# Songs you can't play today
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 20, 2026, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799 "2026-07-20T03:34:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 7
### Author:  [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/121 "2026-07-22T20:58:13Z")
I try to consider intent when judging potentially offensive material. For instance, the book and movies _Lolita_ are about a grown man having a sexual relationship with a minor (twelve in the book, fourteen in the movies). But the story doesn’t depict Humbert Humbert’s predilections as excusable or sympathetic. He’s an unreliable narrator, and the story is mainly about the difference between what he is and how he views himself.
I don’t get any of that from _Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School_. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see any irony, unreliable narration, or social commentary in it. It seems to be little more than a 30-year-old guy lusting after 16-year-old girls.
---
### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/122 "2026-07-22T22:05:52Z")
Nick Lowe’s song _I Trained Her to Love Me_ is written from the perspective of a really crappy guy, who sets out to break women’s hearts. It’s written to make him reprehensible, and most people get that. Nick Lowe has reported that some fans really like the song and misinterpret the intent.
> **[Nick Lowe - "I Trained Her To Love Me" (Official Audio)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDgSveQRI9A%2F)**
>
> Listen to "I Trained Her To Love Me" from the compilation Quiet Please: The New Best of Nick Lowe, available from Yep Roc Records. Shop now: https://yeproc.1...
---
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/123 "2026-07-22T23:09:26Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#):
>
> Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to mention that a lot of Ray Stevens early material was stolen from Brother Dave Gardner, including a lot of the things referenced in that song.
>
> HMS\_Irruncible:
And Stevens made Along Came Jones into a hit since some stations wouldnt play the Coasters- who made a much superior version.
How about Joan Jett - “I love Rock and Roll”?
---
### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/124 "2026-07-22T23:50:20Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#):
>
> > [@Kimstu](#):
> >
> > The murder ballad has always been recognized as describing a really transgressive and shocking act, about which the perpetrator generally feels either unavailing remorse or grim determination (if the victim “needed killin’”).
>
> How about the suicide ballad? Maybe _Don’t Fear the Reaper_ has lost its impact after Will Ferrell cowbelled it, but there are others like _Alone Again (Naturally)_ and _Now I Taste the Tears_, a dark country/rock piece from the 1960s that’s been covered by a surprising number of singers. In an era of trigger warnings, would anyone play a song where the singer wants to end it all?
Also, Elton John’s “I Think I’m Going To Kill Myself”:
> _I think I’m gonna kill myself_
> _Cause a little suicide_
> _Stick around for a couple of days_
> _What a scandal if I died…_
---
### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2026, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/125 "2026-07-22T23:59:55Z")
> [@wguy123](#):
>
> I still put them in an entirely different class than the horror punk represented by the Misfits.
I agree. I wouldn’t be so offended if a radical punk band or an avant-garde band did it. But “sing-a-long” Cheap Trick? Disturbing.
---
### Author:  [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2026, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/126 "2026-07-23T02:10:24Z")
Yeah, we’re just going to have to disagree about this one. On their early records Cheap Trick were transgressive when they wanted to be. Pretty much the originators of pop punk.
---
### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2026, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/127 "2026-07-23T12:33:35Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#):
>
> Pretty heavily right wing now. [Example.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFaCytKXOSQ)
>
> Carry on.
Damn, that’s disappointing. Don’t know what I could’ve expected, though.
---
### Author:  [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2026, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/128 "2026-07-23T15:04:23Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> > [@Kent\_Clark](#):
> >
> > > [@Kimstu](#):
> > >
> > > The murder ballad has always been recognized as describing a really transgressive and shocking act, about which the perpetrator generally feels either unavailing remorse or grim determination (if the victim “needed killin’”).
> >
> > How about the suicide ballad? Maybe _Don’t Fear the Reaper_ has lost its impact after Will Ferrell cowbelled it, but there are others like _Alone Again (Naturally)_ and _Now I Taste the Tears_, a dark country/rock piece from the 1960s that’s been covered by a surprising number of singers. In an era of trigger warnings, would anyone play a song where the singer wants to end it all?
>
> Also, Elton John’s “I Think I’m Going To Kill Myself”:
>
> > _I think I’m gonna kill myself_
> > _Cause a little suicide_
> > _Stick around for a couple of days_
> > _What a scandal if I died…_
As teenagers, The Warning released an entire concept album about a woman’s descent from obsession to stalking to abduction to murder to psychotic break to death. As one of the bandmembers described her reaction to the initial concept, "Why is there so much blood?'.
It was transgressive in 2018, it’s transgressive today, and yet the album and the songs are fan favorites in the band’s current live set lists. (though to this day, when discussing the album, they always start by explaining “this is a story we wrote, we don’t condone murder”).
Here’s one of the most popular songs off the album, to this day still a live concert favorite, a pop-punkish rocker about self-mutilation (dull knives cut better because they tear the skin, inflicting more pain)
[The Warning - Dull Knives (Cut Better) Live at Teatro Metropolitan CDMX 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74obH1QgOYY&list=RD74obH1QgOYY&start_radio=1)
Sample lyrics:
> I found out dull knives cut better
> Choke on all my scarlet letters
> Don’t know what I’m feeling anymore
---
### Author:  [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2026, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/129 "2026-07-25T21:30:34Z")
And turns off the comments like a gutless wonder.
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2026, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/130 "2026-07-25T21:42:36Z")
_Date Rape_, by Sublime. The villain who raped a woman is raped in prison.
---
### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2026, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/131 "2026-07-26T01:59:16Z")
I didn’t play this song today, but I played it yesterday.
---
### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2026, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/132 "2026-07-26T03:25:42Z")
There are some lines in Rod Stewart’s _Every Picture Tells a Story_ that make me cringe every time I hear it.
---
### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2026, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/133 "2026-07-26T07:16:23Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> _Date Rape_, by Sublime. The villain who raped a woman is raped in prison.
Well, I can’t take pity on men of his kind.
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/134 "2026-07-26T13:54:50Z")
Nor I; but the song violates the ‘No homosexual prison rape’ rule.
---
### Author:  [@OnlineAlias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OnlineAlias)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/135 "2026-07-26T19:17:48Z")
Christine Sixteen by Kiss.
Domino also by Kiss.
---
### Author:  [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2026, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/136 "2026-07-27T00:49:40Z")
Since no one else has done so, welcome to the Dope!
---
### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2026, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/137 "2026-08-10T07:43:30Z")
So I recently discovered an entire album of calypso music by \< checks notes \> **Robert Mitchum**. Yes, that one.
It’s the sort of record that you might have heard in the background of a 1960s suburban cocktail party - it’s all light and peppy, and Mitchum is actually a decent singer. But…
…he does the accent. Also, “From A Logical Point of View” is one of the tracks. It’s just cringe in all sorts of ways.
---
### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2026, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/138 "2026-08-10T14:11:03Z")
> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> But…
>
> …he does the accent.
I often wonder when early Police records are going to get the axe.
---
### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2026, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/139 "2026-08-10T14:49:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> My friends, I would be glad
> The day I get back to Trinidad
> I know my people would be glad to see
> Me like a monkey climbin’ up the coconut tree
I’m just sayin’.
---
### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2026, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/140 "2026-08-10T15:14:49Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> > [@Gyrate](#):
> >
> > But…
> >
> > …he does the accent.
>
> I often wonder when early Police records are going to get the axe.
Mick Jagger (of course, he also likes to sing in a terrible faux Southern accent whenever the Stones play a country song) did it after Mitchum, but before Sting:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bBygLXdKdE)
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799.md?page=6)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799.md?page=8)