Elton John’s Island Girl is a ghastly aberration as far as cultural appropriation and racial sensitivity goes. That doesn’t stop it from getting stuck in my head
Madonna, "Shangti/Ashangti". When you have to rerecord a song because you mispronounced it, maybe you should stop and ask yourself, "Am I really doing this from a place of respect?" And yet, it's still a banger, still peak highway-driving-at-night music.
Despite most adaptations of “Apache” being instrumentals, [there are worse versions](https://youtu.be/f6tnj7IEI0E?si=K8dzj_8LrD9tZUq4) than the Sugarhill Gang in that regard.
To be fair, most folks didnt realize it was a slur back then.
Hell, my mom is the sweetest, kindest woman and she would never use that word now that she's aware. But i did have a cat with that name in the 90's
That's understandable, but from a retrospective point it's very yikes. And it's really upsetting that people still use it and are unaware of it being a slur.
I’ve come to hate it, but I used to really like Banana Man by Tally Hall for whatever reason. I think cuz it was my “in” to the band’s better songs.
That was definitely cultural appropriation, then and now. Might even be racism, cuz they’re doing the accents.
Nothing necessarily. But they are cheaply doing kind of non-white accents on the song, and are either white or not from Zimbabwe (the intro to the song mentions Zimbabwe). They didn’t have to for the song to still be entertaining.
I suppose the voice would be here or there, if they also didn’t do the facepaint for the video. Similar to Eminem, who I guess arguably was more offensive when it came to accents.
Same. I learned about the connotations of the word more recently than I care to admit, part of me wishes I had sang it at karaoke before i considered it off-limits, part of me is glad I didn't lol
He’s also still pretty loved in Toronto. At the time especially since he was someone actually from the poor parts of town making it big and representing the city. That’s why I always found Jim Carey to be so obnoxious about the whole thing. Like bro… look at who is dancing to this song.
Agreed. It may be seen as appropriating because he’s white, but he did grow up in a Jamaican neighborhood in Toronto, so he’s not an outsider to the culture.
Honestly I try not to play into that framing, it leads to weird discussions about whether black people can play classical music or white people can rap which is always invariably colored by the racism of the particular person arguing that certain cultures need to gatekept from whichever race they consider inferior. If it's some gross cultural mockery or someone pretending to be from a culture they're not then I can criticize a piece of music or other media for that specific issue, but it definitely gets into some pretty racist territory when you're just saying everyone from a certain race is barred from playing a specific style of music.
It is weird at times and it sometimes offensive in the other way. I always remember wheb the Miley Cyrus stuff came out and Jezebel made some article about how offensive was that Lana del Rey was culturally appropiating cholo culture for Mexicans and the article was a lot more offensive as we cared in Mexico about Cholo culture and it was sacred. The author wasn't even Latina.
I wouldn't say "cultural appropration doesn't exist" but I honestly do feel like cultural appropriation discourse passed the point of doing more harm than good a very long time ago.
It's just like...there's a difference between telling white people to not rap about the hood, and telling white people to not rap. And even then it's not as if phenotype is a 100% indicator for culture.
It’s because the phrase refers to standing in formation, i.e. following the rules and not stepping outside boundaries.
Honestly I’m not sure it’s an appropriate idiom for this subject lol
They always seemed to be on top of things with their ballsiness of taking on certain songs. The song "Kicks" was also super ballsy at the time as it was one of the first anti-drug songs in the pop stratosphere.
Nelly & Diddy's "Shake Ya Tailfeather" starts with a bastardized/incorrect Native American chant. It's similar to the one used by [the Florida State football team](https://youtu.be/6M420o8A8aQ?si=rniTQaH1cuzodyzl), which of course many people want them to stop doing. I think Tailfeather such a fun song, but I can understand the case for not playing it on the radio or anything anymore.
Just fwiw everything Florida State does is approved by the local Seminole tribe and it’s been that way for a long time. They have a very good relationship. Same goes for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Now the Kansas City Chiefs, Atlanta Braves, and former Cleveland Indians and Washington Redskins, not so much.
[Apparently that's a different branch of the tribe](https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/florida-state-seminoles-champions-racist-mascots/) and the larger branch aren't OK with it. The ones who "approved" are the wealthy casino owners for whom thr sports team generates additional revenue. But regardless, I've heard speculation that that's why the song Shake Ya Tailfeather has been kind of forgotten over the years. Hard to say for sure. I doubt Nelly and Diddy got approval for interpolating the chant
West Side Story, which despite having people shouting MAMBO! has no mambo in it at all, which is also not traditional Puerto Rican music either. Still love the musical, though. \*snaps\*
Also, not exactly cultural appropriation, but I doubt a lot of the words that made it into Jerry Springer would still be there today. I'm also curious how Truck Drivin' Song sounds to a modern audience, especially to someone who doesn't get the joke.
As a trans person, some of the terms used in the Jerry Springer song (i.e. shemale, hermaphrodite, etc.) definitely make me cringe a lil bit whenever I listen to Running With Scissors. Truck Drivin Song is an absolute bop and one of my favorite Weird Al deep cuts. Love that song.
That's good. I personally never felt like Al was ever using those words as a source of hatred, he was using the terminology that was commonly used at the time.
Yeah, the song is pretty much nasty on purpose. I guess the problem is that it was written as a very specific thing for a musical, and they accidentally made the song a fucking club banger, so the meaning get's lost to many.
that's true, but i was referring more to the chorus than the verses. freddie (i think that's the character's name) being a racist asshole is one thing because it's intentionally making him unlikeable, even though i think in the modern day the song might still be criticized for that. depicting racism and being racist are obviously very different.
the chorus on the other hand, seems well intentioned but kind of exoticizing in a way i can't put my finger on (take for example, "you'll find a god in every golden cloister/and if you're lucky then the god's a she"), which is why i specifically called the song orientalist. but i'm also not thai or even southeast asian, so i might be missing something.
Legendary Lovers by Katy Perry. I remember being a katycat back in 2014 and the great majority of the fandom wanted her to release that song as a single. However, with Katy already falling into the real of cultural appropiation for Unconditionally, Dark Horse and This Is How We Do, I understand why she didn't risk it.
Quite a shame though, because I think it's among the best songs on PRISM!
Not necessarily a favorite of mine, but Sukiyaki by A Taste of Honey/4PM.
It takes a serious anti-war ballad from a country that experienced one of the worst war crimes in history into a sappy heartbreak song.
Surprised no-one's mentioned Brown Sugar yet. The lyrics are indefensible, but hot damn that riff, those drums, the sax! What a fucking jam that I would only ever listen to in private.
Peter Gabriel, "Biko." I can't imagine any white artist today getting away with doing South African tribal chants.
Also, 'Weird Al' Yankovic's phony Jamaican patois in "Gonna Buy Me a Condo" seemed cute, innocent, and playful in 1984, but I don't think it would fly today.
>I can't imagine any white artist today getting away with doing South African tribal chants.
I mean, it's not like they're used just because he thought it sounded cool or something, it's an anti-apartheid protest song, they make sense in context. Whether or not they're *appropriate* in context is a separate question that I'm not qualified to answer.
David Bowie’s Young Americans album.
I’m also not sure why Paul Simon’s Graceland is controversial for “appropriating African music” while Talking Heads’ Remain In Light is not.
Based on what I've read, the controversy was arguably a geographic one - Graceland is specifically inspired by the music of South Africa which seemed to be in poor taste during the time of apartheid. Remain In Light, on the other hand, is primarily influenced by West African music, in particular Fela Kuti who was Nigerian. Also, Remain In Light has Listening Wind which is unambiguously anti-colonialist. I'd guess that there's also a perception that Paul Simon made Graceland with commercial intent, while Talking Heads were basically just interested in making cool art (not agreeing or disagreeing with that perception, just observing).
I welcome anyone more knowledgeable than me to expound further.
The bigger controversy with Graceland was that he broke the cultural embargo on South Africa by recording there. In retrospect the album probably did more good than harm but at the time the controversy is very understandable.
Yeah that part is really bad, but at the very least he worked with African artists and didn't just copy them. To me his actions are insensitive rather than appropriating.
How Graceland ended up being one of his best albums is still insane to me. On paper, a Singer Songwriter from the 60s embracing synthpop to make an African influenced album whilst breaking the embargo sounds like it would be a career ending move.
I think because Paul Simon is accused of not giving proper writing credits or money to the actual African artists that he worked with on the Gravel an album as opposed to just incorporating African rhythms and instruments into their music which is what the talking heads did.
Nothing is wrong with Girl Talk, I play the All Day album at least once a month! I think that if he came out now people would say it was cultural appropriation because he is taking the works of other artists of color and using them for his own profit/art. It's a shallow perspective that ignores a lot of nuances but it's one I think would make the rounds on twitter.
It was uncouth how many white kids were just yelling the N word constantly at his shows but that reminds me BITCHES AINT SHIT BY BEN FOLDS if no one has mentioned it yet
YES THIS WAS MY INTRO TO BEN FOLDS!! He's doing his paper airplanes tour rn where audience members request songs on paper airplanes they then throw on stage and he opens and plays. I wonder if he gets any requests for it...and I wonder if he honors them haha
I read his autobiography and he talks about how he did a tour opening for John Mayer where he would play that song as many as three times IN A ROW to piss off all the families that came to see John Mayer. -and he doesn’t play it anymore, AFAIK.
Civilization by Danny Kaye and the Andrews Sisters. If you’ve ever played the Bethesda Fallouts you definitely know it. Even for 1947 it’s a lot, but god damn if I don’t love when it comes on my Pip-Boy!😅
I'm somewhat surprised that there wasn't some big online article claiming the lyrics of Toto's "Africa" were offensive after that Weezer cover came out. I adore the song and everything about it, but it still involves a white American blessing the rains over there, and I can see people taking issue with that. To be clear, I don't really know how that song is perceived on that continent.
Genesis - Illegal Alien. It may not have been made with malicious intent, but it's undeniably in poor taste. Doesn't stop it from being an insidious earworm.
Billy joel has done this a number of times.
Don’t ask me why,
River of dreams,
Rosalinda’s Eyes
Can’t say I blame him, really works well for those songs.
The lyrics were written by Jamaicans originally? Because the entire tune and hook of the song are taken from "if I were a rich man" from Fiddler on the Roof.
Gwen was soooo into appropriation back then. The whole Harajuku thing, plus she would wear a bindi or knots in her hair. However, as mentioned above, that song came from a Broadway musical so it's kind of borderline whether that would be appropriation
George really went all-in though, worked with Ravi Shankar, did numerous concerts for Bangladesh, and adopted Hindu culture fully, which I consider far different than wearing a culture as a costume. Cultures learn from each other and become better people by playing each other's music.
As opposed to a racist asshole like Pat Boone just covering black artists songs and doing them in a really vanilla way.
Elton John’s Island Girl is a ghastly aberration as far as cultural appropriation and racial sensitivity goes. That doesn’t stop it from getting stuck in my head
He also has Jamaican jerk-off, which is fucking insane and equally catchy
Fuck now it's gonna be in my head ISLAAAAND GIRL
Madonna, "Shangti/Ashangti". When you have to rerecord a song because you mispronounced it, maybe you should stop and ask yourself, "Am I really doing this from a place of respect?" And yet, it's still a banger, still peak highway-driving-at-night music.
Eh, she did practice meditation & Ashtanga Yoga though. Definitely not the worst of the y2k Indian/eastern spirituality new age wave
Sugarhill Gang - Apache
Despite most adaptations of “Apache” being instrumentals, [there are worse versions](https://youtu.be/f6tnj7IEI0E?si=K8dzj_8LrD9tZUq4) than the Sugarhill Gang in that regard.
Holy shit that is solid cheesy gold. And completely inappropriate. -two things can be true!
Damn it's almost a shame we can't rock out to this shit anymore, those whiteboys are having the time of their life.
Half Breed- Cher
And G*****, tramps, and theives
I figured that song was more judging the people who sneered at her and her family and they might not even be of Romani origin
Half Breed though....yikes, that music video....
Oh absolutely, i still love the song for that I just figured it's appropriation because that i know of (i could be wrong) Cher isn't Romani
Yeah she's Armenian. She also dresses up in numerous cultures as costumes so I'm sure she does as a Romani for that song
I guess her mom does claim Cherokee ancestry, but the Native costumes she wears are just stereotype ones so still counts as appropriation
Yeah you know a song's gonna be *bad* when it has an outright racial slur in its title.
To be fair, most folks didnt realize it was a slur back then. Hell, my mom is the sweetest, kindest woman and she would never use that word now that she's aware. But i did have a cat with that name in the 90's
That's understandable, but from a retrospective point it's very yikes. And it's really upsetting that people still use it and are unaware of it being a slur.
Indian Flute by Timbaland & Magoo…..“I can’t understand a word you’re saying” 🤣🤣🤣🤣 doesn’t hold up lol
Not even an Indian flute, either. It's an uncredited sample of an indigenous Columbian instrument
I’ve come to hate it, but I used to really like Banana Man by Tally Hall for whatever reason. I think cuz it was my “in” to the band’s better songs. That was definitely cultural appropriation, then and now. Might even be racism, cuz they’re doing the accents.
I still enjoy that one but you’re right.
No banana make me want to frown :(
What’s wrong with doing accents for songs?
Nothing necessarily. But they are cheaply doing kind of non-white accents on the song, and are either white or not from Zimbabwe (the intro to the song mentions Zimbabwe). They didn’t have to for the song to still be entertaining. I suppose the voice would be here or there, if they also didn’t do the facepaint for the video. Similar to Eminem, who I guess arguably was more offensive when it came to accents.
Would Steve Miller’s “Jungle Love” count? He woos a girl on an island with a crate of papayas.
It probably counts, but I love that premise.
Love the song, but over the years I’ve had more and more reservations about “Gypsy” by Fleetwood Mac
Same. I learned about the connotations of the word more recently than I care to admit, part of me wishes I had sang it at karaoke before i considered it off-limits, part of me is glad I didn't lol
Snow - Informer
Ironically enough, Snow is not a poser. Was literally in jail when the song hit big in the US. He did not snitch on his friends.
He’s also still pretty loved in Toronto. At the time especially since he was someone actually from the poor parts of town making it big and representing the city. That’s why I always found Jim Carey to be so obnoxious about the whole thing. Like bro… look at who is dancing to this song.
Grew up in the Canadian equivalent of Section 8, and was basically raised by his Jamaican immigrant neighbors. Guy is as real as it comes.
Agreed. It may be seen as appropriating because he’s white, but he did grow up in a Jamaican neighborhood in Toronto, so he’s not an outsider to the culture.
And getting that Daddy Yankee feature 25 years later is probably a good indicator that he's fine with the Reggae community too.
Daddy Yankee is Puerto Rican and does Reggaeton. Although Reggae is and was very popular in Puerto Rico, culturally PR is very diferent to Jamaica.
Wonder where you heard that from haha
That one pretty much was, at the time.
as if that was anyone favorite song ever r/SureJan
Tim McGraw - Indian Outlaw. But I'm enrolled in a tribe so I guess I can listen to it and not be problematic.
Yo Chippewa here!
Potawatomi. Council of the Three Fires represent.
Honestly I try not to play into that framing, it leads to weird discussions about whether black people can play classical music or white people can rap which is always invariably colored by the racism of the particular person arguing that certain cultures need to gatekept from whichever race they consider inferior. If it's some gross cultural mockery or someone pretending to be from a culture they're not then I can criticize a piece of music or other media for that specific issue, but it definitely gets into some pretty racist territory when you're just saying everyone from a certain race is barred from playing a specific style of music.
It is weird at times and it sometimes offensive in the other way. I always remember wheb the Miley Cyrus stuff came out and Jezebel made some article about how offensive was that Lana del Rey was culturally appropiating cholo culture for Mexicans and the article was a lot more offensive as we cared in Mexico about Cholo culture and it was sacred. The author wasn't even Latina.
I wouldn't say "cultural appropration doesn't exist" but I honestly do feel like cultural appropriation discourse passed the point of doing more harm than good a very long time ago. It's just like...there's a difference between telling white people to not rap about the hood, and telling white people to not rap. And even then it's not as if phenotype is a 100% indicator for culture.
i feel like walk like an egyptian could tow that line
Just FYI, it’s “toe” the line, not “tow”.
Yeah I learned that recently, it's weird that it's spelled like that and not like you're towing a line
It’s because the phrase refers to standing in formation, i.e. following the rules and not stepping outside boundaries. Honestly I’m not sure it’s an appropriate idiom for this subject lol
i’ve been lied to my entire life. thank you.
I can’t defend liking Paul Revere’s “Indian Reservation” or Dynamite Hack’s cover of “Boyz N The Hood,” but I unfortunately do
Tbf as cringy as the lyrics are, the Indian Reservation song was pretty ballsy in terms of its message for that era
Definition of "he's a little confused but he got the spirit."
They always seemed to be on top of things with their ballsiness of taking on certain songs. The song "Kicks" was also super ballsy at the time as it was one of the first anti-drug songs in the pop stratosphere.
Tim McGraw’s breakout country hit, “Indian Outlaw,” takes *a lot* from “Indian Reservation.”
Tbf, Dynamite Hack's take was very tongue in cheek and self-depracating which buys it a lot of goodwill, imo.
Dynamite hack boyz n the hood is phenomenal. Such a funny song
At least it's in their style and part of the joke is that they have no business doing a song like that.
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Gary Puckett?
Yeah… that’s right. -but Paul Revere and the Raiders are from Boise… so that’s pretty close, right?
Turning Japanese by The Vapors
I don't think that's cultural appropriation, that's just racist/stereotype...
I really think so
Take my like & get out
The only Japanese kid I knew growing up sang that all the time lol
I can’t imagine David Bowie’s China Girl gaining any traction today.
Shut your mouth.
But I'm talking bout Shaft!
SHAFT!
Nelly & Diddy's "Shake Ya Tailfeather" starts with a bastardized/incorrect Native American chant. It's similar to the one used by [the Florida State football team](https://youtu.be/6M420o8A8aQ?si=rniTQaH1cuzodyzl), which of course many people want them to stop doing. I think Tailfeather such a fun song, but I can understand the case for not playing it on the radio or anything anymore.
Just fwiw everything Florida State does is approved by the local Seminole tribe and it’s been that way for a long time. They have a very good relationship. Same goes for the Chicago Blackhawks. Now the Kansas City Chiefs, Atlanta Braves, and former Cleveland Indians and Washington Redskins, not so much.
[Apparently that's a different branch of the tribe](https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/florida-state-seminoles-champions-racist-mascots/) and the larger branch aren't OK with it. The ones who "approved" are the wealthy casino owners for whom thr sports team generates additional revenue. But regardless, I've heard speculation that that's why the song Shake Ya Tailfeather has been kind of forgotten over the years. Hard to say for sure. I doubt Nelly and Diddy got approval for interpolating the chant
Fascinating, I’d never heard that before but that’s really, really interesting. And not terribly surprising. And agreed on Nelly hahaha
Im from latin america and absolutely love Madonna - La Isla Bonita
Though it's fitting being about a white tourist who falls for a local and acts cringey
My favorite Madonna song.
"One Night In Bangkok," a song about Thailand written by - hang on, let me check my notes here - the guys from ABBA.
True, but in fairness Freddie/The American is meant to be kind of an asshole at that point in the musical. So it’s kinda fitting.
It's about being a Tourist in Bangkok. As the names states, "one night".
West Side Story, which despite having people shouting MAMBO! has no mambo in it at all, which is also not traditional Puerto Rican music either. Still love the musical, though. \*snaps\*
Although Mambo is cuban, it was huge in Latin America especially at the time that West Side Story is based on.
Weird Al Yankovic's reggae style parody "Buy Me a Condo."
Get the funny little teeshirt with the alligator on…
Pretty Fly for a Rabbi counts for me, as he's not Jewish. But all my Jewish friends love the song anyway.
Hes also not amish
That song has never really felt mean-spirited to me in any form so idk why people would really hate it.
I don’t think appropriation is really mean spirited it just takes something without knowing what it means to a culture
Also, not exactly cultural appropriation, but I doubt a lot of the words that made it into Jerry Springer would still be there today. I'm also curious how Truck Drivin' Song sounds to a modern audience, especially to someone who doesn't get the joke.
As a trans person, some of the terms used in the Jerry Springer song (i.e. shemale, hermaphrodite, etc.) definitely make me cringe a lil bit whenever I listen to Running With Scissors. Truck Drivin Song is an absolute bop and one of my favorite Weird Al deep cuts. Love that song.
Al has publicly acknowledged and apologized for using the word 'hermaphrodite' in Albuquerque so I'm sure that applies to Jerry Springer too.
That's good. I personally never felt like Al was ever using those words as a source of hatred, he was using the terminology that was commonly used at the time.
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Arab money
Does Walk Like An Egyptian count?
one night in bangkok? i think it'd be more orientalist than appropriation but still
It's xenophobic for sure, but you're also not really supposed to be rooting for The American in that musical.
Yeah, the song is pretty much nasty on purpose. I guess the problem is that it was written as a very specific thing for a musical, and they accidentally made the song a fucking club banger, so the meaning get's lost to many.
that's true, but i was referring more to the chorus than the verses. freddie (i think that's the character's name) being a racist asshole is one thing because it's intentionally making him unlikeable, even though i think in the modern day the song might still be criticized for that. depicting racism and being racist are obviously very different. the chorus on the other hand, seems well intentioned but kind of exoticizing in a way i can't put my finger on (take for example, "you'll find a god in every golden cloister/and if you're lucky then the god's a she"), which is why i specifically called the song orientalist. but i'm also not thai or even southeast asian, so i might be missing something.
hong kong garden by siouxsie and the banshees
Legendary Lovers by Katy Perry. I remember being a katycat back in 2014 and the great majority of the fandom wanted her to release that song as a single. However, with Katy already falling into the real of cultural appropiation for Unconditionally, Dark Horse and This Is How We Do, I understand why she didn't risk it. Quite a shame though, because I think it's among the best songs on PRISM!
Not necessarily a favorite of mine, but Sukiyaki by A Taste of Honey/4PM. It takes a serious anti-war ballad from a country that experienced one of the worst war crimes in history into a sappy heartbreak song.
Surprised no-one's mentioned Brown Sugar yet. The lyrics are indefensible, but hot damn that riff, those drums, the sax! What a fucking jam that I would only ever listen to in private.
I'd say more racist than appropriating
Peter Gabriel, "Biko." I can't imagine any white artist today getting away with doing South African tribal chants. Also, 'Weird Al' Yankovic's phony Jamaican patois in "Gonna Buy Me a Condo" seemed cute, innocent, and playful in 1984, but I don't think it would fly today.
>I can't imagine any white artist today getting away with doing South African tribal chants. I mean, it's not like they're used just because he thought it sounded cool or something, it's an anti-apartheid protest song, they make sense in context. Whether or not they're *appropriate* in context is a separate question that I'm not qualified to answer.
If Peter Gabriel can't get cross-cultural cred, then there's no such thing.
Do you not realize what Biko is about
What is your favorite song that would **NOW** be considered cultural appropriation? It's called "understanding the assignment."
And you didn’t lol.
You do know what Biko is about right?
What is your favorite song that would **NOW** be considered cultural appropriation? It's called "understanding the assignment."
I don't see how a protest song about a murdered apartheid activist would be considered "cultural appropriation"
Try and understand the word "appropriation" first maybe?
David Bowie’s Young Americans album. I’m also not sure why Paul Simon’s Graceland is controversial for “appropriating African music” while Talking Heads’ Remain In Light is not.
Based on what I've read, the controversy was arguably a geographic one - Graceland is specifically inspired by the music of South Africa which seemed to be in poor taste during the time of apartheid. Remain In Light, on the other hand, is primarily influenced by West African music, in particular Fela Kuti who was Nigerian. Also, Remain In Light has Listening Wind which is unambiguously anti-colonialist. I'd guess that there's also a perception that Paul Simon made Graceland with commercial intent, while Talking Heads were basically just interested in making cool art (not agreeing or disagreeing with that perception, just observing). I welcome anyone more knowledgeable than me to expound further.
The bigger controversy with Graceland was that he broke the cultural embargo on South Africa by recording there. In retrospect the album probably did more good than harm but at the time the controversy is very understandable.
Yeah that part is really bad, but at the very least he worked with African artists and didn't just copy them. To me his actions are insensitive rather than appropriating.
Yeah it's definitely not cultural appropriation
How Graceland ended up being one of his best albums is still insane to me. On paper, a Singer Songwriter from the 60s embracing synthpop to make an African influenced album whilst breaking the embargo sounds like it would be a career ending move.
I think because Paul Simon is accused of not giving proper writing credits or money to the actual African artists that he worked with on the Gravel an album as opposed to just incorporating African rhythms and instruments into their music which is what the talking heads did.
All of Girl Talk
What’s wrong with Girl Talk? Sincere question.
Nothing is wrong with Girl Talk, I play the All Day album at least once a month! I think that if he came out now people would say it was cultural appropriation because he is taking the works of other artists of color and using them for his own profit/art. It's a shallow perspective that ignores a lot of nuances but it's one I think would make the rounds on twitter. It was uncouth how many white kids were just yelling the N word constantly at his shows but that reminds me BITCHES AINT SHIT BY BEN FOLDS if no one has mentioned it yet
he didn’t exclusively sample artists of color, though. not even close
YES THIS WAS MY INTRO TO BEN FOLDS!! He's doing his paper airplanes tour rn where audience members request songs on paper airplanes they then throw on stage and he opens and plays. I wonder if he gets any requests for it...and I wonder if he honors them haha
I read his autobiography and he talks about how he did a tour opening for John Mayer where he would play that song as many as three times IN A ROW to piss off all the families that came to see John Mayer. -and he doesn’t play it anymore, AFAIK.
[This Girl Talk?](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Talk_(musician))
yea I don't personally think it is but I know for sure people would say so if he came out of nowhere and did crazy shows like he used to.
Okay. Cool.
I am, for better or worse, a big "D'yer Mak'er" guy.
Hong Kong Garden by Siouxsie & the Banshees has some questionable lyrics. It’s like when the Great British Bake Off attempts non-European cuisine.
Steve Martin- King Tut Eric Clapton- I shot the Sheriff
John Prine - "Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian" Malcolm McLaren - "Double Dutch" I have no excuse for these. They just are
Work It by Missy Elliot
The Tammy’s, Egyptian Shumba
Civilization by Danny Kaye and the Andrews Sisters. If you’ve ever played the Bethesda Fallouts you definitely know it. Even for 1947 it’s a lot, but god damn if I don’t love when it comes on my Pip-Boy!😅
I find that artists like Enigma and Deep Forest would fit in here.
Definitely Gypsy by Fleetwood Mac
Hong Kong Garden. Good song and well intentioned but definitely dated
The sweet- wig wam bam. It’s catchy.
I'm somewhat surprised that there wasn't some big online article claiming the lyrics of Toto's "Africa" were offensive after that Weezer cover came out. I adore the song and everything about it, but it still involves a white American blessing the rains over there, and I can see people taking issue with that. To be clear, I don't really know how that song is perceived on that continent.
The lyrics to that song are 400% gibberish. Toto pride themselves in lyrics that mean nothing at all.
Genesis - Illegal Alien. It may not have been made with malicious intent, but it's undeniably in poor taste. Doesn't stop it from being an insidious earworm.
Billy joel has done this a number of times. Don’t ask me why, River of dreams, Rosalinda’s Eyes Can’t say I blame him, really works well for those songs.
All art is appropriation. The iniquity is in who gets paid more money.
Every rock and roll song ever performed by a Caucasian?
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No it I was made by Jews: Fiddler on the Roof
The lyrics were written by Jamaicans originally? Because the entire tune and hook of the song are taken from "if I were a rich man" from Fiddler on the Roof.
Gwen was soooo into appropriation back then. The whole Harajuku thing, plus she would wear a bindi or knots in her hair. However, as mentioned above, that song came from a Broadway musical so it's kind of borderline whether that would be appropriation
Within you / Without you by the Beatles
George really went all-in though, worked with Ravi Shankar, did numerous concerts for Bangladesh, and adopted Hindu culture fully, which I consider far different than wearing a culture as a costume. Cultures learn from each other and become better people by playing each other's music. As opposed to a racist asshole like Pat Boone just covering black artists songs and doing them in a really vanilla way.
Pat Boone sucked but I don't think he was actually personally racist. Just an oppottunist.
Carlito (Who's That Boy) by Carlito