Censored music

[Gina]

What are your opinions on censored music?

Personally, it enrages me. When the artist wrote the song, they didn't intend for people to listen to it with annoying "bleeps", stupid record scratch sounds, or a substitution like "itch" instead of "bitch".

Of course, I'm a bit more angry about the whole subject because I just bought the new Lady Gaga album, and I found out it was censored.

[thestrangewinston]

Jun 11, 2011 18:56:00 GMT -5 Gina said:

What are your opinions on censored music?

Personally, it enrages me. When the artist wrote the song, they didn't intend for people to listen to it with annoying "bleeps", stupid record scratch sounds, or a substitution like "itch" instead of "bitch".

Of course, I'm a bit more angry about the whole subject because I just bought the new Lady Gaga album, and I found out it was censored.

lol lady gaga


But on the censoring issue it gets really annoying when musicians can actually use cursing effectively. The ones that overdo it getting censored just sounds funny to me xD

But I only listen to uncensored so I never really run into that problem

[Marina]

I think of it this way, if I don't want to listen to music with swears in it, I don't listen to it! But if I don't care about it, what's the point of ruining a good song by bleeping out the swears? What's the point of listening to bleeping?

The only censorship I didn't mind, if you'd call it censorship, is that Fuck You song by Cee Lo, which became Forget You. Although I didn't mind the first one, I like the second one much better.

[thestrangewinston]

Jun 11, 2011 19:03:12 GMT -5 Marina said:

I think of it this way, if I don't want to listen to music with swears in it, I don't listen to it! But if I don't care about it, what's the point of ruining a good song by bleeping out the swears? What's the point of listening to bleeping?

The only censorship I didn't mind, if you'd call it censorship, is that Fuck You song by Cee Lo, which became Forget You. Although I didn't mind the first one, I like the second one much better.

Well you can blame a lot of music censorship on the PMRC(Parents music resource center) from the 80's. An overly protective group that had little to no knowledge on what they were talking about that lead the censorship movement for music.

[Gina]

Jun 11, 2011 19:08:57 GMT -5 thestrangewinston said:

Jun 11, 2011 19:03:12 GMT -5 Marina said:

I think of it this way, if I don't want to listen to music with swears in it, I don't listen to it! But if I don't care about it, what's the point of ruining a good song by bleeping out the swears? What's the point of listening to bleeping?

The only censorship I didn't mind, if you'd call it censorship, is that Fuck You song by Cee Lo, which became Forget You. Although I didn't mind the first one, I like the second one much better.

Well you can blame a lot of music censorship on the PMRC(Parents music resource center) from the 80's. An overly protective group that had little to no knowledge on what they were talking about that lead the censorship movement for music.

Honestly, if you don't think your kid should be listening to swear words, just don't let them listen to the song! I can understand why some artists can be considered "bad influences," but someone in the music industry isn't supposed to be your kid's parent. YOU are. It is YOUR responsibility to educate your kid on what you think is appropriate. I'll get off my soapbox now.

Also, completely off topic, but is it proper to use you/your/you're when I'm referring to a random person? I would certainly feel like an idiot if it wasn't.

[Marina]

I do it all the time. And I completely agree with you.

[rayyychul]

On CDs? No, I don't think they should be censored. Chances are, you know what you're buying and you'll be okay with a few swear words.

On the radio? I think that some words should be censored. Day-to-day swear words are fine by me, but anything racist/sexist/misogynist/otherwise hurtful needs to be censored.

[Gina]

I definitely agree with radio censoring. It's public, and even if you're not listening to it, you could have a 2 year old in the car hear something bad if you're just flipping through the stations.

Sometimes it doesn't make sense, though. In "Love The Way You Lie" by Eminem, they didn't censor "I'mma tie her to the bed and set this house on fire," but in "All Of The Lights" by Kanye West, they censored "I slapped my girl".

[onlyaworkingtitle]

I find it interesting when artists choose to censor their own work as part of the song itself, as intended. For example, in Lady Gaga's "Love Game":

I can see you staring there from across the block
With a smile on your mouth and your hand on your --!
The story of us, it always starts the same
With a boy and a girl and a -- and a game.

The first -- is obviously a stand-in for "cock"; the second, however, could be for anything -- she leaves it open to interpretation, which adds a layer to the song.

(Note: I'm not saying that this song is some genius of songwriting or composition; just that it's an interesting use of censoring.)

[xxxsylviaplathxxx]

Censorship is perfectly okay on the radio.

"Clean" albums and songs are not okay with me. If your kid hears a song on the radio that's dirty, they shouldn't buy it. A censored version of the song not only reinforces the song's dirty message, but makes it okay to sell bad songs to kids--as long as the "offending" parts are taken out.

Also, I was really peeved when Def Jam re-released Frank Ocean's song (about drugs, no less) censored. Come on, it's a song about smoking spiked weed. There is no way you can censor that and market it to the general public.

[Fuck Yeah Dion]

No censorship ever.

[Marina]

If you don't want to hear swearing on the radio, either change the station or don't listen to it at all. I understand it may be difficult if you're not in charge of the said radio, but you ask, and you can't please everyone.
I think you're either for censorship or against it, you can't really be middle ground.

[Fuck Yeah Dion]

And there are stations specifically designed around family listening. I don't understand how bleeping out a word somehow makes a song a more appropriate listen. It's kind of fun to listen to a censored song and check for all the words that got through.

One last thing, I've noticed that rock/country artist can get away with a lot of stuff hip-hop artists can't. I'm not saying radio censorship is racist, but radio censorship is certainly racist.

[Mary Sandals]

I think censorship in general is ridiculous. For one, it never works. And what are we "protecting" these "children" from anyways? Words? I firmly believe that swear words only have the power that you give them. You think your child will not walk out on the playground one day and hear a classmate say fuck? What kind of isolated bubble do you live in? Sigh.

[Annie Ozone]

Fun fact: the PMRC came along when a parent (I think mom?) heard their daughter singing along with Prince's "Darling Nikki".

And radio stations mostly censor themselves. For example, the local KISS FM bleeps the "sex" in Rihanna's "S&M" ("[bleep] in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it"), but doesn't bleep it in her and Britney Spears' duet. This is because of people calling in to complain--i.e., someone complained about Rihanna but not about the Rihanna/Britney duet. Obviously, the big seven (google George Carlin if you don't get it) have to be bleeped, but otherwise it's up to the station.

PS: currently about halfway through a bottle of wine, fingers ceasing to fing. Beg y'all's pardon for any errors or doofy wording.