Disturbing Songs

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How do you usually deal with songs you like that also have lyrics you find disturbing (such as sex, violence, or swearing)?

I like music with disturbing lyrics~~I like all kinds of music, but am particularly drawn to controversy and things that shock and provoke (not just music, but all forms of art). It's important to challenge peoples' sensibilities from time to time, widen the landscape of what there is to draw from, and have respect for the artists' vision (even if we may not care for the artwork itself). Censorship, to me, is more offensive than any song lyric someone could blurt out. Besides, art imitates life, and sex, violence, swearing, and other stuff are part of life.

This. Exactly. Most of the time so-called "shock rock" actually does have a message, it's just being delivered in an unconventional and transgressive way. Other times it can be used as satire. I understand if people just don't want to listen to music with such content, but don't prevent others from expressing themselves in their own way.

One of my all-time favorite bands is GWAR, and their bread and butter is writing grotesque and offensive lyrics, though they do so with an obviously puerile sense of humor which no one in their right mind could take seriously, and most of the time they use it to satirize cultural and political topics. I generally prefer hearing gruesome lyrics executed as such, as opposed to, for example, bands in the "goregrind" sub-genre of metal who write only to shock without a trace of irony. It's boring.

As a comparison, a comedian can write a funny routine using profanity, but the profanity by itself is not inherently funny, if that makes any sense. That's how I feel about such lyrics.

That has got to be the most horrifying thing I've heard all day. Why is it important to challenge people's sensibilities?

Speaking as someone living in the U.S., I get my sensibilities "challenged" constantly by the non-stop real-life violence that occurs here, augmented by being treated like sh*t by random people in the street from time to time. Don't even get me started on movies and the Internet. Do you honestly think that any of us needs more of that?

"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable."

Is it more important to confront societal taboos and issues which affect non-privileged American whites than it is to simply sweep them under the rug? Yes. Sometimes relying on explicit shock is much more resonant. The Dead Kennedys heavily addressed topics like genocide and famine back when such things would be condensed to thirty-second blurbs on the 6:00 news. Feminist riot grrrl bands like Bikini Kill sang explicitly about rape and sexism while queercore bands like Pansy Divison sang explicitly about HIV and AIDS at a time when nobody on the radio would even mention those things if they wanted airtime. They used blunt, shocking language and horrific imagery not merely to be "cool", but because they had actual messages which were either being ignored or overly-sugarcoated by the media. They were deliberately challenging peoples' sensibilities.

Good "shock" intends to make its audience reflect on its subject matter. As far as "shock for the sake of shock"? Well, it depends. I gave my reasons why I love GWAR so much because they so heavily rely on humor and satire, but as far as just being gratuitous with a straight face...guess it just comes down to personal taste in lyrics. I highly doubt anyone who would listen to genres called "goregrind" or "pornogrind" are having their sensibilities challenged by the lyrics.

It's important cuz if peoples' sensibilities are never challenged, they become complacent with life. This leads to people living in a perpetual state of denial, as well as character stagnation. As humans, we always need to be learning, growing, and evolving. That means sometimes coming face to face with hard truths, such as life is not always pretty.

I used to get offended over certain profanities, so what I did, I forced myself to speak aloud and listen to music with these profanities until eventually they didn't bother me anymore. I like not being offended more than I like being offended.

So it's only important for some number of people in the world who aren't having their sensibilities challenged by real life and other media: in other words, a very privileged minority.



Wait a minute. It seems like you are assuming that these people aren't getting this information in a less gruesome format, that they are completely clueless. Having listenend to a wide range of music in my life, it seems unlikely that most of the lyrics are about are things that most people in the intended audience haven't heard of, or couldn't easily hear about somewhere else. Most people don't get their news from songs and don't need to.

What are you talking about? Who said anything about news? I was talking about art and the way it affects people. What good is art if it doesn't at least stir an emotion?

Look, I'm not here to get into a drawn-out, heated debate with anyone. I just wanted to put my two cents in. Feel free to disagree with me if you want.

I meant "news" in the generic sense: what sorts of things are happening in the world, since you mentioned controversy, art imitating life, people being complacent with life, and life not being pretty. "Disturbing" lyrics are usually about concrete occurences, rather than generic statements about life being "rough," and you seem to imply that people don't already know about these sorts of things, so I called it news.



Well, that's a whole 'nother discussion since the usefulness of art is entirely subjective, but I don't see it as relevant to this discussion since there are practically an unlimited number of ways to stir up emotions that don't involve assaulting the listener's mind with slurs, descriptions of violent acts, and so forth.


I don't see this discussion as "heated," or headed that way. I just don't understand your point because you describe these sorts of lyrics as if they give people something they aren't getting elsewhere. If you don't want to respond, you obviously don't have to.

I listen to a lot of stuff other people consider weird or disturbing, but barely any of it disturbs me at all. I actually find songs that are violent, depressing, or otherwise dark to be quite cathartic to listen to. That being said, I'm not a fan of the overly-misogynistic rap s**t that's out there, and I won't listen to bands that promote white supremacy.

Why single out rap as misogynistic? Sexism and objectification exists in almost every genre, something I learned most bluntly when I got into '70s hard rock and '80s hair metal. Heck, there's a lot of '50s rock and roll songs which are blatantly sexist. Double heck, even Frankie and the Rat Pack aren't exactly considered feminist icons.

I'm not a rap fan per se (hip hop, yes, which is not as often associated with such), but it always strikes me as odd how that's the number one genre called out for having sex and violence in its lyrics, as if it doesn't exist anywhere else. I mean, I've listened to a lot of landmark rap albums, and the lyrics I've heard typically address social and political issues from an inner-city perspective, not the least of which is urban violence, something which is thoroughly condemned, not glorified. There are likely exceptions, sure, but I can't bring myself to believe they're the majority.

I have to emphatically emphasize that I'm not at ALL saying this about YOU, mr_bigmouth, but generally I know in most cases, people who complain about "the rap music" haven't actually listened to rap and are just using it as a PC code word to express their prejudice towards black people and culture. Just a hunch I get, considering I've only ever heard those comments from older white people.

^I've tried listening to rap, and a lot of my friends like it, but I could never really get into it. I do listen to some artists that are influenced by it though, as well as some rap-rock bands like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.

I know that misogyny isn't exclusive to rap music, as it features in rock as well, but from reading and listening to rap lyrics, it just seems like sexism is a more prominant feature of that genre. I'd have more respect for rap if there weren't so many songs that were just about glamorizing "money, drugs, and b*****s", so to speak.

I'm well aware of the existance of "protest rap", songs with lyrics tackling social issues, racism, and inner-city life, but it just doesn't seem as common nowadays as the money/drugs/b*****s fluff I mentioned above. I'll admit that my exposure has been limited, and that I mainly base my opinions on rap music around what I've heard other people listen to.

Speaking of which, what are some rap songs or albums you recommend to someone who isn't into it? I'm willing to try new things, and heck, I listen to stuff now that I wouldn't have dreamt of listening to 5 years ago.

I added bolding

So far the discussion has been about listening to music that challenges the sensibilities of other people but leaves your own unchallenged. But this doesn't seem to be quite the question that starkid was asking. How do you deal with music that challenges your sensibilities? Not the sensibilities of a theoretical listener that you think ought to be challenged but your own personal ones?

I voted that I stop listening to it entirely. There are not a huge number of songs that challenge my sensibilities but from time to time one comes along. Most recently it was a Siousxie and the Banshees song. I got her boxed set and put it all in my itunes library and listened to it all byut one song was so horrifying that I immediately deleted it from my library and can't even give you the name since I forgot it on purpose. In this song, she describes some arcane method of torture whereby a person is sewn up inside a dead animal but for their head. And then left there. It gave me nightmares and I can't unlisten to it. It challenged my sensibilities quite a bit. Did I learn anything useful and enlightening from that challenge? I really don't think so. It lived up to the "disturb the comfortable" part of that aphorism. I suppose Siouxsie Sioux was pushing boundaries. Why? I don't know. Because the boundaries are there?

In any case, what do you do if you encounter lyrics that disturb you, not some other person you think ought to be disturbed?

My sensibilities aren't challenged easily. When something offends me, it only fascinates me. Why do I consider it offensive? Does this exist solely to shock, or is there an actual message behind it? I'm not going to dismiss an artist's work solely because I personally find it aesthetically or morally unpleasant. To me, that's as shallow as saying "oh, I don't like the colors in this painting so I think it's garbage". I know I'm in the minority, thus is why my posts focus more on the general use - and ardent defense - of shock/transgressive lyricism.

For the life of me, after several minutes of thorough Googling, I can't only not locate the Siouxsie song you're talking about but I can't even find any information on the supposed method of torture you're referencing. Siouxsie often talks at length about the meanings behind her usually cryptic lyrics, so it would be foolish to immediately dismiss anything she writes as merely "pushing boundaries". I can't speak conclusively on the matter, unfortunately.

I was wondering about that. I just assumed that the other commenters were talking about songs that disturbed them as well as other people.

It makes sense that other people didn't interpret my question correctly, because a couple of posters are talking about songs as if they don't mind the lyrics, which confused me.