So what's the point of "Kids Bop" albums?

[delphica]

@Lamia

There was an article on Slate a while back that talked about how the type of content considered too “questionable” for Kidz Bop has expanded considerably over the years. For instance, references to lipstick in Taylor Swift songs have been replaced.

The one that cracked me up the most was the Kidz Bop version of Fight Song. Now, I think the actual Fight Song is perfectly fine for kids (possibly not anyone else). But they still managed to change something:

The original:
I might only have one match
But I can make an explosion

Kidz Bop:
I might only have one chance
But I can make an explosion

It slays me that they took out MATCH. Yet left EXPLOSION. Were the writers sitting around thinking it was wrong to encourage kids to play with matches? The action of exploding something still remains.

[JRDelirious]

@delphica

It slays me that they took out MATCH. Yet left EXPLOSION. Were the writers sitting around thinking it was wrong to encourage kids to play with matches? The action of exploding something still remains.

Yes but now you have removed the mention of a specific potential destructive action that is within easy reach of kids (lighting matches) vs. some undetermined-mechanism explosion. Bowdlerization most often IS confusing these days.

[suranyi]

@GrumpyBunny

I was born in 1969, so was 6 in 1975. I don’t think the Ramones were on the radio by 1975, but by the time I was 9 or 10, yes. I listened to the local rock station, and friends had older siblings that played the Ramones. My mom didn’t censor books or music.

Neither did mine. Nevertheless I didn’t listen regularly to pop/rock until I was maybe 11 or 12 years old. I didn’t tend to hang around older people who could have introduced me to it earlier.

[bump]

@GrumpyBunny

I was Kidz Bop music aged in the 1970s and early 1980s, and I can’t imagine listening to that instead of the actual artists. I would’ve missed out on Bowie, Queen, Deep Purple, the Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Boston, Van Halen, ZZ Top, the Clash, and the Ramones (all of which were in heavy rotation on the local rock station). Though perhaps Kidz Bop would’ve covered artists like Blondie, Olivia Newton-John, and Fleetwood Mac instead.

That was kind of my thinking as well; I just listened to whatever my parents listened to on the radio as a kid (Dad: Country, Mom: Top 40), and then when I got my own, I just tuned it to whatever I liked. (mostly Top 40, with some R&B).

I kind of think my parents more or less had the attitude that there was little point in trying to shelter me from whatever was on the radio, as music is somewhat ubiquitous.

I suppose a lot of the Kids Bop parents would be horrified to think that my wife listens to Pride Radio most of the time while driving the rug rats around, since she likes dance music.

[actualliberalnotoneofthose]

People are more comfortable with their kids singing about fucking if it comes from listening to another kid singing it, I guess.

[suranyi]

@bump

That was kind of my thinking as well; I just listened to whatever my parents listened to on the radio as a kid (Dad: Country, Mom: Top 40), and then when I got my own, I just tuned it to whatever I liked. (mostly Top 40, with some R&B).

I kind of think my parents more or less had the attitude that there was little point in trying to shelter me from whatever was on the radio, as music is somewhat ubiquitous.

I suppose a lot of the Kids Bop parents would be horrified to think that my wife listens to Pride Radio most of the time while driving the rug rats around, since she likes dance music.

See, it’s not that I was deliberately sheltered as a child, it’s just that my parents only like classical music, so that’s all they ever listened to. Once I finally starting hearing pop music from my friends they didn’t care what I listened to.

[Jophiel]

@actualliberalnotoneofthose

People are more comfortable with their kids singing about fucking if it comes from listening to another kid singing it, I guess.

That’s pretty much the opposite of these covers. They’re sanitized so any reference to fucking is removed.

Relevant Simpsons Clip

[delphica]

@bump

I suppose a lot of the Kids Bop parents would be horrified to think that my wife listens to Pride Radio most of the time while driving the rug rats around, since she likes dance music.

I think it’s hard to measure what “a lot” is – and I agree, I think “a lot” of the parents are in it for the sanitized music, but I also think “a lot” of the parents are also listening to Pride Radio with the kids. I get the impression that the “sanitizing parents” (for lack of a better term) are the most vocal market segment, but not an overwhelming majority. Maybe I am tending to see the other parents who are the most like me, but when I’ve talked to other moms and dads about it, we’re all in the “well, it’s puzzling, because we are fine listening to regular pop music, but whatever, the kids seem to enjoy it” camp.

[Emmy2635]

My kids love Kidz Bop too and it drives me crazy that my husband buys the Kidz Bop versions of songs instead of the originals. Now I’m going to have to buy all of these damn songs again when the kids turn 12 and Kidz Bop is too juvenile for them.

[Nava]

My parents didn’t listen to the radio, what they had on tapes and records was all older than their marriage, and the babysitter only listened to interminable runs of Los Pecos (this song is on the quick side for them).

Parchis’ redos of pop and r’n’r hits from the last 15 years were a lot better to bounce with. Heck, even the Smurfs had more bop than that stuff…