EDITORIAL: Amy’s SA Theme – Explicit Lyrics?

A week or so ago, I posted a message on The Sonic Corner’s Message Board. It was entitled, “Explicit Sonic Adventure Lyrics?”. Here is that message in its entirety:

I’m sure a lot of us have heard about the Sonic Adventure Vocal Mini-Album. But have any of you heard the themes? If you have, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that Amy’s theme has some rather un-Sonic references.

Basically, if you listen to the theme, and more importantly, read the lyrics, you’ll see that Amy’s theme does have some adult content. And quite often, too. I won’t quote what I’m talking about right now, but if you’ve listened to the music, you know exactly what I’m referring to. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let’s just say that I would let the 8 and under kids in my neighborhood listen to this.

What could this mean?

It means that if this theme is in the Sonic Adventure sound test unchanged (which is what it appears to be at this point), it could spark a controversy. Let me explain by giving a hypothetical situation.

A 8 year old has his bright(?!), shiny new copy of Sonic Adventure and a brand new Dreamcast. He starts to play the game, but beforehand, he decided to fool with the Sound Test. The 8 year old gets to Amy’s theme and plays it.

His mother walks in and listens to the music. She is appalled. She then shuts off the DC, scolds the child (although he is probably not to blame, for he didn’t know about the music at all), and the mother proceeds to call/complain to Sega.

Sure, it sounds stupid, but let’s look at some facts.

1) Remember the incident with the 11 year old, his mother, and the Austin Powers doll at Toys R Us in the Southern US? That made for a lot of local network affiliates’ news stories and the doll pulled off the shelves. And, yes, the incident was quite stupid, IMHO.

2) When a controversy like #1 hits the local affiliates’ news, more problems and questions arise, and thus there is a chance of lowered sales. It’s a small one, but it’s there in the clear.

3) All Sonic games have been rated K-A or, most recently, E. If someone were to complain about the lyrics this would fuel the fire even more.

Does this mean Sonic Adventure is doomed?

Absolutely not.

But does it mean some paranoid adult is going to get in a hissy hit over a couple of sentences said in a seductive-type voice?

Probably.

So, what do you all think of this? Could something happen because of Amy’s theme, or am I just a little too concerned?

And perhaps I was a little concerned. JD and I had a little debate about parents’ responsibility, awareness, putting things in perspective, etc.

But with lyrics with sexual references like “Wouldn’t mind painting myself blue for you”, “Makes we wanna be his speciality”, and, to a more major point, “But the Sphinx looked so cute, I had to shave it”, doesn’t it concern you that something would happen in which a parent hears those lyrics and is appalled?

I’m concerned, and I’m a high-schooler. I’m supposed to be immature and girl-crazy, but instead, I’m afraid that Sonic’s image and overall appeal will be damaged if a parent overreacts to three sentences.

With the facts and the hypothetical situation I outlined, we Sonic fans do have to be at least a tad concerned. This is a Sonic game we’re talking about here. They have been clean from the sleaze that makes up some of our society today. To think that the hedgehog has been damaged because of executives with 12-24 year olds as a target demographic would be nuts.

But now, because of these lyrics, it is a possibility. A small one, perhaps, but one none the less.

UPDATE TO LAST MONTH: Sonic Underground seems to be getting some positive feedback lately. We’ll see what happens when it hits the US this August.