July 2005
WUGGIE'S MUSIC, MEDIA AND MORE!
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.
M Mature content. Not necessarily offensive, but parents should be careful before allowing exposure to children and pre-teens.
X Mature content. For mature teens, firm in their convictions and morals, who have received much parental guidance.
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.
Remember, my reviews are strictly my opinion, and no substitute for your good judgment
Please send me an Email (Mwuggazer@RedeemerBirmingham.org) or call me (248-644-4010) with requests for reviews!!
This Month: Let's talk Downloads!!!
Need a parent's primer on music downloads? Here it is! The word 'Download" can refer to three different processes or behaviors.
The first is the illegal download. This type of download was what made Napster infamous. Even though Napster has gone legit, there are still sites and ways on the internet to download music illegally. Kaza and Morpheus are two of the biggest, and they use a system in which people 'share' their music files with each other. This practice is illegal. The FBI has the technology and the legal authority to track down people who illegally download music (ie. Without paying for it). They normally go after the heavy users, but be warned. If there is music on your computer or your kid's iPod that they haven't paid for, it is illegal.
The second is the illegal burn. This is when friends share their song files over the internet (via Email or Instant Message) or by just giving each other CDs. While this is a fun and seemingly benign activity, it is also illegal.
The only legal download is the paid download. Sites such as iTunes, Real Networks, and the new legitimate Napster offer downloads from $0.49 to $0.99 per song. Since this revolution, there has been less and less illegal music downloading. At ninety nine cents a song, you can download an entire 10 song CD for less than $10, which is almost half the cost of buying the CD in a store - and it's perfectly legal! Gift cards to these services make great Christmas and birthday gifts, and encourage legal downloads.
How do I make sure my kid isn't downloading illegally?
There is no fool proof technological solution, unfortunately. The best method is still the conversation. Not only does it keep illegal music off your computer and out of your house, a conversation with your kids passes on your values. Scripture again and again tells us how important it is that Christians be morally different from the world in which we live in (Romans 12:1-2, Lev. 20:26). Obeying laws regarding music downloads and teaching our kids that stealing music is wrong is a great way to be 'set apart'.
Top Ten Downloads!
Music downloads have dramatically changed the landscape of music consumption. I remember as a teenager saving up to buy an album by my favorite band. It would have to be a great band and a great album to deserve my money. Since everyone was doing the same thing, only a few bands and a few albums made it to the top. It was easy to just look at the chart and say, "Oh, these top ten albums are what everybody is into." Now, a CD is twice the cost of what LPs used to be, a song is less than a buck, and music consumption is splintered across the board. The top ten list of CD sales might not contain a single band that any given person would even care for. Worse yet, the Top Ten no longer contains the most recent releases. So, this month I'd like to take a look at the Top Ten DOWNLOADS! These are the 10 SONGS that have been downloaded the most from iTunes recently. Chances are your kid has some of these songs on their iPod or computer.
Don't Phunk With My Heart / Black Eyed Peas / X
I'm sorry, but the one line: "I want your mind too" doesn't make up for the fact the song is all about lust.
Hollaback Girl / Gwen Stefani / X
Read the whole review online at www.RedeemerBirmingham.org. The last two years of this column are searchable by artist or date.
Behind These Hazel Eyes / Kelly Clarkson / M
No bad words, and pretty benign lyrics about a girl who is struggling after her boyfriend broke up with her. Very relatable. Very passionate.
Live Like You Were Dying / Tim McGraw / +
Great song. Sad, yet uplifting. Tim encourages people to love and be loved and live for today. "Do no worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." - Jesus (Matthew 6:26)
Switch / Will Smith / M
Will uses this song as a bully pulpit to chastise everybody from the girl who wears not enough clothes ("It's a club girl, why you arrive naked?") to the people who like him only because he's a movie star. No bad words, no envelope pushing. I love Will Smith.
Mr. Brightside / The Killers / XX
Good song, bad words, too bad, so sad. The Killers glamorize a one night stand and loss of control.
Beverly Hills / Weezer / M
Actually, I'm surprised. I usually don't like Weezer, but this isn't a bad song. It's a sour grapes song about materialism.
Speed of Sound / Coldplay / M
Cool song. No complaints. Cryptic lyrics, but nothing bad.
Incomplete / Backstreet Boys / X
Although there are no bad words, it's just a pet peeve of mine when singers lament about being incomplete without a member of the opposite sex. I think it's one of the greater ills of our fallen world that we chase after boys and girls and relationships and sex in a futile attempt to fill the incompleteness that only Jesus Christ can fill. This song reinforces the concept that our young people have that they will never truly be happy and complete without a boyfriend or a girlfriend, and once they have that, life will be perfect, and they will be complete.
Feel Good Inc / Gorillaz / XX
Mild profanity.
Mom's Media survey
Forget about the "mommy wars," in which stay-at-home mothers were supposedly locking horns with their working sisters, at least in popular perception. What's really happening with American mothers of all stripes - from full-time homemakers to full-fledged workaholics, all income levels, all racial backgrounds - is worry about popular culture, and what feels like a tsunami of forces threatening parents' ability to impart positive values to their children, according to a new survey of more than 2,000 mothers. Moms report a cultural onslaught that goes far beyond Hollywood movies and TV, and into the world of the Internet, electronic games, and advertising.
"We heard mothers talking about the kind of hypersexuality that's out there, about violence and disrespect, about body image, all the things that are not exactly news, but cutting across a huge and diverse sample of mothers," says Martha Farrell Erickson of the University of Minnesota, lead researcher on the study, released by the Institute for American Values in New York. "What they would really like to see is mothers and fathers joining forces more effectively to take on some of these issues."
Politics did not come up naturally in these mothers' group conversations; they see the solutions more through the avenue of personal and community action, rather than dumping these problems on the doorstep of government. "I limit their television; my son doesn't really know about commercial television," she says. "He watches public TV and we'll occasionally buy or rent him a 'Sesame Street' DVD.... My daughter didn't watch much television until she started seeing stuff at friends' houses, which is what's starting to happen to my son."
Teresa Sommer is the mother of three children, also in Evanston. "The primary thing is to lead by example, which both my husband and I try to do," she says. "We try to take advantage of teaching moments that are available, to be reflective about those moments, and let the kids think about those questions."
Excerpted from The Christian Science Monitor Fri May 6, 2005 Linda Feldmann