Controversial music albums that created a furore

Rihanna, the youngest and fastest solo artist to have 13 number one singles to her credit, is someone the world notices every time she has something new in the offing.
Her latest single, Bitch Better Have My Money (BBHMM), is no different but is currently in the limelight for reasons other than Rihanna’s obvious talent. Parents, feminists and scores of others are reacting sharply to this video that encompasses everything from racial stereotyping, violence, bloodshed, masochism, among others. While the video’s opening frame warns its viewers of its graphic content with words like ‘Language.Nudity. Violence,’ you can’t really be prepared for all that rolls next. Here are some of the most controversial music albums of recent times that had people up in arms against them.
Rihanna Bitch Better Have My Money (2015)
The second song from Rihanna’s eighth album, BBHMM, is reportedly based on her ex-accountant Peter Gounis, who she filed a lawsuit against in 2012, and won, for his ‘unsound’ financial advice leading the singer to lose $9 million. The video has Rihanna kidnapping an accountant’s rich spoilt white wife, who is then bundled into a trunk, stripped, swung upside down from a rope, almost drowned in a swimming pool and knocked out with a bottle. The video ends with RiRi locating the accountant, strapping him to a chair after which the singer is seen covered in blood and naked sitting in a trunk full of cash. This gory revenge saga is making most people uncomfortable as the singer has a humongous fan following of impressionable youngsters.
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Snoop Dogg King (2015)
The video for the song King, released in June this year by rapper Snoop Dogg and Iranian pop singer, Amitis Moghaddam, is getting a lot of flak from the Indian Parsi community as they feel that the song shows their religion, Zoroastrianism, in a bad light. The video has Snoop Dogg smoking weed while seated on a throne topped by a giant gold Faravahar (the winged disc), an extremely revered symbol for the Zoroastrians. The video also sees Moghaddam, dressed like a Parsi queen, lying beneath the Faravahar while being fanned by two semi-nude men. The Parsi Zoroastrian Association of Kolkata has filed a public interest litigagtion (PIL) against both the singers and others.
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Sia Elastic Heart (2015)
Elastic Heart by Australian record artist Sia was bashed all across for having clear paedophilic overtones as it saw 28-year-old Shia LaBeouf cage-fighting 12-year-old Maggie Ziegler, while being dressed in skin-coloured leotard and pants. Realising that it had struck the wrong chord, the singer apologised on Twitter, saying, ‘I anticipated some ‘pedophilia!!!’ cries for this video. All I can say is Maddie and Shia are two of the only actors I felt could play these two warring ‘Sia’ self states.’ (sic) She also wrote to a Twitter user, ‘I apologize to those who feel triggered by Elastic Heart. My intention was to create some emotional content, not to upset anybody.’ (sic)
Robin Thicke Blurred Lines (2013)
Robin Thicke, who courted a lot of controversy for his performance with Miley Cyrus at the 2013 VMA awards where she twerked all over him and made other explicit sexual gestures, found a lot of dubious fame with Blurred Lines. With lyrics like ‘I’ll give you something big enough to tear your ass in two’, the song was banned across universities in UK. The video had barely clothed women gyrating beside well-dressed men. Speaking about it, Thicke said, “We tried to do everything that was taboo. Bestiality, drug injections, and everything that is completely derogatory towards women. Because all three of us are happily married with children, we were like, ‘We’re the perfect guys to make fun of this’.” T.I. and Pharrell Williams were the other two artists with him in the song.
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WhitechapelLet Me Burn (2014)
American deathcore band Whitechapel, draws its name from East London’s Whitechapel district, famous for its innumerable murders committed allegedly by Jack the Ripper. Their disturbingly violent video Let Me Burn was about a man, his wife and daughter and how he suffered from clinical insanity/schizophrenia and killed his wife. His daughter gets out while he ends up getting burned alive in the house. Nauseatingly brutal self-inflicted pain and mental insanity formed the core emotion of this song that showed a man rotting away as he had no control over his mind.
Nicki Minaj Only (2014)
Nicki created quite a flutter when she released Only, the lyrics of which reflected World War 2 Nazi propaganda and the video showed her as a dictator in scenes seemingly inspired by 1940s Nuremberg. Following the uproar, Nicki furnished an apology on Twitter, which said, ‘I didn’t come up w/the concept, but I’m very sorry & take full responsibility if it has offended anyone. I’d never condone Nazism in my art.’ (sic)
The Prodigy Smack My Bitch Up (1997)
Directed by the Dane Jonas Akerlund, Smack My Bitch Up, was voted in 2010 as the most controversial music video of all time by a survey and was also banned from television channels in US and UK. Featuring everything from drug usage, drunken-driving, sexual excess, nudity and violence, the video was considered highly misogynistic.
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WATCH: Nicki Minaj's Controversial ''Only'' Music Video Slammed for Nazi Imagery