¡Aviso!

When I was in high school — and CD's were (gulp) relatively new — I visited a friend who wanted to show off his parents' new stereo system. The album of choice: a new recording of the 1812 Overture. The CD carried a warning statement, advising the listener that actual cannon blasts had been recorded digitally for this album, and therefore extreme caution should be used when playing the CD at high volumes.

So, of course, we cranked it. And went into the other room. Sure enough, those cannons were impressively loud. They were followed by a strange clacking sound, though. My friend went wide-eyed... and rushed away just in time to catch his dad's sailing trophy as it bounced off the speaker.

These days, the most common advisory on CD's relates to lyrics. Usually, it seems, the warnings are on hip-hop or rap albums, although there is a pretty prominent warning on the Avenue Q: The Musical CD. (Appropriately, as even the kindergarten-teaching puppet drops the F-bomb about three minutes into the CD.)

So, if we have lyric warnings on CDs, and if today's lawsuit-happy culture requires warnings on coffee cups that the coffee is hot (and as much as I love the guy's music)...

...every Josh Groban CD should be labelled with a warning that listening to his music can encourage melancholy in those individuals so inclined. <sigh>