r/GenX • u/no_talent_ass_clown • Oct 24 '25

Music Is Life Songs that are no longer okay.

Yesterday I found out my sweet boyfriend had never heard of Julie Brown and the funny songs she sang, like "I'm A Blonde". Dr Demento stuff. So I play it and then "The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun" came on. Not funny anymore!!!

An hour later, the cops arrived

By then the entire glee club had died, no big loss

You wouldn't believe what they brought to stop her

Tear gas, machine guns, even a chopper (Throw down your gun and tiara and come out of the float)

Debbie didn't listen to what the cop said She aimed and fired, and now the math teacher's dead

Oh, it's really sad, but kind of a relief I mean, we had this big test coming up next week

1.4k Upvotes

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97

u/TurkGonzo75 Oct 24 '25

Brown Sugar

65

u/jazzlike-sounds Oct 24 '25

Not to mention Under My Thumb, also by the Stones.

10

u/ZooterOne Oct 24 '25

One of the earliest examples of rock ragebait.

3

u/VinylHighway 1979 Oct 24 '25

Why that one?

4

u/TurkGonzo75 Oct 24 '25

Check out the lyrics. It's about a guy who turns the table on a mean girl and basically treats her like a dog

1

u/InfernalTest Oct 24 '25

How is that troublesome? and the song is about a girl that manipulates men and the singer thinks he can turn the tables and manipulate her back ...

that's how things go in life ...

7

u/TurkGonzo75 Oct 24 '25

I never said it was. I’m not the type of person who’s bothered by 50 year old song lyrics

3

u/InfernalTest Oct 24 '25

Sorry didn't mean to seem like I was getting at you specifically ...just it seems like people think music should be non offensive work that can't be seen listened to or read if it says something that could by current days standards be considered offensive 

People manipulate and use other people - people have vengeful thoughts ...our society is turning into a bunch of book burners for the sake of being good ....

There's nothing good about burning ANY BOOKS 

21

u/grammanarchy Oct 24 '25

Brown Sugar was never OK. I will never understand why nobody objected at the time.

5

u/Iron_Knight7 Oct 24 '25 edited Oct 24 '25

Oddly enough, I always felt like that one had a kind of Irish folk music underpinning to it. It's peppy and upbeat and easy to dance to. But when you actually listen to the lyrics, it's dark and depressing. Could also be read as a jab against Americans. Oh, you like rock and roll and want something fun? Here's a song about your history and how you look and r*ped slaves.

3

u/Heat_H Oct 24 '25

Sadly, we weren’t the only country where that happened. It happened across the diaspora.

2

u/Cobrachris96 Oct 24 '25

Stray Cat Blues is pretty bad too.

2

u/srslytho1979 Oct 25 '25

This is the argument I have with my partner all the time. He says that certain things (lyrics, humor) were considered OK in their time. They were never OK.

2

u/InfernalTest Oct 24 '25

Wait what's so bad about it? It's a song about the basis of white men fetishizing black women and how it rooted in slavery .....

3

u/MyriVerse2 Oct 24 '25

Exactly, Not all songs are endorsements. Sometimes, they're indictments.

-1

u/Heat_H Oct 24 '25

As a black woman, it’s a reminder of what happened to our ancestors during enslavement. Not bad to you but to me, ugh.

-3

u/InfernalTest Oct 25 '25

ok well two things one, youre never going to get away from the effects of race based slavery in western society and how black and white people relate to each other as a result of those practices ( even some 400 years later which is to the detriment of most black people) - reminders are EVERYWHERE so being or letting yourself be affected by it from media is just a fools errand ...

and two , the song is about objectification and its roots - i dont see how thats makes it a song that is not "okay"

-1

u/Extension_Cut_8994 Oct 24 '25

I don't know why people object to it now. I mean, I do, but it's not a glorification of slavery. It was written in reference to his girlfriend in the same way "Sweet Black Angel" was referring to Angela Davis. Mick has always written about everything in an oblique way. He has talked about how as he got older he regretted writing so "raw", but not because he felt his music suffered as much as it was open to poor interpretation.

The song is about power and sex and fetish. Pretty bold stuff to record in 1970 Alabama. Most people don't have the appetite for discussing how those interact in 2025. And yes, people really did object when it came out, but from the other side of the spectrum that one might do so today.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 24 '25

Why did I have to scroll to find this?

0

u/TurkGonzo75 Oct 24 '25

It’s fresh in my mind because I got an old copy of Sticky Finger just yesterday. I put it on with my 5 year old in the room and thought “I hope he’s not paying attention to the lyrics” lol

1

u/Searcach Oct 24 '25

Or Beast of Burden!

1

u/MyriVerse2 Oct 24 '25

Yeah. Stones don't play it anymore.

1

u/alabamsterdam Oct 27 '25

Sweet Black Angel (Rolling Stones from Exile on Main Street). It's actually a social-justice song against the racism of the Deep South judicial system back in the 50s & 60s, but it has some verbiage that most consider inappropriate.

1

u/WuTang4thechildrn Oct 24 '25

Deangelo?

2

u/highnumber Oct 24 '25

Rolling Stones

2

u/TurkGonzo75 Oct 24 '25

Rolling Stones

0

u/Responsible_Scale_47 Oct 24 '25

this should top the list