"I Calls Em Like I Sees Em!"

Aug 14, 2008

FCC or MAGIC?

I don’t understand what is up with the radio, I don’t know about you guys but I listen to various stations throughout most days. My main 2 stations are 89X (best morning show) and 95.5 with 96.3 as the 3rd runner up but at work my little radio doesn’t get many stations in so I listen to 93.1 or 105.1…they both play a decent mix of a lot of different crowd pleasing music which is better in the office so I don’t offend anyone. Now, when I’ve just had it with blah music I plug in my ipod or hit up Pandora radio & listen to stuff that is a little less appropriate for work. So anyway, there is a point here…I’m sitting at my desk listening to 105.1 and “If It Makes You Happy” by Sheryl Crow comes on and I’m singing along and when I get to “why the hell does it make you so sad” the phrase is over in the song & I’m still singing it. It had been a while since I had heard it so I thought maybe I was in the wrong spot so the part comes back around again and I don’t sing but instead realize that the words “the hell” have been removed it now just says “why does it make you so sad”. It makes me sad because part of the lyrics have been removed, not silenced or bleeped but removed altogether. This is reminiscent of “You Don’t Know How it Feels” by Tom Petty on 93.1, instead of saying “Let’s roll another joint” it actually says “Let me get to the point, let’s roll another road” and that doesn’t even rhyme! On 105.1 & 93.1 Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long” they run the lyrics as “We were trying different things & trying funny things” instead of “smoking funny things”. Similar, in Paul Simon’s “Late in the Evening” he says “I stepped outside to smoke myself a J” which is not omitted on any radio station & isn’t that kind of hypocritical? Also, in a Fall Out Boy & a Panic at the Disco song the word Goddamn is used repeatedly & generally just silenced & I guess I understand that one but what I don’t understand is this.96.3 & 95.5 don’t omit the Kid Rock lyric of smoking funny things nor do they omit the lyric by Sheryl Crow or Tom Petty. 89X doesn’t omit any of them…not even the Goddamn’s which is so refreshing because one of the songs says Goddamn in it about 20 times & listening to it on 96.3 sucks because the song is mostly silent, it’s kind of like watching 8 Mile on VH1! Now, I assume that 89X has different rules because they are technically Canadian right? So, why is it that 96.3 can play “smoking funny things” and “why the hell” but 105.1 & 93.1 can’t? Do you think it’s more of a “we choose not to play those lyrics” as opposed to them not being allowed to play them? And if that’s the case then why isn’t Paul Simon edited? It can’t be because he’s a “classic” because Tom Petty is as well so why does he have to be edited? I guess I just get very frustrated when I’m at work, in my car, at home…wherever & I’m trying to sing along to some song and the whole thing is edited. How does anyone ever know what a song actually says these days? Regardless of why they can, I want to thank 89X for playing actual music in its actual state & only bleeping out the bigguns like F$#%, Sh*#, C$#t…etc. Ok, that’s it for my ramble, thanks for reading!!
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