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Song titles hit bleeping new low
Two singles have made news at radio
lately because of something their
titles have in common. It's a word
that generally isn't used in polite
conversation.
The f-word, as we'll refer to it,
is prominent in the titles and unedited
versions of F-word It (I Don't Want
You Back), the deceptively sweet,
R&B-based debut from 20-year-old
singer/songwriter Eamon, and Willa
Ford's A Toast to Men (F-word the
Men), a hip-hop and dancehall-fueled
anthem that employs the subtitle as
its refrain.
Eamon and Ford are hardly the first
artists to wax potty-mouthed in the
recording studio. Last year, Puddle
of Mudd scored a rock and top 40 hit
with She Hates Me, whose barely obscured
chorus was, "She f—-in'
hates me." And rap artists routinely
spew naughty words that are generally
bleeped on radio, just as those in
Eamon's and Ford's songs are.
What's different? The f-word is part
of these songs' titles, which adds
a new dilemma for DJs: how to announce
them.
Jeremy Rice, top 40 format coordinator
for Cox Radio, notes that at his home
base, Long Island's WBLI-FM, some
DJs introduce the song as simply I
Don't Want You Back. "Or they
call it the 'F It' song, or bleep
the word. At most stations, the management
does not recommend that we swear."
(For good reason: an FCC on-air ban
on the so-called "seven dirty
words," including the f-word,
is still in force.)
Jeff Wyatt, regional vice president
of programming for ClearChannel, adds,
"Nobody at top 40 radio is playing
the actual word. The edited version
of (F-word ) It is the one people
are playing. With (F-word) the Men,
the word is a little more obvious,
but it's still beeped, or there's
a space or something."
And the audience doesn't seem overly
perturbed. Dan Mason, program director
of Cleveland top 40 station WAKS-FM,
says, "We're 516 plays into (Eamon's)
song, and I haven't gotten one complaint
about it. What's interesting is that
we initially started playing it (only)
after 7 p.m., but then it became our
No. 1 most-requested song. And it
wasn't just teenagers calling in;
we actually had soccer moms who thought
it was amusing."
Rice concurs: "We don't get
complaints. Everybody knows and uses
those words. Every generation is going
to be more shocking (than the one
before it)."
"I think the floodgates have
been open for a while now," says
Edison Music Research's Sean Ross.
He cites Prince's 1984 single Erotic
City and Alanis Morissette's 1995
hit You Oughta Know, as well as more
recent examples by stars such as Nelly,
Liz Phair and, of course, Eminem.
While Ford's single peaked a few
notches below the top 40, Eamon is
No. 34 on the mainstream top 40 airplay
chart and No. 30 on the rhythmic equivalent.
Joe Riccitelli, promotion chief at
Eamon's label, Jive Records, says
the singer owes his success more to
passion than provocation: "It
started out as a novelty song. But
Eamon is singing from the point of
view of someone who has been jilted,
and I think people can relate to that."
And if Eamon expresses his heartbreak
in crasser terms than, say, Al Green
did, perhaps that's a sign of the
times.
"The culture has gone that way,"
says Wyatt. "It's difficult for
us to be a leading medium. We mirror
what culture is, so if the public
is clamoring for records that reflect
that kind of taste ... you can't stop
the train, you know?"
Source: USA Today - Elysa Gardner
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