Immortality is possible when emotions are put to music. Sadly, not every sentiment conveyed in music is meant to last indefinitely. It’s critical to distinguish between a song’s cultural neutrality and the racist degradation of that culture when assessing a song’s potential for offense.
The latter is very popular and could be on the air in your area at the moment. Below are some common culprits that you might now know were problematic.
Rolling Stones’ Brown Sugar
A song that employs flogging imagery to highlight the sexual power of black women is an example of something that shouldn’t be sung about. Mick Jagger, however, accomplished just that in The Rolling Stones’ 1971 hit song “Brown Sugar.”
Although the title was objectionable in and of itself, the first line features Jagger returning to the plantation to spy on the proprietors of the slaves—he sings, “Hear him whip the women just around midnight.”
“China Girl” by David Bowie
Though many think of a smash song penned by David Bowie and Iggy Pop to be regular, this one is certainly not your typical love ballad. TV viewers were not allowed to see the 1983 single’s music video, which ended with Bowie and his love interest naked on the shore.
However, the music’s cavalier allusion to White privilege along with colonialism is what people find particularly offensive regarding this mixed relationship.
Ray Stevens’ Ahab the Arab
The unusual tune from 1962 that made it into the Top 10 is full of incorrect details about Arabs. It even sounds hillbilly because of the way Stevens utters “Arab,” which rhymes with “Ahab.” Faris Bouhafa, an American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee spokesman, told the Washington Post in 1987 that pronouncing Arab as “A-rab” is disparaging.
The music gets progressively more ridiculous, and it could be considered hilarious if the majority of its jokes weren’t directed at Arab culture.
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Genesis’ Illegal Alien
The existence of this record from 1984—which was intended to be humorous—demonstrates that devaluing Mexicans has long been a motif in American culture. In the course of four and a half minutes, the video and the music focus on virtually each cliché associated with Mexico.
Like a checklist: inebriation, panchos, sloth, Mariachi horns, scruffy mustaches, sneakiness, sombreros, and meaningless Spanish wordplay. In addition, Phil Collins sings it with a Mexican intonation.
“Island Girl” by Elton John
The fact that Elton John’s reggae song reached the top spot with no one seeming to mind the song’s obviously questionable content at that time is possibly the most concerning aspect of it all. It tells the story of a young girl who goes to New York City and starts “turning tricks for the dudes in the big city”.
Though that could be a disparaging stereotype about women from the Caribbean, he goes on to write a sentence that has strong anti-immigrant overtones and asks, “What are you wanting with the world of white men?” As if this “black as coal” and “Jamaican honey” had nothing positive to contribute to the huge city, other than the unethical behaviors mentioned in the song.
‘Indian Girl’ – The Rolling Stones
In this track, Jagger tells the lone surviving girl in her hometown that things become worse after he takes a private aircraft to a war-torn nation.
This is the story of a deluded white savior who appears out of thin to deliver additional devastating news to some impoverished struggling youngster. Despite Jagger’s oddly flowery harmonies, the entire affair is a crude, poorly contested spectacle with similarly ridiculous musicology.
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“Your Squaw Is on the Warpath” – Loretta Lynn
In 1969, the planet was an entirely distinct entity, but given the long record of Native Americans being subjugated by White Americans, Loretta Lynn ought to have thought of a more fitting broad analogy to represent her internal uprising.
She costumed up like a Native American lady for the song’s cover, which is already awful, but her corny allusions to war dances, encampments, as well as papooses degrade an ethnic group that has been historically used but seldom receives the regard that it deserves in the US.
‘Wig Wam Bam’ – Sweet
Earlier in the 1970s, British gothic rock group Sweet gained popularity thanks to the hit song “Wig Wam Bam.” Though it was a clearly discriminatory adaptation of Native American clichés that needlessly sexualized those involved in the track, it achieved fourth place on the UK Singles Chart.
The band has committed other offenses as well. Bassist Steve Priest donned an army outfit, replete with a Hitler-style mustache as well as a swastika armband, to promote the track alongside a number of additional songs.
“Turning Japanese” by The Vapors
One may wonder precisely how one becomes Japanese if they are not born as one, given the name of this 1980 song.
Essentially, the White British band’s lone U.S. song revolves around a White guy who, in a groovy rocking beat, combines bigotry with language reflecting what he perceives to be the outward look of non-White people.
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“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” by The Band
Its progressive lineage can be seen in this 1969 classic. The Canadian composer Robbie Robertson first published it on his second album of the same name, which had been released by The Band. On the Billboard Hot 100, the legendary folk singer Joan Baez released a cover version in 1971 that peaked at number three.
The song is vehemently sympathetic to the Confederacy, notwithstanding its liberal connotations. This first-person account from a Southerner describes the pro-slavery South by portraying the “rebels” of the Civil War as Yankee martyrs.
“Without a Song”
Pop classics which include Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, and Willie Nelson have all released versions of it, featuring Black and White performers alike. The acceptance of a song that contains racist roots as essential components of our musical lexicon demonstrate how bigotry permeates American culture and leisure.
Additionally, it accurately portrays a society where Black people are primarily appreciated based on their value as entertainers, as though they are incapable of achieving academic and scientific success.
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