Why do American radio/tv channels always censor nasty words in songs?

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Do American tv viewers and radio listeners actually change channels/turn off the tv just because of some swearing?

― man, Wednesday, 12 March 2003 23:24 (twenty-three years ago)

don't let me freak now will you

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 23:30 (twenty-three years ago)

Maybe our little ears are just too tender?

Personally, it fucks me off.

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 23:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Puritanism

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 23:44 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm guessing that it might be because they know damn fine that although 99.95% of their viewing audience couldn't give a mollusc's bollock about hearing words like 'shit' on TV, the remaining 0.05% cracking the morals about it can tie up the switchboards for hours at a time and waste a whole lot of time and manpower better used somehow else.

― Fred Nerk, Wednesday, 12 March 2003 23:48 (twenty-three years ago)

So those Christian organizations would actually cause trouble if they stopped the censoring?

― man, Wednesday, 12 March 2003 23:48 (twenty-three years ago)

boy do you have a lot to learn about America!

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 23:49 (twenty-three years ago)

don't you mean 'man'?

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 23:52 (twenty-three years ago)

no, then it would've been a question

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 23:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Some may well see such assaults on their power and influence as unacceptable, yes. It doesn't even have to be all the members of a particular group. It wouldn't take that many busybodies calling a TV station and having to be attended to, for it to become cheaper to bleep the offending words out than to pay somebody to stop doing the useful part of their job and absorb the flak.

― Fred Nerk, Wednesday, 12 March 2003 23:57 (twenty-three years ago)

plus, busybodies threaten to boycott any corp that sponsors an offending program which causes the corp to threaten the network/station which causes...

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 13 March 2003 00:04 (twenty-three years ago)

because it is straightforwardly illegal to swear on broadcase medium like radio or TV. Though maybe not cable. so I don't know MTV's excuse.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 13 March 2003 00:19 (twenty-three years ago)

MTV's excuseis $$$$

― brg30 (brg30), Thursday, 13 March 2003 00:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Because the same people who think Saddam Hussein caused 9/11 also believe that God, in person as it were, handed down a law banning "fuck," "shit," "damn," "hell," and so on. This segment constitutes about 75% of the population of the USA.

― Arnold Palmer, Thursday, 13 March 2003 01:03 (twenty-three years ago)

I refuse to believe it's that many.

― man, Thursday, 13 March 2003 01:07 (twenty-three years ago)

What's ridiculous is that Fark.com's comment boards are censored. That's why I find ILX so fucking liberating

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 13 March 2003 01:16 (twenty-three years ago)

I refuse to believe it's that many.

It may not be that many people, but when they bitch the FCC listens.

― j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 13 March 2003 01:19 (twenty-three years ago)

Remember 'Scarface' shown primetime on NBC? "Flip you you flippin' cockroach', 'Mang, shoot this piece of trash', 'Don't ever try to fool with me Tony', and this interesting ellipse - 'There's only two things that get you respect in this world - guts and...(blank, cuts to next scene)"

― dave q, Thursday, 13 March 2003 11:18 (twenty-three years ago)

I remember reading a story somewhere about the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion playing live on MuchMusic after Orange came out, and they were going to play "Full Grown." The execs told Jon Spencer that he had to censor himself and not sing "Baby baby you sure like to fuck." But no one told the other guy in the band who sings the back-up vocals, which for this song basically consist of the word "fuck" over and over and over again, so that's how he sang it on live TV. They got 0 complaint calls. Man, I wish I lived in Canada.

― Nick A. (Nick A.), Thursday, 13 March 2003 13:50 (twenty-three years ago)

My favorite example of this was when "I want your sex" came out, and a lot of radio stations played a re-edited version that was called "I want your love" instead. It seemed so silly and fundamentalist (emphasis on the mentalist).

― Nicole (Nicole), Thursday, 13 March 2003 13:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Pointless fact I learned from reading today's Guardian: in the 60s, the Rolling Stones had to change "Let's spend the night together" to "Let's spend some time together" when playing it live on American telly.

― caitlin (caitlin), Thursday, 13 March 2003 13:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Bizarro. Does this not change after 9 p.m. like it does here? John Peel occasionally says very rude things on the radio at night, and films/TV aren't censored particularly (that I've noticed) after the watershed either. Are we 'Europeans' just really foulmouthed and happy with it?

Also, I would be _really_ annoyed by having profanities changed to innocuous words, particularly in films. Either leave it in or done't show it at inappropriate times of the day, The Man!

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Thursday, 13 March 2003 13:57 (twenty-three years ago)

AH but Caitlin the onl;y reason the had to do that is because of the time difference between the UK and the USA. When the Stones and the young lady in question (say Marianne Faithful, or if she was shagging them all Marianne Unfaithful) were spending the night together in London they were only spending 6pm to 2am together in New York time. Which is hardly spending the night.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 13 March 2003 13:58 (twenty-three years ago)

Dr. Dre: The word "chronic" is edited out of his songs, and the weed-leaf on his shirt is digitally blurred in the video for "Ain't Nothin' But a G Thang".

Ben Folds Five: The phrase "call up Paul and score some weed" is NOT edited from the song "Battle of Who Could Care Less" whatsoever.

Hmmmm.....

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 13 March 2003 14:15 (twenty-three years ago)

I think the funnier thing about the "I Want Your Sex" situation was the opening five minutes that they had him do talking about the importance of monogamy and all. So sweet.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 13 March 2003 14:25 (twenty-three years ago)

Ha ha Nick A - once some American guy was razzing me, "We got cheaper gas and better music and more good places to go and the best pop culture of all time and plus we got the most money and weapons and we basically own the whole world and everybody in the world wants to be us" and I said "Yeah, but we get to see tits on TV"

― dave q, Thursday, 13 March 2003 14:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Speaking of censoring drug references, remember MTV's reaction to Weezer's "Hashpipe"? They silenced the fucking title of the song, when it appears in the chorus, and referred to it on-screen as "H***pipe."

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 13 March 2003 14:51 (twenty-three years ago)

That song's called "Hashpipe"!?! I thought it was called "Halfpipe"! ;-)

*entirely untrue*

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 13 March 2003 14:53 (twenty-three years ago)

The sad thing is, that would make the song about 400% better.

― Nick A. (Nick A.), Thursday, 13 March 2003 14:59 (twenty-three years ago)

It was called Heaven Is A Halfpipe in the UK. There's me thinking it was some sort of SKating reference. Me = fule.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 13 March 2003 15:00 (twenty-three years ago)

This is a paraphrase:

Krusty: Now boys, I'm excited to have you on the show, but we're going to need you to change some of your lyrics to avoid offending the audience.

Red Hot Chili Peppers: No way, man. We'll never censor our art.

K: OK, but how about instead of saying, "What I've got I've got to get and put it in you," you sing, "What I'd like, is I'd like to hug and kiss you."

RHCP: Wow, that's much better. Yeah, everyone can appreciate that.

― Nick A. (Nick A.), Thursday, 13 March 2003 15:01 (twenty-three years ago)

Also, I would be _really_ annoyed by having profanities changed to innocuous words, particularly in films.

The broadcast edit of Repo Man replaced "motherfucker" with "melonfarmer"...at director Alex Cox's request. I actually kind of like noisy bleeps (does anyone else remember the Arsenio Hall Show?) and really silly overdubs, because then it almost seems like something out of Monty Python.

― j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 13 March 2003 15:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Yipeekaiay - Kemosabe?

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 13 March 2003 15:17 (twenty-three years ago)

No no, Pete! 'Heaven is a Halfpipe' was by the heavily tattooed OPM, not the skinny bespectacled Weezer. Unless you are joking and I am fule. Slightly rubbish tune, though.

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Thursday, 13 March 2003 15:23 (twenty-three years ago)

I have always (for three weeks now) assumed that's the source of The Mountain Goat's Bitter Melon Farmer. J0hn to confirm?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 13 March 2003 15:26 (twenty-three years ago)

I are joking - you are fule. Haha.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 13 March 2003 15:30 (twenty-three years ago)

Doh! Too wily for me you are, Lying One.

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Thursday, 13 March 2003 15:31 (twenty-three years ago)

I suddenly feel empty and manipulative. I truly am the fule.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 13 March 2003 15:41 (twenty-three years ago)

In the US this is always about 'protecting the children.' It's quite ridiculous, although I'm fine with people not wanting to hear profanity. I'm not fine with people who let their kids stay up late, though, because then they are cranky little brats. Maybe if we cursed more starting at 9p they would send the little fuckers to bed for their own protection.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 13 March 2003 15:46 (twenty-three years ago)

I remember Top Of The Pops announcing Marvin Gaye's song 'Healing', which is hardly prehistory. Daytime radio and MTV and the like here in the UK play the censored versoins of rap tunes and so on. It's not so different, I don't think.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 14 March 2003 18:27 (twenty-three years ago)

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