Or maybe you still love it, but now you have a different perspective.
Stinkfist - Tool
You think from the title it would be obvious. Never thought why it was named like that until after I realized what the song was about.
Finger deep inside. This may hurt a little, but it’s something you get used to. Relax…turn around and take my hand …
It’s about anal fisting, yes, but only as a metaphor for the desensitization caused by modern life. It’s got layers
Like an ogre
Not saying I don’t like the song. Great song
Just the song hits slightly different after you realize what “Relax, turn around and take my hand” can mean.
I’m surprised at the number of people who don’t know Weezer’s “Hashpipe” is about male prostitution.
In my late teens one of my friend gave me thumb stick with some poorly tagged mp3 mess. It was mostly black metal which I kind of liked (still do, some of it, sometimes when the mood is right). Years later I found out it was compilation of some NSBM bullshit. Not that it mattered in lyrics, as it was allindistinguishable, impossible to hear in true black metal “recorded band jam on a tape in one go from room next door” style, but still… People producing that pretty good music were probably the most degenerate retards in their countries (from USA, through France to Russia).
NSBM?
National Socialist (Nazi) black metal
Oh. Yikes!
Already explained by others, so basically they were/are nazi scum.
“All that she wants” by Ace of Base. I read a deep dive into the band and it seems like they may have been formed after a neo-nazi group and that song might be about Jews trying to dilute the bloodline… so yeah kinda weird now.
What!!! I wish this wasn’t a thing. But thanks for the info. Arrrrgh though…
Ooof, TIL…
Oh fuck, no way.
Ok, I read thenlink and the bassist was an opely total piece of shit before joining the band but I didn’t see anyhing about the AoB songs being hidden propaganda or the rest of the band’s history. Where does the speculation come from?
https://www.cracked.com/blog/how-90s-pop-band-secretly-sold-nazism-to-america
That was my first exposure to the theory, I’ve never been able to confirm nor deny it conclusively, especially since cracked.com back in those times was only mostly satire. Like 99% of the pieces were satire, and then they’d publish something that wasn’t satire, and this could be a good example of that. Either way, I bought their CD way back when.
That seems completely serious and not satire at all. Since I never saw the videos, my assumption was that ‘wants another baby’ was wanting multiple partners as in ‘I love you baby’, not a literal baby. The six pointed stars and the cradle is pretty fucking clear.
Now I’m guessing that the Sign is a swastika.
Thanks for the link, I’m gonna go throw that album in the trash and feel like a jackass for not catching on earlier.
Their song “Happy Nation” sounds pretty questionable to me, too.
The period between hearing and knowing what the song was about was nearly instantaneous but “Smack my bitch up” has an incredibly catchy tune.
It’d be really nice if they released an instrumental version one day.
When I first heard it my brain convinced me that the lyrics were “Snap my Picture” for some reason.
Then I saw the video.
Honestly, that sounds like it’d make a pretty good Weird Al parody.
For what it’s worth, that line is a sample from an Ultramagnetic MCs song.
Honestly, that’s worth a fair bit to me.
Yeah, I feel like what that insight “means” is in the eye of the beholder. It’s definitely not great in the context of the original song either, but it’s a bit less in-your-face.
You might also be interested in Prodigy’s Dirtchamber Sessions which features the song https://youtu.be/7a1rkOsYn2A?t=230
Well, one that maybe went full circle for me is “bring the pain” by mindless self indulgence. At first, it just seemed like a really fun song that I loved. Then one day, a black dude was in my car listening with me, and he was like “wtf is this song about?”. That’s when it hit me that the song actually sounds REALLY racist. I looked up the lyrics and that just confirmed it for me. And then years later, I found out it was actually a cover of a method man song, and not really racist at all, I guess. But thats a weird one, maybe best not for white guys to be singing it…
The cover definitely goes hard though. I’m legitimately stunned to see MSI mentioned at all, especially at the top of a thread. I’ve been a huge fan of theirs for decades, and rarely if ever see anyone mention them.
Same. I don’t condone them but their songs go hard. I don’t fund them either since I downloaded the music. Did you listen to their most recent release?
No, but you’d better believe I’ll be bumping that on the way to work tomorrow. Even though they’re one of my top bands, I haven’t check much as of late since their last release was about 9 years ago, and I didn’t think it was too good.
Did you know Jimmy played a ravager in Guardians of the Galaxy?
I did. Apparently him and James Gunn are close friends. But he’s only in the second one.
Yeah I used to love MSI and never really listened to the lyrics closely. Dude covers songs by black artists and straight up sings the N word.
See also his cover of “Big Poppa”
The more I looked into Jimmy Urine, the more problematic it got, like grooming a teenage girl.
That second one sucks because I love Fighting with the Melody, it’s just such chaos
I saw MSI sometime in the mid to late 2000s. It was at a club in DC and Jimmy Urine said, sorry I can’t stay after the show and make-out with anyone because I got mono for some teenagers I made out with a few days ago.
It was very odd to announce in the middle of the set. I knew he was a year or so older than me and I found it very disgusting that he was talking about making out with teens so nonchalantly. Jimmy was probably about 30 at the time as I was late 20s.
Ah, what? Fuck man, I listen to Jimmy Urine every day :-(
Fuck.
most of Rammstein, but specifically Mutter
For me it was Mein Teil. I’m used to most of Rammstein’s dark stuff, but man, this one is deeply disturbing.
Lyrics for those who are curious and not squeamish
https://genius.com/Genius-english-translations-rammstein-mein-teil-english-translation-lyrics
In case people were unaware, this references a real event where a man posted an ad for a man willing to be killed and eaten.
I just listen to the Left Podcast on the Left episode about him.
Here’s another song that explicitly references it. Better song too, IMO.
Canon in D (piano version) sounds like a cool relaxing music. But I learned people use it for weddings. Ruined it. I don’t want any of my music to be tied to something stupid like weddings.
Ok, I’ll bite.
Why are weddings stupid?
hey, isn’t that the guy that was left at the alter when his fiancé ran off with his dad?
??? Lol must be thinking of someone else. I havn’t been using lemmy for a year
Oof. That sounds rough.
yeah, poor guy lost his father and sister in the same day.
In the other direction from most of them here, “Losing my Religion” hit a lot harder before I realized it was just about anger.
Wait till you read and watch Take me to church
Hard Habit To Break by Chicago is pretty straightforward, but I liked it on the radio as a kid because it’s peppy and has an orchestra.
Decades later I get access to music service libraries and give it a listen.
I was a jerk and you left me, and now you’re with another guy. I’m not sorry. I’m not going to do better. But I have an orchestra!
I still like it, but have perspective now.
Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones. It’s a song about banging a slave, but I didn’t know that as a kid.
Similarly, watching the music video for Africa by Toto changes the entire vibe of the song. It’s about wanting to bang a black woman. Bless those rains, I guess.
Based on the lyrics I always thought it was about werewolves.
Not sure, if I stopped listening to mainstream music around that time, but uh, both of my examples are from 2011, apparently:
- Kind of a classic response to this question, is “Pumped Up Kicks” from Foster The People. It’s got that upbeat melody, and the lyrics are this:
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You’d better run, better run, outrun my gun
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You’d better run, better run, faster than my bullet.- And my other example is “The A Team”, apparently originally from Ed Sheeran, and apparently also with an upbeat melody. I think, I only ever listened to a cover version. But yeah, it’s about drug use and sex work, and how those kind of necessitate each other…
I think pumped up kicks is actually a really poignant statement on how normalized gun violence is in the states, to the point where this song was all over radios and I’m sure all over high school dances and nobody thought twice about it. Like obviously the band did it intentionally but the fact that the point was missed so hard by everyone who sang along. It is like Hey Ya vibes to me, or smells like teen spirit for the older crowds. The point is to take these very serious ideas and use them to highlight people’s willful ignorance.
Constipated by Weird Al. That changed me.
Constipation blues - Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
A song about true pain.
This song is cute and happy but the lyrics are absolutely devastating and make me cry. https://open.spotify.com/track/2E3hdMguyNDQswLXyUotYR
https://genius.com/Bloc-party-signs-lyrics
[Verse 1]
Two ravens in the old oak tree
And one for you and one for me
And bluebells in the late December
I see signs now all the time
The last time we slept together
There was something that was not there
You never wanted to alarm me
But I’m the one that’s drowning now[Verse 2]
I can sleep forever these days
Cause in my dreams I see you again
But this time-fleshed out fuller face
In your confirmation dress
It was so like you to visit me
To let me know you were okay
It was so like you to visit me
You’re always worried about someone else[Bridge]
At your funeral I was so upset
So, so upset
In your life you were larger than this
Statue statuesque[Chorus] (x2)
I see signs now all the time
That you’re not dead, you’re sleeping
I believe in anything
That brings you back home to me
I hate this song. Literally sobbing at the fear of the state my mental health would be in if my wife suddenly passed.
Harper Road from Sun Kil Moon is similar, super beautiful song but tragic fucking lyrics
My blood runs through my lonely daughter
Her eyes are mine, so wild with wonder
Be my voice, my light, my power
Be with me in my leaving hour
Closing time by Semisonic I thought it was about going home with someone after a night out at the bar. It’s about the lead singers child being born.
Seriously? Well he could have made that more clear.
Sort of, Dan Wilson said he had the idea while writing the song because his wife was pregnant so he slipped it in as a double entendre. It’s like 90% bar closing with a couple lines alluding to being born: “Closing time, this room won’t be open till your brothers or your sisters come”.
Did he sing about his wife’s womb as a pub that’s closing and expelling the drunkards?
