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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To still enjoy songs that I know are politically incorrect?

139 replies

Thisismynewname123 · 25/12/2020 18:54

Sitting here watching MTV's Christmas hits. My favourite song is still Band Aid's Feed the World, despite knowing it's clearly ignorant and racist (or at best, no longer appropriate). Then next co es on Michael Jackson's Earth Song. I usually make an effort not to listen to MJ anyway, but I still love singing to his songs. Can you separate the musician from their life, or their message, or just enjoy listening to a song that is no longer politically appropriate?

OP posts:

IsItJustMeOrIsIt · 25/12/2020 20:32

What is racist about Feed The World?!

CrazyToast · 25/12/2020 20:33

I often like songs that I 'shouldn't', even really misogynisitic ones. I do judge myself a bit.

HidingInTheToiletFor5minsPeace · 25/12/2020 20:33

Woke*

LivingDeadGirlUK · 25/12/2020 20:33

I do find it odd that MJ is still played but having read the comments on the BBC article about his ranch being sold ot seems a lot of people are in denial about him O_o

I used to quite like Lostprophets but now would not listen to them, as far as I'm aware they are not played on rock radio or in clubs anymore at all.

As a side note there is so much misogyny in music, will this ever be seen as 'problematic' as they say on twitter?

adreamofspring · 25/12/2020 20:34

I’m sad I can’t listen to R Kelly any more. I also love Fairytale of New York. I’m totally on board with the change of words i.e dropping f**t but surely it should count for all songs. Money for nothing by Dire Straits says it about 15 times and no one’s called for that to change.

LadyFlumpalot · 25/12/2020 20:38

I used to love the LostProphets, but after the news came out about Ian Watkins I couldn't listen to them again.

Polyxena · 25/12/2020 20:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TroysMammy · 25/12/2020 20:39

Feed the World - "Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you" not racist but quite nasty.

Nevanna · 25/12/2020 20:39

Why would you not listen to Michael Jackson? He was never convicted of anything?

SwankyPants · 25/12/2020 20:40

One of my fav Xmas songs is by Gary Glitter.
I still listen to it

TonTonMacoute · 25/12/2020 20:40

I won't listen to MJ. Presumably you wouldn't watch Jim'll Fix It now, it's no different

I'm sorry but it is very different. Michael Jackson had genuine musical talent, his songs are enjoyed by many, and have personal associations for lots of people. People buy music they love and listen to it again and again.

Jim'll Fix It was an ephemeral entertainment show that you would never want to watch again even without the Savile backstory.

Katjolo · 25/12/2020 20:40

You are right OP.

Sindragosan · 25/12/2020 20:41

@gothicsprout

I heard a truly awful cover of Baby It’s Cold Outside recently, including a little repeated chorus of ‘you retain the right to say no’ at some point

The original may be problematic, but this was just joyless.

That is joyless.

The original isn't problematic if you consider social norms of the time, where premarital sex and staying over at a man's house was inappropriate. Hence "my brother will be suspicious" "my maiden aunts mind is vicious". The song is about the old story of "I tried to come home, honest, but couldn't because reasons, and nothing happened, really."

tuttifuckinfruity · 25/12/2020 20:42

I guess the issue with MJ is that he was never actually proven guilty, so there's always the possibility he hasn't done anything. Unlike, for example, Gary Glitter.

Also, MJ's music is superb and so many people still absolutely love it. I don't go out of my way to listen to it, but I the rare occasions I hear it I am reminded of how incredibly talented he was. Gary Glitter's music was shite therefore I guess it's not an issue.

Feed The World was a song written with great intentions and did (incredibly well) what it set out to do. I don't think it's racist. Perhaps a little misguided by today's standards, but it did its job spectacularly well in the 80s.

As regards The Pogues lyrics being dubbed out, meh. I agree with a PP, I don't think history should be erased. I wish people could just listen to it, appreciate it for what it is, and realise and accept that things were different then. Everybody I know if capable of doing that. I don't think I know many of these people who complain about things like that.

VicMackey · 25/12/2020 20:42

Charles Manson made a few recordings too 😂

tuttifuckinfruity · 25/12/2020 20:42

@TroysMammy

Feed the World - "Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you" not racist but quite nasty.

I have always thought that was a bit of an odd line. I wonder if they just really couldn't get anything else to fit, or something?

lynsey91 · 25/12/2020 20:43

Sorry but I love Michael Jackson's music and play it quite a lot.

JudyGemstone · 25/12/2020 20:45

I'm pretty much a radical feminist in my politics but I do love rap and hip hop - some of the lyrics are shockingly misogynistic, especially older stuff but I can get past it, although it does make me wince a bit to sing along to say 'Fuck You' by Dre

DappledOliveGroves · 25/12/2020 20:46

@TonTonMacoute

I won't listen to MJ. Presumably you wouldn't watch Jim'll Fix It now, it's no different

Jim'll Fix It was an ephemeral entertainment show that you would never want to watch again even without the Savile backstory.

Exactly. Michael Jackson was talented. His songs were brilliant and he was an excellent entertainer. I can separate the music from the man's actions.

Jimmy Saville was dire. I remember as a child thinking his shows were awful and that the man was dreadful.

I abhor this woke, virtue-signalling approach to life. Should we take half the paintings out of the National Gallery because the artists may have led less than perfect lives or had strange sexual proclivities? Should we ban books that were written hundreds of years ago because they expressed a different viewpoint and culture?

VicMackey · 25/12/2020 20:46

Jimmy saville was never ‘found guilty’ either

ReceptacleForTheRespectable · 25/12/2020 20:47

@TroysMammy

Feed the World - "Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you" not racist but quite nasty.

Do you take everything this literally?

It quite clearly means "there but for the grace of God..." It's about acknowledging that the famine victims are human beings, just like you and I. That nothing makes us special or different, and if life were different it could just as easily be us slowly starving to death.

I can't believe anybody could fail to get that tbh.

Fatladyslim · 25/12/2020 20:48

My favourite Christmas songs are Santa Baby, Baby It's Cold Outside and Fairytale Of New York

The lyrics may not be pc now but they are bloody good songs.
Feed the world is okay, bit the best but certainly not the worst. I ways took the 'tongiht thank God its them instead of you' line to mean you should count yourself lucky if you had the privilege to be born out of extreme famine and poverty. Nothing odd about that at all.

anon444877 · 25/12/2020 20:48

Where do you stop? I was listening to Phil spector's Christmas album the other day and this morning I put my favourite film for a while as a child 'the jungle book' on and it comes with a big warning about being inappropriate now.

hibbledibble · 25/12/2020 20:49

Yabu to label 'Feed the world' as racist.

I also dislike the woke virtue signalling that is becoming increasingly common nowadays, in labelling everything racist.

Utterlyshafted · 25/12/2020 20:49

I don't understand why Feed The World is racist? I honestly thought it was a song about the suffering of those in famine and drought compared to those planning feasts and enjoying festivities.

^ This

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