Hehe, but it does seem to fit. One of my bands spontaneously went into a bit of “Rock 'n Roll Pt. 2” the other night. Afterward, I said “Yeah, we can’t play that, though. Also, ‘Do You Wanna Touch Me?’ is right out.”
Almost every Mick Jagger lyric from the mid ‘60s should be on this list but because the songs are so ubiquitous (and catchy) we don’t even pay any attention to the words anymore. If “Under My Thumb” comes on the radio, I’m not switching the channel even though the lyrics are some of the most misogynistic in the history of Pop music.
“Your Love” by the Outfield probably wouldn’t get played much today either.
I don’t think a kangaroo can consent to BDSM, Sport.
I have never interpreted it that way. Never even occurred to me… And I chuckle at The Flintstones and Johnny’s (who came marching home) townspeople being gay. But he does have a very cringy line in Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport. He uses a racial slur, and implies (or almost implies) ownership.
Anything where she’s just 16, or 17, and you know what I mean… yeah we’re all done with that stuff, thankfully. Or at least we’re not singing about it anymore.
wow. That entire song is racist AF.
A more modern song that came to mind is One in a Million by Guns n Roses. However, I see that Superdude beat me to that one.
It still gets played on the radio all the time.
Which one? I’m guessing Superman?
yes, Superman. Having lived in SoCal, the line talking about using towels to dry off Wetb***s crossing the line really jumped out for me.
Yeah and I should be clear that I have no issue with the old meaning of “gay” in a song (nor the new meaning…although obviously not in relation to two little boys playing). I merely meant that it’s part of the reason that a channel / event might be reluctant to use the song…even causing 10% of people to smirk can be a reason to pick something else.
Wow I didn’t know about that – the offending verse got changed in later versions.
It seems a rolf harris album would get more stuff bleeped out than NWA 
Which would totally surprise people back in the 50s and early 60s when these songs were so popular.
In America, most states mandated school only through the age of 16. When we were a working class society in which a high school diploma wasn’t a big deal, lots of kids dropped out of school and got jobs or married or both at 16. Same deal in Britain, except that required schooling ended at 15. The age when a kid could leave school was the age of adulthood, almost exactly the way eighteen is now.
Asking what that age should be is asking for trouble. Society decides somehow. That age used to be 16, now it’s 18. What it will be an another generation is anybody’s guess. That society today should condemn that older society’s choice of number isn’t something I’m comfortable with. Slam general sexism and misogyny at every opportunity. But treating adults as adults is a proper course. Society at that time knew the difference. Look at what happened to Jerry Lee Lewis when society realized his wife was thirteen.
To my knowledge, even though the age of consent is now 18, we don’t have a lot of songs celebrating the conquest of women who are of “barely legal” age. Society has changed. Like a lot of other things that were legal in the 50’s (wife-beating, marital rape), it’s good that we have moved on, and we can certainly condemn the minority of guys of that era who were a little too comfortable operating in the margins.
That’s a good point. Legal age in Germany is still 16, like in the days of “Sweet Little Sixteen”, “I Saw Her Standing There”, “Siebzehn Jahr, Blondes Haar” and others, but try getting away with that kind of song about a sixteen or even eighteen old girl today.
“Kinko The Clown”. Used to be played over the air all the time on The Doctor Demento Show, which used to be syndicated all over the place.
Mellow Yellow:
“I’m just mad about 14. 14’s mad about me…”
WTF, what did I just watch and listen to? When was this shown? Who was the audience? Kids, for god’s sake?
The syndicated radio show Doctor Demento, based for most of the time on KMET (The Mighty Met!), and played on quite a few Saturdays and Sundays in the 70’s and 80’s.
That was my reaction too.
I used to listen to the Doctor Demento Show in the late 80s and I do not recall hearing this song before. I mostly remember Fish Heads, Boot to the Head, Shaving Cream, Star Trekin’, Wheel of Fortune, the Homecoming Queen has got a gun, Pencil Neck Geek, the songs from Little Shop of Horrors, etc.
Run for Your Life by the Beatles. John Lennon had some odd ideas.