What song did you love until you found out what it was about?

In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry. It's such a nice catchy tune that I enjoyed until my partner pointed out:

Have a drink, have a drive Go out and see what you can find If her daddy's rich, take her out for a meal If her daddy's poor, just do what you feel

Which, ew.

Sting. Every step you take. It's actually angry and malicious. There's an interview with Sting saying something to that effect.

I don't like Mondays from the Boomtown Rats.

Mind, when I first heard it my English was not that good so I really only got the Chorus about not liking Mondays (and who does, eh?). Dismissed the "shoot the whole day down" as an idiom for something which I did not know.

Then at some point much later I realized it's actually a school shooting.

Someone should make a spotify Playlist of all of these songs

I remember listening to Frank Zappa’s Bobby Brown when I was a kid, not knowing English at all. Great song but very inappropriate for kids, which my parents probably thought was funny.

Uncle Kracker - Follow me. I used to sing the shit out of it, because I just liked the tune. Until I learn there was a whole different meaning than just "I'm the better guy" lyrics.

I still humm it, but it hits differently.

5 minutes alone by pantera, I mean come on...

Nuttin No Go So
The original "football moves" clip went viral a long time ago, and the song goes along well with it. Took me a while to understand just how awfully reactionary the lyrics are.

Despacito. Kinda weird lyrics.

Not so much found out about but songs that didn't used to bother me now kind of bother me. I was a very big Stone Temple Pilots fan, Even though the rhythms slap the songs are a little too rapey these days for my taste.

Semi-Charmed Life, by Third Eye Blind. Basically, it's a song about doing meth... Spent almost twenty years just singing the chorus with absolutely no idea what the rest of the lyrics were. Now, it kinda feels weird, ngl.

“All that she wants” by Ace of Base. I read a deep dive into the band and it seems like they may have been formed after a neo-nazi group and that song might be about Jews trying to dilute the bloodline… so yeah kinda weird now.

Mr Brightside by the Killers. The tune was good and felt energetic when it came about, but it's about a guy being cheated on. Having had someone cheat on me around the time it came out it hit really close to home and I just don't enjoy listening to the song.

The problem with being in the UK is that it's so overplayed and I just have to tune it out.

Pretty much all Linkin Park songs.

Listened to it since elementary.

Around high school, I figured the lyrics were kinda dark.

Then the vocalist hung himself.

Well, one that maybe went full circle for me is "bring the pain" by mindless self indulgence. At first, it just seemed like a really fun song that I loved. Then one day, a black dude was in my car listening with me, and he was like "wtf is this song about?". That's when it hit me that the song actually sounds REALLY racist. I looked up the lyrics and that just confirmed it for me. And then years later, I found out it was actually a cover of a method man song, and not really racist at all, I guess. But thats a weird one, maybe best not for white guys to be singing it...

Richmen North of Richmond.

I love the sound, and at first it sounds like a pro worker union song (and it kinda is).

But there's way too much dog whistle.... An old soul in a new world.... Dude the south lost and slavery is bad. I'm sorry

And then he slips in some super disappointing language about fat people on welfare.

Hey there Delilah

The dude who wrote it is a creep

Baby, It's Cold Outside. It's such a fun song as the guy and girl go back and forth. Until you realize that he's guilting her into sleeping with him. Eww!

"Vamos a playa" by Righeira carries a lightweight, upbeat tune that vacationers might hum on the way to the beach. But the Spanish lyrics reveal that it's about the devastation left behind by nuclear armaments. And the schism between trying to live an ordinary life whilst having a nuclear Damocles sword waver over your head. That it became such a world wide hit makes it all the more ironic. I love it all the more for it.

Sex Type Thing by Stone Temple Pilots. Great music, love STP, but it's basically about raping someone.

Jump by Van Halen when found out that it's about hanging yourself.

Well, I still like it but it's with a double feeling.

Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones. It's a song about banging a slave, but I didn't know that as a kid.

The period between hearing and knowing what the song was about was nearly instantaneous but "Smack my bitch up" has an incredibly catchy tune.

It'd be really nice if they released an instrumental version one day.

Not sure, if I stopped listening to mainstream music around that time, but uh, both of my examples are from 2011, apparently:

• Kind of a classic response to this question, is "Pumped Up Kicks" from Foster The People. It's got that upbeat melody, and the lyrics are this:

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You’d better run, better run, outrun my gun
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You’d better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

• And my other example is "The A Team", apparently originally from Ed Sheeran, and apparently also with an upbeat melody. I think, I only ever listened to a cover version. But yeah, it's about drug use and sex work, and how those kind of necessitate each other...

most of Rammstein, but specifically Mutter

I'm learning so much from these comments...

Closing time by Semisonic I thought it was about going home with someone after a night out at the bar. It’s about the lead singers child being born.

Constipated by Weird Al. That changed me.

In the other direction from most of them here, “Losing my Religion” hit a lot harder before I realized it was just about anger.

I think it's really interesting how people interpret music completely different than other forms of art. People sometimes assume the worst instead of realizing that the singer is speaking from another perspective. So for example if a writer has a first person perspective of a killer/rapist you wouldn't make an association that the author is anything of the sort. But if they wrote a song and sang it then people would question if they really felt that way. Polly is a great example. By many accounts (Kathleen Hanna , Kim Gordon) Cobain championed feminism and woman's rights but the lyrics of Polly are brutal and from the perpetrator view. Randy Newman's - Rednecks is a tough one to listen to. You can understand how it is trying to point out ignorance and racism like Blazing Saddles but it's sung in first person and should never be played in a public setting. Oingo Bongo's - Little Girs was always a bit creepy now seems to age poorly the more time has gone on. Minor Threat - Guilty of being white is a tough listen because you know racist people think this is a rallying cry instead of the emotionly reaction from a a teenage kid who was bullied in highschool for being white.

This song is cute and happy but the lyrics are absolutely devastating and make me cry. https://open.spotify.com/track/2E3hdMguyNDQswLXyUotYR

https://genius.com/Bloc-party-signs-lyrics

[Verse 1]
Two ravens in the old oak tree
And one for you and one for me
And bluebells in the late December
I see signs now all the time
The last time we slept together
There was something that was not there
You never wanted to alarm me
But I'm the one that's drowning now

[Verse 2]
I can sleep forever these days
Cause in my dreams I see you again
But this time-fleshed out fuller face
In your confirmation dress
It was so like you to visit me
To let me know you were okay
It was so like you to visit me
You're always worried about someone else

[Bridge]
At your funeral I was so upset
So, so upset
In your life you were larger than this
Statue statuesque

[Chorus] (x2)
I see signs now all the time
That you're not dead, you're sleeping
I believe in anything
That brings you back home to me

I hate this song. Literally sobbing at the fear of the state my mental health would be in if my wife suddenly passed.

Stinkfist - Tool

You think from the title it would be obvious. Never thought why it was named like that until after I realized what the song was about.

In my late teens one of my friend gave me thumb stick with some poorly tagged mp3 mess. It was mostly black metal which I kind of liked (still do, some of it, sometimes when the mood is right). Years later I found out it was compilation of some NSBM bullshit. Not that it mattered in lyrics, as it was allindistinguishable, impossible to hear in true black metal "recorded band jam on a tape in one go from room next door" style, but still... People producing that pretty good music were probably the most degenerate retards in their countries (from USA, through France to Russia).

I don't know what the vast majority of songs I listen to are about. I have some genetic defect that makes it near impossible to hear lyrics. It all sounds like melody to me.

Canon in D (piano version) sounds like a cool relaxing music. But I learned people use it for weddings. Ruined it. I don't want any of my music to be tied to something stupid like weddings.

Tears in heaven from Eric Clapton. I always liked this song, and didn't have a special connotation. But after learning its backstory, now I just feel sadness when I hear it. :-(

Hard Habit To Break by Chicago is pretty straightforward, but I liked it on the radio as a kid because it's peppy and has an orchestra.

Decades later I get access to music service libraries and give it a listen.

I was a jerk and you left me, and now you're with another guy. I'm not sorry. I'm not going to do better. But I have an orchestra!

I still like it, but have perspective now.

"Freshmen" by the Verve Pipe

I’m surprised at the number of people who don’t know Weezer’s “Hashpipe” is about male prostitution.

Well, as I said, I never paid attention to the lyrics before I looked them up. 🤷‍♂️

Running to the Sea - Royksopp. Now that I know it's about some sort of terrorist attack, I just feel weird listening to it now

the two Who rock operas are chock full of stuff that went over my head because i heard them when i was younger than i probably should have been. in this case the songs are written from character POVs so i wouldn't say they make me think less of the band because of the content, but jeez, 10 year old me never would've figured Love Reign O'er Me for example was about a suicide attempt as opposed to, you know, feeling loved