On Radio Edits

I woke up this morning and did a quick YouTube search to find Ke$ha's performance of her new single "Blah Blah Blah" from last night's American Idol (above). "Why?" you ask. Because I do not watch American Idol, but everyone and their mother has been hyping up this performance nonstop so I had to see how it turned out.

"How did it turn out?" you ask. The answer: Not good.

And the reason: Censorship.

"Blah Blah Blah" is one of the songs that best embodies the message Ke$ha's album Animal delivers. Ke$ha describes the song as turning the way men sing and rap about women in popular music back on them, to throw the attitude back in their faces. From Ke$ha's recent interview with Digital Spy: "If you listen to any rap or pop station, the way men talk to women is just so cheeky and a little bit degrading. I'm not offended by it though - I just think it's funny. This track ["Blah blah Blah"] is meant sarcastically. It's me throwing it back."

And the song works, it really truly works! It's a great track, a good, fun party song, and she definitely succeeds in singing about men the way men typically sing about women. So why, then, would her record company decide to take what is a great pop song with a real purpose and butcher it on national television and radio?

And by "butcher," I mean editing the HELL out of the lyrics (click here to listen to the original):

"Just turn around, boy, let me hit that
Don't be a little bitch with your chit chat
Just show me where your dick's at"

turned into:

"Just turn around, boy, let me get that
Don't be a little chick with your chit chat
Just show me who you are"

And

"Boy, come on, get your rocks off
Come put a little love in my glove box
I wanna dance with no pants on"

turned into the completely nonsensical:

"Boy, come one, knock it off
You gotta lotta talk in your glove box
Wanna dance with your pants on"

Finally,

"I wanna be naked
And your wasted"

turned into:

"I wanna make out
Shut your mouth"

My argument is not about the integrity of songs and how radio-friendly editing/censorship is degrading to the art of making music. My bone to pick here is about the fact that inappropriate songs that are sure to cause controversy* are consistently chosen as singles and then butchered for radio play and live performances. What's the point?

I could handle (and by "handle" I mean roll my eyes) at turning "sin" into "this" for the radio version of Britney Spears' last single "3," which, might I add, is a song about threesomes. So, again, I must say WHAT IS THE POINT? Why must you choose songs that you know the FCC will rain down fiery hell on you for playing as-is on radio and force your own hand into creating banal radio edits? Why not just release those songs as digital singles and release radio-ready tracks to radio? Why must we be forced to listen to cheesy sound effects in the middle of our jams when you can't think of anything worthwhile to change "shit" to? Why, why, why?!?!?!

To close, this is not Ke$ha's fault, and I think she did a laudable job trying to make "Blah Blah Blah" appropriate for American Idol's audience. Hopefully, she'll have to do less work when performing her next single, which she just announced will be my one of my favorite songs from her album - "Your Love is My Drug."

UPDATE 7:49am 19 March 2010:

The other half of my anger, which I did not spell out here but wanted to come back and discuss, is about the lack of creativity with the edits (shit always turns into stuff, dick turns into junk or "D", and so on) AND the fact that they do nothing to protect sensitive ears from getting the original message anyway. If a 12-year-old hears, "Shhhhhiiiiiiiiii [RECORD SCRATCH!]" on the radio, he or she knows the word is shit. We all know. It's pointless and lame and it is basically a joke how the record industry goes through the motions of editing songs. The end!

UPDATE 9:46am 20 March 2010:

Edited to clarify my statement. I changed "inappropriate" to "songs that are sure to cause controversy" because I am not personally judging any song as inappropriate. Again, I just want to be clear.

While I'm here, I will just say that I am not advocating for artists to make music that is more appropriate for young audiences. Those audiences have musicians that cater to them (typically people who also have shows or movies produced by Disney). I don't think someone who makes records that are meant to be spun at dance clubs only legal adults can enter have to do anything with their music. Their management or whoever should just make better decisions about what songs are played for network performances and on the radio because of FCC regulations and the fact that radio edits are lame and ineffective.