‘No One Else’ – Weezer
Around the turn of the ‘90s, the rock scene started to get more progressive. Even though bands were willing to talk about any kind of smut out there, the riot grrl movement and male allies like Kurt Cobain stood up for violence against women. Cobain may have been one of Rivers Cuomo’s biggest influences, but that didn’t stop some questionable lyrics slipping through the cracks on ‘No One Else’.
Right after the opening song ‘My Name Is Jonas’, Weezer’s second-ever song has Cuomo playing the role of a manipulative boyfriend, talking about wanting to have total possession over his girlfriend. Although it’s easy to play it off as Cuomo being insecure, he makes it much harder to take his side throughout the track, including his lover not leaving the house without him and only putting on makeup for him.
The toxic tendencies may have been Cuomo trying to sing about what alpha males are supposed to do, but the fallout of Pinkerton made some of his confessions abundantly clear, including his talking to young fans about how they pleasure themselves when thinking of him. Weezer may have been a lot of fun to listen to back in the day, but if there’s one thing to take away from their glory years, it’s that Rivers Cuomo is one of the most twisted frontmen who has ever lived.
‘Black Licorice’ – Grand Funk Railroad
Sometimes the sexist vernacular in rock songs derives from the time the song was made. While it certainly was from a more ignorant time, it’s easier to give people the benefit of the doubt when certain words meant different things when the song was recorded. In the case of Grand Funk Railroad, putting one stereotype on top of another just makes ‘Black Licorice’ 1,000 times worse.
As their star continued to rise because of the strength of ‘We’re An American Band’, these rockers thought it would be a good idea to sing about their affection for black women…in the most stereotypical way possible. Though they might have thought they were cheeky, none of the lines holds up, like talking about this woman wrapping the singer up in her slender legs.
Seeing how the United States was also going through problems with civil rights not too long before this, the singer talks about a woman who has evil in her eyes. Grand Funk Railroad never made the listener think that hard when listening to them, but there’s a good chance that some fans were listening to this tune for all the wrong reasons.
‘Wrong Way’ – Sublime
The legacy of Sublime has always been slightly over-mythologised after Bradley Nowell’s death. Though Nowell had a wealth of talent in ska and rock music, he never realised them to their fullest extent before dying of a heroin overdose before the release of their self-titled record. Songs like ‘What I Got’ may have survived because of its good time energy, but ‘Wrong Way’ should have been forgotten when it was taken off the radio.
Since Nowell knew about the seedy streets of Los Angeles, this is his warped fairy tale about a girl who gets thrown on the streets. Instead of the usual love story angle, Nowell talks about her turning to prostitution and then having sex with her because he can’t help himself. For as much as there’s wrong with this picture, Nowell goes mental in the final verse, going so far as to tell her how to live her life.
The song might be called ‘Wrong Way’ because of this girl turning to prostitution, but Nowell is equally at fault here, especially considering that the first verse implies that she started life as a prostitute when she was 14-years-old. Call yourself a man as many times as you want, Nowell, but none of that will change the statutory stuff in this tune.
‘Misery Business’ – Paramore
There’s nothing that prevents sexist songs from happening from both angles. As much as rock is abundant with questionable songs between men and women, it’s a different story when hearing the girls’ side of the story. When Paramore approached a breakup tune on ‘Misery Business’, even singer Hayley Williams later admitted they went too far.
For most of the song, Williams sings about all her dreams with her man that this new girl shattered into a million pieces. Instead of feeling depressed, though, Williams talks about taking her version of the high road, calling her a whore and convincing herself that she’ll stay like that for the rest of her life.
Considering that was what the song was being built around, the chorus about having this boy right where she wants him makes the lyrics much more dark. As opposed to moving on, Williams is the manipulator pulling the strings until her man crawls back to her. Even though this remains one of Paramore’s biggest hits, Williams retired the song from the group’s setlist for many years before bringing it back.
‘You Can’t Do That’ – The Beatles
None of the Beatles was squeaky clean behind the scenes. Underneath those mop-tops were a lot of questionable decisions in the early days, including John Lennon being abusive towards his first wife before they were married. Lennon may have sought forgiveness throughout his life, but only that insecure of a man would write a song as awkward as ‘You Can’t Do That’.
Although it might soundtrack the madcap comedy A Hard Day’s Night, this is the most possessive Lennon ever got in a song, reprimanding his girlfriend for daring to talk to another man in his presence. It’s easy to forgive one line, but Lennon doubles down throughout the verses, convincing his lover that everyone is happy about their relationship and she shouldn’t waste a chance with him by so much as talking to another man.
Granted, this song only ends one way, with ‘No Reply’ off the next album, Beatles for Sale, presumably picking up with this same sad sack as he desperately tries to manipulate his way back to his old flame. Lennon’s character might have needed some relationship counselling, but whoever the girl is in the song probably needs to run as far away from this man as possible.
‘A Man Needs a Maid’ – Neil Young
No one can ever say that Neil Young didn’t follow his heart. Young was known throughout his career to put his music on the line if it meant pleasing his muse, including a wilderness period in the ‘80s when he got sued by his own label. Even when Young was making the material his fans loved, some tracks still could have had some sturdier lyrics behind them.
In the middle of his folk opus Harvest comes ‘A Man Needs A Maid’, which opens with a piano and lavish string section backing Young’s vocal. It might be poised to be a sad tearjerker, but everything about this song is as shallow as a kiddie pool, as Young talks about the importance of needing a maid to do all his chores for him.
Although having help around the house is hardly bad, Young’s insistence on needing a maid starts to feel wrong the more the track plays out, as if he’s looking for some other problem that he can get a woman to fix for him. It might have worked better if the song sounded weak and pathetic, but the fact that it’s treated like an opus makes Young look like some entitled rock star who loves bossing women around.
‘Hey Joe’ – Jimi Hendrix
All good rock and roll derives from the blues. As much as Jimi Hendrix may have been warping minds with his guitar playing throughout the ‘60s, his heart always came back to the smooth sounds of Muddy Waters to fall back on. That’s not to say that every blues classic was squeaky clean, either.
Originally by The Leaves, Hendrix co-opted ‘Hey Joe’ for The Experience and turned it into a blues-rock epic. While the tune’s origins go back to country music, Hendrix’s retelling of this seedy tale makes it sound so much worse, as he mentions catching his old lady walking around with another man. The simple solution? Kill her.
As the song plays out, Joe shoots his old lady down and runs from the law, which he presumably escapes since the song wraps up before any resolution happens. Seeing how this was made at the turn of the Vietnam War, this was also a dark look at America, as Lady Liberty was being blown away in the face of the troops coming home. The hippie generation may have been about peace and love, but they didn’t avoid getting insanely dark occasionally.
‘It’s So Easy’ – Guns N’ Roses
Although not every hair metal act exploited women, more than a few of them mentioned some questionable things happening between groupies. Some may have been a bit cheeky with dishing their gossip, but Guns N’ Roses didn’t try to hide their sexism on ‘It’s So Easy’.
Coming off of Appetite for Destruction, this tune is more or less a diary of what the group saw up and down Sunset Boulevard at the time, including cars crashing every night and Axl Rose having no problem drinking and driving. When a girl is brought up in the song, she takes Rose’s orders as he yells at her to wake up and pay for his liquor with her credit card.
The most uncomfortable line comes in one of the final verses where Rose solicits sex from his women because “you ain’t got nothin better to do and I’m bored”. In Rose’s mind, everyone might be trying to please him on this song, but if he weren’t playing in ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Band’, he might have gotten his ass handed to him long ago.
‘Every Breath You Take’ – The Police
At the beginning of the ‘80s, The Police were just starting to peak. Coming off the heels of the punk movement, Sting’s melodies brought a more refined take on pop music, with songs that had sophisticated arrangements behind them, like ‘Don’t Stand So Close to Me’. Many songs by the band dealt with the harsh side of life, though, and one of Sting’s best melodies came with lyrics about an insane stalker.
Yes, this is exactly what ‘Every Breath You Take’ is about. Going through the song line by line, this supposed song of devotion talks about everything this girl does while he watches. It might seem cute at first, but as he gets more descriptive, it becomes clear that this man is most likely watching this woman on her way to work through a pair of binoculars in the bushes.
The bridge does add more context because of how troubled he feels that this girl left him, but this behaviour still sounds like a jilted boyfriend who is not getting the point and is refusing to take no for an answer. There’s quite a wicked streak to every single part of this song, and the fact that it’s used so often during weddings shows the frightening power of having the right melody.
‘Under My Thumb’ – The Rolling Stones
When The Rolling Stones burst onto the scene, it felt like getting a second version of The Beatles. Whereas ‘The Fab Four’ may have talked about more chaste subjects like wanting to hold their lover’s hand, The Stones were into some carnal knowledge, often talking about women only as a means to an end. More than a few Stones classics could qualify for this list, but ‘Under My Thumb’ cuts right to the point from the first line.
Although Mick Jagger can sell being unlucky in love, this song doesn’t translate to his style, as he talks about having this woman at his beck and call every night. Despite some of the bluesy inflexions put into the tune, hearing Jagger talk about how great it is that his lady only speaks when she’s spoken to is more than a little bit creepy looking back on it.
Compared to the depressed and lonely Stones songs, the tone of this tune feels so smug with itself, as if nothing can go wrong as long as this woman knows her place in the relationship. The Stones may be known as one of history’s greatest rock bands, but the mindset of women being seen as property instead of people is better to be lost to history.