When They Swore on the Radio

Published by Toronto Mike on October 20, 2009 @ 11:00 in Music, Radio

swearsIs it me, or did they used to air more tunes with swear words on the radio than they do now? I'm not talking about late night live-to-airs, I'm talking about middle of the day F bombs.

From memory, here are songs with swears I heard completely uncensored on CFNY / Edge 102 back in the day. I always took a mental note when terrestrial radio aired swear words so these have been tattooed in my memory for a while now.

Green Day - Longview
They smell like shit and say you're fucking lazy

The Tragically Hip - Fireworks
They said you didn't give a fuck about hockey

Radiohead - Creep
They say you're so fuckin' special

Matthew Good - Hello Time Bomb
He's turning shit into solid gold

Nine Inch Nails - Closer
He wants to fuck you like an animal

The Violent Femmes - Add It Up
They wonder why they can't get just one fuck

Alanis Morrisette - You Oughta Know
She wonders if you're thinking of her when you fuck her

The Tragically Hip - At The Hundredth Meridian
They remember every single fucking thing they know

Maybe it's just that I listen to less radio now, but I could swear I used to hear more swears on the radio.

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10 Responses to "When They Swore on the Radio"

Pete McPhedran
October 20, 2009 / 11:45

I asked Alan Cross about that one time, he said it was up to the DJ whether they played the cleansed one or the uncensored version. He said some would play the clean one if it was earlier in the day, and others would just click the buttons and play the version that came up on screen.

--Pete

Wayner
October 20, 2009 / 11:46

They are censoring more than before (even in the night hours) but then again there is a lot more swearing in songs now then there were back in the day...and also the edge is no longer so "edgy"

Horonymous
October 20, 2009 / 12:41

I'm puzzled why Sirius radio cuts out the f-bombs.

Down Goes Brown
October 20, 2009 / 13:36

I seem to remember "crown of shit" getting through on NIN's version of Hurt when it first came out.

LEW
October 20, 2009 / 14:46

How can Spears get away with that "if you seek amy" crap - at least with the songs above the language was justified to the meaning of the lyrics.

Jessie
October 20, 2009 / 14:50

I haven't heard a single song get censored since 2001. However, I think the songs themselves aren't utilizing the four letter words as much.

Toronto Mike
October 20, 2009 / 17:28

@Down Goes Brown

I totally remember hearing NIN's Hurt uncensored. Still my favourite NIN song, btw.

Lorne
October 20, 2009 / 22:19

I remember not too long ago CFNY had to do some on-air apologies because someone complained about Cubically Contained (those paranoid little fuckers).

It boggles my mind what gets censored these days. The Pot keeps "fucking hypocrites". But for some reason, they censor "Ass, so" (foot in mouth and head up ass, so), which is weird because it isn't really "asshole".

Depending on the phase of the moon, Green Day might or might not be censored. American Idiot will almost always have "fag" censored-- though Holiday won't have "fag" censored. But then Holiday recently has "Zeig Heil" censored.

Nothing beat MTV censoring out the word "Cocaine" in Jesus of Suburbia. So glorifying sex and drugs to minors is ok, but you better not say the name of a drug.

Toronto Mike
October 21, 2009 / 09:19

I'll never forget how I felt when I first heard the radio edit of Everlast's "What It's Like". It was horrible. Fairly harmless words like "whore" and "green" were censored.

Mike from Lowville
October 21, 2009 / 13:09

That's why I like Mohawk College radio.

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