Last Man Standing - Offensive

never found the song offensive at all, i find it inspirational and a huge sense of nostalgia of past heroes....which is something im goign thru anyway so i really relate to it.

OMJ is right. He did single out hip hop when he said "pseudo pop, hip hop, J.Lo Junk". He could have said country. He could have said R&B. Jazz. Hell, he could have said "swing". But he didn't. He said hip hop. And, as far as I'm concerned, he misused the word. That was my whole point. Misuse of the word hip hop. Just like Beyonce and Jay-Z aren't hip hop.

(8/30/02, 3 p.m. ET) -- Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Real (Remix)" featuring Ja Rule took home the Moonman for best hip-hop video at Thursday's Video Music Awards. Prior to the evening, the Bronx native was considered a long shot in the category, in which she faced competition from Fat Joe, Missy Elliott, OutKast, and Busta Rhymes.

I suppose MTV has it all wrong too.

Maybe there weren't any hip hop artists nominated. Or maybe that's what Jon was talking about. The blurring of the lines between genres of music. But Ja Rule? Lousy rapper. Terrible. And J.Lo? Well, Jon already said she's junk. I think it just proves the point.

I think it just proves that everyone has their own interpretation of what it is. You also mentioned Jay-Z. Check out interviews in which he claims he is indeed a hip hop artist.

I may be wrong as I am hopelessly out of touch with the hip hop genre but my understanding from having kids who listen to today's music is that hip hop is all inclusive and includes rap as well a more pop oriented stuff. Just like rock is a catch all that includes everything from Metallica to Sheryl Crow.

Ok, not every former gangster makes Gangsta Rap or the other way around, but don't tell me the words are that similar accidently.
And well, yeah, Gangsta Rap contents are not what are generally accepted values, but that says not too much about the musical ambitions.

I still think he talks about the pseudo or junk parts of the mentioned styles, and doesn't dismiss any style completely.

I'm not.

Again, there's no need to. It's a song line, open to interpretation, the last 7 pages here are proof enough.
This includes that you of course can feel it's offensive, but I don't have to.

He didn't single out J.Lo as a person. I think he singled out the part of the industry she could represent. What's wrong with fans that nod their head to it? It doesn't make them more stupid in any way. If this is how they or Jon feel, then how could it be not honest or wrong?
It's not that J.Lo will commit suicide because of this line, is it?

You're free to feel this way, but it doesn't make you any smarter than us others.

Maybe. Either way it's time to let it go.

It's a song. Take from it what you will. I always thought that was the beauty of music. Everyone got something different from it.

Hey Everyone,

I wasn't going to jump in, but this song is too close to my heart to not have an opinion. I wrote this about a month ago because I am pissed off at what the music industry has become and the song helped add fuel to the fire. I personally feel that is it s one of the best songs the band has ever done. Feel free to comment


The state of the music industry today has really left a bitter taste in my mouth. Maybe it's because I have never been influenced by fads or fashions, I'm not a "bandwagon jumper", and I can't identify with Eminem or much of what is considered popular these days.
To me, music is more than background noise. It has to evoke a feeling or emotion to get my attention and draw me in. I have to be able to identify with the message of the song to "get" it. Rap music for example, does nothing for me because I have never felt the need to be a pimp and have numerous women. I can't stand Eminem because in my opinion, he's a huge hypocrite. On all his albums thus far, he has bashed and criticized almost everybody possible. Yet, when Triumph, The Insult Comic Dog from the Conan O'Brien show, turned it around on him a few years ago at the MTV Video Awards, he couldn't handle it and even had his security threaten Robert Smigel, the man behind Triumph. Maybe if he can't take it himself, he should stop dishing it out. I appreciated what he was trying to do with the first album and realized that yes, he was angry but now, three albums in, he needs a new gimmick. There is no way that man is still THAT upset over stuff that happened fifteen years ago. If so, seek some counseling man; stop trying to force-feed your problems on the public.
Many of the other rappers are just as bad. Look at Jay-Z, the title of his last album is "The Black Album", which was the title of a Metallica record in the early 90's that went twelve times platinum. Thought I'd throw that in there for the kids who thought the title was original. How about the idea that Eminem asked Aerosmith to write some lyrics for HIS song "Sing For The Moment" Now, not only are artists sampling other artists songs, they are using the same album titles. Doesn't anybody have an original idea in they’re head anymore?
But wait, you say, why change anything as long as it's selling? Isn't that the name of the game? Sadly, yes. In this day and age, that is ALL it's about. Artists today no longer get their first few albums to develop and improve. If your debut record doesn't sell fifteen million records, you get the boot. This is a really unfortunate turn of events because in order for a debut record to sell fifteen million copies, the artist has to write to fit radio. With that medium changing in a blink of an eye nowadays, it's becoming impossible to keep up. Therefore, artistic integrity is taking a backseat to sales and image. Need examples? Look at the Britney and Madonna "kiss" or the Justin and Janet Super Bowl fiasco. I saw it, I wasn't offended by the breast, I was offended that that kind of blatant "Please notice me and buy my album" way of thinking is what is passing as musicianship these days. Then, they try to tell us that it all was an "accident". I don't know about you but all the girls I know wear pasties over their nipples when they are out on the town in case their top comes lose or even worse, completely off. It's a precaution to save them from total embarrassment.
It's sad that Janet's single, released just two days after the event ironically, isn't good enough to sell itself and she had to sink to the lowest common denominator to generate press. Maybe it was all a ploy to make her the center of attention and get the spotlight off of Michael for a while. If that is true, I still find that sad. The music has taken more and more of a backseat it seems with every passing year and as a music lover, especially of the songwriter variety, it pains me that we will probably never see anyone in the same vein as a Billy Joel or an Elton John ever again. They are part of a dying breed, a product of a timeframe where music was more about art than commerce, a time when artists spoke from their heart and weren't told what to write or how to sound.
I have been passionate about this subject for a very long time but a conversation I had earlier today sparked this entry. As everyone knows, Bon Jovi is my favorite band. They are a bunch of down to earth guys from New Jersey who succeeded because they went out and worked it, they never relied on shock value to sell albums, and they have now sold 100 million albums because of musical talent. They are part of that dying breed I mentioned earlier along with Aerosmith, Metallica, Springsteen, Bob Dylan, the Stones and many others. These bands have survived because they write good songs, songs that have crossed generations and have touched people and helped them believe in themselves, love or other people. I can't really speak about those other artists because I haven't followed them for fifteen years but Bon Jovi has never been a critic's darling. They have never even won a Grammy despite being nominated six times now. (Don't even get me started on what a sham I think the Grammy's are.) They have always been the underdog and that’s part of what makes being a fan of this band great. People like rooting for the underdog, and that’s what sets them apart from their peers, their exceedingly loyal fan base.
Back in August of 2003, Jon Bon Jovi sat down and decided to write. Much like I'm doing right now. He felt disillusioned and hurt by what the business of making records has become, and decided to pen a song to vent his frustrations. He wrote Last Man Standing from the point of view of a carnival husker, The guy who stands out in front of the tent and begs people to come in and see whatever kind of freak is on display inside. In this case, the "freak" is an actual real musician, the kind that writes and sings his own music. Jon has said that he pictured Bob Dylan as the impetus of the kind of guy he wanted to illustrate.


You ain't seen nothing like him
The last one of the breed
You better hold on to your honey
Honeys, don't forget to breathe
Enter at your own risk, mister
It might change the way you think
There's no dancers, there's no diamonds
No this boy he don't lip-synch


The song is basically a commentary on the sad state of the industry today. It's now all about lip syncing and dance moves and less about the actual music and as an artist who has survived fad after fad and had a twenty year career, Jon is more than capable of offering up his opinion. Island/Def Jam, Bon Jovi's record company did everything they could to stop this song from being released as it was originally intended to be on the band's last album This Left Feels Right, which was released in November. Because the record company told Jon that this song couldn't be on the record, he pulled the other new one, Thief Of Hearts, as well. It's no surprise the label didn't want the song released as it bashes everything the company has become today, just in search of the almighty dollar. The band then did two shows at the Borgata in Atlantic City later that month and they performed the two new songs then for inclusion on what would become a live DVD.


Come see those real live calloused fingers
Wrapped around those guitar strings
Kiss the lips where hurt has lingered
It breaks your heart to hear him sing
The songs were more than music
They were pictures from the soul
So keep your pseudo-punk, hip-hop, J-Lo junk
And your digital downloads


The DVD was released on February 10th and I immediately fell in love with the song and it's message. It's great to see that someone still has the guts to write a song like this these days.
To all those people that take this song as being arrogant or self-centered, you need to wake up. The truth is that none of this punk, pop or rap stuff is for real today. It's all written to sell as many copies as possible. Eminem, for example, could be the happiest guy in the world and we would never know it because being angry sells right now. I believe that that is the case with a bunch of artists today, they have no real identity, they get other people, outside songwriters for-hire, to write whatever kind of song that is popular at the moment and put it out. The "music" is made with computers and almost none of it can be reproduced live. My point is that the actual songwriters like Dylan and Springsteen and Bon Jovi are better than the alternative. That’s what the song is saying and I can't believe anyone would have the gumption to argue with that These are people that have been through the wars, that know what it takes to write a song and know what it's like to take millions of fans on that journey with them. The fact that they will still be packing stadiums and selling albums after all these "fads" are gone, is a whole other story.

Here's the last man standing
Step right up, he's the real thing
The last chance of a lifetime
Come and see, hear, feel ... the real thing

Everyone do yourself a favor and check out Last Man Standing from Bon Jovi.

That was one of the longest paragraphs I've ever seen.