From the premier issue of Entertainment Monitor, a monthly "for parents, teachers, and others concerned about the influence of popular culture and other entertainment on children and young adults." The magazine provides summaries of the "story lines and themes" in recently released albums, as well as definitions of "street slang terms" that "parents might find confusing" in current rock, rap, R&B, and country songs. According to an introductory note, the album summaries are offered "without bias. We do not attempt to evaluate the merit or value of artists or their works." The following descriptions are from the list of "Top 40 Rock Albums."

Astro-Creep, White Zombie

Themes: Abstract religious-themed songs about the devil taking over someone's thoughts. Pondering life after the Apocalypse. A song critical of war. Sensory overload of pleasure. A song using Las Vegas gambling metaphors as a way to describe God's power. Proclamation of one's zombie-like state. The stranger one is, the more human one is. A song about having sex, in a violent way, with an "angel," or virgin. Beauty never dies.

Tales from the Punchbowl, Primus

Themes: Contains a song about a make-believe professor who will cure what ails you. Also a song about a teacher and other children who pick on a child, who is driven to murder another child. A woman uses her vagina to tease men sexually. A song chastising those who are unoriginal in their musical pursuits. A man pays to watch women dance and recognizes one dancer as his former lover. A song reminiscing about the past and seeing the irony in the present.

Soup, Blind Melon

Themes: Repeatedly returning to a person or situation that leaves you feeling full of self-doubt and hatred. Talking to yourself. Desire to be more like a woman named Vernie. Making furniture out of human flesh. Questioning one's personal perspective on the world and hoping that God will "be a friend." Living alone and feeling both angry and happy. Trying to see another person's perspective. Excitement about having a child and hoping the birth will bring "new life" to the singer. Lemonade as a metaphor for the sweet and the sour things in life.

Dandelion, Dyslexicon

Themes: Shocking one another sexually. Falling for a girl who lives in a trailer park. Boredom. Receiving reassurance that a relationship will be okay. Feeling like you have nothing left to offer the world as an individual. An ode to Evel Knievel, a famous motorcycle stuntman.

And Out Come the Wolves, Rancid

Themes: Looking for a murderer. Realizing what you've done wrong in life just before you die. Missing Olympia, Washington, while surrounded by strangers in New York City. What one sees when on drugs. A twenty-one-year-old gang member with a Cadillac is a dangerous person. An ode to an artist who lived his life outside the mainstream. Being in a band and finding out what life on the road is like. Feeling overwhelmed by injustices of the city. A list of the negative things in life like death and dying.

The Presidents of the United States of America, The Presidents of the United States of America

Themes: A song about birds playing in a band. A song about a woman named Lump who is possessing the singer's thoughts. A man falls for a woman who works as a stripper in a porn booth. Desire to move to the country and eat peaches. Driving a dune buggy on the beach. Planning to fail as a band. A song about playing rock and roll enthusiastically. Admiring a body. Sitting on the back porch. What it's like to be "naked and famous."

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