Friday, October 1, 2010

Song Accused of Endorsing Spousal Abuse?

Hey all, Hungry Hippo here.
I wanted to talk about a completely conflicting song that was protested against when played on the radio. The song is called He Hit Me by The Crystals. The song's lyrics are from the perspective of an abused housewife. Rhythms and music for the song are dreary and depressing, though the lyrics talk about how the woman thinks that her husband shows her that he loves her by using aggressive violence. She worries that if he stops hitting her then it means that he doesn't care enough anymore. The lyrics say "He hit me, and it felt like a kiss." and she views his violence as an act of passion for her; that he's yearning for her. The song was aired on the radio in the 60's and was accused of promoting violence and spousal abuse. Many protest that the song was only speaking from an experience, but the industries claimed that violence would be endorsed and that it would be better to strip the song from radio contents. The song not only shows an experience of something real that happens in everyday life and the radio industry wants to omit it from the people. In my opinion, that is censorship.
Signing off!
Hungry Hippo

2 comments:

  1. To think that this morbid song came from someone who was so light and airy and fun. oh well it is what it is.

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  2. Wow, powerful post! I agree, this sounds like music censorship. I think its amazing how much music can affect people.

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