Radio edits
2007-10-11
I've noticed two notable things happening to the music on the radio these days.
At first glance, I gave myself the impression that there don't seem to be so many dedicated radio recordings around any more. It used to be that often songs were recorded with another vocal track so that the radio edit was different to the original in recording as well as edit. The words to be edited out were replaced with others that where possible kept most of the meaning, or at least preserved grammar, so that on hearing the radio edit you didn't necessarily there was anything done to it.
On reflection, it occurs to me that perhaps I'm just listening to the wrong albums these days, and perhaps there are still plenty of dedicated recordings that - since they sound like they could have been intended that way and I haven't heard the album version - I hadn't recognised as such.
Definitely this annoying 'radio dubbing' (normally a small time-distortion of the recording replacing the offending words) is on the rise. It's easier and cheaper, I'm sure, but it doesn't sound good and let's face it, it doesn't really do anything to disguise the swearing, except to comply with some or other regulation that the word in full isn't audible. Often the dubbing leaves in the start or end sounds of the word, and it generally makes me wonder why they bother.
Although I'm sure in some places it's been done to save some cash, I think a lot of the time tracks have been dubbed because they rely so much on the bad language that they can't be reworded to get rid of it. This is evident in the rising popularity of certain urban genres, but also becoming more prevalent elsewhere. I'm suspect it wasn't so long ago that My Chemical Romance's Teenagers wouldn't have been an acceptable single at all, for example.
Don't get me wrong: I don't advocate the use of bad language but I'm not on a crusade to get rid of it. I don't much care (and the effort for a crusade should more rightly be spent on those who perpetrate very bad grammar). But to accept songs that cannot work without the sense of swearing and air them on the radio with only the literal word removed suggests to me that the standards for such things are out of date, and not really useful.
The other thing I've noticed is that the dubbing has started to take out really daft things. I'm sure it's not being done by the original recording team at all, because quite frequently I hear things that now have more restrictive edits than I have heard before. On top of that, the things considered unsafe are spreading; not only swear-words now but drug and firearms references. I'm pretty sure (although I never got the chance to hear it again so I may be wrong) that I once caught an edit of Wheatus' Teenage dirtbag that included the line 'Her boyfriend's a dick, he brings a [mute] to school'...
What exactly is the point? Can we keep teenagers (or whoever) away from drugs by hiding their names in songs? No, because it's widely agreed that the best way to keep teenagers away from drugs is to tell them all about them and let them realise the dangers. Guns? The guy who decides that he should take a gun to school because the guy from a Wheatus song did is likely to do so even if the word 'gun' wasn't in the song: he's probably the sort of person who could be set off by anything, and would be stopped only by well run and well-funded schemes to spot schoolchildren who might need some help.
Besides, if they like the music, people will buy it - that's the point - and the rest of the album probably has far worse.
One thing it certainly does do is reduce my enjoyment of the radio. I'll listen to most music, but my enjoyment is still ruined if the song has to be cut to shreds to be played.
On a related note, can anyone remember how the radio edit of Alanis Morrisette's You Oughta Know goes? 'It was a slap in the face, how quickly I was replaced/ and are you thinking of me when you [blank] her'?
At first glance, I gave myself the impression that there don't seem to be so many dedicated radio recordings around any more. It used to be that often songs were recorded with another vocal track so that the radio edit was different to the original in recording as well as edit. The words to be edited out were replaced with others that where possible kept most of the meaning, or at least preserved grammar, so that on hearing the radio edit you didn't necessarily there was anything done to it.
On reflection, it occurs to me that perhaps I'm just listening to the wrong albums these days, and perhaps there are still plenty of dedicated recordings that - since they sound like they could have been intended that way and I haven't heard the album version - I hadn't recognised as such.
Definitely this annoying 'radio dubbing' (normally a small time-distortion of the recording replacing the offending words) is on the rise. It's easier and cheaper, I'm sure, but it doesn't sound good and let's face it, it doesn't really do anything to disguise the swearing, except to comply with some or other regulation that the word in full isn't audible. Often the dubbing leaves in the start or end sounds of the word, and it generally makes me wonder why they bother.
Although I'm sure in some places it's been done to save some cash, I think a lot of the time tracks have been dubbed because they rely so much on the bad language that they can't be reworded to get rid of it. This is evident in the rising popularity of certain urban genres, but also becoming more prevalent elsewhere. I'm suspect it wasn't so long ago that My Chemical Romance's Teenagers wouldn't have been an acceptable single at all, for example.
Don't get me wrong: I don't advocate the use of bad language but I'm not on a crusade to get rid of it. I don't much care (and the effort for a crusade should more rightly be spent on those who perpetrate very bad grammar). But to accept songs that cannot work without the sense of swearing and air them on the radio with only the literal word removed suggests to me that the standards for such things are out of date, and not really useful.
The other thing I've noticed is that the dubbing has started to take out really daft things. I'm sure it's not being done by the original recording team at all, because quite frequently I hear things that now have more restrictive edits than I have heard before. On top of that, the things considered unsafe are spreading; not only swear-words now but drug and firearms references. I'm pretty sure (although I never got the chance to hear it again so I may be wrong) that I once caught an edit of Wheatus' Teenage dirtbag that included the line 'Her boyfriend's a dick, he brings a [mute] to school'...
What exactly is the point? Can we keep teenagers (or whoever) away from drugs by hiding their names in songs? No, because it's widely agreed that the best way to keep teenagers away from drugs is to tell them all about them and let them realise the dangers. Guns? The guy who decides that he should take a gun to school because the guy from a Wheatus song did is likely to do so even if the word 'gun' wasn't in the song: he's probably the sort of person who could be set off by anything, and would be stopped only by well run and well-funded schemes to spot schoolchildren who might need some help.
Besides, if they like the music, people will buy it - that's the point - and the rest of the album probably has far worse.
One thing it certainly does do is reduce my enjoyment of the radio. I'll listen to most music, but my enjoyment is still ruined if the song has to be cut to shreds to be played.
On a related note, can anyone remember how the radio edit of Alanis Morrisette's You Oughta Know goes? 'It was a slap in the face, how quickly I was replaced/ and are you thinking of me when you [blank] her'?
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