# Most controversial songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171 "2007-06-07T20:08:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Redfrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@Redfrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redfrost)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/81 "2007-06-10T01:00:07Z")
A thread on controversial songs and no one has mentioned the big deal that was made out of George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex”. And then there was Public Enemy’s “911 is a Joke”. > [@](#): > > Ozzy caught a fair bit of shit over the song Suicide Solution as a solo artist even though it was an anti-suicide song, as he did with Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” when the line “I tell you to enjoy life…” got misheard as “I tell you to end your life…” Nitpick: “Suicide Solution” is not an anti-suicide song. The song is about alcoholism. Solution=A homogenenous mixture in which a solute is disolved in a solvent (i.e. alcohol). Instead of Solution=Fixed, problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![Hubert\_Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hubert\_Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hubert_Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/82 "2007-06-10T01:02:41Z")
“Fuck Tha Police” by NWA. ---
**Author:** ![Hubert\_Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hubert\_Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hubert_Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/83 "2007-06-10T01:03:49Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] “Indian Outlaw” may be the dumbest country lyrics I’ve ever read. :eek: [/QUOTE] Maybe so, but apparently the song was quite popular on Indian reserves. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/84 "2007-06-10T01:33:24Z")
[QUOTE=cbawlmer] As for “Justify My Love,” like I said, it was the video that was controversial rather than the song itself. The video was pretty racy and explicit for its day. I contained a little nudity, and some dudes kissing. MTV banned it, and it was a big enough deal that they ran it on Nightline and followed it with a discussion about it. [/QUOTE] Just because the video was controversial doesn’t make the song less racy. Madonna moans, pants, and breathes heavily through the whole thing as if she’s getting off, and the very first verse explicitly references sexual intercourse and public nudity. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/85 "2007-06-10T01:37:54Z")
[QUOTE=Redfrost] A thread on controversial songs and no one has mentioned the big deal that was made out of George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex”. And then there was Public Enemy’s “911 is a Joke”. Nitpick: “Suicide Solution” is not an anti-suicide song. The song is about alcoholism. Solution=A homogenenous mixture in which a solute is disolved in a solvent (i.e. alcohol). Instead of Solution=Fixed, problem solved. [/QUOTE] It was written about Ozzy’s good friend and former AC/DC frontman Bon Scott. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/86 "2007-06-10T01:46:46Z")
I wanted to add: Ironically, even though Madonna writes 97% of her own songs, her most controversial ones (lyrically) weren’t penned by her. **Papa Don’t Preach** , which spawned a finger-wagging response ( I would call it a parody, but it was meant as a public service message) called “Madonna, Don’t Preach”, featuring hugely pregnant and miserable dancing girls, was written by a man named Brian Elliott. He had an office with a one-way window that looked out onto the street. Girls would use it as a mirror for primping on their way to and from the high school down the road. Elliott would hear every word of their conversations and penned the song with their trials and tribulations in mind. **Like A Virgin** , written by early-80’s pop dynamic duo Steinberg and Kelly, was originally intended to be sung by a man. **The Beast Within** , which prompted people to accuse Madonna of anti-Semitism, was her reading from the Book Of Revelation over a techno beat with Middle Eastern instrumental elements. I’ve never met the composer of THOSE lyrics, but I heard He’s a pretty big cheese. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/87 "2007-06-10T02:00:45Z")
I remember reading one Gavin Report in 1967 or 1968 in which Bill Gavin was (a huge influence in rock programming in those days) noted growing concern lyrics such as “be mine tonight,” from the anti-rock folks. As a small-town DJ and a teenager, who presumably was picking up all these double entendres, my only reaction was, “Oh, so THAT’S what they meant.” ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/88 "2007-06-10T02:37:10Z")
[QUOTE=Hubert Cumberdale] “Fuck Tha Police” by NWA. [/QUOTE] Just wanted to point out that this one was covered in the OP. 🙂 I remember that someone copied a tape of that particular NWA album for me, and I was _so_ scared that my mom would find out I had it. I listened to it very quietly on my boombox with the bedroom door closed…and memorized every single lyric. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/89 "2007-06-10T03:37:13Z")
[Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_deemed_inappropriate_by_Clear_Channel_following_the_September_11%2C_2001_attacks) is a list of songs deemed to have questionable lyrics after 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/90 "2007-06-10T03:42:13Z")
I find it odd that people didn’t know that Brick was about abortion, it seemed like the subject came up every time that damn song played. I was in college, though, not high school, at the time. A couple of songs I remember people getting all offended by because they misunderstood the songs are “Push” by Matchbox20 and “Sex Type Thing” by Stone Temple Pilots. With the former, if you actually pay attention [to the lyrics](http://www.lyrics007.com/Matchbox%2020%20Lyrics/Push%20Lyrics.html) he’s singing about _her_ wanting to “push you around” not saying that he want’s to hurt her. Way too many people thought it was about a guy abusing his girlfriend. And Sex Type Thing… Many people took it to be pro-rape. I guess whether that’s what was intended is debatable, but IMHO it’s a lot like “Date Rape” by Sublime, and not embracing the action. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/91 "2007-06-10T03:49:41Z")
Wow, I look at the songs listed here and I just get a big meh. Maybe my generation actually is desensitized. > [@gigi](#): > > OMG, I just realized what “I’m down on my knees, I wanna take you there” meant. Now I’m thinking about the lyrics Cartman stole in “Christian Rock Hard” where he just took the lyrics to existing songs, including “I’ve Never Been To Me” and “Three Times A Lady” and then replaced words like “baby” and “darling” and stuck the word “Jesus” in there, resulting in songs with lyrics like “I just want to feel you deep inside me, Jesus” or “I wanna get down on my knees and start pleasing Jesus, I wanna feel his salvation all over my face.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/92 "2007-06-10T03:51:48Z")
[QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman] When I was in grade school (late 1970s), my classmates & I heard a lot about Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” having the lyrics “My Sweet Satan” playing backward in it. My friends & I played that song backward on a reel-to-reel player (remember those?) and heard nothing but garbled noise. We were majorly disappointed. [/QUOTE] If you play the verse that begins, “If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now,” you could allegedly hear this: “Oh here’s to my sweet Satan. The one whose little path would make me sad, whose power is Satan. He will give those with him 666. There was a little toolshed where he made us suffer, sad Satan.” I used Audacity to snip that verse from an MP3 of “Stairway” and reverse it, and I can hear it, vaguely, but I suspect that is my brain filling in what the UL says I’m supposed to hear. Just for kicks, I reversed Pat Boone’s and Dread Zeppelin’s versions of the song and also could hear vaguely the same thing. I am sure it is just coincidental and that you can hear almost anything in a reversed section of random music if you that was what you were prompted to hear. For those of you who want to judge for yourselves, [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairway_to_heaven#Backmasking_Controversy) has a link to the revrsed section of “Stairway” in question. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/93 "2007-06-19T12:22:40Z")
[QUOTE=Diceman] The video for “Like a Prayer” showed a burning cross. That’s what got people riled up. [/QUOTE] Well, that and stigmata, and a black Christ. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/94 "2007-06-19T12:41:37Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] Well, that and stigmata, and a black Christ. [/QUOTE] A black Christ…with whom she made out, no? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/95 "2007-06-19T13:17:51Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] Drugs – The Stones with _Mother’s Little Helper_ [/QUOTE] Hallmark produced a line of musical-chip Mother’s Day cards with that tune. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/96 "2007-06-19T14:36:12Z")
[QUOTE=Kozmik] [Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_deemed_inappropriate_by_Clear_Channel_following_the_September_11%2C_2001_attacks) is a list of songs deemed to have questionable lyrics after 9/11. [/QUOTE] Wow, I hadn’t heard of that. Some of those are certainly a stretch. > [@OneCentStamp](#): > > “Indian Outlaw” may be the dumbest country lyrics I’ve ever read. Hee. But it’s got a catchy tune you can’t help singing along with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171.md?page=4)