Foster The People’s breakthrough track ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ has been pulled from radio circulation in the US following last Friday’s massacre in Newton, Connecticut, reports Canoe.
Suspected Gunman Adam Lanza, 20, killed six adults, including his mother and 20 young children when he opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, on Friday the 14th of December, before killing himself.
While America is notorious for hypersensitivity in the media, in the wake of this particular tragedy, it seems completely understandable considering the dark subject matter underlying the sugary sweet pop hook of the song.
Exploring the mind of a misunderstood teenager plotting his revenge, lines such as “He found a six shooter gun/In his dad’s closet hidden with a box of fun things and I don’t even know what/But he’s coming for you, yeah he’s coming for you,” hit too close to home for many ,and are especially insensitive in regards to recent events.
Speaking of the haunting lyrics, frontman Mark Foster has explained in the past, “‘Pumped Up Kicks’ is about a kid that basically is losing his mind and is plotting revenge. He’s an outcast. I feel like the youth in our culture are becoming more and more isolated. It’s kind of an epidemic.”
Underscoring Foster’s strong opposition to current gun control laws, and his sympathy for those affected by the massacre, Foster The People’s Twitter feed has been full of anti-gun sentiments since the tragic events, including prayers for those lost and external links that lead to websites where donations to victims can be made and action can be taken against gun violence.“…in the wake of this particular tragedy, it seems completely understandable considering the dark subject matter underlying the sugary sweet pop hook of the song.”
Canoe reports that other songs removed from circulation include Ke$ha’s latest single ‘Die Young’. While not directly related to the issue of youth violence or gun control, the refrain proclaiming “we’re gonna die young” is considered a haunting reminder to the majority of victims over the weekend, who were aged between six and ten years old.
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The song had previously peaked at #3 on American radio, before losing 19 million listeners following the tragedy and subsequently, the pulling of the song from the airwaves entirely.
Ke$ha however remains respectful of the circumstances, turning to Twitter to post “I’m so so so sorry for anyone who has been effected (sic) by this tragedy. and I understand why my song is now inappropriate. Words cannot express.”
As Noisecreep reports, Motor City Madman, and vocal NRA supporter, Ted Nugent has also lost an opportunity as a a result of the tragedy. The outspoken musician’s upcoming special for the Discovery Channel, titled American Guns – a documentary series focussed on just that – has been cancelled.
A network representative refuses to link the cancellation to the events that transpired at Sandy Hook Elementary, but the uncanny timing suggests some association between the two.
This kind of censorship is not entirely unfamiliar, and is in fact reminiscent of the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In response to the tragedy, radio stations began culling everything from Rage Against The Machine to The Beatles from circulation, replacing even the most tenuously linked songs with patriotic tracks such as Lee Greenwood’s ‘God Bless the USA’ and Whitney Houston’s rendition of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’.
NZ rockers Shihad were even pressured into changing their name to Pacifier, as their original title was too close to ‘jihad’, threatening a poor reception at a crucial time when they were attempting to break-in Stateside. A move that frontman Jon Toogood has since admitted to have “regretted it as soon as we did it”, and subsequently returned to the name Shihad in 2004.
Due to the more specific nature of the Primary School shooting, it looks as though the backlash will continue across all forms of entertainment media, inluding the cancellation of premieres for the typically violent Tarantino flick Django Unchained, and Tom Cruise’s latest action blockbuster Jack Reacher.
