Summary Of The Song 'Pumped Up Kicks'

Woods’ novel raises questions about the effects gun violence has on communities, which leads into how it can have negative mental effects on children, and how more laws should be passed for the expansion of

Most of the homicides in Chicago are due to illegal gun violence. This is a very sad issue that is glorified in the music that many of us listen to. Our radio stations give announcements on stopping the gun violence, yet they play songs where the artist speaks about it as if it were a good thing. Of course music is made for entertainment, and I’ll be the first to admit that I myself listen to music that promotes violence, but there are plenty of little kids that also listen to that type of music and think that violence is

I spent the first ten years of my life, roughly, homeschooled and constantly around both my parents. During this time, I had no choice but to listen to whatever music they enjoyed playing drying the day, whether it was Seal in the car or Melissa Etheridge on the home stereo. Once I had struck my preteens, and with the help of my then high-school aged sisters, I was introduced to punk rock and hard rock genres of music. This became a new addiction for me; it felt rebellious, cool, in style and new. Eventually, it felt very repetitive and it seemed as if everyone was trying to emulate the same sound. So, after a short time, I began searching for music on my own. I bought Coldplay and Vampire Weekend albums, and was on the lookout for music with a more sophisticated feeling than what I had been listening to previously. I was then hopelessly addicted to music that I was discovering, and was proud to say I found my own style of music to listen to. After I received Coldplay’s album, “A Rush of Blood to the Head” as a Christmas gift, I would play it daily to

When listening to a song no one ever pauses the music and thinks about the true meaning behind it. Several songs have meanings but some of the artists produce those songs to create an awareness. “Pumped up Kicks” by Foster the People is a song the band created to raise awareness of school shootings. I have always listened to this song, but I never found out the story behind it until this year. Listening to this song now has changed my perspective on listening to music. Songs have a reason for everything, and to have an issue come out of it is a great way of listening to it.

The song expresses how people are not living up to society's values and norms. It suggest that the socialization is at fault and that they contribute to improvement of self being. The song implies the way society goes against values and norms by one of the very first lyrics in the song. The lyric goes, “What’s wrong with the world, mama, People livin’ like they ain’t got no mamas…” (lines 1-2). This makes one aware of the lack of values in one's family. Values is the belief or an idea that a person or group has to determine is correct or not. Another verse of how the band shows one disobedience of the values and norms comes toward the middle of the song. “People killin', people dyin’, Children hurt and you hear them cryin, Can you practice what you preach, And would you turn the other cheek…” (lines 50-53). These verses show of society has failed to act stable and logical way that society once viewed as correct living. These actions show that citizens have not lived up to the expectations of society. Social norms are likes the laws of society. Laws are things that are illegal behaviour and norms are like behaving in a way society wouldn’t like. For example being in gangs, like the bloods, or the crips, or a big group that goes against society's norms like racial groups. An example of a racial group would be the KKK.

According to Mary Eberstadt, "contemporary adolescent popular music, especially the subgenres of heavy metal and hip-hop/rap, is uniquely degraded – and degrading – by the standards of previous generations." When compering music in the past and today, it is important to compere musical lyric too. Modern music is more aggressive and coarser than old music. Contemporary lyrics describe misogyny, violence, suicide, sexual exploitation, children abuse and other bad things. Mary Eberstadt explains the changes in musical lyric as a result of changes in society. Nowadays, music is not censored. In her essay "Eminem is Right," Eberstadt wrote about how Eminem is right in his songs because he understands the current family crisis that millions children

These words by which we live by were actually made official on December 12, 1791. My point is that these governing words have governed our lives for over two centuries, which is a long time. The times aren't the same as they were when the Constitution and its amendments were established, so we need to reconsider some of the ideas that are not valid in today's society. Our greatest freedom that our founding fathers left us, freedom of speech, needs to be reconsidered. Many times the Constitutional right of freedom of speech is taken too lightly in that people believe that they can say whatever they want to say when they want to say it. This is a false belief. One would think it very wrong to scream fire in the middle of a crowded building. The same goes for the lyrics of many songs these days. "Music lyrics have profound public consequences and, in many ways, the music industry is more influential then anything…" (Brownback 454) therefore, there needs to be censorship of harmful lyrics so that listeners will not be influenced by the violence that many songs are about. This does not mean that singers can not sing certain songs, it means that it is not necessary for singers to glorify violent acts or incorporate meaningless four letter words that may be repeated. It is perfectly legal to draw the line with music if it is getting to a harmful state.

It may be hard for a kid to understand why his parents didn’t want him or her listening to Pac or Biggie’s lyrics, but as their actions on TV and in music videos displayed the same notions, their fear only increased. For both artists, they had videos displaying women with nearly nothing on, smoking, drinking and carrying weapons, but kids people liked it. That’s why both of these artists are known as the best of all time. What they didn’t see though was the rising amount of disrespect towards women, increase in drug sales and an enormous increase in gun violence during this time. This is proven by Lindsay John, “The endemic of violence in the black community can be directly traced back to the whole irresponsible images of black masculinity which is fed to us through music.” (174) Along with the videos, they had concerts that displayed rash and harsh comments towards not only whites but also law enforcement. Like in this lyric by Tupac:

Hip-Hop is the most dominant genre in the U.S. surpassing Rock, Country Music and R&B. Hip-Hop took music to a whole different dynamic, with its catchy beats and rhythmic music accompanied by rhyming. Unfortunately despite all the excellent elements that Hip-Hop has brought to the table, the Hip-Hop industry is known to promote a great deal of gun violence. This day in age rappers take pride in using their guns, bragging about the many guns they have, and have no problem telling the world that their not afraid to use it either. There has been many cases where famous rappers have lost their life due to gun violence. Rappers like Notorious B.I.G, Tupac Shakur, Bankroll Fresh, Big L, Jam Master Jay and the list goes on are all rappers who've been killed by the use of guns. A very famous rapper known as Snoop Dogg wanted to do something that Hip-Hop rarely does and that’s convey a meaningful message to stop gun violence. Snoop Dogg wrote a song called "No Guns Allowed" featuring Cori B and Drake, incorporating a theme where the use of guns should be prohibited because young lives are being taken away daily due to gun use. Not only did Snoop Dogg use his lyrics to get us to hear his message but he also used his music video to help visualize his message. Snoop Dogg uses Ethos, Logos, Kairos and other rhetorical strategies to persuade the audience that gun violence is a serious issue that needs to come to an end.

Gang activity and violence is becoming a huge issue and has been for a long time now. This gang violence and activity has become such a huge issue that has made a major contribution to the underdevelopment of Black community. When children are involved in gang activity, they are being exposed to drugs, gun violence, and ultimately could be risking their own life and preventing themselves from getting out of the ghetto and going on to be successful in life. Robbing, selling drugs, and murder are all things that happen on the daily basis in these ghetto and urban inner city areas and are mostly done by gangs or involved with gangs. Being involved in these activities affects them physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. The solutions to gang violence and activity that was provided in the song were to get mothers more involved in their children’s lives such as making sure that the children are going to school, getting educated, and are not getting involved in gang activity to help better themselves for their future; to get the brothers to stop killing each other and to choose peace and get along with one another, to get the black community to come together and realize that were all in the same gang and need each other to help better Black

Now a days, we are used to shocking lyrics and eye catching looks. It seems that every artist now is fighting to be so different that everyone is drawn to them. It was not always like this. In the late nineties and early two-thousands, most artists tried to fit in with the other blonde, processed pop stars that the industry was spitting out. When there was an artist who was not always happy and did sing about PG rated topics, they were blamed for what was wrong with the world, especially teenagers. In his article ‘I’d Sell You Suicide: Pop Music and Moral Panic in the Age of Marilyn Manson”, Robert Wright delves into and debunks claims that rock music, especially that of Marilyn Manson, is a main cause for teenage suicide.

Even though guns are used for good every day, they are also used for situations that are not good for our safety or the safety of others. Gun violence continues to rise in places where handguns are illegal. In the United Kingdom, where hand guns are illegal there are more violent crimes than here in the United States where handguns are legal. Even though we have less violent crimes, we still have a major problem with violence. The article “Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence” states, “On average, thirty-two Americans are murdered with guns every day and one hundred-forty are treated for a gun assault in an emergency room” (“Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence”). So it shows violent crimes are still a big problem in this country. One of the biggest problems is how much it affects the children of our country. The author also says, “Youth children which live in the most rural U.S. counties are as likely to die from a gunshot as those living in the most urban counties. Rural children die of more gun suicides and unintentional shooting deaths. Urban children die more often of gun homicides” (“Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence”). Reading this fact is very alarming as children should not be around guns as they are very dangerous to them. Overall, guns can cause a lot of deaths, but it shows where they are legal there is less violent crimes.

Musicians may feel that the only way to increase sales is to make their lyrics as graphic as possible. It seems as though the lyrics to songs are giving permission to listeners to do wrong and immoral things (Tanner). As stated in the article “How Much Are Violent Lyrics to Blame?” by Emily Tanner, “Music is important in today’s society and when music becomes corrupt in its meaning then society may in turn become corrupt and immoral.”

In life, music affects everything many people look at all the different stories of teenagers committing violent acts and have begun to wonder can violent songs make teens violent? With all the violent acts that music glorifies as of recently many psychologists and parents alike have begun to wonder why certain types of music cause their children and teenagers to become so violent. Because of the questions that violent songs raise and why teenagers have started to gravitate towards violent songs more than ever before. Some factors that could be reasons as to why violent songs have such a powerful effect on teenagers could be that: teenagers learn violence from their surroundings, teenagers can have a history of violence, and violent songs give teens a place to vent their frustrations at,

Act 3 Scene 1 For this scene I chose the song “Shake It Out” by Florence and The Machine. I chose this song because it talks about having a battle with yourself and not telling anyone about it. It’s about having dilemmas of whether to tell people about whatever you’re having trouble with or to just not tell anybody and keep it to yourself. A quotation from the song that explains this is:”