole King were NOT endorsing wife beating. The story they both tell is that the song was inspired by Little Eva, their former babysitter, who scored a #1 hit with their song “The Loco-Motion.” They found out that Eva’s boyfriend (later husband) had been beating her up. And when they tried to get her to leave him, she did what many women do in that situation: she made all kinds of excuses for him. She insisted, to Goffin and King’s horror and bafflement, that when her man beat her, that was just like a kiss- a sign that he really loved her! They wrote a song based on Eva’s words and experiences. THEY weren’t saying that it’s okay to beat your woman, they were saying that, apparently, some women (including the victims) DO think so. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2008, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/97 "2008-02-24T06:56:26Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] \but that song has some pretty shallow, fatuous hippie sentiment in it. [/QUOTE] Have you _met_ the Sixties? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2008, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/98 "2008-02-24T07:30:47Z")
Meanwhile, back in the twenty-first century, Carrie Underwood, Little Miss Jesus-Take-The-Wheel, herself, is demonstrating the cleansing benefits of turning your life over to the Lord, as she goes medieval on her boyfriend’s car. _I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped-up 4WD, carved my name into his leather seats, took a Louisville Slugger to both headlights, slashed a hole in all four tires…_ What would Jesus do, Carrie? What _would_ Jesus do? Probably cut his brake lines. Wait here, I think I have a hacksaw in my trunk. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2008, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/99 "2008-02-24T08:29:52Z")
[QUOTE=scout1222] The Thunder Rolls reminds me of another Garth Brooks Song - Papa Loved Mama Mama cheats on Papa, he finds out, rams his big rig into the hotel she’s having the fling in. The resulting line is “Mama’s in the graveyard, Papa’s in the pen.” [/QUOTE] Oh yeah, I forgot about that! My hubby chimes in to add…“Stagger Lee” and I just remembered another Johnny Cash classic, “Delia’s Gone.” I saw the vid for that and WHOA NELLY I was scared of that man for a long time afterwards. Another song that comes to mind is a cover Metallica did of “So What!” I can’t remember who did it originally but the lyrics are…well…yeah. Google at your own risk :eek: ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2008, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745/100 "2008-02-24T08:55:13Z")
\*Me and My Uncle \*by the Dead-it’s got card cheatin’, murder and more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-songs-that-glorified-pretty-rotten-behaviour/438745.md?page=6)