My favorite seafood joint is this Mexican place in the bad part of town, which by Orange County standards it's just in a rundown location with mediocre crime.

Anyways they play that horrible Mexican music that I hate. You have probably heard your gardener blaring it loudly. I was always curious where it originated from because the instruments are so un-Latin.

My friend told me it's polka music thanks to the German and Polish immigrants who were brought in to work the mines. I guess that's a good enough reason Mexico kicked them all out.

I fucking hate the music, the lyrics are offensive (though usually romantic), the tone, the fact that it is always blared.

But I keep my damn mouth shut because I know the context I'm in.

(Also the girls are incredibly pretty not sure where they get them from. )

"We" do not wring our hands, nor worry about a culture that portrays men as bumbling fools either. It's called adulthood.

Ppen, there's nothing wrong with Mexican polka. Well, ok, in small doses.

There are power struggles in many relationships, sometimes initiated by one gender, sometimes by the other.

Perhaps the writer should listen to Tina Turner's version. She's someone who had a real complaint about the ex in her life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10YJNWyKoPU

ppen --Ranchera or northena beats the drug ballads.

My friend told me it's polka music thanks to the German and Polish immigrants who were brought in to work the mines. I guess that's a good enough reason Mexico kicked them all out.

When we lived in Baltimore, we were a block from one of the big city parks that hosted a series of ethnic festivals each summer. The similarity in the oom-pah-pah beats coming from the Polish and Hispanic festivals was striking.

Being people of the western U.S., my husband and I made our way to the Hispanic festival ready to get some tacos, only to learn that in Baltimore (at least in 2000), Hispanics were Puerto Ricans, Equadorans, and Salvadorans, with nary a Mexican in sight. So we learned to love pupusas.

I think Ms. Parramore had an editorial idea in her head and was grasping for anything to support it, and if she could tie it to something insanely popular like Trader Joe's that would give it more gravitas. A swing-n-a-miss IMO. My beef with her is that she and others try to portray Elliot Rodger as "Everyman". His experiences were common enough, but his reactions most definitely were not. The boy had "issues", and using them as a reason to fear any and all expressions of masculinity just ain't right.

I don't understand why people don't see songs like they do works of fiction

I bet she also complains about Of Mice and Men being available to children. You know, in case Steinbeck was telling people to kill their retarded siblings.

At Ppen and KateC:

KateC is right. The music is called ranchera or nortena (the "n" has a ~ over it). It is heard in northern Mexico and south Texas. Google "Conjunto Bands" and hear video of this music being played.

"My friend told me it's polka music thanks to the German and Polish immigrants who were brought in to work the mines. "

Also, most of the German brewers in the U.S. moved to Mexico during Prohibition and took up their trade there. It's from that background that we get stuff like Dos Equis and Negra Modelo.

If you play the accordian, you can get work playing for both Conjunto and Polka bands. If you go to a lot of festivals (esp around Texas) you can see some of the same people playing at Oktoberfest as you do at the Mexican festivals.

Anywho, nobody cares if a song is deameaning to men. Plus, she picked a crappy example. "Under My Thumb" is about about a specific person, a specific relationship. At least get pissed off about a song that's super-raunchy about women in general... like maybe something by Easy E or Ol' Dirty Bastard. Or "Bitch Better Have My Money." (All of which are on my running playlist, because I think they're so ludicrous they're funny.)

@ahw
Or Soilja Boy's lyric "Superman that hoe"

And for more laughs:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/respectful-rappers

heh, Ppen, you should hear it at 3am on a weeknight from the boys in the street. [OI!] We never separated it out, we just called it Mariachi music... 'cuz where I grew up, that'd be the people who sing it.It can be most amusing in small doses, but, after a while? I don't understand what they are singing, but that's Ok... prolly don't want to know.

I'd just turn around an blast my own stuff right back, but I doubt my other neighbors would be happy with that. Also, when the police show up, boyas discover that street is actually a dead end, and they can't run. :EVIL:

as for the concern-troll? I'd say "well your worshipfullness, there is no guarantee anywhere that you have the "right" to not be offended. anyone who tells you different, is selling somethin'. So... what are YOU selling?"

so she'd: exit stage left the princess, clutching her skirts

while I'd laugh and laugh...

Nick,

I wasn't talking about ranchera or norteña. I was referring to the drug ballads KateC mentioned. They are called Narcocorridos.

I don't like norteñas but I like rancheras. I also don't like marching band music which if I remember correctly was another influence.

So in essence I'm torn because the Germans gave Mexico great beer but they did leave behind that polka shit.

Swiss usually they are singing about......romance. Yup super sappy romance novel type romance. I think its why Morrissey is pretty much considered a god in Mexico.

Ahw/Katrina my favorite rap lyrics are:

"Valley girls give blowjobs for Louboutins. What do you call that? Head over heels"

"All I want for my birthday is a big bootay girl"

To be fair, Ms. Parramore didn't call for government censorship, or even a boycott of Trader Joe's. She merely wrote about her personal opinion, and the difficulty she had conveying that opinion to those who make the decisions at corporate headquarters.

And along the way, she provided a service by printing lyrics I'd never managed to make out when listening to the songs.

Considering how popular Trader Joe's is among trendy leftists who tend to share her sensibilities, the company might be well advised to take her complaint more seriously than they appear to have done.

@ppen
I don't know either of them. Though my husband would appreciate the second.

"Considering how popular Trader Joe's is among trendy leftists who tend to share her sensibilities"

TJ's does tend to go for those nice neighborhoods full of successful people, doesn't it?

I bet they check Ms. Parramore's IQ with a tire pressure gauge in her ear.

Parramore calls it a trigger word, but poker players call it a tell... And the word is "celebrate":

Truthfully, “Under My Thumb” is not even their most aggressively misogynistic song: that prize goes to “Brown Sugar,” which celebrates slave owners raping black women[.]

Sustainable is essentially proof the a rhetor has no understanding of biology, evolution, economics or logistics. (And probably doesn't get along with Mom or Dad.)

Celebrates nowadays demonstrates social isolation by race, gender, age or finance.

She's bullshitting.

Besides, what's with the "truthfully"? Should be have been concerned theretofore?

Rex, Ms. Parramore didn't have trouble conveying her opinion. She got her point across okay, but Trader Joes did care. Her complaint is that her opinion was not given the great weight she believed it deserved and that her offense-taking was not a spur to righteous indignation and action on her behalf.

"I think its why Morrissey is pretty much considered a god in Mexico."

Seriously? Damn. Wow.

Here you go Cousin Dave

http://www.buzzfeed.com/yezminvillarreal/perfect-examples-of-the-love-affair-between-morrissey-and-hi

Well, crap. I had managed to avoid learning that loser's name until now. Maybe I can purge it before it reaches long-term memory.

If enough people are offended and stop shopping there, they will either lose money and change their playlist. Otherwise, they'll continue and the offensive party can shop somewhere else. It's not like there's a lack of supermarket choice in American neighborhoods that have Trader Joe's.

Well, thank God that they weren't playing "Brown Sugar" which could be interpreted to be a song about a white man raping a black slave. Still, it is a catchy tune.

Peter M - That is a great version by Tina; and now HE is under HER thumb. Love it!

As for Polka music, I guess I'm in the minority here I actually like it, especially if it is The Andrew Sisters:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxF494XR__A

Oh, wait, THAT wasn't The Andrew Sisters!?