Radio Edits: What Words Are "inappropriate."

[cutaia]

I've always wondered exactly what words need to be scrubbed from a song to make it "radio-friendly."  Is there actually an official list on some FCC website somewhere, or is it just something I should figure out via common sense?

 

Seems hard to do the latter when different genres seem to be targeted by editing to widely varying degrees.  For example, I've never heard the word "gun" censored in a rock song, but in a rap song?  Plenty of times.  (Of course, I've always wondered if that was a conscious choice done to promote an image, rather than following any real hard and set rule.)

 

So, what say you, forum?  Any resources for this kind of question floating out there?

[justsoulin]

It seems unfortunately to be very ambiguous, dependant on time of day and country. So not an easy answer, since context and different meanings per country also come into it, as do a radio stations own rules.

 

"Even in a Walt Disney movie, you can say, 'We're gonna snatch that pussy, and put him in a box and put him on the airplane."

 

Found this though http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/itc/research/delete_expletives.pdf

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_music#Censorship_of_pop_music

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words

 

Quote: "the FCC is really nailing folks. I'm even starting to hear these old classic rock songs that were never censored being censored now. Anyway, the 7 words Carlin spoke of are myth now, meaning you can get popped for far less. The problem is that the FCC isn't just popping people for certain words. They look at each indiscretion individually and factor in the word or words used, the context, was it for shock value, time of day, location in the USA. The list goes on and on. Unfortunately there is NOT a clear line as to what is acceptable."

 

http://www.11points.com/Music/11_Strange_and_Unnecessary_Radio_Edits_In_Song_Lyrics

 

Should keep you busy for a while

[cutaia]

Wow, ambiguous was definitely the correct word.  There's some fascinating information here, especially some of the charts in that .pdf, and the anecdotes about completely innocuous things being censored because they were misheard.  lol

 

I guess I'm just gonna have to use my own judgement when it comes to this kind of thing.

So very silly...

Edited May 13, 2014 by cutaia

[cutaia]

Haha, well fortunately I have nobody important to anger. It's just sometimes, I'd like to have so-called radio friendly versions ready in case any situation ever called for one, and wish I didn't have to guess as to exactly what to censor. lol

[TapperMike]

It really boils down to seven words.