song censoring - what do you think?

[Vallikat]

So my son just turned 14 and one of the things he asked for was Eminem's Encore CD. So, fine. That's simple enough. But I got to the record store and I started thinking. We live with my parents. I'm just not quite sure they're ready for Eminem just yet. (and by yet, I mean until their dying day). Also, not to put this totally on my folks, some of his lyrics even make me wince. Explicit lyrics are fine when they add something. But I'm not quite sure that they always do in his songs. So, I bought the edited version.

So last night we're out doing some running around and I tell him he can play it in the car if he wants (trying not to let him know that I'm curious to hear it myself). But once it started to play I almost immediately regretted my decision to buy the censored version. It sounded like crap. There were almost more blank spots than actual lyrics. Now I could blame that on my earlier point that he does tend to pour it on thick, but still! It's not like my kid can't fill in the blanks and it's not like he hasn't heard all these words before. I really want to just get him the full version and let him enjoy it the way it was meant to be enjoyed. I can't protect him forever and my folks may have to just learn to deal with it.

I got to thinking though and figured I would throw this out for discussion since we have a pretty goood cross section of folks here. So what do you guys think:

Should songs be censored?

If they should, is it better to blank out the lyrics or to replace them with cleaner lyrics?

[Zephem]

I don't think songs should be censored.

I do think that artists are using their positions to, unfortunately, put out a lot of crap. Eminem has a lot of good songs, and his lyrics are often right on top of things, but he has a tendency to use lots of swear words and they have very little to no meaning and actually help blur the vision and message that he tries to put out.

Some of those artists I don't buy into (I hate to say it, but that includes the majority of rappers, which I can't stand).

I have nothing against swearing. I think that kids are going to encounter it no matter what. The best thing to do is to take responsibility as a parent and educate them on why the words are bad, and often ignorant, and how they should strive to not use the words as much as possible, and also understand when and where they are appropriate, and have examples of what isn't appropriate.

I also agree, the censored versions of music that you'd find at Walmart and other places are pretty crappy. It's just not the same when they censor music, especially on the radio.

[Chippel]

As a kid you may not really take me seriously or not. but I can try.

Now as songs be censored -thinks for a bit- well, maybe so as they aren't like Slipknot so every 8th word is the f word, but not so much as to the point where it gets REALLY bad.

I don't think they should blank it, but maybe have a version with cleaner lyrics.

Hope it helped from a kid's view... I'm gonna go back to being quiet now hehe

[Tarryk]

On the shoulda-woulda-coulda debate, I think that bands should do what Korn did with "Y'all Wanna Single". They simply recut the lyrics replacing the F bomb with "Suck" (...and that version ended up sounding better imo)

With rap artists, it's much harder to do that, and they're usually so full of themselves that they would never dream of recutting their lyrics. Eminem is one of the most self-centered rappers in existence, so he would certainly never recut. He'd rather have the radio album sound like crap to force people to buy the one that has an F-bomb every two seconds (which is typical considering that he still thinks flipping the bird to the camera is cool and unique).

I'm of the opinion that words are words, and so long as a young adult learns proper demeanor and manners in real life, the words he/she is exposed to over an entertainment medium are not that big of a deal at all. Of course, when other disturbingly oversensitive people enter the equation (like Valli's parents), tis probably better to err on the side of caution and--in this case--crappy sounding radio edits.

[Boinky]

Well I don't really think songs should be censored much & besides half the time I hear songs on the radio with the word f**k muted whether my imagination or not you can almost hear the beginning and ending of the word and much like reading a comic book where something between 2 panels is implied it sorta gets filled in by your mind anyway. Now it's not a good thing to subject young children to an uncensored Eminem song I don't think, unless it's the parent's decision possibly.

Anyway, he's your kid & they're your parents so you are best judge of what to do in your situation.

And if they are going to censor songs anyway I think they should mute/bleep the offensive words. Some of the racier Eminem songs will have lots of muted parts, but some of the 'safe' lyrics they fill in there just sound hilarious. On second thought keep doing those version too if just for the comedic value.

[Suue]

My opinion : Music should not be censored. Period. The artist wrote it that way, and it should stay that way. However, not all music is meant for all people. Just because the CD is out, it does not mean every teen in the world should have access to it. Kinda like movies...

If the lad would have asked for the collecters edition DVD of Deep Throat, I'm sure it would have been pretty easy to say no. I mean sure, I guess you could look for a clean version, with all the sex scenes cut out.... but I'm also sure it would have been just about as fulfilling an experience to attempt to enjoy. Same thing. Both are adult oriented materials. It's just sad in my opinion that the marketing is geared for such a young audience.

[Boinky]

Eminem is one of the most self-centered rappers in existence, so he would certainly never recut. He'd rather have the radio album sound like crap to force people to buy the one that has an F-bomb every two seconds (which is typical considering that he still thinks flipping the bird to the camera is cool and unique).

I can't recall the exact song, but I know I've heard just that on the radio Tarryk. There is definately at least one song of mr M & M's that he did that with. Quite possible it was a "much later after the fact" thing, but I don't doubt it was made understood to him how much money he could make out of it by getting maybe played on some stations too uptight to even play his censored versions.

Also some bands get a kick out of this practice of censored albums with 'safe' lyrics. Bloodhound Gang had commented about the Wal Mart version of their Hooray For Boobies album saying they thought it was amusing & also noting that many fans would buy that one as well to have both versions. Hooray

[Chaimera]

i completely disagree with censoship, its up to the people that buy/watch/listen to the music/movies/books or whatever to understand what it is they are doing, in turn its up to parents to educate the kids about the real world. sorry if this is kinda scatter brained, its late and im falling asleep , anyway my 2 cents

[Mummu]

I m against all sorts of censorship, be it music, videos, films, blocklists, whatever. while I can understand some forms and reasons for it, the principle of censoring stuff is against my principles.

[Darth Bootay]

Censorship sucks, pure and simple. People should, like Valli, take responsibility for monitoring and choosing what their children get to listen to and be able to choose what THEY wish to listen to as well. Censored or watered-down versions of songs, IMO, usually suck even worse than censored movie versions -- which are the pits.

Everyone should have the right to choose to view and enjoy what they choose, but no one has the right to tell someone else (who isn't their own child) what they can or can not view and enjoy.

[Noctos]

Well, first of all you might want to consider something other than Eminem for yer kid. I mean, not that it's any of my business, but I die a little everytime someone buys his crap (I'd recommend Heist of the Century by La the Darkman or Liquid Swords by GZA/Genius).

As for the issue at hand.

Censorship is doctrine and dogma in the industry and media today, just watch MTV or any other mainstream/commercial music broadcaster - they'll censor anything that stands even remote chance of having a negative impact. Like knives (Egads! We can't introduce them to knives!), ciggarettes and beer bottles.

Music has always been famous for everything but the music, whether we're talking about Mozart, Elvis Presley or Madonna. It is something that is easy to judge, easy to blame, music is an excellent scapegoat for the reactionary and frustrated, media and masses. I suppose this might be because music has always been 'rebellious' to some extent, no matter how free we like to consider ourselves we are, helplessly, caught in traditional circles and values. I am not, however, going to sit here and make a psycho-analysis against people like the MAVAV, that's really not my job.

I think the problem is that there is a distinct incompatability between adults and children, and anyone who hasn't completely rooted out the memories fo their childhoods are bound to agree. Our minds grow duller in some departments and sharper in others. We'll calculate, plan and reason better but the impulsive creativity and fantasy of youth is doused.
Whether this is imposed by society or if it's a physical/mental reaction to aging I do not know, but noone can dispute the occurence.

Children and adults exist in different levels of awareness, you could say, and this effectively reduces communication and understanding. Thus the dominant party, ie. the parents, will have to impose control to some extent. Every child has problems, it's the very essence of puberty - the awakening of senses, emotions, maturity, and every problem has a cause, but without communication and understanding this will elude us.
Music, movies, culture - these are things that belong to the children, these are things that are OF youth FOR youth. And, much like the children, these are things the parents cannot relate to at the same level as the children can. This exclusivity and privacy makes it the perfect scapegoat for the above mentioned problems.

So we form Parents Against Generic Destructive Whatnots and Affiliated Thingymajigs That Corrupt Our Youth. These organizations come and go with every single generation that matures. And the powers that be, the powers that be not, the powers in general - are forced to listen, because who better to decide what their children can see and hear than the parents?

So we censor. We break down, piece by piece, the culture that our children are immersed in. This does not help us understand them, in fact I think over-protective parents are vastly more destructive towards a childs' psyche than any explicit.

Censorship is not a cultural phenomenon, it's a cultural side-effect.
It's self-righteous, it's disrespectful, it's patronizing, it's hypocrisy and it's hybris.

If my (future) son doesn't cuss and have an unexplainable interest in televised violence, profanity and pornography, I will take him to a shrink.

[Gridfan]

I'm against censorship. Norway and acually Scandinavia and a lot of Europe is even more free speech than USA.
I mean, think of MTV etc censor blankings, and US series/shows that bleep out swear words.
Very annoying!

I'd rather see "Explicit Lyrics" "Adults" "Parental Advisory" etc. on albums, movies, series etc etc. Instead of censoring, which in my oppinion violates free speech severely!

If swearing is natural or needed. Like "Fuck the corporations" then that is a huge power statement, one could say "To hell with the corporations" but in this case the "fuck" word adds even more power to the meaning than the hell phrase.

Now, lyrics and similar where one doubt the legimite use of swearing.
(normally as used in what I call power statements, strong feelings and expressions)
but instead used as a marketing/PR/Image thing, then I'd rather stay away from it.

From a parenting side of things, if it was me I'd probably allow my kid to get the uncensored versions. As I for free speech and against ant censorship.
I'd just point out to the kid that there is a lot of swearing, and I'd hope that the kid wouldn't start talking like that. (and I'd say that to the kid, and kid not able to understand what I mean isn't old enough to listen to such things anyway.)

Morality, proper behaviour, courtesy, being nice, following rules, etc.
All these things has nothing to do with censorship,
any human being should be able to exist without any need of censorship,
if not then there is a problem indeed, question then is...is it society or the individual that is the issue?