Aly & Aj / Potential Breakup Song / M

This sister act might just prove to be the biggest girl group of all time.  You heard it here first.  Aly & AJ are very pretty, very trendy and they can sing and dance.  The song is outstanding.  I like the video even more, because even though the girls are very pretty, they are fully clothed and the video is not about them showing off their bodies in overly sexual ways.  In the song, the boyfriend forgets the singer’s birthday, and she is saying that this is a potential breakup issue.  It’s fun, clean and good. 

Hurricane Chris / A Bay Bay / X

Personally I’m not that big on Hurricane Chris and “club rap” in general.  I do, however, have to concede that most “club rap” is much worse.  Yes, the repetitive beats and obnoxiously simple synthesizer whining are flat our annoying, but I’ve heard worse.  Yes, the lyrics sound just like every other ‘club rapper’ talking about his car, his girls and his money, but I’ve heard worse.  At least Chris doesn’t bring us a hurricane of profanity and his high winds don’t degrade women.  That’s more than I can say for most ‘club rappers’. 

Fall Out Boy / Thanks For The Memories / M

Thanks For The Memories is the kind of power punk that I liked on Fall Out Boy’s first disc: Driving guitars, singable lyrics, and a good time.  There are no bad words in this song, and the subject is benign at first glance.  The singer and his friends have had many good times together and they are celebrating their friendship.  But a deeper look reveals some of the common misconceptions of entitlement that run rampant through today’s youth culture.   Generation Y (kids born 1982-2002) is so used to instant gratification and good times that they assume these things are their birthright.  Such an attitude is strong in this song.  Specifically the line, “Say a prayer but let the good times roll In case God doesn't show”, shows a sense of spirituality and a longing for meaning in life that Gen-Xers didn’t share, yet the priority is still on maximizing the good times.  There is no patience to let the more subtle blessings of life take root.  Instead there is a sense that if I miss one good time, I will not have maximized the potential of my life.

Linkin Park / What I’ve Done / M

Responsibility for actions, repentance, forgiveness, restitution and new birth are themes not exactly common to rock and roll.  So when you see them all in one song, even if it’s a Linkin Park song, you have a tough time not applauding.  Check out this lyric:  “So let mercy come,

And wash away… What I’ve Done. I’ll face myself, To cross out what I’ve become. Erase myself, And let go of what I've done.”  Heck, they even got imagery of the cross and baptism in there!   Now, don’t get too excited.   I’m not pronouncing Linkin Park a Christian Band, especially considering their body of work, some of which has been rather objectionable.   Make no mistake, the person doing the forgiving in this song is the individual, not Jesus.  Other than the imagery outlined earlier, God is absent.  I was, however, pleasantly surprised that this song would be so pure and the message so positive. 

Then I watched the video…  It wasn’t a complete disaster.  Actually I like the video.  It’s well done.  The band plays on a stage set up in the desert, and clips showing the ‘sins of the world’ are edited in.  We see images of holocausts, genocide, war, poverty, and the like.  The video redefined for me what the song was about.  I no longer saw it as one person singing about his personal sins, but rather the singer became a spokesperson for a generation.  The sins were no longer personal sins of the individual, but regrets about the actions of previous generations.  The images of new birth were not an individual rebuilding their life after repentance, but of a new generation self-righteously pledging to not make the same mistakes.    It almost ruined it for me. 

Of course, like I usually do, I’m over analyzing the song to the point that I’ve now taken all the fun out of it.  Enjoy the music and know that the song itself basically harmless. 

Rush of Fools / Undo / ++

This song has much the same themes as the Linkin Park song, with the added benefit that the singer knows exactly who to turn to for forgiveness and grace.  Cool new Christian band with a straight ahead sound reminiscent of Daughtry or Nickelback. 

 Amy Winehouse / Rehab / XX

It’s to bad that one of the freshest sounds I’ve heard this year had to come packaged with filthy lyrics and subject matters.  This is one that you’re going to have to search for on your kids iPods.  It’s going to be wildly popular. As for the single, the opening line says it all:  “They tried to make me go to rehab, I said no, no, no.”  Unfortunately the rest of the disc gets worse from there.  It’s a definite no. 

Wuggie’s rantings and ravings

The next iteration of the YouTube revolution is professionally produced entertainment that’s tailored for Web viewing.  For example, former Disney Chairman Michael Eisner’s Web production company Vuguru has bankrolled a “season” of 80 two-minute episodes of a raunchy teenage drama called Prom Queen.  Every day a new episode is available through one of many online “hosts”, including MySpace, YouTube, and PromQueen.tv.  Each episode is a mishmash of teenage intrigues – sex, bullying, parent problems, friend problems – and a lost-like storyline that features mysterious characters and violent undertones.  These short installments are perfect for video capable phones.  Roughly 200,000 people watch the show everyday.  Maybe you’ve never thought there were any problems with your child having a video capable phone.  Now you know. 

I also have some thoughts on the philosophy of “They’re going to see it / do it / watch it / hear it anyways, I’d rather they do it under my roof.”  The problem with this attitude is that it gives permission.  Yes, chances are that much of the media, entertainment and web sites that you may prohibit will still find their way to your child at the home (or phone) of a friend.  The difference is in the permission.  The difference is, “Do they understand that this is against your family’s value system?”  The difference is in the morals that you teach them.  The difference is in how your child perceives right and wrong.   We have a whole generation growing up now with no sense of right and wrong (or rather, a very perverted sense).  If we as Christians do nothing proactive to teach our kids right from wrong, how are they going to be any different? 

Portions of this article were excerpted from Group Magazine July/Aug 07 by Rick Lawrence