Gross? Or … not that gross? YOU be the judge (I can't because I haven't heard the song).
How unusual to see nosflow mess up a link.
I haven't listened to the song either, but I will take the excuse to link to my favorite minimalist pop-song: "I Was Dancing In A Lesbian Bar." I can't quite figure out how it manages to be as catchy as it is.
Does anyone else find the linked article disapproving of the song almost literally incomprehensible? I mean, I get the disapproval and, generally, the grounds for it. But this passage:
What is plain, however, is that Thicke's own male gender construction -- and a songwriter's lyrics are certainly indicative of his/her gender construction -- has, like those of so many males, been formed by proto-rapism: a state of erotic consciousness in which another person's sexual subjugation -- their designation as a sexual servant -- is a key component of sexual arousal itself.
Perhaps the bright spot, if there is any, in the controversy surrounding Thicke and "Blurred Lines" is that it might spur us to move our discourse on gender and sexuality beyond the empty labels of the 20th century -- labels that hold no real meaning -- and start centering on the very blueprints of our own gender constructions as men and women.
In other words, Robin Thicke should not be considered any more of a "heterosexual" man than the women in his video are "heterosexual" women. Rather, Thicke is simply a man: a man whose own male gender construction encompasses proto-rapism. Moreover, the women in the video are simply women: women whose own female gender constructions, at minimum, are not utterly repelled by proto-rapism.
Admittedly, a gender construction-based discourse is not as quick and user-friendly as the label-based discourse, with its easy categories, as well as the opportunities those categories afford people to quickly ascertain whether another person is on their side of the cultural ledger sheet or not.
But if such a detailed, gender construction-based discourse can save just one teenage boy or girl from looking at a Robin Thicke video and thinking to himself or herself, "Yeah, that's what heterosexuality is," then it's well worth the extra ink in our newspapers and airtime on our airwaves.
I mean, bits of it are comprehensible, but overall I'm reminded of a bit in some Douglas Adams book where a newspaper describes some unexpected event as 'paranatural' because people were too comfortable with their ability to understand what 'supernatural' and 'paranormal' meant. (Probably I'm just being grumpy, and it'd make perfect sense if I'd been reading the right things previously.)
Douglas Adams book where a newspaper scientist on TV describes some unexpected event as 'paranatural' 'supernormal' because people were too comfortable with their ability to understand what 'supernatural' and 'paranormal' meant
I am consumed with shame, and will work harder at rememorizing all the fiction I read in my teens and twenties. (Ways I know I'm feeling overwhelmed at work? Found myself rereading all the Hornblower books.)
I've never noticed a single word from this song other than "Good girl". It sounds like Eric B. and Rakim's "It Takes Two" without the rapping. What is it, an eight-second sample over and over, through both verses and choruses?
5: truth be told I retread them all a couple of weeks ago. That was pretty good recall for not having done that.
Boy does he just look just like his dad, or what.
8: oh dear I thought you were kidding.
8: Totally. If you squint, the music video is like the weirdest episode of Growing Pains ever.
Also, that NPR link lists their Songs of Summer, going back to 1962. Is it just me, or are the 80s noticeably whiter than the eras surrounding it?
8-10: Man, he's Canadian royalty.
Doesn't Canada have regular British royalty?
Sure, but Thicke is homegrown, not some German import.
WE BEG YOUR PARDON.
Scrub your brain with this adorably sexy parody (?) by Mod Carousel.
16: Look, say what you will about colonization, you can't pretend Alan Thicke wasn't born in Ontario, eh?
It sounds like Eric B. and Rakim's "It Takes Two"
I MAY NOT BE INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN, BUT THIS IS RIDICULOUS
18: "Alan Thicke was born in Scranton" is the second most common theme in fan fiction, right after Kirk and Spock do it.
Ha, I assumed Stanley meant some obscure It Takes Two that I'd never heard of. Also for years I thought his name was Raw Bass.
23: It was Cryptic ned who mentioned "It Takes Two".
(Not that I could have named the artist or even the decade from which that song came.)
(In fact, I first thought of this "It Takes Two".)
There was more than one 80s rap act consisting of 1 rapper and 1 DJ?!?!?
Also, the name "DJEZ-Rock" should be pronounced with 2 syllables, like "OB-GYN".
Those lyrics are all the more disconcerting given that I reflexively think of Thicke as Kirk Cameron's dad.
Also, seeing as I just confused Alan Thicke and Robin Thicke. Don't mind me. Moving right along.
Also, seeing as I just confused Alan Thicke and Robin Thicke. Don't mind me. Moving right along.
Gaahh! Thicke as two short planks. Bollocks to that!
In my pop ignorance, had no idea of the song or Robin Thicke, but just saw this tweet this AM: On #H100 @robinthicke is describing how he'd "mess around" w/ girls his dad brought home. After the break, a performance of Blurred Lines!
This post reminds me once again that I am a freak in not being able to listen to a song without understanding the lyrics. If the lyrics are unintelligible I get uncomfortable and irritated. Even if it's in a foreign language I want to at least have a sense that if I knew the language I could sing along.
Songwriters must get great joy from knowing that people are walking around singing horrific lyrics in a happy way.
What a great job.
Songwriters must get great joy from knowing that people are walking around singing horrific lyrics in a happy way.
Yeah.
Woman on the bus seems a bit surprised that her sister is reluctant to lend her a library card after she explains that she can't use her own because of $200 in unpaid fines.
She is calling someone else now. I feel like I should help her come up with a better story.