“The FCC won't let me be”

I remember the first time I watched the film Footloose, I laughed at the idea of being told what music we can or can't listen to, I believed it was just some notion that was dreamt up for the purpose of this fantasy world in the film. It never occurred to me that it used to be an everyday issue, particularly in 50's and 60's America, and is still, to a lesser degree, practised today.

There are obviously current day examples of extreme music censoring around the World such as in North Korea where music is only considered worthwhile if it praises the leader. And until recently , under the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan, musical instruments were banned and hung from trees as effigies as it was believed this was a distraction from the teachings of the Koran.

In the UK have the watershed that means Cee-lo Green's song 'Fuck You' will be played in it's original form after about 8/9pm but before this will magically have changed to 'Forget You'.

Many artists employ this form of self censoring by recording an alternative version of their songs if they contain obscenities, it's like they've created extra hassle for themselves by including 'inappropriate' language and then not standing by it.

Other options include bleeping it out, discounting the word all together, looping a different part of the track or adding extra sounds to hide this or just distorting the word for example 'shit' often becomes 'shhhh'. It's more of a case of money than anything else, if they refused to bleep out or rerecord this song it would only be played after the watershed and so not be making as much money.

Surely they should have more conviction in what they are trying to express in their music than how much is going into their wallets?

What really gets me though is that these words are bleeped out but inappropriate phases are allowed before a watershed. I don't believe in music censorship but I also don't believe in the double standard, if I didn't want young children singing 'fuck you' I also wouldn't want them singing ' I want to have sex on the beach', 'I touch myself' or 'Chains and whips excite me'.

I think that if these are allowed to be heard prior to the watershed then a few swear words wont do any damage as long as children are told that it is wrong to use these words themselves, just as they would be if they used such phases picked up from songs. After all they will hear them already in the playgrounds and it is part of our up bringing that we are taught what is and what isn't apprpriate to say.