Ahh, censorship

by admin

In the not-so-distant past I was a rebellious youth just like anyone else. I liked heavy metal (er, hair bands), wearing jeans with holes in them, and, on occasion, I was known to steal my dog’s choke chain for personal adornment. I make no apologies for looking ridiculous as it was one of the most fun times of my life. As for the music, well, suffice it to say I know more random facts about the likes and dislikes of practically every 80’s/early 90’s metal artist to this day. My Sirius radio toggles endlessly between Jam On, Howard Stern, and, of course, Hair Nation.

My involvement with this movement came parallel with the “Parental Advisory” label. This lovely black label with white writing was earnest in its origins; warn unsuspecting parents that this band “Motley Crue” had a lyric “…kickin’ ass on the wild side”. This “protection” was deemed so important that any song with vulgarity was required to have one. The problem is that this label meant to protect me as a child actually became a bulls-eye for which albums to buy.

If left alone neither myself nor any of my cohorts would have really thought twice about it. Motley Crue was simply one of dozens of bands who featured an obscenity on their album. Left unchecked, this fact would have simply rolled off into oblivion as we enjoyed the album. Having a “warning” on it though was almost like having a musical version of Mr. Skin. We feverishly purchased the album and proceeded to speed through it looking for the bad words. Sort of defeated the point now didn’t it?

Today, nearly 20 years later, I found myself listening to a similar situation unfold on the Howard Stern show. It was mentioned that the Black Eyed Peas’ new song “Boom Boom” had a bleeped out word in it. As much as I think this is a ridiculous waste of tax payer dollars to actually employ someone to scout out these things for “safe” airplay, I listened on. As it turns out, the word bleeped out was “satellite”; as in “satellite radio”.

Huh? I was lost.

How in the world is this bleeped out? I mean surely this is a mistake. Nope. In fact, not only was it bleeped out on Clear Channel’s version for terrestrial radio broadcast but also on Sirius’ version as well. Someone is not paying attention to their distribution channels at all.

It is said that the radio station requested this be done to hide the word from their audience. Hmmm, effective? I think not. As when I was a child in the record store, this otherwise non-important fact now becomes a center point for attention. By doing this Clear Channel is simply standing on a soap box, pulling out their bullhorn, cranking that puppy up to 11, and screaming “we don’t like satellite!”. We know that already, no need to point it out.

This notion that a bleep somehow protects anyone is completely antiquated. No one, man, woman, or child, alive and breathing today cannot figure out what is actually being said in the first place. The school playground is as much alive with swear words and obsentities as is the local saloon for happy hour. This tactic does not work. Ignoring the word satellite is not going to make it go away either. This is insulting to our intelligence and a waste of resources. Can you believe they actually paid to have two versions of that song release for that reason alone?

At some point in my life I would love to see the human race mellow out and wake up to see the bigger picture. The old school is dead and it is time to get with the new program. As the universe expands and contracts so must we with our rules and enforcement thereof. This behavior helps no one and only draws attention to their short-sighted vision of what will never be the same again. Adapt or perish people, adapt or perish.

May 12th, 2009  |   9:54 am