Yep . . . kids these days and their raunchy lyrics 
Really! Who listens to this stuff?! :-B
She’s really upset with me again,
I didn’t give her what she likes.
I don’t know what to tell her,
Don’t know what to say.
Everything got funky last night.
She was really bombed,
And I was really blown away,
Until I asked her what she wanted,
And this is what she had to say:
A pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
She gets a charge out of bein’ so weird,
Digs gettin’ downright strange.
But I can keep a handle on anything,
Just this side of deranged.
She was gettin’ bombed,
And I was gettin’ blown away,
And she held it in her hand
And this is what she had to say:
A pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
She is so tough, as pure as the driven slush.
And that’s not true what she’s talkin’ about,
It really don’t cost that much.
She was gettin’ bombed,
And I was gettin’ blown away,
And she took it in her hand,
And this is what she had to say:
A pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
You Shook Me isn’t the best counterpoint because no one has claimed it (or the group behind it) are Earth Shattwring Quality Melody or Harmony.
And yes, there is plenty of innuendo in rock lyrics too at times. But the best musicians don’t need to rely solely on that.
I was in a clothing store in asia w S1 and American rap lyrics were blaring about some guy describing how his girlfriend liked getting it in the ***. There were no metaphors, no innuendo. I went ballistic! !#$!%#!!!
Stupid sales clerks w limited English had no clue what the song was about. They said the store manager picked the songs. I made them haul out the store manager, and I explained it in explicit terms for him. When I got home, I emailed the corporate int’l office to complain.
I don’t know how parents can let their kids listen to this filth. Yeah, and get off my lawn!
Really? AC-DC and ZZ Top - two pretty unmemorable bands who aren’t exactly stuffed to the gills with noted musical genius here - that doesn’t prove much of anything! Other than white people can turn out trash too!
plenty of innuendo in the Rolling Stones and Doors but they have musical chops too. I hear no musical chops among most rap songs today. Some cleverness, sure. But no understanding - whether intuitive or learned - of music structure. Tee hee, I made a dirty rhyme.
I was in a clothing store in asia w S1 and American rap lyrics were blaring about some guy describing how his girlfriend liked getting it in the ***. There were no metaphors, no innuendo. I went ballistic! !#$!%#!!!
-It is a good thing you didn’t hear the lyrics from the fine young man telling the whole world that a certain part of your D’s anatomy belongs to him. He can do what he wants with her #$%%^. He can sell it, pimp it out or keep it for himself. Just FYI.
-As I said in the OP, I am raising two boys. I told my sons all along to respect women. It doesn’t make my job easier when they listen to stuff like that. Lots of kids their age see no reason to work or get an education when all they have to do is live the gangster lifestyle and they can have all the cash and ho’s they want.
-It amazes me that people that once sang about being cop killers are now on TV show portraying cops which is probably not a bad thing, they have been redeemed and rehabilitated, I don’t pretend to understand all the anger that builds up that creates lyrics like that and I don’t automatically hate it. I consider it, if I can, without turning it off.
-It also amazes me that rap stars who ran porn studios are in the mainstream now too. Geez, you talk about exploiting women and being misogynistic. But I guess that is okay too now Snoop.
-As a side note, I read a biography of a former female porn star who had a difficult but not extremely difficult home life. Step dads and moving around a little, nothing big. She was raised a christian but in her teen years she, in her words, was influenced by rap music and got into porn briefly. She is now a born again Christian and speaks out against the porn lifestyle. She basically said she was acting out all the things she heard in the rap songs.
-Some of the lyrics, no doubt, are brilliant language wise. I am a word guy, I write (screenplays), so I can respect other artists and all that. Musically, beauty is in the eye of the beholder so we can debate that back and forth and some will like it, some will hate it, this thread was about the lyrics anyway.
“Yep . . . kids these days and their raunchy lyrics”
To me, it’s not “kids these days” as if there weren’t ever raunchy lyrics. It’s the totality of the focus on the raunchy lyrics without corresponding musicality.
If you look for “raunchiest songs” you’ll find that nearly 100% of them are rap songs with titles and lyrics that would be *****ed out on CC. Poetry and musical lyrics have always been about love, romance, sex. Or just sex. But when there are no metaphors, in many cases rap “songs” are just crude, violent, graphic porn. Gross and abusive. Not at all what I’d want to fill my ears/imagination with–let alone my kids’ imaginations. I see no possible benefit to hearing about these “artists” sexploits/fantasies.
Never heard the ZZ Top song (though I know some of their other songs). The AC/DC song is played on the Oldies station I listen to in the car. I could sing along with that song (and a lot of other suggestive/crude rock songs) in front of my 10yo and she wouldn’t know what the song is about. Not so with most rap songs.
SOME of the rap songs - it is a music genre and style that is not wedded to raunchy lyrics although they are certainly found there.
Wilson Pickett’s Mustang Sally:
Mustang Sally, think you better slow your mustang down.
Mustang Sally, think you better slow your mustang down.
You been running all over the town now.
Oh! I guess I’ll have to put your flat feet on the ground.
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.
One of these early mornings, oh, you gonna be wiping your weeping eyes.
I bought you a brand new mustang 'bout nineteen sixty five
Now you come around signifying a woman, you don’t wanna let me ride.
Mustang Sally, think you better slow your mustang down.
You been running all over the town now.
Oh! I guess I’ll have to put your flat feet on the ground.
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.
I would argue those lyrics, while suggestive, are poetic and very creative. But as #47 put it, and others mentioned, there is a big difference between innuendo and being explicit about one’s desires and fantasies.
These “artists” are just point blank singing about their fantasies. If I had daughter’s, I am pretty sure I’d be a more than a little offended if some young man, white or black, out of the 'hood starts telling my D about what he wants to do to her. That is crossing the line IMHO. How about you shut up instead? That’s sounds better to me.
I have no idea what the get off my lawn reference is too, I should Goggle it I guess, but in passing I’ll say these guys should, at least, pull up their pants. Thanks. When did this become acceptable. Grabbing their junk, pants half way to their ankles, and being point blank filthy? If a white guy did that he’d be fired and shot and crucified.
48--that's why I said "in many cases" and "most" (not all, always, every single one. . .)
Musicality is a matter of taste. As an example, I would put Eminem’s ‘So Bad’ up as an example of a song that has raunchy lyrics (delivered in a sort of happy go lucky way) and it’s one of the more catchy songs out there IMO. It is possible for something to have real artistic merit and craft and just not be to your taste. Not caring for something personally does not make it “bad” by nature or negate its artistic merit.
I happen to agree with you that Eminem is quite talented. Indeed, I have a girlfriend who says that she thinks if Eminem didn’t use such foul language, he’d be studied in English class along with Shakespeare. I personally think he’s a lot more talented than a lot of the rap artists out there.
Well this got me all motivated to spin for an hour 
among other things on my interval playlist were:
I Stand Alone (Robert Glasper Experience with Common) - warm up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_kS5P8XIu0
The Monster (Eminem with Rihanna) - warm up
Cinderella Man (Eminim) - hill climb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmvQcajq9Eo
Hold Your Head Up (Macklemore) - recovery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHLyPdt-Fi4
As We Enter (Nas with Damien Marley) - hill climb
Moneymaker (Everlast) - recovery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RnnrxvQZSQ
'Till I Collapse (Eminem) - epic hill climb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY9C0ItyO0k
The Magic (Macklemore) - recovery
Dreamer (K’naan) - hill climb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fRF6Cby824
Love the Way You Lie (Eminem with Rihanna) - cool down
(not going to post that official video but it’s one of the most powerful messages against domestic violence that you will see)
all rap and there’s a lot of pure poetry in there . . .
I also have the feeling that a decent percentage of what bothers people RE explicit raunchiness is actually hip-hop club dance music and not actually rap.
I am personally not a fan of rap. I respect it as an art form, and it is music, if you hold to my definition of music, which is “sound that is created with the purpose of expressing emotion”. It certainly expresses emotion. I don’t care if people play it in their own home or car if it is at a volume level that cannot be heard by the neighboring house or vehicle. I just don’t like how people assume I want to listen to their music. I think the whole problem with the lyrics is how explicit they are. Older rock music is somewhat suggestive, but so is Shakespeare. Read the sonnets. But some rap is extremely explicit, and I would prefer that people didn’t listen to it where I can hear it.
I would much rather hear Kanye West’s rap ballad about his deceased mother’s perspective on his relationship with his child over hearing Taylor Swift complain for the umpteenth time about a man who broke her heart.
Do you mean “Only One” (the collaboration with Paul McCartney)? I was very unimpressed by that song, and the AutoTune - good lord. I’d rather hear Taylor Swift. Nothing wrong with bubbly and energetic. And who demonstrates more class - Kanye grabbing the mic isn’t exactly anything to write home about.
@Pizzagirl I’m sorry, but I’m pretty sure this thread is about lyrics. Autotune and the character of the artist has no bearing on the quality of the lyrics.
While we are at it, I wonder why they like to grab their crotch when they performing. Is it part of the dance move?