Remember the song “How’s it Gonna Be” by Third Eye Blind? When it was new, a lot of high schools apparently chose it for the prom theme, proving that teenagers don’t actually listen to the lyrics (it’s a breakup song), which should mitigate parental concerns about explicit lyrics.
Anyway, Katie and I were talking about this the other day and started tossing around titles of songs that would be just plain wrong to play at a wedding reception.
- You Oughta Know (Alanis Morissette)
- Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf)
- Song for the Dumped (Ben Folds)
- Closer (Nine Inch Nails)
- Brick (Ben Folds Five)
- Playboy Mommy (Tori Amos)
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Deep Blue Something)
- Anything But Down (Sheryl Crow)
- Back to Good (Matchbox 20)
- Me and a Gun (Tori Amos)
- Anything by Liz Phair
- Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning) (Vertical Horizon)
- Guys Like Me (Aimee Mann)
- Anything by Evanescence or Linkin Park
- Melanie (“Weird Al” Yankovic)
- Almost anything by They Might Be Giants
- Don’t Stand So Close to Me (The Police)
- Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles)
- I Touch Myself (The Divinyls)
- Anything by Rammstein
- Gollum’s Song
- Anything by the Chipmunks
- I Don’t Like Mondays (Boomtown Rats)
- Anything by Nirvana
- I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying (Sting)
- King of Pain (The Police)
- I’m Still Remembering (Cranberries)
- One More Minute (“Weird Al” Yankovic)
- If I Were Brave (Shawn Colvin)
- Jumper (Third Eye Blind)
- Yesterday (The Beatles)
- Roxanne (The Police)
- I’ll Never Tell (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More With Feeling)
- Anything by Garbage
- Positively Fourth Street (Bob Dylan)
- Torn (Natalie Imbruglia)
- Taxi (Harry Chapin)
- The Freshmen (Verve Pipe)
- Power of Goodbye (Madonna)
- Waitress (Tori Amos)
- Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler)
- Uninvited (Alanis Morissette)
- Unsent (Alanis Morissette)
We’re not sure about The Highwayman and Lady of Shalott (Loreena McKennit), since the subject matter is wrong, but they’re quiet and unobtrusive.
This is an open list – feel free to add your suggestions! The idea is not just to get something that isn’t appropriate, but something that’s especially inappropriate (breakup songs, twisted relationships, put-down songs, etc.)