Wal-Mart, a chain that refuses to stock music that carries a parental advisory label, has been accused of knowingly selling obscene music in a lawsuit filed by the parents of a teenage girl who bought a copy of the latest release from the rock group Evanescence.
The lawsuit claims that Wal-Mart was deceiving customers by stocking Anywhere But Home, Evanescence’s follow-up to their multi-platinum debut album Fallen, without a parental advisory label that would have alerted consumers to the objectionable language.
Anywhere But Home, a live CD and DVD, contains a cover of Korn’s “Thoughtless,” which contains the word “fuck.”
As the nations largest retailer, record labels often sell Wal-Mart edited versions the music they release with obscenities left out.
The Associated Press reports that the Trevin Skeens, the plaintiff in the case, claims that Wal-Mart knew about the explicit lyrics in the song, "Thoughtless," because a free sample of the song on Walmart.com censored the word.
Skeens’ 13-year-old daughter had purchased the offending title on a shopping trip with her parents on her birthday. It was while listening to the CD on the way home that her parents discovered the nature of the contents.
“Thoughtless” is a song from the point of view of a child who vows to lash to back at those who torment him at school. The offending lyric is: “Why are you trying to make fun of me? You think it's funny?What the fuck you think it's doing to me? “
Skeens is seeking an order requiring Wal-Mart to either censor or remove the music from its Maryland stores, and damages of up to $74,500 for everyone who bought the music at Wal-Marts in Maryland.
Also named in the lawsuit are Wind-up Records, Evanescence’s record label, and their distributor BMG Entertainment, a division of Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
