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MothsConrad

The thing is, it was actually highlighting the plight of the illegal alien, not mocking them.


-Harebrained-

Get 'Em Out By Friday was made in a similar vein. 🏢🏢🏢 Consideration for your fellow man would not hurt anybody.


PerpetualEternal

again, sarcasm, it’s a tough sell to the mouthbreathers


MaloneSeven

Everyone with a brain knows that but too many offended pussies out there shoot their entire existence through the victimology prism.


Stay-Thirsty

Dude look like a lady? Aerosmith


Ghost-of-Sanity

Funniest thing about that song is that it’s about Vince Neil from Mötley Crüe. True story. Lol


Funglebum82

As if Steven Tyler himself never looked like a lady, that’s crazy never knew it was about Vince


Various-Agent-0047

Steven Tyler has always looked like an aging lesbian to me 🤷


Emotional-Storage378

He looks like Janice Dickinson with a beard.


anziofaro

My best friend's elderly mom died a few years back, and in her final years she looked EXACTLY like Robert Plant. Or... Robert Plant looks like an elderly woman. Potato potahdo.


BigFatTomato

Even at the time I thought it was ironic he was singing it. Maybe writing it was done with mirrors.


Potential-Ant-6320

So it’s a pro gender non conforming song


mrvernon_notmrvernon

Uhhhh….”do me do me do me all night”. I don’t think that song is anti anything. Just like Lola.


HerNibs1980

Misheard song lyric: My friend until her mid 30’s had been singing along “Doodles like a lady” 😂


1quirky1

Rock the cat box edit: [referencing a really old commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khVRAO8N-4E)


shavemejesus

Aerosmith also did Livin’ on the Edge though which gave me the impression that they were more accepting of trans folks. Tyler himself has always dressed in a way that many would call effeminate.


FieldOfScreamQueens

‘Into the Night’ by Benny Mardones (1980) wouldn’t go over very well: “She's just 16 years old, leave her alone, they said…”


skidmarx77

This was the theme song for my Junior Prom. It was written on EVERYTHING. And while it was a big song, even back then, my friends and I used to laugh at it, partly because Benny Mardones was from our hometown and was kind of a goof.


TheAnalogDuke

I saw Benny Mardones at a bar in Auburn and he was swinging the mic around on its cable and hit himself in the head. They had to pause the show.


skidmarx77

This comment is hysterical for two reasons. One, Benny getting popped in the noggin, and two, Auburn! I actually dated a couple of girls from there back in the day, and the bars could be a little...odd. But I guess it's like anywhere, really. Oddly enough, the very last time I ever played out was a bar in Auburn in January of 2016. Benny was a weird guy. A couple of friends and I started a band in the very early 90s, so this was a little past Benny's big moment, but don't tell him that. There was a bar called Nick Fuoco's where a lot of bands would gather and play, and on nights where there were a lot of people in attendance Benny would show up wearing that Hamburgler shirt that he is wearing in that creepy music video for Into The Night. I won't say he still didn't have cache, there were always a group of ladies that would flock to him. That happened at another bar we all played at called The Lost Horizon. One of the bouncers there never liked Benny, and we were kind of friends with this guy, and he would always say "Busy night, I'll bet Old Man Ruben is gonna make an appearance." I guess his real name is Reuben. And this was 1992, and Benny was already around 45 or something (which does not seem old at all to me now, but when your 19, it's a world away). This was the 2nd go round for that song of his - it was big in 1980, then somehow it got big again in 1989. We used to hear all about it on some of the less crowded nights at those band bars. In all honesty, I never had any bad run-ins with the guy, and he used buy beer for whichever bands were playing that night, even if ya were 18. Which makes sense, given he was cool with the younger age thing!


JWBBarnhill

A. I have not heard this song in ages! 2. I loved it in high school! and d. Yikes! 😳


johnnyprozac

There's an interview he did explaining the lyrics more in depth. A brief snip "But Mardones has explained many times over the years that the song is not statutory or even sexual. While living in New York's Spanish Harlem in 1979, he was inspired by three teen neighbors whose father had scored a Broadway hit and ran off with a chorus line girl." Still a little creepy considering the video. Great voice... RIP


say_the_words

It’s so weird that Genesis started as a super technical progressive rock band.


AdequateOne

When Peter Gabriel was in the band. When he left and Phil Collin’s began singing, they became much more a pop band. Especially after Hackett left and the band became was a trio.


imadork1970

The Simpsons, the Be Sharps episode: Homer: "We' re like Genesis without Peter Gabriel. " Bart-" " You mean, more popular, but not as good?"


sabotnoh

Good reference, but that wasn't the Be Sharps episode (Homer's Barbershop Quartet). It was an episode called Covercraft.


imadork1970

D'oh!


trainwreck489

I recently learned that Gabriel was studying classical music after he left the band. Then that "Solsbury Hill" is in 7/4 time. The former music major in me is just stunned by that.


Lane_Meyers_Camaro

Turn It On Again is in multiple time signatures


dynamic_caste

Not only is it mostly in 7/4, but the instrumentation is 3 acoustic guitar and a phone book being hit with drum sticks.


Logical_Hospital2769

It took years before he led them down that path. You cannot attribute the prog-ness of Genesis purely to Gabriel. Or, for that matter, Hackett.


genesisfan

Yes, Tony Banks would like a word. In fact, Invisible Touch has some solid proggy numbers like Tonightx3, Domino, and The Brazilian.


DrFrankSaysAgain

Reading through these comments makes me think that nobody has heard the lyrics of current hip hop and r&b


[deleted]

Yeah they like to overdramatize the cancelling thing. Like Jason Aldean and Cardi B had the most offensive songs to different people in the past few years and they are still out there not cancelled.


irishbastard87

I still maintain that lil Kim makes cardi b look like the fcc


Reasonable-Housing53

Dire Straits, Money for Nothing with these lyrics....."See the little faggot with the earring and the make up Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair That little faggot got his own jet airplane That little faggot, he's a millionaire"


thezoomies

Mark was quoting to appliance delivery guys he overheard. It kinda helps the song that we do not know whether or not he agrees with them.


Ralston70

Knopfler changed that line when I've seen him perform live. Also from memory he sings an alternative line on various live recordings.


[deleted]

They don't play the censored version on the radio anymore around here. They just let it rip


kevint1964

Good for them. I didn't make a big deal about that line back in 1985 & I still don't today.


Buck_Futter70

At Live Aid he changed ‘faggot’ to ‘queenie’


crackeddryice

It was changed quickly. You can find live recordings from back then where he changed it to "queenie" or something like that.


Buck_Futter70

Yes! He was repeating what he overheard in an appliance shop. They had MTV on a display tv and those were the type of comments the guys were making as they watched.


ReadRightRed99

Pretty sure it was “that little Clampett got his own cement pond, that little clampett he’s a millionaire.”


No_You7693

Weird Al 👍


Lord_Darksong

RIP Weirld Al. Madonna is still at large.


everybodydumb

He's mocking himself. He has an earring and is on MTV. The line is coming from a blue collar worker calling rock stars names.


Stein1071

And here I have always thought it was "See the little faggot with the earring and the mink coat?" 40 years I have been singing that wrong...


Tropical_Storm_Jesus

until I hear Knopfler tell me otherwise to my face, it's still mink coat.


Stein1071

I feel vindicated since a couple of people have agreed with my version. Thanks!


Tropical_Storm_Jesus

it COULD BE makeup...but if it is then he REALLY butchered the pronunciation for some strange reason and that would not make sense at all, but I'm too lazy to google it...


Ike_Jones

Lol swore he sang mink coat til right now


BigFatTomato

Although not PC at all, he was quoting


neon_meate

And yet Fairytale of New York still gets played regularly.


AdolfsLonelyScrotum

Because it’s still fucking brilliant!


paulhoerl

It’s about a bundle of sticks


ImissedZeraora

I’m Mexican and I love that Genesis song. No one gets to tell us what offends us.


Desperate-Fan-3671

Don't Stand So Close To Me by the Police. With all the teachers getting busted now.


Stein1071

It was happening then too but without social media you didn't hear about it. My physics teacher is still married to a guy from the class ahead of me (35 years later) and I can think of at least 3 other couples that started like this. Our high school was under 500 kids from 7-12th grades so I can only imagine how much it went on in bigger schools.


MayorOfStrangiato

It certainly went on in MY high school. A girl in my class ended up marrying the history teacher that she was bangin’ the summer after graduation.


useless169

Same here at least two teachers married or had kids with students.


Reasonable-Housing53

The Vapors, Turning Japanese


excoriator

If you read the meaning behind the song, it has nothing to do with ethnicity. NSFW, to be sure, but not a slur.


Logical_Hospital2769

I think they're talking about the "nin a nin a ning ning nich ning ning" part.


Jimbro34

This is the one I thought of. Being about masterbation and all.


squishedgoomba

Cyndi Lauper did the masturbation-themed pop song [better](https://youtu.be/KFq4E9XTueY?si=DtV5B-nheau4cR8b). :D


Jimbro34

There’s several. Relax by FGTH is also about self love.


unkytone

“I touch myself” by the Divinyls take the cake.


DustyHound

Pictures of Lily -The Who


mr_oof

First video I saw when our family activated Much Music in our house. Scrambled signal flipped right into people rolling around behind steamed up windows.


fuzzybad

Dancing With Myself by Billy Idol is another


prym43

One in a million - Guns and Roses


stormstormstorms

Used to Love Her would probably be on the G’n R list as well


fuzzybad

That song was pretty controversial even when it was new.


PeachCinnamonToast

Julie Brown’s “The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun” did not age well. Basically a comedic song about a girl shooting up her High School so….yeah.


FieldOfScreamQueens

The line “Stop it Debbie, you’re embarrassing me” cracked me up.


gl3nnjamin

"But then the entire glee club had died! No big loss..."


theBananagodX

About an hour later, the cops arrived…. I think she nailed it.


fatboy1776

Great song though.


PeachCinnamonToast

Definitely, i remember loving it back then.


dansize1

Who's Johnny?


BigFatTomato

The less annoying of the Julie Browns from back then.


DevlishAdvocate

Being less annoying came down to not starting every sentence with "wubba wubba wubba!!"


TheYask

She made a sequel: [The Ex-Beauty Queen Has Got a Gun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zME8o7DvTbc)


Historical_Gur_3054

Winger 'Seventeen' >I'm only seventeen (seventeen) But I'll show you love like you've never seen She's only seventeen (seventeen) Daddy says she's too young, but she's old enough for me


Mr_Horrible

A friend and I would always sing it: "She's only 70 - her grandson says she's too old, but she's young enough for me!"


duecesbutt

The Joey Buttafuoco theme song!


Show_Me_Your_Games

This is the first one I thought of. I was 14 at the time I didn't think anything of it. I was probably 30 when I heard it after all that time and I thought "Hey, wait a minute"


[deleted]

That should have been cancelled back when it came out LOL!!!


CurlingTrousers

One in a Million by Guns & Roses


LilNikki984

Young Girl and Girl you’ll be a woman soon


chefmorg

Funky Cold Medina about drugging people without their consent.


Watcher-Of-The-Skies

“Sheena was a man!”


kevint1964

"So, I threw him out. I don't fool around with no Oscar Mayer wiener." LOL


BigFatTomato

Always loved that Alex from Stroh’s gets a shout out. Never quite made that Spuds McKenzie level of fame.


samaramatisse

I know they're called bull terriers, but I feel like there is a large contingent of people who call them Spuds MacKenzie dogs.


Ianncarl

Actually, in the song, the singer is giving the drug to himself. Read the lyrics again.


Individual_Agency703

I remember even at the time, this song caused a backlash.


eyehate

The Rolling Stones – Brown Sugar Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields Sold in the market down in New Orleans Scarred old slaver knows he's doing alright Hear him whip the women just around midnight Brown sugar, how come you taste so good? Uh huh Brown sugar, just like a young girl should, uh huh, oh (Woo) Ah, get on, brown sugar, how come you taste so good? Ah, got me craving the, the brown sugar Just like a black girl should, yeah


annoyedatwork

I thought the line was “hear him with the women, just around midnight”. And I’ve been listening to that one for 50+ years.  Wow. 


Candid-Specialist-86

Surprised I had to scroll this far for Brown Sugar.


remarkablyoblivious

Probably because its from the early 70's, As far as Rolling Stones songs go, I'd put Some Girls up there with Brown Sugar. Also from the 70's though.


dee_lio

The Police had "Any Other Day" My wife has burned the scrambled eggs The dog just bit my leg My teenage daughter ran away My fine young son has turned out gay (And it would be okay on any other day...)


skidmarx77

My ex was younger than me, and I introduced her to many 80s classics. When I pulled Illegal Alien up on YouTube, her jaw literally dropped for about 15 seconds, then she turned to me and said, "Is this REAL?? Not some kind of SNL joke?" I told her that it was indeed real, and another hit for Genesis, and yet another reason why every day was Christmas in the 80s.


[deleted]

It was, wasn’t it?


anothercynic2112

Do they know it's Christmas time at alllllll


skidmarx77

(Feed the WOORRR-LLLDDD) I had (and still have) the 45 of that classic, and it's one I would sometimes put on in the middle of summer, just because the song itself is so damn catchy.


BobSeven7

I Want Action by Poison.


fatherbowie

Francine by ZZ Top. My Francine just turned thirteen She's my angelic teenage queen And I love her, she's all that I want And I need her, she's all that I need


Brimstone747

Well that's just gross.


nderthevolcano

It’s about Jerry Lee Lewis. He married his thirteen year old cousin.


HighJeanette

Which is gross.


limbodog

She's only 17 - Winger


LaLunacy

Johnny Are You Queer? by Josie Cotton


Potential-Ant-6320

What? Thats always been a pro queer song. They played it in gay bars in the 80s. When the song came out part of the reason it became popular was church groups were attacking it for promoting homosexuality. I think they claimed that Josie cotton was really a gay man pretending to be a woman to convince people to become gay. At the time the people running gay organizations were from the old days and did not like the word “queer” and were against it. As people started taking back the word “queer” it got played more and more. The truth is this song was more problematic in the 80s.


Hebshesh

This song and Never Say Never by Romeo Void are my two favorite one hit wonder songs.


ToshiroBaloney

Romeo Voud also had a hit with *A Girl in Trouble*


IronSloth

i love the screeching weasel cover of that


PlaxicoCN

Stray Cats- Sexy and 17, Rick James-17, Foreigner-17, Joan Jett-I Love Rock and Roll...there are so many of them.


SaltyBarDog

Well she was just seventeen And you know what I mean And the way she looked Was way beyond compare John and Paul.


PerpetualEternal

man I guess sarcasm is entirely dead


Niekon

Oingo Boingo “Little Girls” even though the song was created as an attack on Hollywood


stantonkreig

Love that song but can't really play it for people these days. That part where the lyrics are uhoh its a mistake uhoh take a second... pure brilliance.


Swampassed

Motley Crue’s “You’re all I need.” Loved the song when I was a teenager. It’s literally about killing your girlfriend.


JayDuBois

She Bop by Cyndi Lauper (masturbation) It was on tipper gores FILTHY FIFTEEN list. So today? No. Not mainstream anyway.


BillyShears1977

Tipper was uptight, if only she just bopped more often.


nativeangel213

I don't think anyone would bat an eye at She Bop considering W.A.P. exists


Unhappy_Gas_4376

Yeah, that was more of a song they *tried* to cancel in the '80s, not one that would be canceled today.


HechoEnChine

The first time I Heard WAP was from a flamboyant homelessman/street performer near Mans Chinese theatre. He looked like 1981's David Lee Roth. The guy was really belting it out. I was like wtf is this but also Hey there actually is a song here. lol what a talent.


TonyG_from_NYC

On a similar note, it's hilarious to hear commercials with Billy Idol's Dancin With Myself song being used. It's also a song about masturbation.


BrattyTwilis

Actually no. He wrote the song about his experience at a night club in Japan where there were mirrors everywhere and people who were alone just actually danced in front of the mirrors and were basically dancing with themselves


trainwreck489

I hate when companies don't understand the meaning of the song they're using in a commercial. Walmart using Neuman's "Cars" and that cruise line that used Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" to sell cruises when it is about an LSD trip.


Every_Level6842

Little china girl Bowie


RKKP2015

That's an Iggy Pop song, though. It's about a real-life affair partner. Iggy was struggling for money, so Bowie covered it and made him a bunch of money.


BigFatTomato

All these years I never knew that was a cover


dcisfunky

Nile Rodgers made the Bowie cover song. The riff. The tempo. The entire thing.


NowoTone

It was written by both of them together in the 70s.


BooRadley3370

The video is the cherry on top.


edparnell

Probably Legs, Tush, Hot for Teacher... all the good stuff. Weird how people get all up about being offended by songs but stuff that actually matters they just go back to their phones...


bigdrummy47

Don't forget Pearl Necklace...


Exotic_Living5572

ZZ Top were multiple offenders Remember “Tube Snake Boogie”?


dustmybroom88

I used to sing that all the time as a kid and for some reason I thought it was about a snake that lived in a tube sock 🤣


MayorOfStrangiato

ZZ Top also had a song called Pearl Necklace. “She wore a pearl necklace”. Obvious sexual connotation.


SaltyBarDog

She don't like other women She likes whips and chains **She likes cocaine** **And flipping out with Great Danes** She's about all I can handle It's too much for my brain Got Me Under Pressure, ZZ Top.


dukesinatra

Surf Punks - Big Top. Great tune that doesn't cut corners. Sadly, it would be tucked away and never make the airwaves today. https://youtu.be/kXtcirZ0PGw?si=OVaSzCa08uGa7PbO


LongjumpingInside229

Well it’s still no fun.


KapowBlamBoom

It is late 70’s but have a listen to Francine by ZZ Top and Christine Sixteen by Kiss Very creep-tastic in retrospect


Vandreeson

Killing An Arab by The Cure.


fishsupper

Never thought I’d defend Robert Smith but the lyrics of that song are from the perspective of the protagonist of the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus. And was extremely controversial on its release in the ‘70s.


ChroniclesOfSarnia

Based on the novel L'etranger by Albert Camus [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Stranger\_(Camus\_novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stranger_(Camus_novel))


Rosevecheya

BESTbook Albert Camus is so brilliant, such a great absurdist author


grepppo

Came here to make the Camus point too. Bob being Bob he's quite unapologetic about it too,as I recall it was on the set list for the last time I saw The Cure at Wembley.


dimestoredavinci

Basically anti what the title is. So, no


BooRadley3370

Hell of a great song.


Street-Baby7596

This song pretty much disappeared from the face of the earth


The_-Whole_-Internet

Jailbait by Ted "obvious pedophile" Nugent.


HeatAccomplished8608

It's not a very good song tho.


JpnDude

Probably not an artist many people have heard of in the US. Pretty Young Girl by the 80s Europop group Bad Boys Blue Chorus: Pretty young girl on my mind How I wish you to be mine Girl, you're no child anymore Pretty young girl on my mind Don't you know, know I can't hide Can't hide my feelings You're my girl and you're sixteen


insanecorgiposse

Maybe ten years after's "I'd love to change the world." I don't think there is any malice in it whatsoever and Alvin was as laid back hippy if ever there were such a thing but, "dykes and fairies" probably rubs the wrong way those who are less forgiving and lack the context.


Guavaeater2023

The cure, killing an Arab.


jengen-x

Pretty much anything by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.


urlach3r

"The Power of Love" begs to differ.


SparkDBowles

That’s like the “gayest” song ever.


imadork1970

Relax


geekaustin_777

Short People


dimestoredavinci

No. That song is parodying racism, homophobia, etc. 100% holds up today


GlossyBuckslip

Is My Sharona not on here for pedantry?


[deleted]

Great video tho!


Mfsmitty

Almost 1980s: Neil Young's Welfare Mothers.


MwminNC4

Make better lovers...


Klutzy-Chocolate710

Whole lotta Rosie - AC/DC


UnderstandingOdd679

Interesting reading through these. How is music different from other art forms, such as film? If I want to make a movie about offensive people, do I have more leeway as an artist than a musician who pens a song from the perspective of an offensive person? Don’t artists have leeway to present such things regardless of their format?


AssignmentClean8726

Shoop by Salt n Pepa...when she says like a retard and makes that "retard" sound


Old-Tadpole-2869

Sugar Walls.


SAlolzorz

One In A million by Guns N' Roses


OldSkoolPantsMan

In a 1989 Rolling Stone interview, Rose explained the lyrics: I used words like police and niggers because you're not allowed to use the word 'nigger.' Why can black people go up to each other and say 'Nigger,' but when a white guy does it all of a sudden it's a big putdown? I don't like boundaries of any kind. I don't like being told what I can and what I can't say. I used the word 'nigger' because it's a word to describe somebody that is basically a pain in your life, a problem. The word 'nigger' doesn't necessarily mean black. Doesn't John Lennon have a song "Woman Is the Nigger of the World"? There's a rap group, N.W.A. – Niggers with Attitude. I mean, they're proud of that word. More power to them. Guns n' Roses ain't bad . . . N.W.A. is baaad! Mr. Bob Goldthwait said the only reason we put these lyrics on the record was because it would cause controversy and we'd sell a million albums. Fuck him! Why'd he put us in his skit? We don't just do something to get the controversy, the press. 😬


NickFotiu

To be fair, there was an uproar over that one. Also, it was from the 90s.


JohnsonLiesac

Its Money that I Love" by Randy Newman. The lyric being: "They say that money can't buy love in this world, but it'll get you a half pound of cocaine, and a sixteen year old girl." 1979 Still a great song.


Ralston70

Centrefold by the J Geils Band????


Scavgraphics

It's about a girl you went to highschool with posing for Playboy years later.....only thing wrong with it today is people don't know what magazines are. And it'd be updated to only fans.


LeakiestWink

Turning Japanese by the Vapors


Aggravating-Wafer-32

That song is referring to ... um ... "solo time" that's he's enjoying so much, his eyes are squeezed shut. So it's wrong on two levels. Don't forget: ● I Touch Myself (Divinyls) ● She Bop (Cyndi Lauper) ● Big Balls (AC/DC) ● 10" Record (Aerosmith) ● Relax (Frankie Goes to Hollywood)


SnooCrickets6708

Seventeen by Winger


Bunionzz

Not the 80's, Devo Mongoloid '77


Riverrat423

( Everybody run) the homecoming queen’s got a gun, by Julie Brown. School shootings are not cool or funny now.


Ed_Simian

Immigrants and faggots They make no sense to me They come to our country and they Think they'll do as they please Like start some kind of mini-Iran Or spread some fucking disease They talk so many goddamn ways It's all Greek to me - "One in a Million", Guns N' Roses


pfunkk007

One Night In Bangkok by Murray Head. "I don't see you guys raging The kind of mating I'm contemplating I'd let you watch, I would invite you But the queens we use would not excite you" I swear this song had to with Trans related theme without mentioning it.


soniclore

“Don’t Stand So Close To Me” - The Police It’s about an inappropriate teacher/student relationship


ResponsibleArticle58

Turning Japanese-The Vapors (1980)


InPhillyGuy

Fat bottom girls by Queen


Unhappy_Gas_4376

*I knew love before I left my nursery* *Left alone with big fat fanny* *She was such a naughty nanny* *Heap big woman, you made a bad boy out of meeeee* Yeah, that one wouldn't make it past the A and R guy today.


InPhillyGuy

Awesome


GuruBuckaroo

OK, it's not 80's, but in 1966 Frank Gallop put out a humorous song called "[The Ballad of Irving](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRow6vJxWUU)" - the 142nd Fastest Gun in the West. When I was a kid and Dr. Demento would play it, I thought it was hysterical. I went looking it up a few years ago, and sat aghast as the antiemetic tropes flowed like wine.


fatboy1776

That’s classic Borscht Belt comedy.


ZETA8384

Come on Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners


Simonandgarthsuncle

Always reminds me of that joke about what’s worse than Grease on Olivia Newton John.


Jimbro34

Are you saying this because of the title or the lyrics?


trailerparkMillonare

Johnny hit and run Paulene by X