Profanity In Songs, Keeping It Real or Over The Top?
How many of you enjoy hearing profanity in your music? Call me old school, but it doesn't really work for me.
That's not to say that there aren't songs where it has some context and is used to make a point.
But even in those songs, often it just doesn't seem to sing well in my opinion.
The first song that I recall hearing a swear word in it was the Isley Brothers "Fight The Power".
I was a little kid when it was released, and when it came on the radio there was a beep to get rid of the offending word.
When one of my older brothers purchased the album, I was able to hear the un-edited version.
Now, I was and am a big fan of the Isley Brothers.
And "Fight The Power" actually had some context and what I thought was a purpose to their using the expletive in the refrain: I try to play my music, you say my music's too loud, I try talking about it, I got the big run around, and when I roll with the punches, I get knocked on the ground, by all this bullsh#$ going down So, the use of the expletive there to me, was in context and made sense.
But a lot of songs today appear to be gratuitous.
In fact they don't appear to even have any shock value, since a lot of it is almost every other word.
Now before any of you accuse me of being part of the morality police, I understand that a lot of people's normal speech patterns are filled with what I recall amusingly from a Star Trek movie as "colorful metaphors".
And maybe artists and writers believe that they are just "keeping it real".
OK, I get that, as far as it goes.
But I have a hard time hearing the word motherf&^%er sang with a melody, and can respond to it with, "yeah, that really flowed well".
Now, I'm sure that it "flows" better in rap/hip-hop, because that's more about cadence with speaking, and lots of attitude.
But really, are you able to listen to that in a ballad without cringing? I can't.
I have occasionally found myself making use of "colorful metaphors" at times, but I just can't bring myself to include that in a lyric.
My best friend asked me to make a song I had written about the end of his marriage a little more raw.
When I asked him what he meant, he said he wanted me to include some "colorful metaphors" to drive the point home.
I told him that I understood his pain, but that just wasn't my vibe.
In fact, I would probably break out laughing during the recording if I was trying to sing profanity.
So, what are your thoughts on profanity in music? Does it work for you?
That's not to say that there aren't songs where it has some context and is used to make a point.
But even in those songs, often it just doesn't seem to sing well in my opinion.
The first song that I recall hearing a swear word in it was the Isley Brothers "Fight The Power".
I was a little kid when it was released, and when it came on the radio there was a beep to get rid of the offending word.
When one of my older brothers purchased the album, I was able to hear the un-edited version.
Now, I was and am a big fan of the Isley Brothers.
And "Fight The Power" actually had some context and what I thought was a purpose to their using the expletive in the refrain: I try to play my music, you say my music's too loud, I try talking about it, I got the big run around, and when I roll with the punches, I get knocked on the ground, by all this bullsh#$ going down So, the use of the expletive there to me, was in context and made sense.
But a lot of songs today appear to be gratuitous.
In fact they don't appear to even have any shock value, since a lot of it is almost every other word.
Now before any of you accuse me of being part of the morality police, I understand that a lot of people's normal speech patterns are filled with what I recall amusingly from a Star Trek movie as "colorful metaphors".
And maybe artists and writers believe that they are just "keeping it real".
OK, I get that, as far as it goes.
But I have a hard time hearing the word motherf&^%er sang with a melody, and can respond to it with, "yeah, that really flowed well".
Now, I'm sure that it "flows" better in rap/hip-hop, because that's more about cadence with speaking, and lots of attitude.
But really, are you able to listen to that in a ballad without cringing? I can't.
I have occasionally found myself making use of "colorful metaphors" at times, but I just can't bring myself to include that in a lyric.
My best friend asked me to make a song I had written about the end of his marriage a little more raw.
When I asked him what he meant, he said he wanted me to include some "colorful metaphors" to drive the point home.
I told him that I understood his pain, but that just wasn't my vibe.
In fact, I would probably break out laughing during the recording if I was trying to sing profanity.
So, what are your thoughts on profanity in music? Does it work for you?
