Censorship

So, one thing I've noticed since moving back down to Columbus - at least one of the major radio stations censors the songs they play... or at least one. The band Nickelback has a song playing on the radio right now called "Rock Star" and all the Cleveland stations leave it as is when they play it. Now, there's a lot of stuff in the song lyrically, well... just about all of it, I don't agree with. But because of some of the band's other songs, I'm more inclined to hear it as a social commentary that there are people out there who thirst for this kind of lifestyle. But I may be wrong.

Anyway, the Cleveland stations don't censor any of it and that's even prompted discussion on a morning show of one radio station about it. One of the DJs on that show has an 8 year old daughter who listens to the station and he has been in conversation with her about that particular song. I think it's been a good discussion - about drugs and the effects of taking them. Why we don't want to do it. I think it's a good thing for her to be grounded in what's right and have her parents be open to talking about it, which will hopefully prove to her that they are safe people to talk to in the future.

But now down here in Columbus at least one radio station has censored parts of the song - editing out certain words such as drugs. A couple of things to note - when you edit out as many words as they do in that particular song, why even play it at all? Plus, you can still tell what the word is, regardless of them editing it out. And, if you listen to another station here in Columbus, you can hear a non-edited version. So why edit it? If you believe so strongly that the public shouldn't hear certain words, then why play the song at all? And, even when you edit out particular words, I would still contend that there are many other parts of the song that are just as inappropriate without the "bad" words. Oddly enough (and I promise this will be my last complaint), they edit out certain things but not others. For example, throughout the song they edit out the word 'drugs' but then don't edit out the word 'pills' which definitely refers to the drugs they have edited out. Also, they edit out the word 'assholes' but not the word 'ass' later in the song. So I guess my last complaint is that if you're going to edit, be consistent.

Maybe my frustration lies in the fact that I like the song musically and miss hearing the unedited version. Would I have the same complaints if I had only heard the song edited and then moved to Cleveland where they don't edit it? I don't know.

Kate