And in your world all that is a declaration of love? That’s just frightening. I mean, what else does he have to do? Threaten to shoot you? Isn’t it enough that he’s going to watch everything you do? Is stalking your Love how you show your devotion?
Pepper, I am totally with your responses. I have always thought even the music and vocals were creepy in themselves. When I picture the woman he’s singing to, I always picture the same kind of woman Mick sings about in You Can’t Always Get What You Want. These are men looking at beautiful women they can’t have with contempt. Romantic, huh?
Except, more specifically: “Money is the root of all evil.” NO, it’s NOT!!! If yer gonna quote, quote right. Money is a tool (oh God, don’t let me cross into that thread). It’s the LOVE of money that causes the problems.
I didn’t say I bought that crap as a love song…don’t get me wrong. But if he’s got millions of people telling him what a wonderful love song that was, and it describes their relationships perfectly, then he’s being a little too subtle for his audience (considering the typical Sting fan, that’s entirely possible), or he attracts stalkers. Either way, the sender of the message has to be partially responsible for the misinterpreted message.
The song Shiny Happy People by Michael Stipes and that chick from the B-52s. REM was getting too much bad press that they only did sad and depressing songs. So Michael made Shiny Happy People, a meaningless fluffy song if ever there was one. People lapped it up … completely misinterpreting the ironic message Michael was trying to send. I laugh every time I hear it.
Oh yeah, and the people who were angry about “Natural Born Killers” cause it glorified violence. We glorified violence all by ourselves people. Quentin Tarantino just showed us our future.
Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast. most people think its about saten worship but it’s not. it’s about a dream that Steve Harris had after seeing the movie the Omen.
> Oh yeah, and the people who were angry about “Natural
> Born Killers” cause it glorified violence. We glorified
> violence all by ourselves people. Quentin Tarantino just
> showed us our future.
Except that Quentin Tarantino didn’t direct Natural Born Killers. Oliver Stone did. Tarantino only wrote the first draft of the film, and he didn’t like the subsequent changes made to it.
Sarah McLachlan’s song Possession. Which everyone thinks is a nice love song about two lovers kept apart, so they can only be together in dreams. She wrote it about a STALKER. Lyrics follow:
Speaking of suicide, Ozzy Osbourne’s “Suicide Solution”. Which is about drinking. It would make a lot more sense to haul Robert Altman into court for writing the theme to MAS*H.
And while I’m in this vien, all the goth music and movies (Basketball Diaries) that got blamed for Columbine. Stuff like that KEPT me from slaying self/others in highschool. I have an idea, let’s go after the stuff that did drive me to the brink of suicide and made me want to kill people:Phil Collins, Whitney Huston, Michael Bolton, etc., etc.
“Fight Club”. It does not advocate violence. It does not advocate anything. It is a (dare I say it?) work of art, not propaganda. The problem is you have to think about it.
“Heroes”, Lust for Life, pretty much every song ever used in a commercial.
But the ultimate winner, thanks stoid, is of course the Bible.
Besides the Bible, which has more interpretations than you could ever track down, I have to mention good old Huckleberry Finn. The scene where Huck seriously decides he will go to hell for Jim has been called by some the best moment in all of American literature. It is a scathing indictment of slavery and racism, yet is denounced as a racist book by ignorant people who mistake the package for the message.
Also, the Beatles’ White Album. Sure not many people misunderstand its message, but when they do… Watch out!
Right on, betenoir. This was going to be my example. For the most part, ANYONE who claims a song made their friend/child/whoever, commit suicide is just looking for an excuse.
I’d also like to add Marilyn Manson to the list. I once read something where he was quoted as saying “I don’t promote devil worship, but it’s something I believe in.”. As it turns out, the WHOLE quote went like this: “I don’t promote devil worship, but it’s something I believe in. The same way I believe in the Bible, and Dr. Seuse.”. He’s just playing with people. Like they say, even bad publicity is good publicity.
The movie 2001. Until 2010 came out the first one left the viewer clueless. I still hate 2001. Daisy, Daisy …
Starship Troopers was based on a story about Klendathu writen in the earlier part of this century. A series of stories were published in the science fiction paperbacks after that. I played a game based on the story about 1982, on my Tandy Color Computer.