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It's All About the Intention

Pyanfar Chanur | USA | 11/03/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"My daughter came back from the Miley Cyrus concert giddy with excitement. Among the highlights, Miley's brother's (step-brother, actually) band with the brother of Mitchel Musso (an actor from the Hannah Montana show) in it" Metro Station. Boy they sure sounded neat! And on the surface, that's true: this is a great fun poppy techno sound. For that reason, if you're an adult old enough to remember the '80s this is probably going to be a guilty pleasure for you. The same is true if you're a fan of The Killers, but wish they had just a little more synth and were a little less thoughtful.



Unfortunately, that is not the intent behind this album. It has plenty of copyright and FBI warnings, but what it needs is a parental advisory. Why?



- Because their success rides on the coattails of the Disney music crew

- Because they are the opening band for Miley "Hannah Montana" Cyrus

- Because the sound is just cheerful enough to hide a smarmy undercoating of teen-hormone lecherousness that occasionally bubbles up to the surface.



What are these words I am saying? Am I being a prude here? A hypocrite? Shame on me if I am! Let's let the lyrics speak for themselves then:



"Control" - opens up with drinking and smoking, then skips straight to wanting to "take it off and touch"

"Wish we were older" -

so now we'll touch, and they won't know.

I know you're dying to take off your clothes.

Just trust in me: I'll never run away.

You kiss my lips, and you taste my pain,

and while I'm pushing and I'm moving

somehow you manage to say,

Whoa-we-oo-wee-oh-oh, oh-wee-oh-we-oh-oh

I wish we were older



Apparently as long as you lift out the swear words, you can say anything you want and a conglomerate of media companies will help you sell it to teens and pre-adolescents. If I were waxing political I'd say passing these albums out at Miley Cyrus concerts would do more damage to teenage girls than abstinence education and the rhythm method combined.



Still, let's not get all wound up about it, shall we? Could this really be worse than Hendrix opening for the Monkees? What about The Archies' "Don't Pull Your Love Out On Me Baby"? Didn't that chart *and* get played on a kids' show?



Quick trip back to the lyrics again: this time, "True to Me":



She turns me on and I'm still shakin'

She shoots it in and I'm still takin'



Comparing his girlfriend to heroin in a way Everclear would never have gotten away with, Miley's step-bro goes on to talk about her pumping through his veins, etc. etc. plenty more where this came from ("Tell Me What to Do", for example, contains, 'you wanna get high, and then come play?'). You can see it in the booklet because Metro Station are thankfully honest enough to print the lyrics for you. If you're a parent, ask yourself if you're comfortable with your teenage son or daughter memorizing them, because that's what's going to happen.



Again, if you're an adult, there's nothing wrong with listening to this album, and plenty here to like for the synth-pop inclined. If you're a parent who's seeing this being pushed at you, ask yourself if this album is really being pitched at an appropriate audience."