12 Super-Fun Top 40 Pop Songs With Upsetting Lyrics

We listen to music to escape, for the most part; when we have a bad day and don't want our brains to be filled with nasty things like thoughts and memories, we use music like an acid wash to push all the bad feels away. Although sometimes we just want to hear a tasty groove, lyrics and subject matter be damned. So what if the ear-worm The Macarena is about a trash person that cheats when her partner is away?

It’s amazing what a good tune can do to cover up a song’s lyrics. While you’re bouncing to the beat of a Cherry Poppin’ Daddies song, most won’t realize that those Daddies are singing about a horrible atrocity perpetrated by police and Navy service members. Here’s that song, and a few others, which sound more fun than the lyrics really are. Think about that next time you're MMMBopping to the latest <squints at Spotify's most popular artists> Lil Dooper?