...here we go, now all artists are going to have to rewite all their songs lest they offend some little special interest group.
Follows the same lines of them releasing a new version of Huck Finn that removes the n word as it is offensive.
...while there are at it, they should rewrite the history books to removed all the offensive things that have happened in the past and burn all those politically incorrect TV shows like Archie Bunker (never mind motion pictures)...
We've gone past stupid to just plain pathetic. The song is 25 years old, the several gays I know love the song, and I don't think the word "homosexual" is meant as a derogatory reference to gays specifically in this instance, it's more intended to identify weakness or lack of masculinity as compared to the lead cartoon character in the video. I suppose they could have said pansy or fop or some other generic reference to weakness.
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10:53 AM
Old Lar Member
Posts: 13797 From: Palm Bay, Florida Registered: Nov 1999
Some PC police rewrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn because of the n word in the original version. This makes me wonder how many various pieces of liturature have been rewritten because of censorship or translation misinterpretations.
Some PC police rewrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn because of the n word in the original version. This makes me wonder how many various pieces of liturature have been rewritten because of censorship or translation misinterpretations.
The Bible. Don't hurt me.
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11:24 AM
Flamberge Member
Posts: 4268 From: Terra Sancta, TX Registered: Oct 2001
That silly homosexual got his own jet airplane.. That silly homosexual he's a millionair.....
Now it seems that silly homosexual is a whiney crybaby with political clout.
As a side note, the band Dire Straits (or their record company) apperantly thought so to, because their Best of album has that verse edited out. (Dire Straits is my favorite band, btw, though I prefer Brothers in Arms, Romeo & Juliet, and Sultans of Swing to Money for Nothing.)
As a side note, the band Dire Straits (or their record company) apperantly thought so to, because their Best of album has that verse edited out. (Dire Straits is my favorite band, btw, though I prefer Brothers in Arms, Romeo & Juliet, and Sultans of Swing to Money for Nothing.)
The record company, and Dire Straits has been quoted as saying that is a part of the song, a story about a "stupid" guy that things musicians don't have to work. He didn't want it removed.
Taking it out was because of pressure, and all it does is give straight people another reason to hate gays.
Brad
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02:09 PM
doublec4 Member
Posts: 8289 From: Oakville, Ontario, Canada Registered: Jun 2003
They've been editing songs for radio as long as I can remember, can't say it bothers me too much. It would bother me if I was unable to obtain the original.
Wasn't it onluy a few years ago the Black Eyed Peas song was changed from "Let's get retarded" to "Let's get it started"... Who cares?
Some PC police rewrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn because of the n word in the original version. This makes me wonder how many various pieces of liturature have been rewritten because of censorship or translation misinterpretations.
Right, eventually we wont even know what reality is, as even the history books are redone to avoid offending someone.
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02:25 PM
PFF
System Bot
Pyrthian Member
Posts: 29569 From: Detroit, MI Registered: Jul 2002
banned? in what way? you cannot buy the album which contains that song - or just not play it on broadcast radio?
I dont think radio should be allowed to play "radio editted" versions of songs. if the songs are "inappropriate" for airplay - then they should not be advertised as "OK". the songs are what they are.
and - them lyrics are actual things said by real workers, who "install microwave ovens", etc., if canada dont like what they had to say, why not ban them as well?
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02:27 PM
jetman Member
Posts: 7788 From: Sterling Heights Mich Registered: Dec 2002
Wow, one single person, that's all it took, unbelievable.
You watch, karma is coming for that person. It would be total irony if that person got busted by the RIAA for illegally downloading that song for free to his computer.
The record company, and Dire Straits has been quoted as saying that is a part of the song, a story about a "stupid" guy that things musicians don't have to work. He didn't want it removed.
Taking it out was because of pressure, and all it does is give straight people another reason to hate gays.
Brad
Even having to explain why its there is wrong. Don't like the words, don't listen to them.
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02:37 PM
ryan.hess Member
Posts: 20784 From: Orlando, FL Registered: Dec 2002
Wow, one single person, that's all it took, unbelievable.
You watch, karma is coming for that person. It would be total irony if that person got busted by the RIAA for illegally downloading that song for free to his computer.
When the Rolling Stones appeared on Ed Sullivan they had to change "Let's Spend the Night Together" to "Lets Spend the Evening Together". When the Doors appeared on Ed Sullivan they were told to change the word "higher" in "Light My Fire" to something else, because of thr drug inference. Jim Morrison agreed to the change then went on stage (and on air live) and sang "higher" anyway, they were banned from the Ed Sullivan Show forever.
Hmm, I wonder if I can filed a complaint on behalf of black Canadians and request that all songs with the N - word in the be likewise banned from the radio. This would remove most of the gang banger crap from the airwaves!
Some PC police rewrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn because of the n word in the original version. This makes me wonder how many various pieces of liturature have been rewritten because of censorship or translation misinterpretations.
Some PC police rewrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn because of the n word in the original version. This makes me wonder how many various pieces of liturature have been rewritten because of censorship or translation misinterpretations.
The last Huck Finn I read must have been uncensored. Personally, I was shocked and eventually gave up reading it in part to the offensive N-word. Yes, I do understand Mark Twain as I grew up within 2 hours of Hannibal, MO and his time period. It's just that I wasn't living in that time period. I'd have enjoyed the rewritten version much more. Then again, I walked out of an Eddie Murphey movie(the one he was on-stage doing his stand-up) because it was so vulgar.
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09:03 PM
carnut122 Member
Posts: 9122 From: Waleska, GA, USA Registered: Jan 2004
The last Huck Finn I read must have been uncensored. Personally, I was shocked and eventually gave up reading it in part to the offensive N-word. Yes, I do understand Mark Twain(as I grew up within 2 hours of Hannibal, MO) and his time period. It's just that I wasn't living in that time period. I'd have enjoyed the rewritten version much more. Then again, I walked out of an Eddie Murphey movie(the one he was on-stage doing his stand-up) because it was so vulgar.
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09:04 PM
MidEngineManiac Member
Posts: 29566 From: Some unacceptable view Registered: Feb 2007
Yes, I do understand Mark Twain as I grew up within 2 hours of Hannibal, MO and his time period. It's just that I wasn't living in that time period.
If you dont like what was written in that time period, what the hell are you doing reading it ?? or are you delusional enough to think the past will re-write itself to meet your politically-correct standards?
I like Mr. Twains works as he wrote them...anybody that dont, is free not to read them.
[This message has been edited by MidEngineManiac (edited 01-13-2011).]
An odd one I remember the old song “My Boomerang Won't Come Back" by Charlie Drake. The song has a repeated line that says “practiced till I was black in the face”. "Black" was changed to "blue" on the version played by some southern radio stations in 61-62.
Here’s the original, can't find a copy of the altered one:
In the original version of this song, the refrain was "Practiced till I was black in the face, I'm a big disgrace to the Aborigine race." This was altered on later pressings to "Practiced till I was blue in the face."
[This message has been edited by spark1 (edited 01-13-2011).]
Does it bother anyone when they edit movies for TV? Seems like the same kind of deal to me.
Actually--ya it does.....
If I've seen the "full version" at one time, then later watch an edited version-- I feel like I've been ripped of on content, plus I get pissed that somebody else is deciding what I can and cant watch/ hear.
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07:22 AM
frontal lobe Member
Posts: 9042 From: brookfield,wisconsin Registered: Dec 1999
It is no surprise that people of today don't actually THINK THROUGH the issue, and just react emotionally.
Because if you THINK about it, words carry different INFERENCE, and different WEIGHT or INTENSITY at different times in history.
So, sure, homosexual is offensive. But 25 years ago there wasn't the DEGREE of insult behind it (largely because people have decided to be much more offended more easily in 2011).
The N word, which I shouldn't even have to refer to as the N word, but I have to due to the societal vitriole at the mere MENTION of the word, was always offensive, to be sure. But it didn't carry the weight and inference in Mark Twain's time, (and indeed even 60 years ago) that it does now. Unfortunately, people of today examine the original artists and writers by the standards of today, compared to the standards of the day in which the book or song was written. Instead of trying to actually THINK about that (which would require actual use of your brain. People should try it sometime.), the people of today (not all. but a lot) just emotionally react.
Funny how the liberal people think nothing of their forms of censorship, and criticize conservative people for censorship.
Seems a bit of a coincidence, that Elton John has just become a 'father' (BLECHHHHH), and this has happened at the same time? Because, I have had it on good authority for MANY YEARS, that E J was, in fact, the ' little homosexual' in the song. ( The little homosexual with the ear ring and the make-up ,yeah buddy, that's his own hair...)...a reference to Elton John spending thousands and thousands on hair-weaving, because he was going bald.
[This message has been edited by fierofetish (edited 01-14-2011).]
Starting at 8pm Friday night, the Edmonton, Canada classic rock radio station K97 will play the recently banned Dire Straits hit, “Money for Nothing,” nonstop and unedited for an hour in protest of a Canadian regulator’s decision to ban the original version of the song, first released in 1985, because it contains the word "fa---t.."
“We’re not afraid of repercussions. We have never had a complaint in the 25 years we have played the song,” K97 Music Director Todd James told FOX411. “We will play it in its entirety and unedited as we have always done and if someone wants to file a complaint we will take it from there."
But K97 may be alone.
Most Canadian radio stations that play rock music have been bombarded with phone calls from listeners unhappy about the ban of the quarter-century old Dire Straits hit— still, despite the many complaints, the majority of stations don’t plan to break the rules and broadcast the forbidden tune like the Edmonton station.
“The audience reaction is ‘Are you kidding me?’ There is a lot of disbelief. This song was a major hit and we have played it a billion times on the radio and we never even thought it was an issue until the ruling came out,” David Farough, Vice President of Brands and Programming for Corus Entertainment, which owns and operates 52 radio stations from Toronto to Vancouver told FOX411.
“The CBSC does some very good things, but they don’t always make the best decisions,” Farough said.
Music directors and DJs from Corus stations manned the phones all day Thursday and directed angry listeners to call the CBSC and complain. But Farough said that his stations will not buck the ruling like K97 and play the banned version. Some of Corus’ classic rock stations are going in another direction and plan to stop playing the Dire Straits hit altogether instead of playing the edit.
“It has become a credibility issue,” Farough says. “Sometimes it is better not to play the song. We are leaving it up to the individual markets.”
“Money for Nothing”, written by Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler and famed rock star Sting, neither of whom returned queries from FOX411 by deadline, is a satire of the boom of MTV rock stars in the eighties. It is written from the perspective of a blue collar worker who, when jealous and ticked off, refers to the rockers as the offensive f-word.
An offended listener complained to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council last year about the song’s inclusion of the homosexual slur, and on Wednesday the CBSC ruled that the use of the gay slur breaches the national broadcast authority’s code of ethics. The CBSC ruled that the song can be played on the radio in an edited form without the slur.
The CBSC ruling panel said that even though the song has been accepted for the past 25 years it does not mean that its lyrics are acceptable today.
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation which protects the rights of gay and lesbian individuals here in the United States told FOX411 they don’t make it a practice to comment on Canadian issues, but Helen Kennedy, executive director of the Canadian gay-rights group Egale championed the decision to Canada’s Globe and Mail.
“It’s the word that is used most often in hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation, which we know are the most violent, against gay men,” Kennedy said.
The unprecedented ban raises concerns about other golden oldies with lyrics that would be offensive to politically correct modern ears, like Bob Dylan’s use of the n-word in the song "Hurricane" or maybe even Bruce Springsteen’s “yellow man” in “Born in the USA.”
The sudden crackdown on “Money for Nothing” has freedom of speech advocates concerned that this week’s ruling represents a slippery slope for any song that could be interpreted as offensive in hindsight.
“It is concerning that the CBSC has focused on one word rather than what this song is about,” Cara Zwibel, director of the Fundamental Freedoms program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association told Fox411. “I hope we won’t head down a slippery slope, because this opens so much up to question since there are many songs people could consider offensive. We think there needs to be a wide space for artistic expression.”
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04:02 PM
Scottzilla79 Member
Posts: 2573 From: Chicago, IL Registered: Oct 2009
Satire is lost on the stupid. The song is written in the voice of an ignorant man. I don't think anyone here is, but If you are sticking up for use of the word "homosexual" in this song, you are a walking irony. The same goes for Twain and Tom Sawyer. Portraying bad behavior is not the same as endorsing it.
When the Rolling Stones appeared on Ed Sullivan they had to change "Let's Spend the Night Together" to "Lets Spend the Evening Together".
There's a line in the Stones' "Satisfaction" that had to be changed for 60's US airplay...."trying to MAKE some girl" to "trying to DATE some girl." It was left as-is on the album release though and a lot of DJ's at the time just played the album version to get around it.
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07:06 PM
Flamberge Member
Posts: 4268 From: Terra Sancta, TX Registered: Oct 2001
Satire is lost on the stupid. The song is written in the voice of an ignorant man. I don't think anyone here is, but If you are sticking up for use of the word "homosexual" in this song, you are a walking irony. The same goes for Twain and Tom Sawyer. Portraying bad behavior is not the same as endorsing it.
Excellent point, and true as the day is long. But try to make someone who is emotionally wrapped up in their offended point of view understand and no amount of rational conversation in the world will reach them. It doesn't work that way anymore, unfortunately. Reason has left us for the stars, and we are alone with ourselves.
