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Classic Dire Straits song Money for Nothing banned in Canada

2

23skidoo

Admiral
Admiral
Some years ago I interviewed the creator of the Cerebus the Aardvark comic book, Dave Sim. He pointed out something that has stuck with me - that while Canada likes to think we're the same as (and often better than) the United States in many areas, we do not actually have the equivalent of the First Amendment up here.

I was reminded of this when the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (think FCC) announced this week that the 25-year-old Dire Straits classic "Money for Nothing", which contains a popular derogatory statement for a gay person, but uses it in an ironic manner, can no longer be played in Canadian media in its original form. All because some politically correct person with too much time on her hands in Newfoundland made a complaint about a song that has aired on radio and TV internationally for decades.

Here's a news story on the decision. If you're really so sensitive that words bug you, you best not read this because it contains nasty collections of letters that when collected together create certain words:

http://www.calgarysun.com/entertainment/music/2011/01/13/16877771.html

The Sun is a generally conservative newspaper, which doesn't line up too much with my leanings, but I'm all for the editorial they ran blasting the decision:

http://www.calgarysun.com/entertainment/music/2011/01/13/16876721.html

This decision, coming only a few days after the announcement that censored versions of Mark Twain's novels will be published in the US, and after a number of high-profile cases of public people being crucified for using certain words, makes me wonder if people aren't becoming a bit over-sensitive. Somewhere, George Orwell is going "I told you so".

Alex
 
It's not banned. It's censored. You have to air a "clean" version instead. For what it's worth, I haven't heard the uncensored version of Money for Nothing play on the radio in the US my entire life. They usually cut the entire verse, which is annoying.
 
I've heard the uncensored version on the radio dozens of times, but maybe that's because I live in Virginia? I don't know.

I'm not surprised. And I'm also not surprised that some PC thugs wouldn't get the whole point of that song.
 
Yeah, it's disappointing, but not surprising. I haven't heard it play since I've been in Virginia, so it might be different. Philadelphia radio stations routinely excise the entire second verse, though.
 
I find it super annoying here when they censor like "cocaine" or "joint" out of a song. Some of it is self-censorship but you certainly can't broadcast whatever here because of first amendment laws, certainly when it comes to obscenity anyway.

What's weird is a lot of songs that used to play uncensored have been increasingly played in cleaner versions. Steve Miller's "Jet Airliner", Pink Floyd's "Money", "Mama Kin", Alice in Chains "Rooster" and so on.

Then again, we clean all that stuff up on many of the TV channels as well but that is more acceptable I guess than Huck Finn. I'd have more respect if they would outright not play the material than cutting it up.
 
Really? I'd prefer to erase a word than to deny access entirely. You can hear it, decide you like it, and then go find the original that way.
 
23skidoo said:
Some years ago I interviewed the creator of the Cerebus the Aardvark comic book, Dave Sim. He pointed out something that has stuck with me - that while Canada likes to think we're the same as (and often better than) the United States in many areas, we do not actually have the equivalent of the First Amendment up here.
Click to expand...

Uh.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms said:
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
Click to expand...

Also, I don't really see what the big deal is here; this sort of thing happens all the time in broadcast media. To use a more recent example, when was the last time you heard an uncensored version of Ce-Lo Green's "Fuck You" on the radio?
 
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The Pogues' classic Fairytale of New York has the line 'You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot' (in the context of a marital argument) and this has sometimes been bleeped out for radiotype. One (awful) cover version changed the line to 'you scumbag, you maggot, you're cheap and you're haggard'! The mind boggles.
 
Captaindemotion said:
The Pogues' classic Fairytale of New York has the line 'You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot' (in the context of a marital argument) and this has sometimes been bleeped out for radiotype. One (awful) cover version changed the line to 'you scumbag, you maggot, you're cheap and you're haggard'! The mind boggles.
Click to expand...


Hell, I remember listening to a favourite song of mine on an internet radio station and the word 'erection' is bleeped out. It's used for description purposes and isn't meant to be sexual in any way. It's actually describing a piece of artwork.

The song's 'And If Venice is Sinking' by Spirit of the West, and it describes a statue found in Venice.


We made love upon a bed
 That sagged down to the floor
 In a room that had a postcard on the door
 Of Marini's Little Man
 With an erection on a horse
 It always leaves me laughing​

​
 
Captaindemotion said:
The Pogues' classic Fairytale of New York has the line 'You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot' (in the context of a marital argument) and this has sometimes been bleeped out for radiotype. One (awful) cover version changed the line to 'you scumbag, you maggot, you're cheap and you're haggard'! The mind boggles.
Click to expand...

I'm fine with it being bleeped out. I hate when they replace the word, though. The only exception I can tolerate is when it makes the song practically unplayable on the radio. Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You" would be useless without the hook. It's not as good with "Forget you", but at least it still works musically.
 
i hate the censored version of Gold Digga. it ruins the flow of the song to take out the 'nigga'. okay, i'm a whitey and i don't particularly like the word, but hell, it's two black guys singing the song, so they're obviously okay with it.

i never knew Money for Nothing had 'fag' in it. i've obviously always been listening to 'clean' versions...
 
Mr. Adventure said:
I find it super annoying here when they censor like "cocaine" or "joint" out of a song. Some of it is self-censorship but you certainly can't broadcast whatever here because of first amendment laws, certainly when it comes to obscenity anyway.

What's weird is a lot of songs that used to play uncensored have been increasingly played in cleaner versions. Steve Miller's "Jet Airliner", Pink Floyd's "Money", "Mama Kin", Alice in Chains "Rooster" and so on.

Then again, we clean all that stuff up on many of the TV channels as well but that is more acceptable I guess than Huck Finn. I'd have more respect if they would outright not play the material than cutting it up.
Click to expand...

What's funny is they will play "Cocaine" all day long, but cut out drug references in other songs.
 
barnaclelapse said:
I've heard the uncensored version on the radio dozens of times, but maybe that's because I live in Virginia? I don't know.
Click to expand...
I heard the unexpurgated version of the song plenty of times on the radio back in the '80s. When did they start altering or deleting that "unacceptable" word?
CorporalClegg said:
Knopfler hasn't sung the song that way in 20 years either.
Click to expand...
He wants people to keep buying tickets to his concerts. He knows it's better to play it safe and knuckle under to PC pressure -- all in the name of being "sensitive" to his fans, of course.
junxon said:
i thought it would be for the video. that cgi is painful to look at nowadays.
Click to expand...
It wasn't called CGI back then -- just computer animation. Of course the video looks extremely crude today, but that makes it all the more fascinating to see just how far the technology has come in only 25 years.

Actually, the people who should find "Money for Nothing" offensive are furniture movers and appliance installers. The song paints them as ignorant louts who think rock musicians make tons of money for doing hardly any work.
 
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