Do you think swear words help or hinder the song ?

[artpaul]

I have my own opinion but I just would like to see what people here think ?

[BluesBro]

I've been wondering about this too. In my song Telephone Card (which is on my Music Forte Page as of today, I have a line that says, Christ I must be pissed!.

The rest of the song and in fact all my songs are very polite, but the line fitted the situation i the song. I almost cringe every time I sing it because I don't want to offend anyone. I suspect those who weren't impressed have forgotten about their reaction by the time it gets to the next verse as it is a humorous song, but I always wonder if I should tone it down.

As to your question, it wouldn't imho stop it selling, especially given what we hear on the radio every day of the week.

[Reconsiderate]

Every song is different. For some artists, it is appropriate to swear. For others, it is deplorable.

It's like saying: "What do you think about eating meat? Is it right or wrong?" Well, for a giraffe it's probably wrong. For a lion, it is appropriate.

There are different species of people.

[1undread]

If your a gangsta then you should probably swear.
What kind of Gangsta doesn't
For Satinist Swearing is optional.
Christians its a big no.

Personally I'm not interested in the language. It could be french or Japanese. I just want to hear good music!

[Greg]

Depends on your target audience. If they relate to swearing, then I guess you should swear.

Personally it doesn't do much for me. Usually when I hear swearing in the lyrics, it's senseless.

[artpaul]

There have been some interesting points here so far but now I wanted to ask:

Would you like it better if the swearing was loud or soft ?

[Greg]

That's a musical question. All about dynamics right. Silence can be very effective in a song if it's not dragged on too long.

The music has to rise and fall and generate the same level of emotion from the listener.

Also, the dynamic of a word could give it an entirely different meaning.

If somebody whispered softly, "please" it could be understood as polite, or even inviting...

But if it were yelled, it might be understood as "torment".

[SamJVa]

Swear words get bleeped out on radio and in videos, thus raising my curiosity about what is being said. If I want to buy the CD, I'm faced with the choice between the explicit lyrics versions or the clean version (artists have to do clean versions in order for Wal-Mart and other family oriented stores to even carry the CD). I usually buy the explicit version because I'm an adult and I can. Sometimes both versions are on the CD. Usually when the artist has to make the effort to write real lyrics to replace the profanity, the end result is a more creative version of the song. If radio played the clean version instead of the "bleeped" version, I suspect most people would find the "real" lyrics more satisfying.

I have not found a reason to use profanity in my songs. That does not mean that I won't.

[CapricornKing]

FOUL language is a turn-off for alot of people, in reality it shows how short people vocalbu~~~ are. DJ's, HipHop Artists need to keep it clean.

[1undread]

[artpaul]

[Reconsiderate]

There's this guy who has erected a museum to Hitler, claiming that no one will ever be as great as he was, since he was the greatest leader in the history of mankind. The museum is entirely legal and legitimate.

To say that swear words are intrinsically wrong is like saying that this museum is better than one that vividly depicts the horrors of a concentration camp from a first hand Jewish perspective.

[KatsuCadence]

I think the important thing to point out hear is that if swear words were the only defining factor in selling records, no pop radio artist would make a dime. .....since the radio version is the first most people would hear.

Secondly, that said, I think swear words (or lack there of)COULD affect sales negatively or postively, but are hardly a direct cause of record sales.

But to say swearing increases record sales is ignorant (nothing personal).

Take for example Brittany Spears. While some wouldn't mind it, more might like it and the rest of us wouldn't listen if it killed us, the likelihood of swear words HELPING sell BS (ha ha ....) records is not very good. In fact, I would say that Brit probably wouldn't have sold near as many, considering her biggest followers are teeny boppers who's parents wouldn't approve of a foul-mouthed slut singing "I'm not so @#$% innocent mother@#%$".

A buddy of mine actually changed the word $hit in his song because he heard a live recording of it and thought it made him sound unintelligent and trashy.
I think bands have used language as a means to and end, but I honestly believe that most people write lyrics the way they talk or how they think...so usually the language used is a representation of how that person speaks in conversation....which is one reason why I think many listeners identify or don't identify with that music.

[Reconsiderate]

[artpaul]