Mountain Clams

Censoring Radio

Speaking of censorship... Wait, who was speaking of censorship? I was, over in my other blog (http://nanobrett2008.blogspot.com/2012/03/7-dirty-words-reading.html) talking about George Carlin. It annoys me when radio stations censor words that aren't expletives. Most recently that happened with "crystal meth" in the song Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind. Pretty much the whole song is about crystal meth, but heaven forbid we say those two words together! I guess that's why that radio station doesn't play anything by The Crystal Method.

Another example that is very similar is censoring "nuts" in the song The Bad Touch by Bloodhound Gang. I mean, c'mon, like the rest of the song has no double entendre or suggestive lyrics? Really? It makes me stop listening to that station.

Going a step further, there was the Aerosmith song, Jamie's Got a Gun, where the lyric, "and put a bullet in his brain" was replaced by another section of the song so that the lyric didn't sound as censored. Trouble is, it's the wrong lyric. It's noticeable and annoying.

What I really hate, though, is when the tempo of the song is thrown off so that the offending section can be removed from the whole. This happens with Rage Against the Machine and several others. The end of Killing in the Name, starting around 4:10, gets completely hacked or excised in its entirety, leaving behind a jump cut to the song's closing.

If you feel you have to censor songs like that, you might reconsider even playing the censored version in the first place. Maybe stick to some light rock from the 70's when these topics were never even broached. Oh, wait, maybe they were. Afternoon Delight, anyone?

posted by Brett @ 12:08 PM