105.9 the Rock here in Nashville apparently played the version from the 1974-1978 Greatest Hits album there for a while. It had "Threshold" leading into the single mix of "Jet Airliner." Now they play the Book of Dreams version, but that has the single edit ("funky kicks") spliced in. That is how I usually hear it now, although Hippie Radio here in Nashville (when they play the album version) has it as "funky tish goin' down in the city." (But they sometimes still play the single version, as well. Not sure why they don't do the same splice that the album rockers do. I actually created that same splice on my own computer here at home.)
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Question about obscene content or cursing on the air.
- Thread starter radioislife2020
- Start date
No one said otherwise. But album rock stations never played the "funky kicks" version until after the "wardrobe malfunction." What one has to do with the other, I don't know. But it led to an overall crackdown. Same apparently with the "son of a bitch"/"son of a gun" controversy over "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."
I didn't even know that I had been hearing a censored version of "Jet Airliner" until I got home with the Book of Dreams album, and heard it uncensored. The lyrics were printed right there on the inner sleeve of the record, so there was no missing it. I was 13 at the time, so no big deal to me.
I remember that my mother was offended about the overall message of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" (making a deal with the devil), NOT over the specific lyric of the song (only the "son of a gun" version was ever played on the local station), so when I bought the 45 (which had the "son of a gun" version on it), I made sure to sneak it into the house.
Years later, when I played "Devil" on my first station, the P.D. admonished me about the "son of a gun"/"son of a bitch" thing, but since I played it from the 45, I knew that it was okay, and told him so. (It was my understanding that some stations unknowingly played the "son of a bitch" version from the CD, and caught flak from listeners from doing so. So far as I know, the only place where the "son of a gun" version could be found was on the Billboard Top 10 Hits of 1979 CD, although that may have changed since then. I have no objections to playing the "bitch" version, although I understand that some listeners (particularly elderly ones) might take offense to it, so I never played it.)
A few years later, I played the live version of Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places" from CD, which I didn't know contained the "kiss my ass" line. The P.D. there warned me about it, while I was playing it, so I told him that I would listen for it, and clip it, which I did. I forgot about it after that, but the next day, he told me that the G.M. had been listening, and commended me for clipping it.
My only objection is whenever a record contains an obscenity, but there is NO warning from the P.D. of the station not to play it. I am convinced that the P.D. of my first station just simply didn't do his job. (Where I had played "Devil")
I agree with you. When you see something that interests you, you can mouse over the thread title (without clicking on it) to see the first few words of the first message within the thread. That is what I did, and determined that the thread was of interest to me, and decided to pursue it further. But Frank was right to amend the subject line. He has amended one or two of mine in the past, as well.
Only stoners were listening to AOR back then.
I agree on right-wing talk, and as I've mentioned, hosts saying "the very government that licenses this radio station was installed illegitimately because hundreds of thousands of election workers stole the election from His Highness, Donald TrumpIIRC, didn't Johnny Cash's classic "A Boy Named Sue" have '...the son of a b**** that gave me that awful name"?
Good move, although within the context of this thread, I really believe that my use of the word "$h1+" in the lyric of "Jet Airliner" should NOT have been censored, although I understand that the software here probably does not differentiate between quoting a song lyric (which I was doing) and cursing (which I was not).
Please keep politics out of this thread.
Yes, and the line "any damn thing but Sue" was also censored, although since they did such a clean job with the edit, many folks never knew this.
I seem to recall that even the CENSORED version substituted "who the f**k are you?" (my own censorship that time) with "who the hell are you?" Can't remember if this was on the single version, the album version, or just on a specific version created for radio airplay. I don't have this one in my personal collection.
94.7 KMET played several songs without editing including:
1) “Working Class Hero” “F word”
2) “Opera Star” (Neil Young and F word)
3) “Gloria” by Jimi Hendrix (great version and the P word”
In 1996 on a trip to Ohio, I heard “Water’s Edge” by Seven Mary 3 on WEBN and the “F word” was not edited.
1) “Working Class Hero” “F word”
2) “Opera Star” (Neil Young and F word)
3) “Gloria” by Jimi Hendrix (great version and the P word”
In 1996 on a trip to Ohio, I heard “Water’s Edge” by Seven Mary 3 on WEBN and the “F word” was not edited.
The single was released specifically for radio airplay when first released in 1977. I remember it very clearly at the time, because I had it in my pile of 'new' music to dub to tape cart. It was somewhat rare to see the label specifically listed as: "Radio Edit". Of course, I couldn't wait till we had a copy of the album to hear what was edited. A couple years later I had the opportunity to ask Steve what he felt about the edit. He originally fought it with the record company, siting the Who getting away with salty language. The difference was at the time; if you wanted Top 40 airplay, better clean it up. Steve is an artist, but also a very savvy businessman.
That also went to stations as a Radio Edit version.
It was released as a Radio Edit single, but was a horrible edit. The also badly cut a lot out of it to fit on a single. Not many stations played the edited single version, mainly because AOR stations had been already playing the album version for at least a month prior.
I have come across many singles labeled "radio edit" since then. But I am younger than you, so maybe it was different in '77.
It is worth noting that in both cases, those single versions were ALSO sold in the stores that way.
Supposedly, Steve Miller (in concert) occasionally sang "Jet Airliner" with the substituted "funky kicks" line. We were getting ready to see him live at the time, so I took a mental note of that. But when they performed they performed "Airliner" (as an encore) here, he sang the "funky $h1+" version. I was impressed that he shook hands with some fans down at floor level after the show. We were in the balcony, so we couldn't greet him.
The courts base it on "community standards."
I only had a top 40 in my small town, so that was the only way that I heard it for that month or so. You are right that most songs are cut for LENGTH (rather than to clip out obscenities) for radio airplay. I remember that Bob Seger's "Night Moves" SINGLE came out about a month ahead of the album, so the single version was all that they had for a while there. But with "Against the Wind," it was the SECOND single from that album, so the album version was already out there, and stations played that. I found a single of it in a consignment shop years later, and having never (knowingly) heard the single version, I picked it up. REALLY bad edits on that one! (I have occasionally heard stations play it since then, now that I know what to listen for.)
Paul Pena's original version of "Jet Airliner." Steve changed some lyrics on it, but not that one!
1977 was a different time. Radio stations and a handful of local TV stations were the way people got media and entertainment. "Full Service" stations were still around, and for the most part AM was still king. As Gr8oldies said; FM was for "stoners" back then, and Top 40 served a much wider demographic than CHR does today. AOR stations got away with a lot more back then, mainly because pop stations didn't see them as a threat. (proved to be their mistake)
I was 16 and working part time at a Top 40 station doing production, dubs, or whatever they needed me to do. Was happy to work holidays, weekends, overnights, or drive the station van around and look for window stickers then pull people over. It didn't matter, I was hooked.
And their listeners were probably MUCH less likely to complain about the occasional obscenity in a song.
Exactly. This is key to understanding this topic. The FCC doesn't monitor radio stations for content, automatically fining stations when a song or a voice includes obscene content or cursing on the air. It's all up to listeners filing complaints with the FCC, and the FCC following up on those complaints. If no one complains, it's as though it didn't happen.
I worked at a station that played a "radio edit" of "Won't Get Fooled Again", and it was.....awful.
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