Despite many music classrooms welcoming popular musics in striving towards an inclusive and democratic education, there has been relatively little research into teachers' decisions regarding which popular musics are included and which are excluded from classroom activities. This is of particular interest taking into account arguments that the norms and values associated with some popular musics or songs exist in conflict with the ideals and ideologies of formal schooling. Through interviews with five Finnish music teachers, this article explores the identification and navigation of "problematic" popular musics in school contexts. Teachers noted that four musical features: lyrics, imagery, musical mood and emotional affect, influenced their constructions of popular musics and their repertoire selections for students. This study suggests that popular repertoire decisions are ethically, ideologically, and politically loaded, and that welcoming students' own musics does not necessarily result in a more inclusive, democratic classroom culture.