Sign of the Times: One of my favorite 80s rock classics is RUINED

[Pogo]

I thought you might be able to take the thirty seconds to Google the lyrics. The board censor won't allow posting them here. The Story Of Hurricane

I didn't bring it up, so it's your job. Thanks, wasn't familiar with this one either. If they're playing this (straight) on the radio, that's a good thing to see a crack in the wall. But some pseudo-Puritan only has to complain to the FCC to make an issue out of it.

Why does your link give songwriting credit to "Ashley Frangipane and Tim Anderson"? Who the fuck are they?

 

[Jarlaxle]

Don't know, don't give a rat fuck.

 

[defcon4]

I don't care who did it FUCK THEM..............That's my crystal clear answer to this subject. BTW my 21 days are up.

Congrats!!!!! Now you can say fuck, fucking fuck, fuck the fucking fucker, fuck the fucking faggot fucking fucker...and so on and on and on....

 

[emilynghiem]

I'll be damned.....................the faggots of the PC Police really took it out...............

Bunch of damned Faggots...........................Yeah.............they suck..........listened twice to be sure......

Except there aren't any "PC Police" in a position to make that edit.
That would be ....... commercial media.
See above.

They edited the original content because OMG they said faggot..............bunch of dang faggots................we allow people to protest and yell they are glad soldiers died, say Islam will dominate and death to America.........but have to SENSOR a song because someone might get offended.......

Well I'm offended they are offended.......If it offends you change the dang channel.........................You are either for the 1st or not....................say faggot and I'll sue...............pfft.............

Nope. "Offense" has nothing to do with it. They're afraid of losing audience. Losing audience means losing ratings, and ratings is how you sell advertising, so losing audience means losing money. And that's the one thing they do care about.

That's why everything they play is gonna be safe, sanitized, comfortably-numb unchallenging lobotomized pap. And editing out "faggot" is part of that. Always has been.

"Faggot" is a sharp edge. Can't have edges. Edges make people think, and that's what art is supposed to do. Well, commercial media isn't about art --- it's about creating zombies to milk with ads. And you can't create zombies if you have edges.

Dear Pogo I disagree with you.
This song was a hit with the audience that this music markets to.

If you are not familiar with the song, that may explain it.
It isn't the context you think it is, but the other way.

The conservatives I know, the 80s Reaganite types, were all for the song as is.

It's the nitpicky PC crowd that found something wrong with it when it wasn't a problem before.

When this song was popular, this issue NEVER came up.

It must have happened some time afterwards.
I will ask my bf if he knows when it was, because I would have remembered
if any stink was raised about back in the 80s when MTV first blew up.

Everyone was open about it and talked freely about it, such as what Boy George looked like, and that was okay to talk like that back then.
Some time later it became uncool to make jokes and make fun of people's "lifestyle choices."

 

[emilynghiem]

Oh [Expletive]!

I was listening to an all 80s rock channel, discussing with my boyfriend WHICH 80s ballad or rock classic best typifies the 80s genre.

We were listening to Dire Straits "Money for Nothing" which I pointed out not only had the 80s rock mixed with a cameo solo by Sting of the Police, but the content captured the whole 80s MTV video culture.

I was deeply enjoying this kickback to the good ol' 80s when people could listen to all kinds of genres of music on the same channel and not diss each other's preferences,
when my bf burst my bubble:

He pointed out that some of the funniest jabs in the lyrics:

See the little faggot with the earring and the make up
Yeah buddy that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire.

had to be BLEEPED out because of Political Correctness and
offending the gay community.

OMG

Sadly, I listened and sure enough, the lyrics were blanked out.
The song was officially ruined.

I don't know WHEN this decision was made, but I missed it.

The song as I remember had always been played in full without censorship.

So not only does this song represent the 80s
but also the difference with the later onset of censorship for fear of offending minority
groups outside the conservative culture that has been under attack, especially
since the prochoice-prolife politics became more publicly divided in the 90s with Clinton taking office,
and has continually escalated with attackers and supporters of Bush vs. Obama,
both with no tolerance of the other's political agenda and beliefs.

I can't even listen to the canned radio channels without being reminded
of what politics has done to American culture, media and music.

Damn!

Makes me really miss the 80s even more, when it was okay to be a Madonna fan
and share MTV with rappers and heavy metal and anyone else with diverse tastes in music.

What happened?

And no, they don't bleep or edit for fear of offending the gay community or any other community. They bleep or edit for fear of losing revenue. Commercial music outlets are supposed to be sonic wallpaper --- nothing should stand out or be noticed. In this case you had to lean in close and have it pointed out. If something gets let through that might perk somebody's ears and be noticed, like the word "faggot", that would risk them losing audience.

Remember, commercial entertainment outlets are about mass appeal to make money -- not about art. If it were about art, well god damn they'd run whatever was worthy. But it's not --- it's about mass media manipulation.

Yet...locally, at least one station that plays the edited version of Money For Nothing also plays the UNCUT version of Dylan's The Story Of Hurricane. The same station also plays songs about serial killers with no hesitation.

And no, you don't have to "lean in close"...the gap is obvious to anyone familiar with any kind of music, and the missing verse is very plain to anyone familiar with the song.

"You" in that sentence was not the generic --- it meant literally second person, i.e. Emily (the OP) had to lean in close. I'm going by her own description in the OP. She hadn't noticed until somebody called her attention TO it. That's the whole point about leaving an edge in the song that might attract attention, and thereby wake people up, and thereby lose ad money. They don't want people waking up or paying attention --- they want zombies.

As already noted I'm not familiar with the song. I don't even know where the line in question is.

What's the deal with the Dylan song? Or are we all supposed to just ... know?

No Pogo it's not that.
All the versions I had ever heard up to this weekend were intact.

This weekend was the first broadcast I ever heard that had the words bleeped out
and YES it was OBVIOUS.

The song was interrupted. words were missing, not even replaced. the meaning was LOST.

YES IT WAS BLATANT
IT WAS OBVIOUS THE SONG MADE NO SENSE THERE

It was I had never heard it edited before!
EVER
I was shocked!

 

[Pogo]

I'll be damned.....................the faggots of the PC Police really took it out...............

Bunch of damned Faggots...........................Yeah.............they suck..........listened twice to be sure......

Except there aren't any "PC Police" in a position to make that edit.
That would be ....... commercial media.
See above.

They edited the original content because OMG they said faggot..............bunch of dang faggots................we allow people to protest and yell they are glad soldiers died, say Islam will dominate and death to America.........but have to SENSOR a song because someone might get offended.......

Well I'm offended they are offended.......If it offends you change the dang channel.........................You are either for the 1st or not....................say faggot and I'll sue...............pfft.............

Nope. "Offense" has nothing to do with it. They're afraid of losing audience. Losing audience means losing ratings, and ratings is how you sell advertising, so losing audience means losing money. And that's the one thing they do care about.

That's why everything they play is gonna be safe, sanitized, comfortably-numb unchallenging lobotomized pap. And editing out "faggot" is part of that. Always has been.

"Faggot" is a sharp edge. Can't have edges. Edges make people think, and that's what art is supposed to do. Well, commercial media isn't about art --- it's about creating zombies to milk with ads. And you can't create zombies if you have edges.

Dear Pogo I disagree with you.
This song was a hit with the audience that this music markets to.

If you are not familiar with the song, that may explain it.
It isn't the context you think it is, but the other way.

The conservatives I know, the 80s Reaganite types, were all for the song as is.

It's the nitpicky PC crowd that found something wrong with it when it wasn't a problem before.

When this song was popular, this issue NEVER came up.

It must have happened some time afterwards.
I will ask my bf if he knows when it was, because I would have remembered
if any stink was raised about back in the 80s when MTV first blew up.

Everyone was open about it and talked freely about it, such as what Boy George looked like, and that was okay to talk like that back then.
Some time later it became uncool to make jokes and make fun of people's "lifestyle choices."

Your observations of cultural shifts have merit, but I know way too much about the commercial music industry to believe they're making edits based on feelings. The commercial music industry is devoid of feelings. It just wants money, as much as it can find through whatever means will work. If that means adulterating the art, they'll have no qualms in doing that.

This is akin to the "liberal media" myth --- some people monger that myth, seemingly oblivious to how the corporate world works. It works on money -- not ideology. And make no mistake, when you're listening to an '80s music channel --- you're listening to the voice of Corporate.

You might be interested in this as a related story -- and I hope you can see why it's related.