Mopower

I heard this song on the radio tonight. It was No Surprise by Theory of a Dead Man. The song had the words "fuck" and "shit" in it. The first fuck was cut out completely. Then shit was allowed and the second fuck or fucked rather was uncut and completely noticable. Why do they cut out some words and leave others? This wasn't a raw track from a CD the DJ was playing because they said it was the band's newest single. Any insight?

Patman

Someone fucked up.

mndtrp

A question I've always had, was how is it done? Does an artist record two versions, or does someone else go in and 'cut and paste' for lack of a better phrase.

I suppose this could apply to movies as well.

FinkPish

Usually the record company will send a censored version out to the radio stations for airplay. All of the elements in the song (vocals, live instruments, synths, etc) are usually recorded separately and then mixed together, so it is easy to cut out a single word or two in the vocal track without interrupting the flow of the song. Other times the station will edit out the words by reversing that word or section that contains swearing (usually done with rap music)

Movies are similar; the dialogue is re-recorded to a separate stem on the mixing stage, which is also handy for redubbing the movie into a separate language. That way they can cut in a new line without cutting up the music and sound effects.

j123vt_99

not thread crapping, but there was a thread recently about how profanity is "bad" on the radio, but some classic rock songs (the who comes to mind) have curse words... it might give you more info

Decker

Has anyone heard a censored rap album (like they sell at Wal-Mart)? I borrowed a friend's version of The Marshal Mathers LP, not realizing it was edited. It was completely unlistenable, like Emenem's mic was broken. Furthermore, every "shit" was allowed, so he was still cursing like crazy, even though you had no idea what he was rapping about.
I have no idea why they produce edited CDs like that. I understand cleaning things up for radio play, but if you like the music enough to buy the album, why get that one? It's still not appropriate for kids and it sounds terribly disjointed with all the silences.
Furthermore, I never understood why Wal-Mart insisted on selling those edited albums only. I mean, they're no worse than an R rated movie, and they have those in gross flowing out of their $5.50 bins all over the store. What's the difference? Why the hypocracy?

Gil Jawetz

WalMart. That's the only reason. They are such a high % of the market that labels must cater to them specifically.

DJLinus

Years ago I bought Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) off of BMG, but didn't know that they only offered the edited version. All of the swears are replaced with clashing swords and other kung fu movie sounds. At least the edits fit in with the group's theme.

auto

That's pretty funny.

Mr. Cinema

I thought Walmart was going to start testing "Parental Advisory" cds in certain stores. If that becomes the norm, then they're going to take even more business away from other retailers.

Otto

Yep. Walmart has such incredible buying power in the music market that they can basically make or break an album just by refusing to sell it in their stores. They've also done this for some bands in the past, so they're not afraid to use that power.

And the reason they have that power is, oddly enough, because they do indeed sell one hell of a lot of music. Parents prefer to buy edited albums of their kids favorite artists, which will get smashed once the kid realizes that they are edited. It's a vicious circle.