June 22, 2009
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Don’t Trust Me
Every so often I think, “Gee, reviewers and critics are an intellectual, clever lot! Surely all reviewers are wonderful and witty people able to appreciate the ironies of life!”
Then I run into idiocy like this review of ‘Don’t Trust Me’ at Urban Semiotic. Far from getting the irony of the song – which is laid on pretty thick – David Bowles sees the lyrics as an abhorrent picture of current dating norms. To be fair, it may be just that, but what truly has me in despair is the way he assigns blame to the authors, 3oh!3. “Quel temps, quel mores!” is a cry of lament for moral decay that goes back to the Romans, and he is digging out the same old tired cry of moral outrage without examining the object of his outrage in depth. Like too many other reviewers, Bowles directs his ire not at the prevailing social conditions that generated the social commentary, but at the band, as if they are solely to blame for showing him a less than rosy picture of the world. I began to wonder, reading his review – is it possible that he doesn’t realize that a description of reality doesn’t imply agreement? Why blame the messenger? Using this wonderful logic, I suppose Explogasm should be arrested for conspiracy to murder, because their song ‘Westside Killah‘ humorously suggests that they shot famous recording artists such as ODB, Tupac, Biggie, and Freddie Mercury.
So let’s get specific. Bowles sees the most disturbing content in two passages. He quotes the first as:
Don’t trust a hoe
Never trust a hoe
Won’t trust a hoe,
Won’t trust me!That looks a little incoherent, actually – maybe because it’s not actually what the singer is singing.
Don’t trust a hoe
never trust a hoe
[I] won’t trust a hoe
‘Cause a hoe won’t trust meIsn’t it amazing how a few extra words completely change the context? Far from being “misogynistic,” the song is an honest appraisal of how, if you trust someone who is just playing around at relationships, you may well get hurt. I suppose it would be okay with Mr. Bowles if the lyrics said, “Don’t trust a playa,” but as soon as the magic term “hoe” is thrown in, whoa, look out – automatic misogyny! I’d like to think that we’re a little more sophisticated than that, but apparently the bar is very low for music reviews. Even as a radical feminist in favor of gender equity, I think it’s possible to appreciate the meaning behind the words without getting caught up in what is admittedly crude word choice.
Shush girl
Shut your lips
Do the Helen Keller
and talk with your hipsThese lines trigger Bowles’s outrage, as he analyzes them but stops short of getting the point. “Just be still, spread your legs, move your hips, and take it without speaking to, or listening to, or looking at, me. Be blind. Be Deaf. Be ‘Helen Keller‘ during sex.”
Well, yes. Mr. Bowles has forgotten that there are actually guys who just want this. Far from praising them, however, I’d say it’s obvious from the absurdity of it that 3oh!3 is pointing out the inherent inequity of the situation. The reference to Helen Keller is intended as a wake-up call – if you want that, in effect, don’t you really just want to make it with a disabled girl? Helen Keller might be mortified at her name being used in that fashion, I suppose, but she’s safely dead. The point is that their intended audience know who she is. Who knows – it might make someone think.
Maybe this is all unnecessary, and Mr. Bowles feels that the listeners must already be aware of these stereotypes, and in effect 3oh!3 is being too subtle. I might actually buy that argument – apparently they were so subtle that the aforementioned reviewer missed the point.
Comments (13)
i don’t know this artist, but it seems to a “correct” interpretation would very much rely on the context of his larger body of the work.
If David Bowles is disgusted with that song being on the public airwaves then I wonder how he views popular rap music. Need I say more?
P.S. I read the comments on his blog and I have to admit, as people on the internets put it, “I lol’d.” Also, I’m a woman and I’m not offended by this song. I’m pretty sure it’s not meant to be taken seriously. Why does everyone have to take fun things so seriously? Youth poisoned by the radio? Not the youth who have brains. The others are already lost.
“they shot famous recording artists such as ODB, Tupac, Biggie, and Freddie Mercury.”
and Freddie Mercury?!?…… Those Bastards!
I never knew the song said “hoe” I thought it said “her” and I guess the lyrics suggest that they are both hoes and now they are even. Frankly, I’ve heard worse in a Rogers and Hammerstein musical. They just knew how to imply better.
And call it naivety, but I though he wanted her to move like Helen Keller on the dance floor.
Tehe, love the song. My roommate go me into it.
I like this song. I don’t find any of it offensive.
I LOVE 3Oh!3! It’s the only way I get through running in the mornings! The music video is so funny and crass and horrible.
Haha I love 3oh!3, I don’t think the song is offensive at all.
Now the real question is, is it spelled “hoe” or “ho?” Because I always thought it was “ho.”
Well, I’m going to agree with you on your most basic level that faux moral outrage like David Boles’s commentary hardly qualifies as passable music criticism, although to be fair, it isn’t a “review” proper but a quick angry note from someone who publishes on ASL.
I’ll add, though, that “won’t someone think of the children” is at least as tired and as banal an offense as “I’m being ironic — you can’t possibly hold me to what I’m saying literally” is tired and banal a defense. The latter shuts down conversation as quickly as the former: “if you don’t like it,” the defense goes, “you just didn’t get it.I’m winking.” And if you say back, “No, I get it. Winking is just boring to me. What is your actual position?” the response is typically “You don’t get it. I’m winking.” I find the song shitty because I think you’re right to point out that it’s saying “if you play, you’ll get hurt.” And sorry, but the way this cheap sentiment is passed off as made-you-think wisdom through the shock value achieved by saying “Don’t trust a ho” at all strikes me as the ultimate sign of lazy songwriting. It reads to me like the line is there precisely so that 3oh!3 can do the magic reversal in interviews and ahhhh, demonstrate what perceptive minds they are, how sensitive to the reversals and betrayals of modern dating. And you thought they were just berating hos! The shock is there to legitimate the shockers not as idle provacateurs but real cultural critics when the *true* reading of the song emerges, blah blah. (And yet, heh, it was fun, too, to say “ho” in public.) And come on, that’s a little goofy considering the insight isn’t all that fresh.
Which brings me to my real point: there seems to be some tension in your post between calling this an ironic and a deadly sincere song. Which is it? Because if you’re going to use the “it’s all irony; these tone deaf critics are just missing the point” defense, then it seems you’d be hard pressed to also claim that it’s an “honest appraisal,” “wake-up call,” etc. etc. And what about the fact that not just the performers but also the douchebags who grind to it in clubs seem to get a little thrill in shouting something inappropriate like “Don’t trust a ho” or “Talk with your hips”? It seems to me that calling it “ironic” and calling it a day downplays whatever desire, inappropriate or not, saying such things is fulfilling for people.
@qwiggles -
I’m going to disagree with your assertion that everything must be wholly ironic or wholly not. It is entirely possible to me that certain critical points are missed because David Bowles missed any irony present in the song. It is not necessary for the song to consist wholly of irony for that to be true. And in fact you will see that I suggest he has misunderstood the first set of lyrics due to hearing them wrong, and the second set of lyrics due to missing the subtext.
As for misappropriation, well, what of it? Suppose someone says “Love your neighbor,” and this is somehow interpreted as “go forth and oppress those who don’t agree with you.” Does the fault lie with the person who said it, or the person who misinterpreted it?
@CallMeQuell -
Frankly, I did too.
@complicatedlight -
3oh!3 are either a joke disguised as social commentary, or social commentary disguised as a joke, or some juxtaposition of the two, like waves and particles.
@CallMeQuell - i’m with you on the far more important topic.
oh, and i see mori agrees. so i guess we’re *all* cool.
“– but how much psychic damage has already been done?” he asks at the very end.
Am I the only one who noticed this?
Not gonna lie. This bit reminded me a whole lot of Pokemon.