# Oddest song controversies that you can remember. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 13, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-song-controversies-that-you-can-remember/704575 "2014-11-13T22:36:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-song-controversies-that-you-can-remember/704575/101 "2014-11-20T19:26:02Z")
NVM, I thought the OP said “earliest,” not “oddest.” ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-song-controversies-that-you-can-remember/704575/102 "2014-11-20T23:40:00Z")
Was there not a controversy or incident involving “Jeremy” by Pear Jam? Can’t remember well, but a boy went on a shooting rampage, or committed suicide after being inspired by that song? Maybe I am imagining it. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-song-controversies-that-you-can-remember/704575/103 "2014-11-21T05:40:09Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > Soooort of. In Glee, it was played for maximum awkwardness. Monteith sang it to the parents of his girlfriend as his way of announcing that she was unexpectedly pregnant. Joy was not the foremost emotion in the room. It was even more awkward than that, because…the girlfriend (Quinn) wasn’t actually having _his_ baby. The Cory Monteith character (Finn) believed he was the father, but Quinn had become pregnant after a one-night stand with Finn’s best friend. > [@Nema98](#): > > Was there not a controversy or incident involving “Jeremy” by Pear Jam? Can’t remember well, but a boy went on a shooting rampage, or committed suicide after being inspired by that song? Maybe I am imagining it. Prosecutors in the [1996 Frontier Middle School shooting case](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Middle_School_shooting) argued that the shooter, Barry Loukaitis, had deliberately planned his crimes and had drawn inspiration from the video for “Jeremy” as well as other violent media. Loukaitis had plead not guilty by reason of insanity, and I don’t know that he ever claimed “Jeremy” had any influence on his crimes. I was (and remain) a big Pearl Jam fan and I remember hearing about this case, but it’s not my recollection that there was much in the way of public controversy over the song/video after the Frontier Middle School shooting. The video had been released in 1992 and even before the shooting was rarely seen on MTV anymore. As for the song itself, the suicide of the title character is only implied by [the lyrics](http://pearljam.com/music/lyrics/all/all/20924/jeremy) and there’s no reference to guns or shooting at all. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-song-controversies-that-you-can-remember/704575/104 "2014-11-21T06:49:15Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > Was there not a controversy or incident involving “Jeremy” by Pear Jam? Can’t remember well, but a boy went on a shooting rampage, or committed suicide after being inspired by that song? Maybe I am imagining it. [Pear Jam?](http://www.baldwins.co.uk/media/catalog/product/i/m/imperial_pear_4_2.jpg) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-song-controversies-that-you-can-remember/704575/105 "2014-11-21T07:48:51Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > Was there not a controversy or incident involving “Jeremy” by Pear Jam? Can’t remember well, but a boy went on a shooting rampage, or committed suicide after being inspired by that song? I’m not aware of any suicides inspired by the music video – perhaps a few, but anonymous suicides never make the news in the way killing sprees do. The video was extremely popular in the year it came out – it swept the MTv Awards, and was nominated for a couple Grammys. Those sort of accolades, especially critics and pundits praising how it addressed the issue of school bullying, made the song somewhat immune to controversy in a way that Marilyn Manson was not. (It’s also true that school shootings – or Marilyn Manson, for that matter – wouldn’t become a common, everyday thing until years later.) ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-song-controversies-that-you-can-remember/704575/106 "2014-11-21T16:22:10Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > [Pear Jam?](http://www.baldwins.co.uk/media/catalog/product/i/m/imperial_pear_4_2.jpg) 🙂 Please it was a typo. Thanks for setting the record straight regarding the song everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-song-controversies-that-you-can-remember/704575/107 "2014-11-21T17:08:06Z")
Noone’s mentioned [Lake Shore Drive](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Shore_Drive_(song)) by Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah yet? I’m surprised. The song got banned from the airwaves in a few places, due to the lyrics “slippin on by on LSD”. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-song-controversies-that-you-can-remember/704575/108 "2014-11-21T17:28:19Z")
“Relax” Frankie Goes To Hollywood? ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-song-controversies-that-you-can-remember/704575/109 "2014-11-21T21:24:10Z")
I remember some more: Madonna: “Like A Prayer” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-song-controversies-that-you-can-remember/704575.md?page=5)