As sad as it is to think about, this country has
many problems with violence in schools, be it high school or universities. This
song Pumped Up Kicks, gives a look into what the person who’s the kid that was
bullied and how he makes his choice about what he’s going to do. When just
listening to the tune itself, people have the chance to mistake it for a happy
upbeat song. This is where listening to what the words are saying is key. The
message is clear when looking at the lyrics. This song is also a message to hipsters,
an F- you is what its saying.
The social and historical contexts of this song are noticeable.
The most recent case that anyone would know about would be the attack at the
movie cinemaplex where a man shot and injured many people. There’s also the
Colmbine shooting where so many people were injured and a community was torn to
pieces because of what happened. There is also, sadly the social thing that
people feel that it’s alright to bully because they just think they’re teasing
this person while the one that it’s happening to doesn't feel that way. Those
that are bullied also keep quiet and pretend that everything is ok and that
nothing in their world is going wrong. Bullying is not okay. It’s a horrid
thing that happens and sadly, many times school shootings are what the person
feels they have to do in order to stop the bullying. The social aspect to this
song is that those who are the victims are the ones getting even with their
tormentors. What is part of the song is also the titles, the time period where
this song is set is when Reebok shoes were the ‘in’ thing. So that was how this
guy identified his targets. The shoes were more expensive and mostly the jocks
and preps wore them so it was an easy identifier to find his tormentors.
When we listen to a song, we don't always hear the
message behind it, it is only when we truly see or hear the lyrics, do we then
understand what the entire song is about. This is key in understanding the
rhetoric that musicians use when writing the lyrics that make up the song, the
beat and sound is only a part of what makes a song, a song.
WC—400
Baylea Hall
Teen violence and bullying is a big thing that has been going on for far too long. Thinking about all the tragedies that have been caused because of bullying really just makes me want to vomit. Bullying is unfortunately a part of everyday life, even if you do not witness it and its a very awful nasty thing. You are exactly right when saying that the song Pumped Up Kicks gives you a little insider on a kid that has been affected by bullying, and how he feels. I did not know that Reeboks were the shoes the song was talking about, I'm glad you shared that part in your blog, its pretty interesting. I agree that you have to fully listen to the lyrics and understand what they are meaning before you just think its a really good upbeat song. This song could really catch you off guard, by its catchy little tune and its cool sound. I agree that you have to figure out what the lyrics mean, and you need to understand the entire song. Understanding is key to learn what the writer of the song is trying to get at. You need to know what the song is trying to convey,before you just go singing along with it thinking its a fun loving song. Pumped Up Kids, does a great job of conveying a great message.
ReplyDeleteIt’s sad to say, but yes, I do believe that this song was written mainly for bullying and to get awareness out about it to people today. It’s really sad to see and hear about everything that is going on in our society today. It’s even a little scary knowing everything about this situation and realizing that we aren’t doing all that we could be doing to help. Instead we sit back and watch it happen instead of acting upon it like we should. This song really hits home for us because we have even witnessed the effects of bullying ourselves in our district just a short while ago with Ashlyn. So we understand the effects of bullying first hand.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you about the lyrics. No one ever understands a song until they are truly taking in every aspect of it. It goes all the way from the beat and rhythm to the lyrics and the meaning. That’s the moment when we are able to connect and relate to a song. With this song it was especially hard to do this with, because there singing style was a little bit different then most songs today. It was very hard to make out what they were saying minus a few words here and there.