Do you think swear words help or hinder the song ?

[GregK]

But if you are NOT looking at making it as some underground, hiphop, rap,hardcore or metal- let's say you want to be reaching the widest audience possible- ok then I'd say leave out the swear words and if you have to say something that could be risque' -say it with grace, eloquence and intelligence. maybe try more of a "Prince" approach and go with something more like 4NIC8-U

[artpaul]

I think there is something to be said about a shocked song that repeats a swear word or over annoying sex statement in such a way like Doing The But or She whore her itsy bitsy Pink Poka dot bikini that makes the artist stick out in such a way that if she or he ever does anything else I'm not sure anyone will even listen to it.

But this is true about other pop novelty songs.

Did you know Don McClean wrote other songs other than By By Miss American Pie ?

The song Don't Worry-Be Happy is not the only song the artist that wrote it did but because it has such a memorable hook it's perhaps the one you will remember best.

So I believe if you wrote a swear word song in such a way that the hook had the swear word and really made everyone laugh I'm sure it might give you a certain repetition that if you wanted to write serious love songs or truth songs I'm not sure any one would take then seriously.

[Joshua_Bourne]

Swearing in songs only helps "sells" if your delling ignorant buyers, but you still might hear some swearing in some of my songs from time to time. i wonder what that makes me?

[MrsPeabody]

[GregK]

Please -I want to clarify that I am NOT by any means considering any genres to be a bunch of igmoramuses! I use LOTS of foul language in my day-to-day amongst friends and loved ones. At work- of course I do NOT- but then again I suppose it would not do a good job of representing my fine employer if I were to say what's REALLY on my mind! Iron Maiden-one of my favorite metal bands- wrote songs from translations of the Egyptian book of the Dead (and by the way- the swear words are most of thimes only in between songs on the live recordings) and thier classic "Ryme of the Ancient Mariner" is a re-working of the Samuel Taylor Cooleridge classic- ie: these guys are FAR from stupid! -Anyhoo- what I am saying is that a lot of these different genres of music do NOT get the "heavy radio attention" that mainstream pop or rock does- so ergo- if it is not going to be played as widely- it would probably be ok to swear your @ss off. As I had mentioned previously- sometimes there just isn't a decent substitute for a swear word.

[GregK]

and yes- I knowe I haff bin misspellung werds. witch shoze I two cann be a fowl mouthed idjut myself!

[ChicagoMusicPromotions]

i have all genres of music on my site and they both are either clean and explicit contents. but my personal prefferance is

trance, house, dance , club mixes.

[Reconsiderate]

I think this is the key insight that people (including myself) overlook when they/we try to be too perfect, too godlike, too ideal:

[artpaul]

I guess I feel better when I can listen to what I can control.

Sure I agree that swearing can sell but I doubt I'll buy it.

I guess I prefer songs that are cleaner lyricly but this said I guess I'm not the best example with how I write my songs.

But I must also admit if it is humorous I might also listen to something really violent but I'm trying not to.

[MrsPeabody]

I was listening to some Insane Clown Posse (you know, I don't know how to spell this word...hrm...) and I realized that even though they are pretty damn funny, I can't listen to them too many times. The songs really lose their charm once I've listened to them enough times to anticipate the lines...

As ArtPaul said, sometimes you want to listen to something violent or racy or whatever and sometimes that's good. But I think this kind of music has a limit and does not endure because it quickly loses it's shock-value appeal and fades from favor.

I would not but an ICP album (the tracks I have are on some mix CDs a friend made for me) because I know I wouldn't listen to it more than a handful of times and then let it gather dust on my shelf...

Endurance is the mark of really good music... I think it says something that many songs that feature swear words and even graphic imagery do endure...

And thank you Reconsiderate. Yes, all should be human. Otherwise they're f*cking fake.

[Reconsiderate]

[djsmooth4lyfe]

Too much cussing ppl wont buy...believe me

[MrsPeabody]

[artpaul]

[MrsPeabody]