The Bad Songs

by WTWizard 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  WTWizard

  I can remember coming into the organization. At the time, they wanted me to get rid of any music that didn't fit. Of course, that meant the heavy metal that was common at that time. Obviously satanic or debasing music was forbidden.

  However, they also wanted me to get rid of a lot of other, not as obviously debasing music. This included a lot of soft rock. The songs Hot Rod Hearts and Steal Away by Robbie DuPree were forbidden because they hinted at getting away for the purpose of performing illicit sex acts. The song Somebody's Knocking was blacklisted because it had the line "Lord It's the Devil". It was referring to deliberation about yielding to temptation. The song The Winner Takes it All by Abba was blacklisted for the line "the gods may throw the dice". Fire Lake by Bob Seger had the line "Who wants to take that longshot gambler?" in it. Angel of the Morning had the line "And if morning's echo says we've sinned". And so on.

  What this did was totally destroy the integrity of my music. Many of those songs were familiar with my transition from living at home to living at college. What they really wanted to do was to thin the 1980 and 1981 area so I could not have a sense of continuity in that area. That way, they would have made it impossible to pinpoint where in life I started having major trouble attracting the opposite sex (they wanted, and still want, that to be solid and permanent so I can get into the tangle of the MTS and fixing the whole congregation, mission impossible, using methods that are tried and failed).

  Of course, it also affected other time frames. Many songs in 1973 were "bad". Loves Me Like a Rock (false religion reference), Kodachrome (has the word "crap" and they do not like that word), Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting (hints at drunken brawls), and Live and Let Die (hints at living for one's self instead of Jehovah) were all condemned. Again, most of them were associated with an active trip year including a trip to Palace Playland (that was what I associated Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting with, not getting drunk and fighting). Again, they wanted to disrupt any memories I had in that area of my life.

  And 1983-84. So many songs in that area were "bad". Not just Prince and Madonna, either. Legs by ZZ Top, Van Halen, Ratt's Round and Round, all Michael Jackson including the venerable Say Say Say, Night Ranger's When You Close Your Eyes, Scandal's The Warrior, and too many others to mention were declared bad. That also disrupted the continuity of my music collection at the time when I was in college. Note that all were mainstream pop songs. But, my study conductor wanted me to throw them all away. He didn't give a fxxx about the value those songs and many others had. All they were interested in was loyalty to the organization instead of putting puzzle pieces of my past together. And, they got rid of the biggest hit of the 1980s: USA For Africa's We Are the World.

  All that, for nothing. Call Me (Blondie) was cited for the reference of "we can share the wine" for encouraging drunkenness and was blackballed. What they don't say is that the song was #1 when I went to Montreal. I knew that there would be alcohol there, and some pressure to drink, once I got there. I played the song anyway, and did not get drunk. The song Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting was out in 1973, in heavy rotation then. I wore out a Christmas gift of a record with that song in 1974, within 6 months. I bought it again just before going to college (when beer was everywhere). It went into heavy rotation again. And no drunken brawls. They just don't get it. I have listened to those songs safely for all those years, and now all of a sudden I am going to get into drunken brawls listening to them.

  This time, it is not just drunkenness. I have much music that glorifies shooting police and babies. There are gunshots on the music. I also have songs that glorify smoking weed, snorting coke, and even taking horse. I have a song that glorifies the guy having sex with a gerbil (he sticks it up his butt and it gets stuck there). And this time, I am not getting rid of it. I have been listening to it safely (no weed, coke, horse, sex with gerbils, shooting cops, etc) this long, and I intend to continue enjoying that kind of music.

  Any retro rock anyone? Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Steal Away, Angel in the Morning, Passion (Rod Stewart), Legs (ZZ Top), Van Halen, Journey, Simon and Garfunkel, Blue Oyster Cult, AC/DC, or their favorites to bash--LED ZEPPELIN! Better than that Kingdumb Sxxx.
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  Gopher

  I remember liking a lot of the songs you mentioned. I was able to listen to them on the radio when they came on, and who could stop that?

  I do remember getting rid of a few albums back when the WT Society started talking about debased music. They said that even Bethel family members had to get rid of some debasing music, thus setting the example for the rest of thre organization.

  So like a little sheep I got rid of a few of my so-called-questionable albums, like the one from Queen that had "Another One Bites the Dust". And also that very-debasing-disco soundtrack album for "Saturday Night Fever". Sigh.
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  SirNose586

  I'm not about that noise. They'll have to pry my Rick James and my Parliament Funkadelic away from my cold, dead hands.
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  WTWizard

  I liked that "evil disco", too. Saturday Night Fever was a prime album, one of the best selling (and most worn out) of all time. However, there were numerous songs that the Tower has seen these specious arguments against:

  (1) Staying Alive. On the surface, nothing wrong. Of course, they would look at this as being in a worldly sense.

  (2) How Deep Is Your Love. This would hint at fornication to some (though, when rationally analyzed, does not).

  (3) Night Fever. This song is about just plain having a good time. Which is against the Tower.

  (4) More Than a Woman. Again, the tower looks at this as forming a bond that will lead to fornication. Again, it is on totally false premises.

  (5) If I Can't Have You. The Tower takes this as hinting at idolatry, presuming that the singer doesn't want Ted Jaracz either.

  (6) Disco Inferno. That could be taken for burning down a building, but is more coded for an affair that could lead to fornication.

  All of which are extremely specious. I would like to confront the Watchtower Society on that one. I have the CD, and the above songs are (or were at one time or another) in heavy rotation, both on the radio and on my tapes. The songs above listed are also in my computer. And, they all supposedly support fornication. I would like to play the whole CD in its entirity in context, and ask them "Where the fxxx is the fornication?"
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  logic

  I never paid any attention to what the society said about most everything. I kept all my albums, approx 300. Letting some idiots tell you how to live , when they dont have a clue, is ridiculous. Music is a matter of taste and everybody is different. My least favorite music is the kingdom songs on cds. That stuff drives me up the wall. Some jws including my wife say they really like it. I told them that was bull. The stuff is not only poorly done but it sounds like it was recorded on very poor equipment. I have old 78's that sound better. If all I had to listen to was this crap I would just not listen to anything.
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  JK666

  Way back, there was an elder that just got a new car with an 8-track player in it, and he asked me if he could borrow a tape to try it. I thought real quick what I could loan him and be safe, and I chose Jeff Beck - Blow by Blow. I figured it was safe because it was all instrumental. He took exception to one of the song titles: "Constipated Duck." They can find something wrong with anything! I should have given him an education and loaned him some Zappa.

  JK
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  WTWizard

  Way back, there was an elder that just got a new car with an 8-track player in it, and he asked me if he could borrow a tape to try it.

  I would like to see them try borrowing one of my mini discs. They have no way of knowing that there is rap with a lot of swearing, gunshots, and drugs on quite a few of them (nor can they tell the clean ones from the dirty ones) because I have code marks instead of labels on them. (The programs are in a separate log.) Worse, the mini discs will not play in standard equipment. You need a special player to play the discs, rendering them worthless to thieves that want to play MP3s, CDs, and tapes.

  It will also make it impossible for them to listen to see if it's appropriate for me. That is, unless they are able to do the homework and spend the money on a mini disc player. Those things are getting close to impossible to find, except online, and are not available at Best Buy anymore. However, I like them as substitutes for tape since they are more than 3 times as long, do not get eaten, can shuffle play, and they are easy on the batteries. And they are hounder-proof.
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  VoidEater

  The WTS lost alll credibility when they purged the hymnal of songs inspired by works by Chopin and others (primarily Romanticists). Some of those composers were immoral, you see, and had even contracted syphilis - listening to a work by a composer who had syphilis would of course cause you to act immorally and get syphilis, too.

  My parents were pretty tolerant of the arts. As a writer and composer, I would sometimes have to defend my music choices by pointing out how poetry and lyrices were open to interpretation - and I certainly couldn't interpret this or that song in such a debased way!

  Happily, I have my music collection intact.

  Isn't "funny" - the WTS has to destroy any artistic expression that speaks to our humanity...
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  BluesBrother

  I always had an abhorrence for any WT article that criticised rock music. Even though I was an otherwise regular Witness and elder. It was plain that they were just picking things up from the "Christian right" press in America and knew nothing about it themselves.

  I sat at Twickenham (London) Assembly and inwardly steamed when they said that fathers should censor their kids record collection . if anyone had tried that on me I would have left home ! By that time though I was well married ...At least one good thing though. When I wanted to resign from eldership and they all tried to get me to change my mind..I just told C/O that I had this "weakness" for rock music and I was off so quickly ...it was geat!
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  jacethespace

  Yeah this was one of the things ive always hated about the watchtower.Controlling peoples music.I was brought up in a very musical family.My dad was a dj and i used to work with him for years at the clubs.So music meant a lot to me emotionally.I remember times when i tried to fit my taste of music with the towers advice and found it was just so boring.Now i love to play whatever i want and its kinda become a way of rebeling against the watchtower listening to my music i want.Its quite funny really i remember when i was studying with the elder next door and i once played some eminem music really loud.The elder came round next day and gave me a pep talk on romans 1 where it says that god gives them up to a corrupt mind, kinda still makes sense really though.