F**K YOU!

If you somehow missed the title of this post, please be aware that this video is NOT SAFE FOR WORK!

Some questions about songwriting in general...

Does "offensive" language help or hurt?

Do you ever censor yourself for radio airplay or because you're afraid of a negative reaction?

Are you ever extra explicit in your writing?  Why?

Post your thoughts below...

Comments

[Phil Johnson]

Many of my songs have explicit language in them. Though working in the comedy music arena, it's a bit more expected. I think if the language speaks to your target audience and it seems artistically true to yourself, there's no harm.

For myself I write the way I speak and in the form that my sense of humor takes. It's never for the sake of just being dirty. But the premises and stories lend themselves to it.

One of my most popular songs is called Asshole. It's about the jerky co-workers everyone has to deal with. And I've been told that the sing-along section at the end is cathartic.

[David Hooper]

Just finished reading "Delivering Happiness" by Tony Hsieh of Zappos. Talks about a study which says allowing employees to use these words at work helps to build a community...or something like that.

Good book, by the way.

[chairman ralph]

I think it's more shocking to use words with loaded meanings that force people to sit up and pay attention, as the Pistols did with that classic opening line on "Anarchy In The UK" ("I am an antichrist/I am an anarchist")...not an f-bomb dropped there, but it sounded big and great then, and it sounds big and great now.

[Sarah Mitchell]

Brilliant! This is a great tune.

[Michael Meade]

Yes, I have written songs like that, but it was because someone had really made me mad, and it was just a part of the healing process. I would never have published it! But I think I sang it at a party once, hoping to embarass the person it was about. HA!

It's funny, because I don't find this offensive, but I was offended by Kayane West on the VMA's so badly, that I turned off the show and went to bed after the first chorus. On the other hand, the way Taylor Swift rubbed HIS nose in it was done with style.

mike