2008 Woodie Awards
Newest controversial band releases album with angst-filled themes
By: Laura Lee Caracciolo
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: Pulse
Be Your Own Pet ends the first track with the lyrics, "Look out world cause I wanna have fun!" which is exactly what they do throughout the entire album.
"Get Awkward" is 30 seconds away from being 30 minutes long, but is packed with bizarre, clever lyrics and a fun, upbeat tempo, leaving no room for complaints about such a short album.
The first single, "The Kelly Affair," is a definite party anthem. The track rocks hard, singing, "Everybody here parties all the time! Everybody here's got sex on their mind! Everybody here is popping pills!" A song that is sure to catch any listener's attention.
Vocalist Jemina Pearl's angst-filled lyrics have never been better than they are in "Becky." Reviews raved about the song about a best friendship gone bad, but when fans realized that it, along with two other tracks, "Black Hole" and "Blow Yr Mind," had been pulled from the U.S. edition, they were furious.
Universal Records removed the three songs right before the release of the album due to so-called violent messages and references to killing people.
Universal Records is owned by Universal Music Group, which has released albums from controversial artists such as Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Akon and Marilyn Manson and allowed the violent content and inappropriate messages, clearly marking them with a Parental Advisory sticker. BYOP was marked with an explicit lyrics warning on their last album and this one, yet when Jemina sings about something slightly offensive, tracks get removed.
In the song "Becky" Jemina sings, "Me and her will kick your ass; we'll wait with knives after class," and insinuates that she killed her friend by singing, "Now I'm going to juvy for teenage homicide," at the end. In "Black Hole" all Jemina says is, "Let's go and kill someone." "Blow Yr Mind" is only 45 seconds long and just simply says, "I just wanna blow my mind! Get stoned and wasted all the time!"
In no way are those few words comparable to an entire Eminem or Marilyn Manson album where they spend the majority of the time talking about murder, being anti-God and beating women. Don't get me wrong, I really like those two artists, but I have absolutely no idea why Be Your Own Pet gets punished and censored when other musicians don't.
"Get Awkward" is 30 seconds away from being 30 minutes long, but is packed with bizarre, clever lyrics and a fun, upbeat tempo, leaving no room for complaints about such a short album.
The first single, "The Kelly Affair," is a definite party anthem. The track rocks hard, singing, "Everybody here parties all the time! Everybody here's got sex on their mind! Everybody here is popping pills!" A song that is sure to catch any listener's attention.
Vocalist Jemina Pearl's angst-filled lyrics have never been better than they are in "Becky." Reviews raved about the song about a best friendship gone bad, but when fans realized that it, along with two other tracks, "Black Hole" and "Blow Yr Mind," had been pulled from the U.S. edition, they were furious.
Universal Records removed the three songs right before the release of the album due to so-called violent messages and references to killing people.
Universal Records is owned by Universal Music Group, which has released albums from controversial artists such as Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Akon and Marilyn Manson and allowed the violent content and inappropriate messages, clearly marking them with a Parental Advisory sticker. BYOP was marked with an explicit lyrics warning on their last album and this one, yet when Jemina sings about something slightly offensive, tracks get removed.
In the song "Becky" Jemina sings, "Me and her will kick your ass; we'll wait with knives after class," and insinuates that she killed her friend by singing, "Now I'm going to juvy for teenage homicide," at the end. In "Black Hole" all Jemina says is, "Let's go and kill someone." "Blow Yr Mind" is only 45 seconds long and just simply says, "I just wanna blow my mind! Get stoned and wasted all the time!"
In no way are those few words comparable to an entire Eminem or Marilyn Manson album where they spend the majority of the time talking about murder, being anti-God and beating women. Don't get me wrong, I really like those two artists, but I have absolutely no idea why Be Your Own Pet gets punished and censored when other musicians don't.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
infinity cat
posted 4/05/08 @ 3:48 PM EST
Hey Laura,
We agree. The good news is the songs that Ecstatic Peace/Universal won't release are coming out on an EP from XL.
Come and visit our website, the ONLY place in the world where you can buy rare and collectible Be Your Own Pet CD's and vinyl, including things hand-made by the band!
Post a Comment