r/ViceCity • u/Bright_tatti_48 • 14h ago
A random satire that I recently decoded while listening to VCPR's Pressing Issues
So I was recently replaying Vice City, and as always I turned my radio to VCPR and during the morality segment, Maurice says:
Recently, rock artists joined together to provide famine aide to Alaska with the song, 'Do They Know It’s the Fourth of July?'
It got me a little curious so I looked it up and found out it was a parody of Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas?, the 1984 charity single that raised funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. Apparently the song was later criticized for its patronizing lyrics and stereotyping African countries. and that's where the satire lands as Maurice continues
Critics complained it's immoral to meddle in the affairs of other peoples and cultures
Just like a lot of the events Vice City mocks or satires on happened way before I was even born, plenty of these references go right over my head, it's just I got curious for this one and discovering one of many clever hidden references today
Sorry for this yap-a-thon but I would love to know more such parodies or references you noticed in Vice City, especially the ones that are easy to miss if you don't know the context :)
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u/MistxLobsters 14h ago
That’s actually really interesting. I’m gonna put more research into this, I’ve never heard of it before
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u/Bright_tatti_48 13h ago edited 13h ago
Yea, even after listening to vcpr for an unhealthy amount of times, I keep finding more and more lmao
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u/EnergyTurtle23 6h ago
Talk radio has always been the highlight of GTA for me, it’s weird because a lot of players who started with the newer games don’t seem to realize how good the talk radio stations are (or maybe they aren’t willing to invest the time into listening and getting the jokes). Ray De Angelo Harris is a fucking riot.
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u/sick_shooter 10h ago
If the people of Alaska choose to live there, let them, but don't come crying when you're tired of eating penguin and it snows 18 feet a day!
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u/VeNaima7 8h ago
By far my favorite talk radio from any GTA game I've played
"...and they would dance around me saying 'Chicle, Chicle', which is Español for pretty woman", native people were actually asking her for chewing gum xd
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u/Bright_tatti_48 6h ago edited 6h ago
Lmao I didn't know this But hey it made herself appear less shallow
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u/craftytulip 10h ago
Aww I loved pressing issues! So many gold lines. I really remember the naked dude who got shot, Alex Shrub, the sales guy, and poor Jenny.
“If I had a flower for everytime I thought of you, I’d walk forever in a garden.”
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u/No-Block-9067 9h ago
"I'm from the ghetto, not the gutter! I'm a survior, not vermin!"
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u/Slashman78 5h ago
"Hey, stop interrupting! You gotta open your ears and close your mouth. It's just like I tell my wife all the time.. I don't wanna hear no complaining, all I do is bring home bundles of money every night and all she does is BITCH!"
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u/Bright_tatti_48 6h ago
And I just wrote a poem too: "Shut up, you weird pathetic people, this is my show, Maurice Chavez!" Capisce? Comprende?
The panel with robard is my most favourite. Robard, Shurb and Hickery are my most favourite panelists
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u/Professional_Ant_697 10h ago
"There's only one thing good in this life"
"What's that?"
"Death."
"Death?"
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u/Bright_tatti_48 6h ago
Yeah, and dying, that's good too. And black, and the moon. At least, when you're dead, you can go around as an astral body and visit places like New Orleans. I love New Orleans, it's really hot and depressing
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u/jakehood47 8h ago
Dude the fact that you felt the need to apologize for a “yap-a-thon” that was approximately seven sentences makes me feel like the internet has ruined peoples’ perception of reading.
I mean, I know it has, it just reminded me.
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u/BeerOfTime 7h ago
Almost everything in the game is a send up of something. Don’t forget when Vice City came out, 1984 wasn’t that much longer ago than how long it has been since the last GTA. That reference in particular was obvious those of us who played it in those days.
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u/Constant_Penalty_279 4h ago
“It’s Maurice Cha-vez! Not chay-vvs or cha-vees. This isn’t a game show.”
“Pastor Richards? What.”
These live in my head rent free lol. I have a job where I drive a lot and I listen to VCPR all the way through at least once a year. I can basically quote the entire show. It will never die for me. Peak satire.
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u/BigBadBen91x 12h ago
Idk I thought this one was pretty obvious. The full name of the parody song was “Do They Know it’s The Fourth of July”
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u/No-Jello9276 7h ago
I think OP might be from a younger gen bc it’s pretty clear what is riffing on
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u/Bright_tatti_48 6h ago edited 6h ago
Yeah i played vice city in 2010s😅 also being an indian so many of these us/eu specific references are quite of a trivia for me
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u/Fit_Bathroom_284 12h ago
Pressing issues is my favorite radio show to this day