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Pumped Up Kicks

One of our local radio stations banned the song Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People. One of their biggest reasons was that Virginia Tech was so close and they didn't feel comfortable playing it.

Do songs like this bother you? The song is essentially about a kid plotting revenge in the form of a shooting spree. I actually really like the song. It took me a week or two until I was listening to the words to see what it actually meant.

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Re: Pumped Up Kicks

  • Funny...I was just talking about this song with my mom and 12 year old sister yesterday. I went with my mom to pick up my sister from school and the song came on.

    I've never really listened to the words because I don't think the songs sounds good at all. My mom and sister started talking about what it means, so I asked (since I don't listen to it)...I think it's an odd thing to sing about and not the best thing for kids to listen to. i feel that way about a lot of songs, but there's just something different about songs that are a bit raunchy, and a song about a kid going on a shooting spree at school.

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  • Say what?

    I had no idea that song was about that. Just goes to show I have paid absolutely zero attention to the lyrics.

  • imageheatherkj:

    Say what?

    I had no idea that song was about that.



    Yeah, never heard of this song before .... off to google.

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  • imageheatherkj:

    Say what?

    I had no idea that song was about that. Just goes to show I have paid absolutely zero attention to the lyrics.

         Uh yeah...lol.  DH loves that song and turns it up every time it comes on in the car.  I have been absently singing along to it.  After reading this post I mentally went over the lyrics...how did I not notice that??? 

  • Wow, I like this song, but never payed close enough attention to the lyrics to know that this is what the song was about.
    Finally a Mrs as of June 7, 2008
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  • I LOVE this song and I had no idea what it was about.  I heard it for the first time last week, but since I can't really understand the singer, I just make up my own.   I was singing something about going round and round a bed, and fat sh!t in a bucket. 

    ETA:  youtube'd a video with lyrics and it bothered me.  I don't think I'll listen to it anymore... this kind of thing really scares me.

    Married in 2008 - DD born in 2010 - EDD 6.15.2012!
  • This is tough for me because I one hand I HATE music censorship and I really think that people should be able to express themselves freely through words and music as it is a way of healing and working through problems. However, the song disturbs me and I have a hard time listening to it without cringing. The song itself is super catchy and if it didn't have the lyrics it had, I would totally dig it. I can totally see why a radio staion would ban it. I should find out more about the person who wrote the song, maybe there's a story behind it.
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  • imagestar678:

    I LOVE this song and I had no idea what it was about.  I heard it for the first time last week, but since I can't really understand the singer, I just make up my own.   I was singing something about going round and round a bed, and fat sh!t in a bucket. 

    This. I make up lyrics all the time too...totally didn't pay attention to what was being said in this song because I liked it and just thought it was catchy. Now I'm a little freaked out.

  • MrsJaay, I looked up "story behind Pumped Up Kicks" online (because apparently, that is much more important to me than doing work lol) and found this explanation from the band. Still doesn't change what the song is about, but just found it interesting:

    "Pumped Up Kicks' is about a kid that basically is losing his mind and is plotting revenge. He's an outcast. I feel like the youth in our culture are becoming more and more isolated. It's kind of an epidemic. Instead of writing about victims and some tragedy, I wanted to get into the killer's mind, like Truman Capote did in 'In Cold Blood.' I love to write about characters. That's my style. I really like to get inside the heads of other people and try to walk in their shoes."

  • imageJune08BrideJC:

    MrsJaay, I looked up "story behind Pumped Up Kicks" online (because apparently, that is much more important to me than doing work lol) and found this explanation from the band. Still doesn't change what the song is about, but just found it interesting:

    "Pumped Up Kicks' is about a kid that basically is losing his mind and is plotting revenge. He's an outcast. I feel like the youth in our culture are becoming more and more isolated. It's kind of an epidemic. Instead of writing about victims and some tragedy, I wanted to get into the killer's mind, like Truman Capote did in 'In Cold Blood.' I love to write about characters. That's my style. I really like to get inside the heads of other people and try to walk in their shoes."

    I respect that. Actually, the explanation makes me like the song even more.

    ETA: It is hipster/emo music, so the subject matter kind of makes sense for the genre.

    ETA2: Check out their Tiny Desk Concert on NPR: http://www.npr.org/2011/09/09/140256900/foster-the-people-tiny-desk-concert#commentBlock -- REALLY GOOD MUSIC.

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  • I've hated the song and never realized what it was saying because I always turn it...I'm surprised any radio station plays it knowing that now.
  • imageJune08BrideJC:

    MrsJaay, I looked up "story behind Pumped Up Kicks" online (because apparently, that is much more important to me than doing work lol) and found this explanation from the band. Still doesn't change what the song is about, but just found it interesting:

    "Pumped Up Kicks' is about a kid that basically is losing his mind and is plotting revenge. He's an outcast. I feel like the youth in our culture are becoming more and more isolated. It's kind of an epidemic. Instead of writing about victims and some tragedy, I wanted to get into the killer's mind, like Truman Capote did in 'In Cold Blood.' I love to write about characters. That's my style. I really like to get inside the heads of other people and try to walk in their shoes."



    Er - that's nice and all and of course he has freedom to write and express the story he wants to tell BUT it does bother me. What bothers me is that rather than just being another song on an albumn, it's a song that is being distributed to radio stations, thus being distributed to many people who will never read the above and understand how he really meant the song to be taken.
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  • imagestar678:

    I LOVE this song and I had no idea what it was about.  I heard it for the first time last week, but since I can't really understand the singer, I just make up my own.   I was singing something about going round and round a bed, and fat sh!t in a bucket. 

    lol! and I think we've found our new radio edit for our local station.

    It's definitely unsettling to listen to the lyrics but I still like the song so I don't really know how to feel if you want me to be honest.

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  • I hate the song just because it sounds annoying to me. I always turn the station in like 2 secs when it comes on.

    But I teach 7th graders, and they love it for some reason, so I listened to it one time. And yes, I did get the lyrics and the story the first time.

    As a teacher, school shootings are my biggest far. I mean, really. It could happen anywhere.

    I'm all about free speech and stuff, but this freaks me out. Especially since the kids all think it's such a cool song. We actually had a conversation about the lyrics, and they knew what it was saying and what it meant.

     

  • Okay, I'm late to the game, but I actually wanted to think about this a bit.

    Two caveats to my opinion: A school shooting has never hit close to home to me, and I have never heard the song (though I now know what its about).

    Like Jennrs, I am big against artistic censorship. I have strong beliefs that if you don't like something or something offends you, then you shouldn't support it.  Censorship should not come into play so that every American has that choice.  It sounds like Jaay's radio station is exercising that choice, which is good.  I'm also big on not telling anyone how to run their business.

    I don't think that songs like these are as detrimental as others would have you believe.  If you don't have the motivation inside of you to do such a thing, a song is not going to change your mind.  Neither will a movie, or a tv show, or a video game. Think of the movie Se7en.  The first time I saw that I was terrified. But you know what?  I haven't heard of any copycats.  Serial killers kill because of what's in their hearts and their own mental illnesses....not because of a movie.  So, in other words, children will not be tempted to go on a murderous rampage at a school simply because they heard it in some song lyrics.If someone is going to do that, the motivation lies deep within and well beyond a song. 

    I don't mean to sound so casual about the situation, I'm simply trying to look at it as "big-picture" instead of knee-jerk.  Do I like the fact that there are songs like this targeted to teenagers?  No.  But it shouldn't be stopped simply because people are afraid of it...there needs to be a bigger reason for censorship.

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  • Dehko I kind of agree with you. I think if someone is a psychopath I don't think a song is going to influence someone one way or another. I can respect that the radio station thought it might be disrespectful to people that are still a little raw over a tragedy that was close by so I don't have a problem with them banning it.
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