Guidelines for Profanity in Song Lyrics
Since I’ve been djing at WRIR, I’ve found the task of screening songs for profanity to be pretty daunting. You would think that it’d be easy to find the word “fuck” or “shit” in a three minute long song. However, artists make it unnecessarily hard. So, to help musicians use profanity in a more screener-friendly way, I offer the following advice -
- Cuss and get it over with. Profanity should be introduced into the song as early as possible - if not in the first verse, then early in the chorus. Don’t wait until the third verse, like Freeze the Saints.
- Enunciate clearly. This is a forlorn suggestion in the world of indie rock. However, if bands could just belt out the profanities and go back to mumbling the rest of the lyrics, I’d be okay. That especially goes for those Canadians.
- Please don’t mix down the swearing. Again, I’d point the finger at one of those recent Canadian bands. Don’t swear in the backing vocal track. And if you must, then enunciate.
Lastly, don’t use the word “fucking” just because you can’t think of another trochee for a lyric. Try “tickling”, “giggling” or “hugging”. Now, isn’t that nicer?
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