I *completely* agree, daisy. I think it's what pop music has devolved to, truly the lowest common denominator. It makes me think back to the beginnings of Caribbean dancehall, where the songs all had lyrics about dirty dancing and looking sexy and such, but it's taken over almost the entire pop music industry.

Like dancing itself -- have you seen 'grinding'? I looked it up on Youtube after my DD told me that it was weird to see her friends doing it at her first high school dance and um, YEAH, I can see why it was weird...jeez louise. I know every generation feels that the next one has gone just too far, but there is a qualitative difference here, in that if the dancers took off their clothes they'd literally be having sex, not just suggesting it.

I think alternative music is the creative/emotional/intellectual high ground now...they can talk about more things in the world than life on the dance floor and the bathrooms and the apartment afterwards. But of course, DD doesn't like alternative (*yet*, I pray -- sometime soon maybe she'll grow up). But it can't be good for her to be having her young woman's developing imagination and sense of relationships informed by those kinds of messages.

I had to look up grinding on youtube to see it, fly. The first one I watched was an instructional video, that seemed safe, the next, three regular people.
Yep, I completely agree with you. Certainly makes "the Bump" seem tame!

No comment on music, I don't listen to anything most people listen to. George Winston? Third Day?

Thankfully dh and I are in complete harmony on music.
I played a music video tonight that I do like, Adele's Rolling in the Deep, a song and person I only recently became aware of, and he had never heard it/her before but liked it too.

I read some older romance books occasionally, (the ones where they kiss at the end after saying "I love you. Will you marry me?" more or less :-)
and it's interesting how the Waltz was at one time scandalous.
How far we have progressed.

Thank GAWD I "intervened" when our DD was young!!
;-)

Taught her the "evils" of Country-Music, and got her hooked on the cool Rock-n-Roll chicks like Heart, Tina Turner, Cher, Celine, etc.
;-)
(She literally has EVERY Cher CD!!)

She likes all of their "Love" songs, along with good "Power-Ballads", from KISS, Bon-Jovi, Aerosmith, etc......
She's actually got "Beth" and "Forever" by KISS on her I-pod!!
I think "Look away" from Chicago (mid-80's??) may be one of her faves....

I hate to admit this, but I liked a lot of Air-Supply's love songs!!!
This is REALLY CHEESY, but Faron also likes the Beauty & the Beast song......"then somebody bends....Beauty and the Beast....."

Faron

And I hate to admit this, but I do think that a number of the Disney-produced pop stars convey positive messages in their songs. (Hating to admit it, because I'm turned off by the whole Disney machine, but that's another topic of conversation. ;-)) My 9-year old niece and her friends love Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato (although my niece has recently become aware of Demi's self-mutilation issues and this has sparked several conversations with her parents on the subject - and this is something we really didn't want her to have to know about so early on, but there you have it). Flyleft summed up my thoughts very well. In many cases, pop music and musical expression (dancing, particularly) is a vulgar display of the lowest common denominator. It's crude or stupid or both at once. Alternative music does tend to be more thoughtful and intellectually stimulating.

Turn on a country music station~~maybe you can 're-tune' her(and her friends!)hearing. ;o)

I am an old rock and roll fan myself.

Daisy - I love Adele! Someone like you - oh is that not so sad?! But beautiful. Have it on my playlist and Ipod(Iphone) both.

tina

and what happened to soul music? I used to love to listen to the Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Earth wind and Fire, etc.

I guess this brings us to the age old debate, does pop culture reflect our behavior or create our behavior?

Are so many songs about sex without love, or even respect, because that's what we are & who we have become? Or do we hear them and assume everyone else is behaving that way so why not join in, thereby making them true?

A friend, who is a guidance counselor at a high school, feels displays of teen romance have become much more dramatic because that's what they see in tv shows. Teens have always been dramatic but the behavior has been ramped up more than a notch. She's been teaching 25 years so she has seen many teen relationships.

What about the kids that don't have an adult to explain, mention, behave in a way that lets them see pop culture isn't necessarily the best model.

yes, songs and TV are terrible models. One thing that really irritates me about TV shows (especially comedies) is that the characters never talk about anything but sex! I've stopped watching those.

Whhhaaaattt? Y'all don't like S&M by Rihanna???
I nearly crashed my car when I realized what that catchy tune was saying, and it was playing with my 5 and 7 year old daughters in the car.

Yep- I agree. Most of the songs on regular radio are completely inappropriate for young children. My daughters know who Lady Gaga is, but my 5 year old will tell anyone who listens that she isn't allowed to see her videos. Speaking of videos, has anyone seen California Girls by Katy Perry?? Good Lord, I was stuck in a cab in Aruba last week with my family and that video was playing on the TV on the back of the head rest. DH and I had to explain the particular outfit with the bra that looks like ice cream with a cherry placed strategically where a nipple would be. My girls were giggling with embarrassment, and my husband was mortified. Thankfully a fun week in Aruba made them forget about it, and there were no more questions about it.
I agree with AJ- I let my girls listen to Selena Gomez, Lemonade Mouth and Taylor Swift. They have no interest in Demi Lovato, and thankfully they never really liked Hannah Montana. DD1 loves Adele, beautiful voice, but I need a happy pill after listening. Adele also covered Lovesong by I think it was the Cure, 2nd to last on the CD, it's fantastic.
Here's another great song by Taylor Swift: Never Grow up. My girls hear it, and hear the message, and my 7 year old tells me she wants to stay little forever. Melts my heart.

With all that said, I will admit, at age 9 I was singing Like a Virgin and sporting lace gloves and black rubber bracelets on my arm, much to my mother's chagrin. And I had NO idea what Madonna was talking about at the time!

Oh good, at least I'm not alone.

Polly, I didn't even know about that Rhianna song. I guess that's another one I'll have to turn off. Although DD and I both love Rhianna's "cheers to the freakin weekend".

I guess the music of our generation always seems better, whether it's country, soul or power ballads (never heard that term before Faron, but do remember making out to 'Beth'). My DH and I now listen mainly to blues and reggae and, of course, alternative (not really sure what that means anymore though), but I'm totally a Grosse Pointe Blank generation. I hear the Violent Femmes and I am right back in college.

Recently, I've fallen in love with the Avett Brothers. Especially "I and love and you". You've got to google their video. If I was 25 years younger I'd be following them around the country to see every show.

Violent Femmes.....WOW!!!

Heard a couple songs by them on XM recently!
Was one of them "Let me go wild"!??!?!
(don't know if that's the title....)
Goofy song...but very catchy!

A song I hoped DD would never hear was the infamous MEGA-hit by "Frankie goes to Hollywood", titled "Relax, don't do it" in the 80's. I LOVED the song, but...Uffda...pretty racy lyrics!!

I also really liked "Escape" by Rupert Holmes!!
"If you like Pina Coladas...and gettin' caught in the rain..."
Nice relationship song there!!!

Faron

Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun". Catchy song, but it's about being bi-curious.

I'm totally into R&R, and I find that the songs that used to scandalize my parents are utterly tame compared to the blech that is out there today. I had to laugh when I read a story about DefLeppard performing 'Pour Some Sugar on Me' with Taylor Swift...they 'edited' it a bit because they felt they might seem like pervs singing it along with a teenager. But even that song is not overtly sexual.

My eldest likes hip hop and current pop, but I just cannot stand it at all. I remember when she was 15 and totally into Marilyn Manson. I started listening to his music so I could know what she was listening to, and actually found it was not too bad...once you got past his freakiness, his music was passable and not too horribly shocking. Fortunately she got over that quickly.

Daisy, I like the Avett brothers too. And Mumford and Sons.

Never heard of M and Sons. Wiill have to do a search.

So what I'm getting from what I've read is that we all like songs with risky lyrics that aren't really appropriate, but that the content is less explicitly described and that it isn't as common in the music of previous generations (seems like almost every song that is played on the popular stations now is about casual sex).

I should do more research and publish a paper. Then my 12 year old would really respect me ;-) What is this generations word for "square"? That's me.