GuessWho

Nikki Sixx's book said Dude Looks Like A Lady was about Vince Neil.

Jason

I always thought they were talking about Prince.

And I think the "censored" version is the single, which also greatly shortens the "I want my MTV" opening with Sting.

JTH182

mcnabb

Mark Knopler quote when he was asked about the lyrics in the song:

The lead character in "Money for Nothing" is a guy who works in the hardware department in a telvision/custom kitchen/refrigerator/microwave appliance store. He's singing the song. I wrote the song when I was actually in the store. I borrowed a bit of paper and started to write the song down in the store. I wanted to use a lot of the language that the real guy actually used when I heard him, because it was more real. It just went better with the song, it was more muscular. I actually used "little faggot," but there are a couple of good "motherfuckers"in there. I wanted to do a second version that way but I never had time. I'd still love to be able to do it. Even if just the band had it, because it would be the real version. I mean that is the way people speak. I think people still get the general idea. You can use other words that will suggest the general feel.

It also has to do with the context in which a song's received. If we walk into a hardware store and hear someone say, "Look at that motherfucker" it means nothing to us, but if you hear it in a pop song . . .

If you hear it in New York it means nothing. If you're living in Tallahassee then maybe it's a different thing. There is no way that I would except people to receive all that in the spirit in which it was intended. They'd probably think I was just being vulgar.

Evan Meadow

Winner of the internet today!

flagstone

The "pussy" version was probably Pantera's cover.

Kdogg

Until I read this thread I never knew that there was a censored version of this song. Like most people of my age and music leanings, I've heard it thousands of times.

Alan Smithee

Prince's "Erotic City" was out around the same time and was rather controversial, but I heard it on the radio all the time with no censoring. Just a couple weeks ago I heard a station play it and was surprised to hear just about every word in it censored, even ones that weren't on the "seven dirty words" list!

dhmac

I don't recall it ever being censored. Back then it seemed like the only words that were censored were the so called "7 words you can't say on TV" due to FCC regulations (although cable TV isn't regulated by the FCC, most cable channels follow the same guideline with the only exceptions being the premium channels such as HBO, Showtime, etc.). The idea of "Politically Incorrect" terms ( such as "faggot") being considered "wrong to say" didn't really take off until the 1990s and that's when those words also started getting censored. Conversely, some of the original "7 words" now seem to be allowed on TV (such as the word "shit").

I looked for the "Money For Nothing" video online and didn't find any that were censored:

Version at MTV.com
<embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:video:mtv.com:18177/cp~vid%3D18177%26uri%3Dmgid%3Auma%3Avideo%3Amtv.com%3A18177" width="512" height="288" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" base="."></embed>

Version at Veoh.com (this video has the "MTV2" label in corner)
<object width="410" height="341" id="veohFlashPlayer" name="veohFlashPlayer"><param name="movie" value="http://www.veoh.com/swf/webplayer/WebPlayer.swf?version=AFrontend.5.7.0.1496&permalinkId=e178381Gmta9Kdw&player=videodetailsembedded&videoAutoPlay=0&id=anonymous"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.veoh.com/swf/webplayer/WebPlayer.swf?version=AFrontend.5.7.0.1496&permalinkId=e178381Gmta9Kdw&player=videodetailsembedded&videoAutoPlay=0&id=anonymous" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="410" height="341" id="veohFlashPlayerEmbed" name="veohFlashPlayerEmbed"></embed></object>
Watch Dire Straits - Money for Nothing in Music**|**View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Version at Vimeo.com
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/77804133" width="500" height="280" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>

Dire Straits - Money For Nothing from Berussa on Vimeo.

rocket1312

Good point. "Censored" is a bad description. It's the single version that omits that verse. And it's not so much the intro that's shortened, but the outro. The outro goes on for like 3 minutes on the version from the cd. I also learned that the LP version is shorter than the cd as well. It still has the second verse, but I think the outro is shortened like in the single.

Obi-Wanma

I remember the words "cleanness" and "meanness" being censored in the radio version of OPP, because of what they're intended to rhyme with.