Edited Songs on CDs... Do they ruin the CD?

[Unknown Entity]

I have a CD, 'Gasoline' by Theory of a Deadman, and it is edited. A lot of the songs have had swear words censored in it.

I honestly don't see the point on edited CDs, because:

1. It ruins the CD/song,
2. Its just as bad as the CD sticking in the player,
3. They are never censored properly,
4. You can always work out what word it is that has been censored, because they are never censored properly!

I hate it!!! It ruins the CD, and all the great songs that are on it!!!

What do you guys think?

(oh, and I didn't know if this should go here, or over in music... sorry!)

[Tallulah]

I mainly download my music now, and I purposely search out versions of songs I want with the 'Explicit' tag to avoid just this awful editing you hear on the radio

I had to laugh one day when I saw the 'Clean' tag next to Our House by Madness. As far as I'm aware, that song does not have any cussing in it...

[Unknown Entity]

My friend the other day was playing a song aloud on her phone that was edited... it was editting words that to me are normal slag - nothing that bad. I was laughing because it was edited sooo poorly, that you could hear the word they wanted to cover up, but couldn't hear the words after it for a few secs! It really did sound like a sticky CD... a waste of a good song, lol!

Listen to The Balck Eyed Peas? One of their songs, i think it was 'Get Retarded' had to be changed to 'Get it Started'. I thought it was great that it wasn't edited, and just changed because it is just one of those catchy songs you get in your head. Think about listening to a sticky copy of 'Get Retarded'... make you glad they changed it, lol...

[Lucid]

Not trying to be a killjoy here, but how is this topic intellectual?
You want the unedited version, then download it. That simple. Discussion over.

[Unknown Entity]

Firstly, this is debatable. Either you hate edited CDs, or you think they do good. Is it ok to be interested in peoples opinions? If people don't wanna post an opinion, fair enough - they don't have to.

Secondly, yes. I DO think this is intellectual discusion. There could be many reasons why people choose to by un/edited versions of the CD - dur to moral, religious, or rather simple reasons.

And Thirdly, I wouldn't download the unedited version over the internet, because there is something arty about having the CD - stuff you WOULDN'T get if you just clicked the mouse a few times over iTunes. So remember: just because you download your music, doesn't mean everyone else does, ok?

[Lucid]

Fair enough, but if you really wanted it to be a topic to debate about then you should have talked about the moral and religious standpoints in your opening post and discussed it a bit.

Right now it just sounds like a "Hey guys, do you like edited or unedited CDs?" kind of talk.

[LocoColt04]

On that note, I'd like to either see some more actual debate of the topic, or it'll be moved to the Music section tomorrow.


To help get us started, I'll offer the counterpoint:

NO. Edited songs on CDs do NOT ruin the CD. You know why? Because you picked up the edited CD. If you wanted the explicit version, buy the unedited CD. If you are not old enough to buy said product on your own, ask a parent to tag along. If your parent doesn't agree with the content on the disc, tough luck.

While I'm not 100% gung-ho about censorship of music, I can at least recognize why they release two versions of most explicit discs. Sometimes a song is edited not because of a specific word (profanity, etc.) but because of a certain topic (sex, drugs, etc.). The radio, for the most part, cannot play these songs as their original versions because ANYONE who has access to a radio can hear anything they want to. Most of the time, edited CDs are essentially the same thing the radio stations have, and can therefore be sold to everyone.

I can see the other side of the argument, I suppose. Why have edited CDs? Small kids shouldn't listen to that stuff any way, right? Well, true enough, but... eh. Record labels make a ton of money off the stuff, so I don't think they're complaining.



I don't come with statistics, just general knowledge. I suppose I could look things up, but we all know that edited CDs exist and why. It would seem pointless to do so.

[Bleachfangirl]

Oh, and by the by, there's a thread almost just like this that you could go and talk about censoring CDs in General Discussions. It's called "Explicit Lyrics" or something. I really don't think this has much space for intellectual discussion.

[Pete]

I agree with bleachie. This is a music deal.

Case in point. There are always two versions of cd's as several people have stated. The clean version is what you'd hear on the radio and does NOT have the little explicit lyrics warning sticker. I personally think it's a good idea. It allows for kids to buy the music they like while protecting them from stuff they probably already know about. If they want the curses, then they buy the unedited version. Simple enough.

And because I'm bored, I'll play devils advocate.

1. It doesn't ruin the songs. Usually they just have an awkward millisecond silent pause where a word should be. Chances are if you're singing along, you're just gonna go and sing the word that's supposed to be there. Plus, it allows your song airtime on the radio, because just think how many song would not be on the air if editing was not an option.

2. I guess you mean the cd skipping or something? Either way, it's kind of the same as point 1 that I make.

3. Take that up with the FCC/ guy the FCC hires/ producers/ sound engineers. They're the ones who are in charge of what's ok to play on the radio and what isn't. Some cds are done reasonably well, but I know form personal experience that Eminem's Slim Shady LP was a terribly edited album. Most notably, I forget the name of the song, but Dr. Dre drops a mother f-in bomb, and it comes out literally sounding like "mother ufkin." But some cds are decently edited; it's just a matter of who's at the mixing board that day. Plus, I get the feeling that most songs are just rush jobs when they're edited because a cd usually yields 2-4 singles, and has 12-15 tracks. When a band has a hit, they know it, so they put an effort into those songs and leave the rest.

4. It doesn't matter if you can figure it out. You're supposed to be able to figure it out, but not supposed to be able to actually hear them say whatever they say. Censorship is a weird thing.

[Sean]

If you don't want the edited version, don't buy from Wal-mart.

You can always find the original albums online through retailers like Amazon or similar.

I fail to see how this is even an issue.

[Furore]

I personally hate to purchase a CD and find out that one or more tracks are censored. It tends to make me swear more than any song would be capable of. Here's why...

There are times I've converted a CD to a series of mp3 files, and for some reason one or two songs have a weird pause 15 seconds in. While it may be present for only half a second, it registers in my head and annoys me more and more after several dozen plays. I can remedy this by re-ripping the track until it sounds smooth.

BUT I can't do this with a censored CD, as it's in the track itself. So I'm always forced to hear whatever they use to censor. A small pause in the track is the most common one, sometimes the background music still plays, sometimes the song goes quiet completely for that one second.

And there's that some songs may lose some of their message. I honestly couldn't give half a damn about kids getting this music. The music here carries labels warning of themes and course language unsuitable for kids AND half the kids are swearing when they start school anyways. Or before it if exposed to others who use those words.

What I'd like to see is a large sticker saying: L This compact disc is rated L for Lame asses. It contains strict censorship and isn't worth buying solely for the fact that it has been edited to the point where the songs can sound absolutely shit.
Just as some albums that are censored aren't marked, or if they are, just not well enough. That's what really pisses me off really...

I do consider myself an audiophile though. My fave albums have been ripped into a raw format taking up a few gigs an album...
My two cents.

[Unknown Entity]

I just have ordered a CD off Amazon, and they didn't even tell me whether it is edited or not I haven't yet got the CD because its being imported, so i have my fingers crossed that its unedited, lol! Oh, and if ANYONE says that Amazon DOES tell you if the CD IS edited, you are wrong. I checked the site, and my mothers e-mails over and over again, and it DOES NOT tell you!

Now, there are sites which sells you edited CDs without you knowing - in the case of my Gasoline CD. When i first heard a jump in the CD, i thought it was a faulty disc, but it was sealed when it turned up. I then started to think it was mt player, so i tried it in my playstation... it still jumped. There was not one scratch on the disc. I told my mum, who checked over her mails, and she saw nothing about the CD being edited.

And the worst thing is that the swearing wasn't censored in the lyric booklet that came with it - and to tell you the truth, the swearing isn't that strong, with the 'F' word only said a few times... I have heard worse, lol!

[Victoria]

Actually, I don't know about the amazon of your country, but the US branch does.
Take Disturbed's album Sickness, as an example.

http://i30.tinypic.com/6egdu1.jpg

It does indeed tell you whether it's clean or explicit lyrics, right in the product description.

This really doesn't belog in ID, in my opinion, it's not even an issue.

[Hjortkayre]

Like a few people have said before me, if you don't like the Edited versions of CDs, and prefer the original, then buy the original. Leave the edited version on the shelf for someone else.
However, if a site doesn't tell you wether the CD you are ordering is edited or not, then you just download the songs instead. I've done it before, and it worked perfectly. And the US Amazon shows if some CDs are edited or not.

[Kaiser Dragoon]

I have been unable to get to the internet for the past 6 months, and I hate ordering online. Put that with the fact there are NO good music stores within a 40 mile radius (or more) from my house and we have a problem.

Wally World, unfortunately enough, happens to be the only resource I have at the moment until I get net in an apartment, so, edited CD's really hurt, because editing other words or blank spots in the place of profanity does indeed ruin the song.

I am going to have to wait until I get net back before I can even order the new Disturbed CD coming out soon.

P.S. For those of you wondering, I confiscated a computer at my favorite little place to hang out