Wal-Mart Sued Over Evanescence CD Lyrics

[free]

Oh no, the F-Bomb. I love how every time lawsuits like this have people seeking thousands of dollars for "pain and suffering".

Source. (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=762&e=1&u=/ap/20041211/ap_en_mu/wal_mart_evanescence)

Wal-Mart Sued Over Evanescence CD Lyrics

Fri Dec 10,11:54 PM ET Entertainment - AP Music

By DAVID DISHNEAU, Associated Press Writer

HAGERSTOWN, Md. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which promotes itself as a seller of clean music, deceived customers by stocking compact discs by the rock group Evanescence that contain the f-word, a lawsuit claims.

The hit group's latest CD and DVD, "Anywhere But Home," don't carry parental advisory labels alerting potential buyers to the obscenity. If they did, Wal-Mart wouldn't carry them, according to the retailer's policy.

But the lawsuit claims Wal-Mart knew about the explicit lyrics in the song, "Thoughtless," because it censored the word in a free sample available on its Web site and in its stores.

The complaint, filed Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court, seeks an order requiring Wal-Mart to either censor or remove the music from its Maryland stores. It also seeks damages of up to $74,500 for each of the thousands of people who bought the music at Wal-Marts in Maryland.

"I don't want any other families to get this, expecting it to be clean. It needs to be removed from the shelves to prevent other children from hearing it," said plaintiff Trevin Skeens of Brownsville.

Skeens said he and his wife, Melanie, let their daughter buy the music for her 13th birthday and were shocked when they played it in their car while driving home.

Wal-Mart, of Bentonville, Ark., has no immediate plans to pull the CDs from its shelves, spokesman Guy Whitcomb told The (Hagerstown) Herald-Mail. He said the company will investigate the allegations. No hearing dates have been set.

"While Wal-Mart sets high standards, it would not be possible to eliminate every image, word or topic that an individual might find objectionable," Whitcomb told the newspaper.

He told the Herald-Mail that the song sample online was censored by Walmart.com, a separate division of Wal-Mart.

Whitcomb didn't return telephone calls Friday from The Associated Press.

The lawsuit also names as defendants Wind-up Records LLC, the New York-based company that recorded the music and decided not to apply parental-advisory stickers; and distributor BMG Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, of New York.

Sony BMG declined to comment on the lawsuit. Wind-up didn't return calls from the AP.

The Skeens' lawyer, Jon D. Pels of Bethesda, said he aims to "take this case national, even if that means going state by state."

He dismissed Whitcomb's suggestion that Wal-Mart stores didn't know about the censored version of the song. "They are a multimillion-dollar corporation and they certainly can communicate among their various entities," he said.

[my_name_is_neo]

OH NO, NOT THE F-WORD!!!!!!

How DARE they not be warned against this hideous atrocity! The children will be scarred for life! :rolleyes:

Sarcasm aside, I'm having a hard time believing this is real. Christ, so the singer said "fuck"! Big fucking deal! If you don't want your children to hear that word, better not let them go to school, play with friends, even have friends, or even go out in public. They'll be fucked up, but at least they'll be safe from the "evil" F-word. :rolleyes:

Honestly, the US has graphically violent shows on TV all the time, and they get so ridiculously worked up whenever a band they didn't expect to swear says "fuck", or whenever a nipple gets shown on TV, or anything like that. Because, we all know how seeing someone get shot is less traumatizing then a word or some exposed skin. :rolleyes:

(sorry for using 3 rolleyes smileys in this post, but it sums up how I'm feeling right now)

[drago25]

Boy, oh boy, I hope no precious children are damaged by this senseless act. Jesus. It's only a word, and 90% of children over 10 have heard and or said it plenty of times in their life already. It's just a word, it can't hurt anybody.

[Damone]

Up to $74,500 for each of the thousands of people who bought the music at Wal-Marts in Maryland?

I'm thinkin'....ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!

There's a flat panel tv I've had my eye on..hmmmm...I think I'll see if I can find one of those CD's and get in on that racket. :D

[killbillbaby]

OH Lord!!!!!

God forbid that the F WORD be used in one fucking song. I mean give me a break. These people obviously have to much God damn time on their hands. These parents need to sit back and realize that they can't protect their children foreer because that child will eventually wind up hearing this word.

[ComeNightfall]

I live in Maryland...hmm...maybe I should buy the CD before my brother turns 18 on December 24th and complain.

[bluesbrother965]

I bet this girl has seen Forrest Gump at least once, and we all know that that movie contains a man who likes to use the "f-word"...

[jackson13]

Big fucking deal.

I bought Green Day International Superhits there a couple years back, and there are Fucks and Shits on that cd.

I also bought Offspring Americana there, and the song Americana is riddled with Fucks.


You dont see me getting all bent out of shape.


It's 2004. Someone needs to tell this family that.


Also, a good parent would've checked out the music themselves first. Evanesence isnt a christian group with Jesus praising lyrics. This family sounds the type of family that only goes out in the world once a month and is shocked at everything they see when they do so.

It's the real world. Fucking deal with it.

[Spacey_Norton21]

Why am I not surprised?

[Squid Vicious]

WON'T SOMEBODY PLEEEEEAAAAAASSSSEEE THINK OF THE CHILDREN???

:rolleyes:

[outsyder]

This is all about the money. Greedy fucks.



I hope the corporation crushes them.

[jeo4]

I'm looking for a doctor who can dislodge the corncob from the collective asses of the American moral majority. I'll let you all know when I find said doctor.

[outsyder]

The CD doesn't have a warning label, and that is hardly Wal-Mart's fault. As far as I am concerned, they have not broken policy at all.


I suppose the people responsible for labelling CD's with a warning label is the MPAA. Sue them then, you greedy money grubbing bastards.

[BorderEevilIII]

Oh lord FOUL LANGUAGE! :rolleyes:
It's like this......... your SON or DAUGHTER will be exposed to A LOT of things and parents getting into a tit about lyrics but EVANESENCE and BTW arent they supposedly Christian Rock? :confused:

I worked in musical retail and the stickers are OPTIONAL for the labels that serves as a guide for those wanting to know off hand which albums may have the f words and s words in them.

[42ndStreetFreak]

Never mind...you can still buy your guns 'n' ammo from this most upstanding and noble retailer. So if you get too annoyed you can still shoot a few people.

[my_name_is_neo]

Originally posted by BorderEevilIII
but EVANESENCE and BTW arent they supposedly Christian Rock? :confused:

Originally posted by jackson13
Evanesence isnt a christian group with Jesus praising lyrics.

If I had to label Evanescence, I'd say they fall under the "angst-rock" category, a la Linkin Park.

But still, the parents need to remove the gigantic fucking stick from their ass nonetheless, I'd say.

[Psychocandy]

Fuck 'em.

[someguy]

FUCK THE CHILDREN

[thedudeman69]

Fuck Wal-Mart, Fuck THA CHILDREN, FUCK ALL THE PARENTS. This is just stupid, the parents are the assholes here. Wal-Mart are idiots. I ain't shopping there any fuckin' more.

[st3v3n]

i should probably tell them i bought a un-edited slipknot cd there once. it didnt have a sticker on it, but it was definately unedited

[Maestro]

Ironically, this isn't really even Evanescence's lyrics. As is noted in the credits and liner notes, Thoughtless is written by J. Shaffer, J. Davis, B. Welch, R. Arvisu, and D. Silveria, aka Korn. Or, as Amy introduces the song:

"Alright, we're gonna do something completely different now. This is by a band that we all like very much. I'm not even gonna announce it, you oughta know what this is."

Oh, and re:

arent they supposedly Christian Rock?

Kinda, sorta, but not really. This was brought up before here. If the search function is ever fixed, try searching this section for "evanescence and christian". In the meantime, while some of their lyrics do have religious overtones, they are not specifically a Christian rock band. (John Tesh's cover of Bring Me to Life notwithstanding.)

Maestro

[SykkBoy]

I'm going to sue WalMart for not having a sticker on the Evanescence album saying "This album blows and is the most overrated album of the last 25 years"

[thebloodfeaster]

I feel sorry for the girl for having such fucking douchebags as parents.

[A.J. Hakari]

Oh, for fuck's sake...

[rilocay]

Ha, making a big deal of something makes kids see its naughty, now they knoiwn its bad so they are going to say fuck, from not giving a reals hit in da first place.

I think that kid is more likely to hear fuck from his parents than a cd that they prolly dont even like at thier age.

[BorderEevilIII]

When I finally heard the whole song read over the air via KGO a popular talk radio show in San Francisco the lyrics mentions about killing and raping?!?!
And these parents are getting upset over the word FUCK mentioned 2xs?!?! :rolleyes:

[horrorfreak13]

In that case

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

Greedy fuckers. :cool:

[Strider]

Talk about stupidity. Even though these parents are idiots, I have no sympathy for Wal-Mart. I fucking hate Wal-Mart, simply for the fact that they only sell edited CD's. Anyway, getting back to the parents, I'd love to tie them up to a chair, and have them listen to Lil' Jon's latest album with the volume cranked to the highest level. Let's see how they like that. Assholes. ;)

Strider

[Elgyn]

LOL, what kind of a world do we live in where a nondescript, medicore (IMO of course) band like Evanescence is causing controversy?

But on the other hand.....I hate Wal-Mart so I find this amusing.

[adamjohnson]

Pff, Amy Less can do no wrong!

[Saruman]

Evanescence should be sued for sucking ass so bad live. Amy can't sing worth shit on that dvd.

[B1rd_Po0p]

Originally posted by jeo4
I'm looking for a doctor who can dislodge the corncob from the collective asses of the American moral majority. I'll let you all know when I find said doctor.

A - fucking - men

[Badbird]

People are so fucking stupid.

Can you imagine just how damn efficient our court system would be if it weren't getting choked by crap like this?

[TheDeadWalk]

One of these days I might learn how to spell frivolous without the help of a dictionary or intermediary source.

[Lumiere]

Bloody hell! That's pathetic!

I don't know who to despise more - Wal-Mart (for carrying crappy CDs) or those pathetic parents.

I think it's gonna be the parents. If I ever met a parent like that I'd give them a good smack in the mouth. It's not like this music will pollute children's minds. TV is far more explicit, with far more regularity.

[The Postmaster General]

They were playing "Polly" by Nirvana in there the other day. It tripped me out because they refused to stock the studio release of In Utero.

[jackson13]

Wal-Mart is being sued now for $25 million by some stupid mother because her manic-depressive schizophrenic daughter bought a shotgun at a WalMart and decided to eat a bullet. She says Wal-Mart shouldv'e known her daughter was suicidal and never should've sold her the gun.

So, that, coupled with this "F-Word lawsuit", means you can pretty much sue Wal-Mart for anything.

I remember earlier this year, the entrance mat at the front of the store was ruffled a little, and I tripped over it. Now that I think about it, my leg still hurts.........

[Lumiere]

Originally posted by jackson13
Wal-Mart shouldv'e known her daughter was suicidal and never should've sold her the gun.


How in sodomy were they meant to know?

[jeo4]

Originally posted by BubbaStrangelove
They were playing "Polly" by Nirvana in there the other day. It tripped me out because they refused to stock the studio release of In Utero.

They do, however, sell the box set. In Utero was banned because of the cover art if I remember correctly. K-Mart made a stink about the song "Rape Me" at the time the album originally came out. Not a good sales decision for either store, considering the album still sold well.

[Lumiere]

K-Mart made a stink about the song "Rape Me" at the time the album originally came out.

Yeah. They had to alter the back cover artwork, and the title of "Rape Me" was changed to "Waif Me".

K-Mart/Wal-Mart are pathetic pedants.