Abstinence Only, are will still teaching that?

I have never been one not to abide by the parental discretion advisories or the movie rating at the theater. I waited till I was thirteen to go to a PG-13 movie and I never snuck into an R rated movie before I was seventeen. I never had the need to and I never cared that much. When I was twelve I wanted to buy a Snoop Dogg CD (I was twelve do not judge me), but there was a parental advisory sticker on it and the store would not sell me the CD. I put the CD back and walked away. I thank the store because I saved myself 13 dollars on a CD I was mostly buying because it was the ‘cool thing’ to do.

Last night I was listening to the songs from the Zac Brown Band’s new album Uncaged, along with a few Stevie Nicks songs, and Chely Wright’s fairly new album from 2010, Lifted of the Ground. I have always a country music fan, maybe because my parents always listed to country radio in the car or because I like the line dancing rhythm of a lot of the songs. It is very rare to find a country song that is listed as explicit on iTunes. Country music is usually about love, loss, drinking, or death, but it usually is not vulgar enough to be considered explicit or get a parental advisory tag.

Chely Wright’s album Lifted off the Ground has 12 songs, that are all listed as explicit. I read the warning for why a song or album would acquire an explicit parental advisory warning. The letter concerning Music Rating in Music on iTunes states this:

“The Parental Advisory is a notice to consumers that recording identified by this logo may contain strong language or depiction of violence,  sex or substance abuse. Parental discretion is advised”

I understand why these criteria would make a song listed as explicit. However, I am baffled as to why they would list the whole album Lifted off the Ground as explicit. Two songs in the album use profanity, so it would be more understandable that these two songs have explicit ratings on them. The song Damn Liar uses the word f***ing at the end of the song once, and whether or not one considers damn a swear that could also factor in on the rating of the song. The song Object of Your Rejection uses the word s**t saying "you cannot always get away with treating people like s**t" and the song Snow Globe hints at drug use, making that an appropriate candidate for an explicit rating.

Through the songs of this album, the topics of suicide, heart break, hiding in the closet, love, love of another woman are all brought up. These topics are more adult, so I would understand that these would be listed as explicit attached to each other, when buy the whole album. However, on iTunes one can buy songs separately. Each one of the songs on this album is explicit parental advisory meaning not appropriate for children.

The song Young, Wild & Free by Wiz Khalifa, is not listed as explicit on iTunes. This song starts off with the words 

“so what we get drunk, so what we smoke weed, we’re just having fun, we don’t care who sees”. Later is says “and if I skip for the day I’m with you b***h smoking grade A”.

This song is not listed as explicit which peeves me. It is not that this song is not listed as explicit that upsets me, it is the fact that Chely Wright’s album hints to sexuality and suicide which are real issues going on in the world today that are important for everyone to understand and realize that they are real and no one is alone. Young, Wild, & Free very blatantly talks about smoking weed [“substance abuse”], and uses the word b***h [“strong language”].  Why is the word b***h allowed to be said in a song once, but a lesbian country singer cannot say the word s**t without the song being labeled as explicit.

The music rating warning also states:

“Lyrics are often susceptible to varying interpretations. Words can have different meanings. Also, words cannot be viewed in isolations from the music that accompanies them. Lyrics when accompanied by loud and raucous music can be perceived differently than the same lyrics when accompanied by soft and soothing music… Context, frequency, and emphasis are obviously important; isolated or unintelligible references to certain material might be insufficient to warrant application of the Label.”

There is not alternate interpretation of the song Young, Wild and Free. The songs on Chely Wright’s album are intelligent, heartfelt and speak to the problems a lot of people face in their lives. Chely Wright is one of the first woman country singers to come out of the closet and speak out for gay rights. Her song like me is pretty obviously about the love she had for another woman. The only reason I can plausibly see that her whole album is listed explicit, when the song Young, Wild and Free is not, is the hint at sexuality or homosexuality.

The song by Brad Paisley called Ticks is very blatantly talking about sex, however that is not rated explicit. What other interpretation can be made by the lyrics:

“your jeans are playing peekaboo, I would like to see the other half of your butterfly tattoo….I’d like to see you, out in the moonlight, I’d like to kiss you way back in the sticks, I’d like to walk you through a field of wild flowers, and I’d like to check you for ticks”.

These songs are fine, I like Brad Paisley and I am not saying that his song should be listed explicit. What I am saying is there absolutely is a disjunction between the music rating’s criteria and why they really listed Chely Wright’s CD as explicit.

Now it technically does not affect me because I am 19, but if I was sixteen and wanted to get this CD I would have stayed away because I am a boring rule follower. Some parents might not let their child buy this CD. This CD is not offensive, rather opens peoples eyes to the real world. If it is offensive then it is only because of this world’s bigotry and out right homophobia.  Putting this CD as explicit is like teaching abstinence only sex education; closing teenagers eyes to the real world and hoping for the best (which hint-hint, usually doesn’t work).