History WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids / Music

* Music/MichaelJackson toes the line between this and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids the opposite]]. He started out as a squeaky-clean child performer with [[Music/TheJacksonFive the Jackson 5]], a group that got [[WesternAnimation/TheJackson5ive their own Saturday morning cartoon]], and as an adult cultivated a family-friendly FriendToAllChildren image. He narrated an ''[[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial E.T.]]'' storybook album, made ''Film/CaptainEO'' for the Ride/DisneyThemeParks, contributed songs to the first two ''Film/FreeWilly'' movies, starred in ''Theatre/TheWiz'' as Scarecrow, and frequently pushed messages of nonviolence, peace, and charity in his work. His 1993 UsefulNotes/SuperBowl halftime performance ended with him surrounded by hundreds of tykes as he sang "[[Music/{{Dangerous}} Heal the World]]". He was well aware that he was a hero to kids. Yet much of what he aimed at them was less than family-friendly by conventional standards.

** His crotch-grabbing dance move. He was doing this as early as the video for "Music/{{Bad}}", but the video for "Black or White" made it infamous. This was because the clip was hyped for its kid-friendly, high-tech special effects, a prominent role for ''Film/HomeAlone'' star Creator/MacaulayCulkin, and even cameos from Bart and Homer Simpson. (''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' [[PeripheryDemographic has always had a lot of kids in its fanbase despite being aimed at adults]].) Families ''really'' didn't expect the video to end with a long, music-free sequence of him dancing, grabbing his crotch, and smashing up a car and storefronts. In fact, director Creator/JohnLandis tried to talk him out of the crotch-grabbing, pointing out that his fanbase was full of kids, but was overruled. In the subsequent public outcry, press speculated that he ended the video this way because there's NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity, while Jackson himself claimed he meant no offense at all.

* [[Music/{{Voltaire}} Voltaire's]] children's album ''Spooky Songs for [[CreepyChild Creepy Kids]]''. Most of it consists of {{bowdlerized}} versions of his past songs, but it lives up to its name by still dealing with some rather morbid subjects like cannibalism.

* [[http://www.bubblegumdancer.com/project.php?id=23 Blue Monster and Bikki]] was, according to the Bubblegum Music database, a dance music project from Sweden aimed at children and young kids. It's even referred to as a mixture of Music/{{Aqua}} and Franchise/SesameStreet. However, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNcJuOr8mXg the lone videoclip]] they released features, in order, an anchorman mentioning the eponymous furry monster "hasn't had sex in 3000 years", the monster drinking lots of alcoholic beverages and sporting a huge pixelated boner after seeing Bikki, a man falling face first into a girl's ample cleavage, and finally the monster whizzing blue pee with his big schlong all over the scientists who were trying to capture him, [[ViralTransformation turning them into other blue monsters]]. The page mentions that the producer thought that "we had some problems deciding the targeted age-group for the album". No kidding!

* Music/MichaelJackson toes the line between this and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids the opposite]]. He started out as a squeaky-clean child performer with [[Music/TheJacksonFive the Jackson 5]], a group that got [[WesternAnimation/TheJackson5ive their own Saturday morning cartoon]], and as an adult cultivated a family-friendly FriendToAllChildren image. He narrated an ''[[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial E.T.]]'' storybook album, made ''Film/CaptainEO'' for the Ride/DisneyThemeParks, contributed songs to the first two ''Film/FreeWilly'' movies, starred in ''Theatre/TheWiz'' as Scarecrow, and frequently pushed messages of nonviolence, peace, and charity in his work. His 1993 UsefulNotes/SuperBowl halftime performance ended with him surrounded by hundreds of tykes as he sang "Heal the World". He was well aware that he was a hero to kids. Yet much of what he aimed at them was less than family-friendly by conventional standards.

** "Thriller" and its spiritual successors have horror themes that are extensively played out in the "Thriller" video and the short film ''Ghosts''.

** His crotch-grabbing dance move. He was doing this as early as the video for "Bad", but the video for "Black and White" made it infamous. This was because the clip was hyped for its kid-friendly, high-tech special effects, a prominent role for ''Film/HomeAlone'' star Creator/MacaulayCulkin, and even cameos from Bart and Homer Simpson. (''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has always had a lot of kids in its fanbase despite being aimed at adults.) Families ''really'' didn't expect the video to end with a long, music-free sequence of him dancing, grabbing his crotch, and smashing up a car and storefronts. In fact, director Creator/JohnLandis tried to talk him out of the crotch-grabbing, pointing out that his fanbase was full of kids, but was overruled. In the subsequent public outcry, press speculated that he ended the video this way because there's NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity, while Jackson himself claimed he meant no offense at all.

* Music/MichaelJackson toes the line between this and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids the opposite]]. He started out as a squeaky-clean child performer with the Jackson 5, a group that got [[WesternAnimation/TheJackson5ive their own Saturday morning cartoon]], and as an adult cultivated a family-friendly FriendToAllChildren image. He narrated an ''[[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial E.T.]]'' storybook album, made ''Film/CaptainEO'' for the Ride/DisneyThemeParks, contributed songs to the first two ''Film/FreeWilly'' movies, starred in ''Theatre/TheWiz'' as Scarecrow, and frequently pushed messages of nonviolence, peace, and charity in his work. His 1993 UsefulNotes/SuperBowl halftime performance ended with him surrounded by hundreds of tykes as he sang "Heal the World". He was well aware that he was a hero to kids. Yet much of what he aimed at them was less than family-friendly by conventional standards.

* Music/MichaelJackson toes the line between this and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids the opposite]]. He started out as a squeaky-clean child performer with the Jackson 5, a group that got their own Saturday morning cartoon, and as an adult cultivated a family-friendly FriendToAllChildren image. He narrated an ''E.T.'' storybook album, made ''Film/CaptainEO'' for the Ride/DisneyThemeParks, contributed songs to the first two ''Film/FreeWilly'' movies, starred in ''Theatre/TheWiz'' as Scarecrow, and frequently pushed messages of nonviolence, peace, and charity in his work. His 1993 UsefulNotes/SuperBowl halftime performance ended with him surrounded by hundreds of tykes as he sang "Heal the World". He was well aware that he was a hero to kids. Yet much of what he aimed at them was less than family-friendly by conventional standards.

** His crotch-grabbing dance move. He was doing this as early as the video for "Bad", but the video for "Black and White" made it infamous. This was because the clip was hyped for its kid-friendly, high-tech special effects, a prominent role for ''Film/HomeAlone'' star Macaulay Culkin, and even cameos from Bart and Homer Simpson. (''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has always had a lot of kids in its fanbase despite being aimed at adults.) Families ''really'' didn't expect the video to end with a long, music-free sequence of him dancing, grabbing his crotch, and smashing up a car and storefronts. In fact, director Creator/JohnLandis tried to talk him out of the crotch-grabbing, pointing out that his fanbase was full of kids, but was overruled. In the subsequent public outcry, press speculated that he ended the video this way because there's NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity, while Jackson himself claimed he meant no offense at all.

* Notorious Website/YouTube child singer [[WebVideo/MishovySilenosti Misha]] lists most of his songs as ([[InsistentTerminology FOR KIDS]]). And while most of his older songs are fine for kids, his recent stuff... [[DarkerAndEdgier isn't]]. He swears a lot, throws in harshly-worded {{Take That}}s, is infatuated about older women, and simply attempts to be an uneducated adult. Did we mention the kid who sings these is ''[[FromTheMouthsOfBabes 9 years old?]]''

* Notorious Website/YouTube child singer [[https://www.youtube.com/user/MishaCZLP Mishovy "Misha" Šílenosti]] lists most of his songs as ([[InsistentTerminology FOR KIDS]]). And while most of his older songs are fine for kids, his recent stuff... [[DarkerAndEdgier isn't]]. He swears a lot, throws in harshly-worded {{Take That}}s, is infatuated about older women, and simply attempts to be an uneducated adult. Did we mention the kid who sings these is ''[[FromTheMouthsOfBabes 9 years old?]]''
* [[Music/{{Voltaire}} Voltaire's]] children's album ''Spooky Songs for Creepy Kids''. Most of it consists of {{bowdlerized}} versions of his past songs, but still deals with some rather morbid subjects like cannibalism. Voltaire himself stated that it's specifically aimed at [[CreepyChild creepy kids]].

* One of the few times where 20 Fingers and Gillette performed "Short Dick Man" uncensored was... [[https://youtu.be/okHz7CE8wp0 on one of Xuxa's Saturday morning kids' TV shows in Brazil]]. It's likely Xuxa and Marlene Matteos probably knew about the lyrics but they didn't care because the children in the audience didn't understand English.

* Notorious Website/YouTube child singer [[https://www.youtube.com/user/MishaCZLP Mishovy "Misha" Šílenosti]] lists most of his songs as ([[InsistentTerminology FOR KIDS]]). And while most of his older songs are fine for kids, his recent stuff... [[DarkerAndEdgier isn't]]. He swears a lot, throws in harshly-worded {{Take That}}s, is infatuated about older women, and simply attempts to be an uneducated adult. Did we mention the kid who sings these is ''[[FromTheMouthsOfBabes 9 years old?]]''

* One of the few times where 20 Fingers and Gillette performed "Short Dick Man" uncensored was... [[https://youtu.be/okHz7CE8wp0 on one of Xuxa's Saturday morning kids' TV shows in Brazil]]. It's likely Xuxa and Marlene Matteos [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar probably knew about the lyrics but they didn't care because the children in the audience didn't understand English]].

** Music/BritneySpears' "Toxic". At best, it's a song about substance abuse. At worst, it's a song that uses substance abuse as a metaphor for sex. Not a single lyric was changed.
** Music/BlackEyedPeas' "Let's Get It Started" (the album version being named "Let's Get Retarded"!)
** Music/FloRida's "Club Can't Handle Me", "Wild Ones", "I Cry", "[=GDFR=]" and "My House", which are about sex, alcohol, hardcore partying and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick death]].
** Music/GreenDay's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", which is about being disillusioned with life.
** Music/LanaDelRey's "Summertime Sadness". Wait, '''''WHAT?''''' Sure, the Kidz Bop version is based off the more well-known Cedric Gervais remix, but remixed or not, it's still a dark dirge about suicide. Other than changing "oh my God" to "oh my gosh", and "red dress" to "new dress", nothing else in the song was changed.
** Music/EdSheeran's "Sing" made it to Kidz Bop 26. After all, nothing screams "kid-friendly" like a song about consuming copious amounts of alcohol and tobacco!]]
** Bastille's "Pompeii". Hey kids, here's a song about a historical disaster that killed more than 10,000 people!
** Music/IggyAzalea's "Fancy". The alcoholism and materialism in the song makes "Sing" look tame.
** Music/FranzFerdinand's "Take Me Out", despite the lyrics being subtle, is actually based on a pretty morbid event: the shooting of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, whose death caused a little incident known as '''UsefulNotes/WorldWarI'''...
** Music/SamSmith's "I'm Not the Only One". Hey kids, here's a song about sadness and infidelity!
** Music/EllieGoulding's "Love Me Like You Do". That it was, you know, ''written for the movie of Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' makes its inclusion on a Kidz Bop album odd enough as it is, but even if you look past that, it's mostly about BDSM. At least they didn't touch "[[Music/TheWeeknd Earned It]]".
** Drake's "Hotline Bling" is on ''31''. Because a song about a booty call is obviously for kids!
** David Guetta's "Hey Mama" and Fifth Harmony's "Worth It" are on ''30'', adding onto Kidz Bop's long list of sexually-charged covers (and The Weeknd ''really'' dodged a bullet this time around, with "Can't Feel My Face" becoming the first #1 to not be covered since "The Monster").
** Music/LinkinPark's "In the End". Yes, the band is ''technically'' kid-friendly, as they've never sung about sexuality and until ''Minutes to Midnight'' their lyrics contained no swearing, but it's still more than a little jarring to hear kids singing happily about depression and struggling to go on further in life.
** The same thing applies to Music/{{Evanescence}}'s "Bring Me to Life".

** "[[Music/TheChainsmokers Clo]][[Music/{{Halsey}} ser]]", an ode to AutoErotica, made it onto ''34''. Enough said, really.
** Elle King's "Ex's & Oh's" is another one in the 31st. The song has a decent amount of innuendo ("They always wanna come, but they never wanna leave"), while the title is referring to exes and, well, [[TheImmodestOrgasm yeah]].
** Maroon 5's "This Love", which has multiple thinly-veiled references to IntercourseWithYou. The Kidz Bop version amends it...by removing "into" from "Sinking my fingertips into every inch of you". Other than that, no other lyrics were changed.
* This is similarly done with K-Tel's Mini Pops Kids. For example, the lyrics in their version of Music/{{Kesha}}'s "Tik Tok" changes the line from "getting drunk" to "playing tag".

* One of the few times where 20 Fingers and Gillette performed "Short Dick Man" uncensored was... [[https://youtu.be/okHz7CE8wp0 in a children's TV show in Brazil]]. The show's producers [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar probably knew about the lyrics but they didn't care because the children in the audience didn't understand English]].