This is going to be pretty scattered because it’s late and I’m tired, but I wanted to get a post in anyway.
Am I the only person on the planet who hate the song Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People? Here’s the thing. I love the tune. I find myself singing along to it if it comes on the radio and I’m not consciously singing about it. But then I catch myself singing along to, “run from my bullets,” and I’m changing the station.
I find it completely baffling that I heard this HUGE kerfuffle over Britney Speaks singing “If you seek Amy,” and it sounded like F-U-C-K me. Parents were all abuzz about how inappropriate it was, blah blah blah. And then comes this song, about a freaking school shooting and how all those other kids with their pumped up kicks better run from his effing gun and… I’ve heard nothing.
Has there been a stink and I just haven’t heard it? I know that music is not what makes bad things happen. I know that. But I also know that I don’t like songs that are about a man beating on a woman. I don’t like songs that make women out to be nothing but bodies. And I don’t like a song that seems to encourage school shootings.
So what’s the deal? Am I missing a key part of the lyrics? How has this song managed to become the huge hit that it is considering its subject matter?
I’m confused.
Please explain.
Comes With Sprinkles 
To be honest, I never really looked at the full lyrics until now and, I agree, if you’re going to get upset about a set of lyrics, this is certainly one to get ruffled about.
(That all being said, I’m rather amused at those who do get upset about lyrics because I equivocate it to getting upset about controversial books. But I digress…)
Frankly, this is one of those songs that was played 20 times a day on the radio while I was doing our 2-month living room renovation and didn’t have a CD/MP3 player available, so I had to listen to commercial radio (oh god, MY EARS!) The tune is definitely an earworm of the eat-your-brain-out variety.
So I downloaded it awhile ago, because I’m a glutton for punishment like that. But the lyrics are definitely not….inspiring.
That’s so funny because I am so against censorship of any sort and yet here I am, wanting to boycott a song. I guess I just find that it makes me really uncomfortable. I am not comfortable singing those lyrics even though I really like the song if I’m not thinking about it.
I adored this song…until the 79000th time I heard it. The lyrics don’t bother me at all, but lyrics generally don’t.
Here’s something I’ve noticed, though, and in my defense, it just occurred to me and I haven’t given it a lot of thought, BUT…you make a good point, Courtney. It *does* run the same line as other objectionable material. You gave a good example in Britney’s controversy (I hadn’t ever heard that whole drama before) and the other complaint that strikes me is directed towards Katy Perry. Whoa, do people love to rag on her. What’s the difference between Brit & Katy vs. Foster the People. Could it be a difference in the expectations of and things we find acceptable from women vs. men? Just a thought… Yours?
I think a big part of it is gender, but I think an equally big part of it is the genre. I think that questionable lyrics tend to fly under the radar a little bit more in rock than in pop. Pop has a much larger younger audience (and by younger I mean pre-teen) than the indie rock scene and thus, more attention.
I don’t usually get ruffled by lyrics. I get a little squicky about liking songs like Akon’s Smack That and whatnot, but I still sing along and I do the same with this song. I just… it makes me uncomfortable. I think that’s the best way to describe it. I wouldn’t want to deprive anybody else of the opportunity to have their own opinion about it, but I don’t support it. If that makes sense at all.
I hate this song because it’s bad music. Also, the lyrics are dumb. How about they go and foster DEEZ NUTS