Growing up I was scared of few things. One of those few things was The Sixth Sense. The imagery isn’t what really fucked me up; it was that epiphany at the end. It was the reevaluation of what was reality that I had to do when I was having a tough enough time mastering long division. The funny thing about one’s reality is that no matter how stark and scary or warm and lovely it is, the one who has accepted that reality is comfortable with it. Changing it sends us into shock and panic. Something else that stirred up fear in my heart was Marilyn Manson.

Plainly, he looked odd and he looked scary. Growing up, I was probably a more visual and imaginative (in the worst way!) kid than most, so to actually witness some of the things that Marilyn Manson would do in his videos and live performances would chill my blood.

As I grew up, I got over the reality-rattling of “The Sixth Sense” (and the fact that M. Night Shyamalan will never make another good movie) and fear inducing of Marilyn Manson. I even embraced a generation of my own shock artists like Eminem and studied up on originals like Ozzy Osbourne. I divulge in creepy books by Edgar Allen Poe and praise demented paintings by Francis Bacon. Yes, it takes a lot to shock me. My pop stars bleed on stage and shave their heads; my rap-stars wear red leggings. I think that last time I was genuinely, impressively shocked by someone was around the same time Sandra Rose was being referred to as a credible journalism source. Being so well-versed in shock tactics and pop culture tricks, it’s fate that I am hardly impressed with music’s latest offering of weirdos, Odd Future.

I’m no robot. I do still get shocked. Last week, I lost forty-dollars and I was shocked followed by upset. Last summer, I was cheated on by an ex- boyfriend and I was shocked and followed by anger (that eventually was followed by me practicing my cursive with a crowbar on the side of his car). But when you, the audience, are shocked and that initial shock is followed by entertainment and enjoyment, that’s when you create shock-art. That’s the formula. To move and disturb, but to do it in a way that the audience is fascinated and addicted that they’re on your every last word. That’s precisely what OddFuture is attempting to do with much success with tricks that have tossed out before by everyone from the aforementioned Eminem, Ozzy Osbourne, Wu-Tang Clan, and even the Insane Clown Posse.

Odd Future has a virtual how-to map of how to maximize on angst-y teens and upset-for-no-reason white kids with money (and cocaine) to blow. Throw some tunes about eating girls, some homophobic lyrics and killing people in there, and you have the perfect formula for success. But why be lazy, Odd Future? Why not push boundaries and do things that don’t just make me feel like I’m listening to the bomber of Columbine meets Ice Cube?

Wait, wait. What am I saying? Tyler The Creator (the breakout act of Odd Future) is absurd. He’s vulgar and violent, why would I ask him to up the ante? Maybe, Odd Future isn’t lazy. Maybe, I’m just demented for wanting something sicker, more obscene, more left-of-center. Well, if I am demented, so are you. We’re in a general public that is hardly impressed or shaken by Odd Future. When Eminem came out, he had faggots and faux-Christian disciples hailing him as the anti-Christ for his lyrics. These kids are gaining steam, but hardly any backlash from any of the groups that they disrespect in their lyrics, besides a few disgruntle B.O.B. fans that really liked the song, “Airplanes.”

Is this the sign of the times? Do we just not care? Is nobody scared of a black teen eating vaginas, hating ‘fucking’ faggots, and being successful because of it? This would never fly in Reagan’s heyday. It’s not even clear what exactly would scare the public back into shape? What will it take for us to create some standards of what we deem shocking and disturbing, again? Maybe, it will be the uncontrived and not-so strategically marketed, truly disturbed child that is produced from this mad world we’re living in.

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