My reviews are not meant to replace your good judgment!! Please be an active parent, not a robot!! If you disagree with me, I'd love to hear your opinion. Send comments, questions and suggestions for material to be reviewed to: Mwuggazer@redeemerbirmingham.org.

Ratings System:

++ Christian - made specifically by Christians for Christians

+ Secular - but contains nothing offensive to most Christians, probably made by Christians trying to exert influence in secular media.

X Contains mature content. Not necessarily offensive, but parents should be careful before allowing exposure to children and pre-teens.

XX Contains very mature, problematic content. Parents should seriously consider restricting exposure to teens.

XXX Completely offensive. Not only should teens be restricted, but adults may want to question their own exposure. Article: Reminder: My reviews are not meant to replace your good judgment!! Please be an active parent, not a robot!! If you disagree with me, I'd love to hear your opinion. Send comments, questions and suggestions for material to be reviewed to: Mwuggazer@redeemerbirmingham.org. Want more? Wuggie's Music Media and More feature is available on the church's website: www.redeeemerbirmingham.org about 3 weeks before it is published in The Lamp. Next month's issue might already be posted.

CDs ~

Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot / Under Construction (hit single: "Work It") XXX Her label, Elektra Records calls Elliot "Groundbreaking" and a "multimedia superstar . . . artist, producer, writer and businesswoman". What they don't tell you is that the ground she is breaking is the ground between music and pornography. And she is a "businesswoman" in the same sense that Hugh Hefner is a "businessman". There is a movement afoot in the music business and the pornography business. The two are converging. This is not my opinion, but industry fact. I saw a special on VH1 a few weeks ago about this convergence. It was a documentary, produced by VH1. It is shocking that VH1 (and it's sister network MTV, they're both owned by the same company, Viacom) openly admits to this convergence and reports on it as if it was what everybody expects, as anticipated as the convergence between cell phones and computers. By the way, I taped the documentary. I'll loan it to you if you don't believe me. Many record labels and artists are rushing to pioneer this movement. Missy Elliot is on the cutting edge. Half porn star, half musical artist, her lyrics are inundated with explicit sexual terms. She describes sexual acts in detail. And yes, her music is played on the radio. Both 95.5 and 93.1 play her single, "Work It". They both make a feeble attempt at editing the song, but they are not really interested in making the song "child friendly". They are interested in making money and pushing the envelope. 95.5 does a slightly better job of editing. Bad words are replaced in their entirety with "bleeps". Unfortunately, the "good" words still explicitly describe certain sexual acts. 93.1 just pays lip service to bleeping. Instead of replacing the bad words, they merely insert the bleep inside the word. You can still hear, for instance, the f before the bleep and the k after the bleep. What kind of an effort is that? SO, not only do I recommend that children (and adults) stay away from Missy Elliott, but since her song is played freely on the radio, I recommend that 93.1 and 95.5 be restricted for children under 16. For older teens, parents may decide that this is a battle that can't be won. In this case, I highly recommend that you make your opinion known. Sit down with your teen and discuss this convergence you see happening. Tell them what your values are. Tell them you think that these lyrics are immoral and that the radio stations are not protecting anybody. Tell them that just by listening to these lyrics their purity is compromised in the same way that looking at pornography compromises their purity. Please, don't think, "Oh, my teenager goes to Wuggie's Youth Group, he'll tell them." Darn straight I'm telling them, but that doesn't replace the need for them to hear it from their parents. Believe it or not, you are still their primary influence when it comes to morality.

Michelle Branch / Spirit Room + I like Michelle Branch. She is a musician's musician, and a good lyricist. She sings of topics that teenage girls think about a lot: The desire to be known and appreciated for who she is, the desire to be part of something bigger than herself, loneliness and fear of rejection, and more. In a song called, "Something to sleep to", she sings about the emptiness of a relationship that ended because the two people rushed into it too quickly. Because they identify with what she sings about, teens connect with Branch quickly. It's easy to see why, and I don't have a problem with that. Michelle Branch fans should be counseled to search for real answers to the questions she raises: Where can I get lasting unconditional love? Who will accept me for me? How can I build lasting meaningful relationships?

No Doubt / Rock Steady X No Doubt gives me fits. I want to like Gwen Steffani and her band so much, and I want to admire them for making really great music with clean lyrics and a clean image. In the past, they have done that pretty successfully. They have walked the thin line between cutting edge cool and indecency. Gwen wears cool clothes that aren't revealing. The music is absolutely awesome, and the lyrics are trendy, cool and hip without being vulgar, and the innuendo is sophisticated and acceptable. Unfortunately, No Doubt's latest release, Rock Steady, is a disappointment. They've just inched across the line. Oh, the music is still awesome, maybe even their best to date. Gwen still wears more clothes than J-Lo, Britney and Christina combined. But when it comes to the lyrics, it seems that No Doubt feels that they couldn't remain hip and trendy if they didn't put in a few bad words. And why? "Hella good" is a great song. Naming it "Keep on Dancing" wouldn't have made it any less great. "Underneath it all" is another amazing song, and it's about how appearances can be deceiving, not about underneath clothes or sheets. It seems, however, that the band felt they had to keep up with Shakira when it came to naming the song. Come on Gwen, You are so close to earning my respect and admiration, why cave? You have so much talent, ride the talent not the envelope! I wanted so much to give this release a "+", but settled for an "X". Mature teens aren't going to be corrupted by No Doubt.

Jennifer Lopez / This is me…Then XX Materialism, casual sex, overly sexual videos, etc. Is this really OK for Christians to immerse themselves in? Is this where we really want our money to go? Consider Out of Eden as a great Christian alternative.

Shania Twain / UP! X Shania's husband/producer is Robert Lange. He also was the brains behind Foreigner in the 70's and 80's. If you're my age, you grew up on Foreigner, and so we can't bash Shania too much, can we? Most of her stuff is good clean fun, but I wish she dressed a little less hot blooded, and lines like: "You're a fine piece of real estate, and I'm gonna get me some land" may be a little too Urgent for pre-teens. But that's about the worst of it.

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