Songs you should never listen to with your parents

There are countless songs out there, with countless more being written and recorded seemingly every day. If you’re looking for some good, quality tunes you and your beloved parents can jam out to together, you certainly aren’t starved for options. That said, not all songs are created equal, and there are plenty you should steer clear of during family listening time. If you don’t, you’ll invite awkward silence at best. At worst, you’ll invite angry conversations about your mindset, mental health, and what exactly you were trying to tell dear old Mom and Dad with the music you played them.
Here are some of the worst possible songs to listen to when your parents are around. The reasons vary from song to song — your folks aren’t only going to be offended by a dirty, raunchy, sex-filled ditty after all. Whether it be sex, violence, or the lyrical implication that they were terrible, cold, unfeeling parents (and people) the entire time, the following songs will put an abrupt and uncomfortable end to just about any family gathering.
NF’s ‘Let You Down’ will let Mom and Dad down
The message of NF’s “Let You Down” can easily be lost within the rapidly rapped verses, especially if the listener zones out during the comparatively gentle chorus. But if you play it for your parents and they do pay attention, expect an awkward conversation afterward.
“Let You Down” (based on NF’s childhood experiences of feeling like he, as he told NME , “didn’t really have much of a voice or … wasn’t being heard,”) is a bitter rap about a man’s estranged relationship with his parents. He’s angry at them for seeing him as a disappointment, always starting arguments, and seemingly never being happy for their son. Lines like, “You don’t wanna make this work / You just wanna make this worse / Want me to listen to you / But you don’t ever hear my words” make NF’s anger clear. In the final verse, he complains about his folks wanting a happy relationship, despite not doing the work to earn one: “Oh, you wanna be friends now? / Okay, let’s put my fake face on and pretend now / Sit around and talk about the good times / That didn’t even happen.” Giant redwoods don’t provide that much shade.
His folks still neglect him as badly as when he was a child, and he seriously resents them for it. If you play this for your parents, especially while imploring them to focus on the words, they’re gonna have some questions.
Metallica’s ‘Dyer’s Eve’ blasts over-sheltering parents
Metallica, loud and angry as they are, has lasted long enough to be accepted by all generations. Turn your radio to classic rock and you’ll likely hear “Enter Sandman” eventually. Still, after all these years, Metallica has at least one song guaranteed to ruffle your parents’ feathers: “Dyer’s Eve,” an anti-ode to overprotective parenting gone excruciatingly too far.
In the song (based on James Hetfield’s Christian Scientist upbringing, as he told Rolling Stone ), the singer rages against his parents for sheltering him from life’s harsh realities. Lines like “Pushed onto me what’s wrong or right / Hidden from this thing that they call life” may not be profane, but there’s enough unbridled angst in that couplet to match a million angrily slammed bedroom doors. But if it’s profanity you want, Metallica offers that too, screaming “Dear Mother, dear Father / You’ve clipped my wings before I learned to fly … I’ve outgrown that f*cking lullaby.” Why the tantrum? Thanks entirely to Mommy and Daddy’s coddling, he’s now totally unprepared for the real world that’s slowly destroying him.
He hates his parents for making him this way and hates himself for being unable to handle life alone (“I’m in Hell without you / Cannot cope without you two / Shocked at the world that I see / Innocent victim please rescue me”). Basically, everyone’s terrible, nobody’s happy, and now your poor mother is tearfully asking where she went wrong.
Slayer’s ‘Disciple’ hates us all, including your folks
In general, Slayer can be a turn-off for squeamish parents, what with song titles like “Necrophiliac,” “Raining Blood,” “Dead Skin Mask,” and “Public Display of Dismemberment.” Still if you can keep the titles (and album art) away from their fragile eyes, you might be able to get away with Slayer. Their lyrics, while obviously super-dark and loaded with profanity and violent/evil imagery, are often conveyed via inscrutable screaming. If you don’t already know the words, don’t expect to learn them simply by listening.
That’s not the case, however, with their 2001 song “Disciple.” Most of the lyrics are more sound and fury than anything else, so you can probably slip “Cut throat, slit your wrist, shoot you in the back fair game” past Mom and Dad without much effort. Then there’s the chorus: a shout-along chant where the band repeatedly screams, crystal-clear as day, “GOD HATES US ALLLLLLLL!” Expect a good chunk of parents to get mighty uncomfortable at that point — if you’re in a car, they’ll likely start shout-singing “99 Bottles of Beer,” just to change the mood as completely as possible.
If you then mention, even casually, that the album “Disciple” appears on (also titled “God Hates Us All”), was actually released on September 11, 2001 , watch out. Now, that release date was planned months in advance, and Slayer obviously couldn’t predict the horrific events that would occur, but try telling that to your parents as they start ransacking your bedroom for signs of bombs.
Body Count’s ‘Cop Killer’ cares not for grieving moms
This might be the least subtle song of all time: a thrash metal band called Body Count (fronted by gangsta rapper Ice-T) playing a song called “Cop Killer” about proudly murdering police officers. The jaunty 1992 ditty features zero metaphors, zero irony, and zero chance your parents will enjoy it.
The song’s protagonist is completely fed up with police brutality, so he’s decided to blow cops away or possibly slit their throats. He couldn’t care less about the cops’ families either — as he sings in the chorus, “I know your mama’s grieving/F*ck her!” Singer Ice-T then namechecks police brutality victim Rodney King and then-LAPD police chief Darryl Gates, to make it extra clear what he’s singing about. Add a few “die pig, die” repetitions, and many “f*ck the police” repetitions, and you have the perfect song for making Ma and Pa uncomfortable, especially if you have any cops in the fam.
No surprise, but this song invited massive controversy , with police organizations from sea to shining sea condemning the tune. They were soon joined by President George Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle, along with dozens of Congressmen and future second lady Tipper Gore. Ice-T ultimately removed the song from the band’s album and turned it into a free single, so at least the song’s still around. As for your parents, if this song makes them too nervous, respect their wishes and play them something from their time. Like “I Shot The Sheriff.”
Eminem’s ‘Kim’ couldn’t be more uncomfortable
While it’s hard to find any Eminem song you could comfortably play around your parents, “Kim” is in a cringy class by itself. It may be the most disturbing thing Eminem has ever put to tape, and that’s saying something.
Simply put, “Kim” is a domestic violence incident turned brutal murder, set to a horrorcore hip-hop beat. Eminem screams at his wife, Kim, for kicking him out of their house, remarrying, and letting her new husband and his son move in. Eminem’s in-song reaction is to murder both the guys, force Kim into his car, drive her to a far-off place, murder her, then stuff her body in the trunk. Oh, and up until she dies, you can hear “Kim” pleading for her life, just to make things even more ghastly. Virtually all of “Kim’s” lyrics are unprintable, but here’s a bit of poetry to set the mood: “You were supposed to love me / Now bleed! B*tch, bleed! Bleed! B*tch, bleed, bleed!”
While there have certainly been other songs about love-turned-murder (Guns N’ Roses’ “Used To Love Her” comes to mind), few are as unnerving as “Kim.” Whether you’re single or not, your parents will likely end your listening party by drilling you about how you’re feeling, if you’re angry at anyone, did someone hurt you, and the like. You should probably play a more parent-friendly Eminem tune, and by that we mean a jaunty M&M’s jingle from the ’70s.
Rihanna’s ‘S&M’ is an amplified ‘birds and bees’ talk
Rihanna’s hit “S&M” is about just that: the wonders of getting tied up that you should probably not play when your folks are around. Stick with “Pon de Replay” for your parents’ Rihanna fix, it’s way more innocent.
That said, as long as they don’t know the title, it might take a little while for your parents to start blushing over “S&M.” Early verses make it sound like a typical, comfortably vague love song: “Love is great, love is fine / Out the box, out of line / The affliction of the feeling / Leaves me wanting more.” Then comes the chorus, with key lines like “Sex in the air / I don’t care / I love the smell of it / Sticks and stones / May break my bones / But chains and whips excite me,” and that should be about the time your parents slink away. No matter how open they might be in the bedroom with each other, that’s not a thing they want to hear about (or even think about) when their kid’s around.
The cringe factor is likely to increase if you show them RiRi’s performance at 2011’s Billboard Music Awards . There, Rihanna performed the song in full gear, alongside Britney Spears who wore the same. There were blindfolds, handcuffs, whipping sounds — in short, very non-family-friendly material. Even the performance ending on a cutesy pillow fight won’t take that back.
2 Live Crew’s ‘Me So Horny’ … duh
You can tell some songs are unacceptable for parental ears simply by reading the title. 2 Live Crew’s “Me So Horny” is one of them and yes, it’s exactly what you think it’s about.
The title comes from Full Metal Jacket ‘s famous prostitute scene, with the “Me love you long time” dialogue played out at the beginning. That in itself should be fine — there’s a good chance your parents saw and enjoyed Full Metal Jacket — but the rest of the lyrics will prove uncomfortable as can be. The singer describes a dirty tryst in the most explicit, vulgar language possible. It’s hard to find any lines we can repeat, though.
If this song skeeves out your folks, know they’re not alone. In fact, they have friends in legal places who agree with them. As recapped by the 1993 paper “Rap, Rock, and Censorship,” “Me So Horny” and its album, As Nasty As They Wanna Be , were declared legally obscene by a Florida judge in 1990. Later that year, as the New York Times reported, at least one record store owner was arrested for selling the album. In 1992, the federal Court of Appeals reversed the obscenity ruling, but that’s not likely to stop your disgusted parents from scolding you for playing such obscene trash in front of them.
The Police’s ‘Mother’ begs stifling moms to go away
Most people, parents included, love The Police. Usually, however, that love gets severely tested with “Mother,” perhaps the single weirdest song the band ever recorded. Not only is it weird, it can be deeply unsettling to your poor old mom in a “what are you trying to tell me?” kind of way.
In this ultra-creepy song , the singer (Andy Summers, in a rare case of Sting buttoning his yap and letting someone else have a go at the mic) rants about his his overbearing mother. He says things like “Telephone is ringing / Is that my mother on the phone? / The telephone is screaming / Won’t she leave me alone?” and also wails, “Oh mother dear please listen / Don’t devour me / Oh women please have mercy / Let this poor boy be.” This poor man’s mother clearly didn’t get the memo that you’re supposed to let your children be free as they grow up, and now he’s suffering dearly. Even the song itself sounds disturbed, like a musical version of the man’s own warped, swirling, never-resting brain.
Your own mother, regardless of your relationship with her, will likely wonder why you’re playing her this song of all possible tunes, so be prepared to either explain yourself or apologize profusely. If she catches the line “Every girl I go out with becomes my mother in the end,” prepare to explain yourself extra hard.
Papa Roach’s ‘Broken Home’ makes divorce even worse
Divorce, sad as it is, is a fairly common event these days. That said, it’s not exactly something parents want to be reminded of, so playing a song like Papa Roach’s “Broken Home” would likely hurt far more than entertain.
“Broken Home” covers a bitter, angry divorce where the kid feels stuck, alone, and torn. That said, he’s not torn for long, as he makes it clear later on he feels his father is to blame. He sings lines like , “I know my mother loves me / But does my father even care / If I’m sad or angry? / You were never, ever there,” and then plays child psychologist by suggesting his grandfather neglected his father, and that’s why the father’s been so neglectful toward his son. With such sensitive subject matter, we can’t imagine many parents would want to endure “Broken Home,” especially fathers.
Regardless of your parents’ marital state, this song risks causing a broken home of your very own. If they’re still married, playing them an angsty, angry song about families being torn apart might plant a seed of doubt somewhere. If they’re already divorced or in the process of divorcing, the song might be seen as confrontational, like you’re further piling on about a decision that was likely very difficult for them to make. Either way, there are better, happier Papa Roach songs to play at the next family gathering.
Korn’s ‘Daddy’ puts abusive parents on notice
Very few songs about rape are likely to leave your parents unfazed, but when a song blatantly implies the abuser is the victim’s parent, expect them to very quickly leave the room and possibly never return.
Korn’s “Daddy” is one of the creepiest, angriest songs ever recorded. Inspired by singer Jonathan Davis’ real-life experiences with child molestation, the lyrics consist of a man hysterically screaming about being assaulted by his own father while his mother watches and does nothing. Davis has made it clear in subsequent interviews that his real-life parents did nothing of the sort, and that his abuser was an unrelated family friend (who is now dead). That said, the creative license he took with the lyrics definitely turn the song-child’s folks into the criminals, increasing the likelihood of parental squeamishness by at least 1,000 percent.
The song ends with Davis screaming profanities and declarations of hatred at his father, before legitimately sobbing for four minutes. That last part (which he told
Rolling Stone he didn’t know was being recorded) somehow makes this song even more uncomfortable. Due to the song’s emotional nature, the band didn’t play it live for 20 years, only bringing it out of the mothballs in 2015. Your parents would likely prefer to it be retired again, and for far longer.
Tool’s ‘Prison Sex’ covers the worst life imaginable
No song with a title like Tool’s “Prison Sex” would be acceptable listening for your dear parents, but the song isn’t actually about what you’d think. It’s actually about something so much worse.
Though Tool has never come right out and said it (because they wouldn’t be Tool without being gleefully vague and mysterious about everything), the lyrics to the song make it pretty clear it’s about a guy who was molested as a child who then becomes a molester himself when he grows up. Early in the song, singer Maynard James Keenan details some pretty horrifying stuff. He also sings, “Do unto you now what has been done to me,” which completely drives the brutally cyclical point home. This guy went through perhaps the most traumatic childhood experience possible, and keeps the circle unbroken by being what destroyed him so long ago. Don’t blame your parents for cautiously walking away from you once they realize this.
If this isn’t a conversation you’re ready to have with your folks, your only real hope is that Tool’s lyrical subtlety will help convince your parents that the song, while certainly dark, is about something else. Good luck.
Share on Facebook
Tara Marie Jason Iannone
Most songs are about nice things — love, friendships, joy, dancing the Macarena, all that fun stuff. But some songs are so disturbing, so horrifying, you’ll regret ever listening to them in the first place. Here are some of the best (worst?) of the creepy song bunch. Enjoy!
Queen: ‘The Show Must Go On’
Since God first farted and created music, Queen has been one of the best bands to perform it, ever. There’s almost no song that Queen has made that you can’t listen to over and over, except for one. The Show Must Go On, undeniably one of their most famous and awesome hits, is also incredibly depressing.
See, Freddie Mercury is dead (spoiler alert) . He died of AIDS, but he didn’t die fast, although he kept it well-hidden. When he recorded The Show Must Go On , he was basically a corpse, albeit a rather lively one. The song, written by Brian May, is basically about Mercury’s state of mind as strove to keep on performing, despite inching closer and closer to that great epic mustache in the sky with every breath.
Legend has it that Mercury was so ravaged by disease at that point, May thought he’d be unable to perform the song. But he swigged some vodka and belted the entire (extremely difficult to sing) song in one take, because Freddie Mercury is the closest thing any of us have ever seen to a god. He died shortly thereafter, leaving this song as basically his beautiful, sad, rather uncomfortable eulogy to himself. een – The Show Must Go On ( Official Video)
Sarah McLachlan: ‘Possession’
Sarah McLachlan’s 1993 song “Possession” sounds like a beautiful, sexy ballad, until you read the lyrics and realize it’s about a creepy stalker-turned-rapist. The chorus goes “I would be the one / to hold you down / kiss you so hard / I’ll take your breath away / and after, I’d wipe away the tears / just close your eyes, dear.” Later, she sings, “Nothing stands between us here / and I won’t be denied,” to really drive home that this couldn’t be less of a love song.
Worse, the song’s based on real people. According to an interview with Rolling Stone, McLachlan had been receiving multiple letters from creepy guys who felt they should be with her. She, as an artist, wrote a song based on those letters. But one of the alleged stalkers sued McLachlan for $250,000 , citing “breach of confidence and breach of moral rights.” Basically, he admitted — in legal documents — to writing two years’ worth of unsolicited letters to someone he didn’t know, then accused McLachlan of betraying his trust by writing about them. For the record, this is not how you win over a woman (or any human being).
The case never went to court because Vandrei killed himself in 1995. While everything turned out OK for McLachlan, the song is still incredibly difficult to listen to once you know the whole story. Sarah McLachlan – Possession
Eminem: ‘Kim’
*ABOVE VIDEO SUPER-DUPER UNSAFE FOR WORK*
Most of Eminem’s lyrics, even the vulgar ones, are ultimately tame. Even his attempts at being shocking
like, “wanna see me drive nine inch nails through both of my eyelids” simply makes one think of a really bad cartoon. One of his songs, however goes straight past that and into, “Okay, this man is genuinely dangerous” territory.
Like many angry white boy songs, Kim is about a woman. Like many of Eminem’s angry songs, it’s about his on-again-off-again partner/wife/ex-wife/mother of his daughter, Kim. The song’s a great ride if you’re twisted enough to enjoy hearing rap songs about murdering women. If you’re not, it’s pretty tough to get through even once. The song details Eminem playing with his baby before revealing that he broke into Kim’s house, and has her tied up. He then takes her in a car, screams about every wrong she supposedly did him, wraps it all in a neat little bow with the Shakespeare-esque copulet “BLEED B**** / BLEEEEEEDDDDDD!!” and then brutally kills her.
This would be squirm-in-your-seats-bad enough if it was an entirely fictional tale, but it might not be — well, he obviously didn’t kill her , but Eminem has quite the alleged history of abusing Kim. Even if he hasn’t, he’s still not the nicest guy to her. One time — get this — she attended one of his shows, and he told her he wasn’t going to play Kim. Then, with her there, he played the song, AND he assaulted a blow-up doll in her image as the crowd screamed with approval. Wow, what a laugh-riot that Eminem is!
Kim says she tried to kill herself after the show, and it’s sadly not hard to imagine why. Kim (uncut ) – Eminem
Harry McClintock: ‘Big Rock Candy Mountain’
There’s a lost verse in Harry McClintock’s classic folk tune “Big Rock Candy Mountain,” one even the folksiest of folk aficionados might not know about. It describes an apparent epidemic among hobos at the time: picking up kids, enticing them with romantic tales of the vagabond life, and then raping them.
The long-forgotten verse goes : “The punk rolled up his big blue eyes / And said to the jocker, ‘Sandy / I’ve hiked and hiked and wandered, too, / But I ain’t seen any candy / I’ve hiked and hiked till my feet are sore / I’ll be damned if I hike any more / To be buggered sore like a hobo’s whore / In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.'” The “punk” is a young kid, and the “jocker” is the creepy hobo looking for sexual favors. It’s not a surprise this verse has been dropped, is it?
McClintock apparently wrote the song in the early 1900s based on popular hobo tales, but the final verse didn’t go into most recordings. The song had been
copyrighted in 1906 by two others, but McClintock eventually won the rights by producing postcards he’d sent out to radio listeners in the early days. Great for him, but good luck hearing kids sing this song and not shuddering every time. MOUNTAINS – Harry Mac McClintock – 1928
Rammstein: ‘Mein Teil’
Every Rammstein songs sounds angry and scary, but “Mein Teil” might be the scariest of all. It’s easy to ignore the lyrics because they’re in German, but once you learn them , you’ll probably want to stick with “Du Hast” and “Amerika” forevermore.
In English, “Mein Teil” translates to “My Part” or the more suggestive “My Piece.” That’s because, according to a 2004 MTV interview with the band members, the song is about Armin Meiwes, a German cannibal. In 2001, Meiwes cooked and ate various parts of Bernd Juergen Brandes’ body — including his “piece” — before murdering him. That’s disgusting enough, but Brandes actually wanted it to happen. Meiwes had put out an internet ad looking for a “well-built man … for slaughter.” Brandes answered with “I offer myself to you and will let you dine from my live body. Not butchery, dining!!” Not only did he allow himself to be eaten, he even partook in the dining, eating himself like a human Ouroboros. Here’s the end of the paragraph so you can go throw up quick.
It actually could’ve been worse, as Rammstein initially wanted the song’s video to show the actual dinner. Meiwes and Brandes taped their rendezvous, and the band thought showing snippets of a real-life guy butchering, cooking, eating, and killing another person would be perfect for Total Request Live, but the police weren’t interested in releasing it for the purposes of shock rock. Too bad for Rammstein; a huge relief for everybody else. Rammstein – Mein Teil (Official Video)
Beach Boys: ‘Never Learn Not to Love’ (written by Charles Manson)
Charles Manson’s infamy is impossible to separate from pop culture, specifically music. His murders were supposedly inspired by the Beatles song Helter Skelter (which is actually about a damned children’s slide) and he was a failed singer-songwriter, himself. That said, one band actually played one of his songs, and you might have heard of them: the Beach Boys.
Of all the bands that could possibly have a Charles Manson single, the Beach Boys — the “Fun Fun Fun” guys — are among the last you’d suspect. But there you go. Never Learn Not to Love is a slightly altered version of Manson’s Cease to Exist (such a happy title). As the story goes, Dennis Wilson was a friend of Manson’s at one point. The Beach Boys heard Manson’s music and said he was a unique talent — but they meant it in a
good way, because the murders had not started yet. So the group took his song, changed around a few words, and the rest is horrible, horrible history.
Honestly, even though they changed some lyrics, the fact that Charles Manson gets credit is enough for us to giddy up our 409 and drive as far away from anyone playing this song as humanly possible. Boys – Never Learn Not To Love (with lyrics)
Zach Sobiech: ‘Clouds’ (the Cancer Kid song)
Clouds isn’t a song you’ll want to listen to over and over, but the creepiness isn’t exactly lyrical — it’s more … existential. On its own, it’s a slowish, pop-rock song that’s about saying goodbye. The lyrics are pretty good and the melody and vocals are pretty enough in a Jack Johnson sort of way. Oh, yeah, and it was written by Zach Sobiech, a teenager who had terminal cancer, as his farewell song to the world. He’s dead now. Aaand, you’re sad now.
Sobiech wrote Clouds specifically about his life and his journey, going through the process of being a literal child who knew he was going to die. So if you, for some reason, are the type of person who delights in listening to a teenager who — again — is dead now, singing a song about how he knows he’ll be dead soon, go right ahead and listen to it more than once. Meanwhile, we couldn’t even get through The Fault in Our Stars more than once, so we’re gonna take a hard pass here. Clouds by Zach Sobiech