Favorite Radio Edits

[Deleted member 76036]

I was driving in the car the other day in DFW and The Black Eyed Peas - Where Is The Love? came on Mix 102.9. Although they were playing a radio edit, where the beginning of the song was cut off, they weren’t playing my favorite radio edit. My favorite is where the intro is sung first, before the chorus.

Other songs with great (and sometimes hard to find) radio edits:

Boyz II Men - Motownphilly
SWV - I’m So Into You
All 4 One - So Much In Love
Uncle Kracker - Follow Me
Uncle Kracker - In A Little While
Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl (whistles, etc. instead of simply muting the swear words)
Outasight - Tonight Is The Night - This song had a version where the f-word was edited out in a way you would never know. However many stations would just play a version where the swear word was reversed.
Starship - We Built This City (with the DJ bit, instead of without)
Papa Roach - Scars (Intro Edit)
Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone (Intro Edit)

Speaking of “radio edits” where the swear words were simply reversed, it still makes me cringe when I hear this, knowing a better radio edit is available. I think that reversing the swear words sounds brash and usually stops the flow of a song.

Anyways, I’m sure there are a lot of other special radio edits out there. What are your favorites?

 

[Kelly A]

None

 

[radiofan2023]

Third Eye Blind - Semi Charmed Life. The line about "crystal meth" was reversed in one edit, but I've heard it blanked out in another edit.

 

[101tm]

I don’t believe these are official edits, but I’ve always liked how Entercom (and now Audacy) utilized “extended” intros that were basically part of the instrumental of the song mixed in to the beginning of the song or its instrumental intro portion if it’s short. For example, their edit of “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen has an instrumental from the chorus for 10-15 seconds that then mixes in to the track’s actual short intro. A lot of these edits sound like they have to have been done within the company, but most sound pretty cool. Here’s an example at the 17:00 mark of “Sucker” by the Jonas Brothers. I haven’t heard iHeart use these edits.

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

None

Yep.

The top of the OP list is one that both sticks out for me and is emblematic of the whole "radio edit" thing back in the day. IIRC there were a number of songs that were the "no rap" radio edit like TLC's "Ain't Too Proud to Beg." Soften up the instrumentation and the mix, take out the "rap" in the middle. Make it a little more palatable for the markets who weren't quite ready for that just yet.

It's one thing to take out the "swear words." It's another thing to do a "pop edit" or a "no rap" version of a song. Was Michael Bivins really so scary that he needed to be excised from Motown Philly for the midday shift?

 

[radio2023]

Yep.

The top of the OP list is one that both sticks out for me and is emblematic of the whole "radio edit" thing back in the day. IIRC there were a number of songs that were the "no rap" radio edit like TLC's "Ain't Too Proud to Beg." Soften up the instrumentation and the mix, take out the "rap" in the middle. Make it a little more palatable for the markets who weren't quite ready for that just yet.

It's one thing to take out the "swear words." It's another thing to do a "pop edit" or a "no rap" version of a song. Was Michael Bivins really so scary that he needed to be excised from Motown Philly for the midday shift?

The most notorious example was TLC's "Waterfalls". Even VH1 played the "no rap" version, despite the fact that it's a very positive rap.

 

[radiofan2023]

Another edited song I just thought of - Attention by Charlie Puth. When I heard it played in SF (I don’t remember the station), they changed the line “every party in LA” to “every party in the Bay”. I don’t think that many songs get regional edits any more, can you all think of any others from the last few years?

 

[tall_guy1]

On the T Pain song 5 o'clock, a station in KC changed his autotuned "I know you be getting so horny" to "I know you be getting so H [robotic "nnnnnnnn."]