To still enjoy songs that I know are politically incorrect?

[Thisismynewname123]

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?

The one artist I’d draw the line at is R Kelly.

I’m trying to justify why it’s ok to listen to Michael Jackson but not R Kelly and I guess the only thing I can think of is that MJ is long dead whereas R Kelly is very much alive and disputes any/ all of the horrific allegations about him. Streaming him just puts money in his hand and helps fund his awful way of life and his legal team.

I listen to Band Aid. I think the song has dated badly but I don’t feel like I’m supporting evil people by enjoying it.

I don’t think they should have released the “new” version of Band Aid though, the one with Coldplay etc in it from maybe 10 years a go? Because surely by then we knew the song had dated badly.

I draw the line at doing anything that would bring an advantage to them, financial or just in publicity.

Michael Jackson for example? He's dead anyway.

I am not going to start burning books or references to artists because of their dodgy background or even because the views are now politically incorrect.

This is such a nuanced and complex issue

One song I found really enjoyable and a relief to listen to is an extremely controversial song by Eminem and Obie Trice called "Drips".

I think the vast majority of people, especially women, listening to the song would consider it to be outrageously misogynist.

The lyrics are x rated, deeply misogynist and refer to the discharge men get from their penises after contracting STIs.

I used to work in a project attached to a GUM clinic and one day had the deeply trauatising experience of having to listen to a loud, obscene, menacing conversation between 2 disgusting men in the waiting room of the mixed clinic about their anxieties that they had caught "the clap" from "them slags" and the violent things they planned to do the "slags" if they had HIV.

The song Drips, while not refecting exactly the conversation between these men, reflected many of the themes they discussed.

These included

Blaming "dirty" women for passing on STIs

Expressing an intention to take vengeance on the women for their perceived crimes in this respect

Regret for not wearing a condom, followed by a disavowal of responsibility and more woman blaming

A paranoid belief that they must "have the AIDS" because of how the doctor looked at them earilier

Thus the song Drips, while expressing deeply and outrageously misogynistic lyrics, is a piece of musical theatre that, with incredible wit and verbal dexterity, exposes some of the vilest beliefs about women and sexual insecurites that some men have.

It is a piece of musical theatre and, I think, is no more an invitation for men to abuse women than Othello is an invitation for jealous men to murder their lovers.

Having had the misfortune to witness this scary conversation (it was intended to be intimidating and I had to call hospital security) I felt a sense of relief and recognition when I heard the song Drips as it meant that someone else could imagine that these kinds of beliefs might be prevalent amongst some men.

It also describes the difficulty that many men eperience when sexually excited to do the right thing and wear a condom and describes the symptoms of STIs in graphic details.

The outrageous skill of the rhyming and the lyrics demonstrate, to astute listeners, that this is musical theatre rather than an invitation to hate women.

Having said that I think it is entirely possible that some disturbed young men might listen to this and not understand that it is meant to be dark satire

I had a recent conversation with a 30 something woman who was very into Eminem when she was a teen and feels that the songs influenced her in a harmful way (she got into drugs and partying to a dangerous level and is now drug free and working hard in a caring profession).

I'm just saying that a song that is helpful for some people might be harmful for others.

NSFW 18+ very misogynist lyrics

As I said on another thread about 'Do they know it's Christmas?' what you have to remember is that in 1984 there was no quick and easy way to donate to a charitable cause that had made you desperate to do something.

No internet. No Faster Payments. No Direct Debits. No debit cards. No electronic payments - credit cards could only be used manually, with the card imprinted onto carbon paper which the cardholder then signed.

If you wanted to give to charity, you'd have to send off a cheque/postal order or (if you had bank details) queue up at the bank to make a bank giro payment. Or you could wait until you came across a collection tin.

Buying a record was a quick and accessible thing that anyone could do to donate to a good cause. In those days, records were sold in high street shops such as Boots, WHSmith and Woolworths.

A record would also raise awareness in a way nothing else could do with no internet and only 4 TV channels.

I do listen to some music with foul language, or language that is not acceptable nowadays. Though I do draw a line on some music, such as that by Eminem referred to above. There is some music I won't listen to any more either viewing it as dated (such as Band Aid) or because of something done or said by the artist (no more Morrissey).

For anyone genuinely interested in learning why the Band Aid song may be viewed as problematic by modern standards, I'd recommend following NoWhiteSaviours on Instagram. I've learned an awful lot and have challenged my own preconceptions and stereotypes.

I think Feed the World is at best (naively) imperialist but by definition cannot be described as racist.

I don't like the white saviour thing but in the situation Ethiopia was in at that time I think we all needed to rise above what colour people were. The wealthy west was damned if it did and damned if it didn't. In the circumstances I think it was better to be damned for feeding starving children than to be damned for turning our backs.

I think you also have to consider that Geldof and Bono are Irish and Ireland has a different association to famine and to the Great Famine being ignored by people who could have greatly mitigated it.

No good deed goes unpunished.

The artists picked out always seem to be ones that people weren’t going to listen to that much anyway.

What about Bowie or Led Zeppelin?

Why do we still teach Byron’s poetry?

If we applied these standards fairly, there would be huge amounts of art missing.

The criticisms of the Band Aid song were made at the time too. I remember reading them in a Spitting Image book.

We like to pretend we know better now, but the truth is there have always been controversies and different opinions.

Even more so with Little Britain and with all the Royston Vasey stuff. It was always meant to be quite offensive.

The difference now isn’t that people are more aware of offence; the difference now is that people now are more authoritarian and think offensive things should be banned or censored, or think that people who enjoy offensive things should be educated or shamed.

I have had to have conversations with my young adult children that you really can’t use today’s eyes (and ears) to judge what was acceptable years ago

People said things, write things, used vocabulary, sang things, works of art/painting etc based on what was acceptable in their time. Those things may not be acceptable today. We can’t judge them today based on a different time.

For Band Aid in particular, the intention was for good. Ideas/words - were all acceptable at the time and by far their intention was to help, not be racist so to even consider that is ludicrous.

I did consider holiday songs when Baby it’s Cold Outside came on the Alexa holiday song station but decided to continue to listen as you can’t pass judgement of today’s standard to then and I’d enjoyed singing the song for years

Feed the world wouldn't be written today and also the ones that wrote it did admit was all very rushed because they needed to get it cut in time for Christmas.
However, if the royalties go to the same good cause then that is a good thing.
There have been a few remakes , but you never hear them on the radio
I'm uncomfortable listening to MJ and others but as my son said, you have to disengage the singer with the song you like sometimes..
Not easy to do though.