It is a vulgar song. The videos are lewd. Censors tried to censor it. Many universities fought it because they believe it glorifies “date rape.” Many places in the United Kingdom banned playing it. Yet, nothing could stop “Blurred Lines.” It was the longest running #1 song of 2013 and of the last decade. It has grossed over $16 million dollars, and it is one of the best-selling singles of all time.
In the end, though, it appears that the only thing that could take the blurred giant down will be…lack of originality! Well, in the legal world, they call it plagiarism and copyright infringement. But basically, it is the same old story – “you took my idea and didn’t give me credit!”
You see, “Blurred Lines” is very similar to Marvin Gaye’s 1977, “Got to Give It Up.” VERY SIMILAR. And Robin Thicke admitted in interviews that when he brought the idea to Pharrell Williams, he was looking for something similar to Gaye’s song. Interestingly, Robin Thicke’s defense claimed that he was too “coked up” to have contributed to plagiarism, but the jury sided with Gaye’s estate: plagiarism lines aren’t blurry.
And inevitably someone will say, “Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun.” But if this case really teaches us anything about life “under the sun,” it is that “blurred lines” will be our undoing. For thousands of years, people have called good what God calls evil (Isaiah 5:20). And glorifying evil is always wrong.
Blurred lines have been a destructive force in Robin Thicke’s life for some time. He has struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, he shamed himself with Miley Cyrus in front of the world, his wife filed for divorce, and he has been plagued by lawsuits for plagiarism. And still, the world hails “Blurred Lines?”
It took a jury to stop the glorification of “Blurred Lines.” When will we stop glorifying the “blurred lines” of sin? If we won’t, surely future generations will continue to blur the lines until they are unrecognizable. And who can blame them; they won’t have a single straight line to go by. The only lines worth glorifying are found in the Word of God. He doesn’t praise blurred lines and neither should we.
