With all the hype/controversy/complaining about Asher Roth, I thought immediately of 3OH!3, and their current hit single, Don’t Trust Me. I thought, Why isn’t anyone talking about that song? On feminist and racial blogs alike?
The lyrics alone are problematic, for a variety of reasons. The song is essentially describing the hipster music scene and making fun of it’s female participants, the ones most definitely not in the bands:
Black dress with the tights underneath,
I got the breath of the last cigarette on my teeth,
And she’s an actress (actress),
But she ain’t got no need.
Shes got money from her parents in a trust fund back east.
T-t-t-tongues always pressed to your cheeks,
While my tongue is on the inside of some other girls teeth,
T-tell your boyfriend if he says hes got beef,
That I’m a vegetarian and I ain’t fucking scared of him.
They start off about the description of the girl, and already imply a macho, alpha-male attitude. The chorus gets better:
She wants to touch me (Woah),
She wants to love me (Woah),
She’ll never leave me (Woah, woah, oh, oh),
Don’t trust a ho,
Never trust a ho,
Won’t trust a ho,
Won’t trust me.
She’s just a ho, and he shouldn’t trust her. Even though he goes on about how his tongue is on the inside of ’some other girls teeth.”
But that’s not enough, call her out and make fun of her for all of the stupid and bad habits that she acquired as a direct result of idolizing shitheads like yourself:
X’s on the back of your hands,
Wash them in the bathroom to drink like the bands.
And your setlist (setlist),
You stole off the stage,
Had red and purple lipstick all over the page.
B-b-b-bruises cover your arms,
Shaking in the fingers with the bottle in your palm.
And the best is (best is),
No one knows who you are,
Just another girl alone at the bar.
The bridge if likely the most singularly offensive part of the entire song:
Shush girl shut your lips,
Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips.
I said, Shush girl shut your lips,
Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips.
I said, Shush girl shut your lips,
Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips.
I actually cannot physically listen to that final part of the song. It is just too much, in too many places, in so many ways. I can’t even find all the words that describe how and why I am offended at all of that.
The subject matter is not necessarily what’s wrong with the song. Singing about the incredibly self-destructive lifestyle of a touring musician is not bad, or offensive in itself. Bright Eyes has one that I like well enough, among many others. The problem with this particular group is their obsession with the negative qualities of the females that participate in the lifestyles. Picking out all of the bad things about them and them alone, with an undertone of scorn and disrespect, while saying nothing about their own participation in the lifestyle and it’s very negative qualities. Giving the air that it’s okay to disrespect these women because they’re ho’s and you can’t trust ‘em, just look at how they drink too much when they come here and steal setlists.
It grosses me out and I hate it. So I am angry that the song is so motherfucking catchy that I just want to listen to it constantly.
And! The whole album? Sounds like a bunch of fratboys proudly and openly mocking hardcore rap. It’s a fucking “gangsta rap” cd, with that ONE random emo/hipster song hiding out in track 3. It’s unreal.
Someone write a better blog post about that, ffs. I’ll read it. I’m sure too lazy to even bother with standard and generic links to the bands and blogs I’ve referenced, which is not like me.
Not to sound adversarial, but might not the song be a form of satire? I mean, the video and the band’s image lends itself to interpreting their songs as satirical social commentary. Interestingly, the last line of the chorus could be interpreted as indicating that the singer is the ‘ho’ in question.
Or possibly a critique of a particular person, or stereotype? I mean, the portrait it paints of the girl in question has her cheating on her boyfriend (T-tell your boyfriend if he says hes got beef), selling out her ideals for temporary acceptance (X’s on the back of your hands, Wash them in the bathroom to drink like the bands) and abusing drugs (B-b-b-bruises cover your arms, Shaking in the fingers with the bottle in your palm). That’s a person who’s ripe for critique, although simply writing a song about her seems to border on the abusive.
Of course, you might be right, and they’re simply raging against the very women they go out of their way to attract. I just watched one of the videos on their website, and they really do give the impression of being too beer-soaked to make any social commentary deeper than “Uhh, booze is like… Cool and stuff.” But if that’s the case, then you can always look at it this way: Even though they’re famous and (likely) wealthy, popular and rock stars, they’re still unable to attract a woman with a three-digit IQ and some self-respect…
You raise some good points. One thing I want to address, though, is how they seem to be making fun of themselves in their video– It’s true, they do seem to making fun of everything they’re singing about and acting out. At the same time, I feel like that video is almost a preemptive apology for all that they knew would be wrong with the song. In a very, unacceptably arrogant way.
…Not to mention, if they want to make fun of the chick whose alone at the bar with her shaking hands and scars, why aren’t they showing her? They are clearly not trying to piss anyone off, but also want to draw attention to themselves with their lyrics, without paying the consequences (like owning up to the offensive fucking lyrics).
I’ve looked into this band some more (I actually first heard about them from you) and I think they’re actually making an attempt at social commentary. (Note my use of the word “attempt.”)
If they’d focused the video on the girl mentioned in the lyrics, they could have painted her as a tragic character, but they chose not to do that. I think a truly ‘deep’ band would have ignored the controversial nature of the lyrics and done this, if that were their intentions. Instead, the video seems to be a simple demonstration of their ‘fun-loving hijinks’ and sense of humor.
It seems to me that while they’re making some effort to be ‘deep,’ they’re failing in the execution, instead delivering more self-mockery than anything worth thinking too much about. I agree with you that they seem to be using self-mockery to ‘apologize’ for the lyrics in the song, which is a plus in their favor, but an idiot who wants to be an intellectual is still an idiot, in my book. But the song is damn catchy. They’re certainly talented.
Of course, all of that is simply my interpretation. Others (including the band members) might have a remarkably different view.