Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Cuss words in songs?
- Thread starter pushbuttonfour
- Start date
To me, swearing in songs just screams "dumbass." The middle school kids in town swear constantly. Girls are the worst. Even in public, when speaking to librarians, business owners and employees. They think it's cool. It's not. They can't read an analog clock, but they can drop an "f-bomb" in every sentence. Stupid.
Use those words if you feel the need to. I doubt fans of Punk music will be offended. Perhaps this question should've been directed at fans of Punk music or other music that has more aggression than standard rock. I think it's useless getting opinions from people who aren't into that kind of music.
I like profanity. It almost always makes me smile or laugh. Profanity & fart jokes never get old. I like how certain words were used on Tool's Aenema album & the APC song Judith.
I like profanity. It almost always makes me smile or laugh. Profanity & fart jokes never get old. I like how certain words were used on Tool's Aenema album & the APC song Judith.
As far as punk bands, I might be wrong but I do not recall The Ramones or The Clash using cuss words.
To me using profanity demonstrates as much creativity as starting off every hip hop tune since 1980 with "Yo! Yo! Uh! Yeah!" Really? That's the best you could come up with? Way to go Shakespeare. 
Like anything else in this world, if you use it too often it loses its impact. Can you use profanity in a song? Sure. Do you need to? Not really, however if you don't use it and then all of a sudden you do drop an F-Bomb, it will have impact.
It's kind of like a guitarist that does 6 string sweep arpeggios all the time. If it happens in every solo it's kind of like "Shut up dude we get it. You can play. We don't care." However if Eric Clapton "Mr. Slowhand" himself suddenly throws out an Steve Vai riff with two handed tapping and whammy tricks, we'd all be standing there
The English language has many clever ways of dropping an insult without sounding like it. Leave the target to discover later that day that you called him a D without him realizing it at the time.
You do not need profanity, although I have to admit it IS fun to yell F*** at full blast.
Like anything else in this world, if you use it too often it loses its impact. Can you use profanity in a song? Sure. Do you need to? Not really, however if you don't use it and then all of a sudden you do drop an F-Bomb, it will have impact.
It's kind of like a guitarist that does 6 string sweep arpeggios all the time. If it happens in every solo it's kind of like "Shut up dude we get it. You can play. We don't care." However if Eric Clapton "Mr. Slowhand" himself suddenly throws out an Steve Vai riff with two handed tapping and whammy tricks, we'd all be standing there
The English language has many clever ways of dropping an insult without sounding like it. Leave the target to discover later that day that you called him a D without him realizing it at the time.
You do not need profanity, although I have to admit it IS fun to yell F*** at full blast.
He means to say that people who cuss a lot are typically incapable (or less capable than others) of self-restraint; they have fewer inhibitions, as shown by the fact that they go about cussing all over the place.
So you are saying without using profanity, there would be no "Rage Against The Machine"
Personally, I don't like cursing in songs, and my band actively tries to avoid it. That said, there is one line in a song of ours where my singer says, "I swear I never dreamed of being a rich man's bi***." It's an instance where the cursing actually gives some deeper meaning and personality to the lyrics of the song, and I think it is almost a battle cry that younger people can relate to as they get their first real jobs out of college. I think it just depends on the context, but I honestly prefer to avoid it when possible. We never curse over the mic between songs either. To me, that reeks of immaturity.
on a slightly less-musical note, there are some expletives that have taken on their own unique meaning. for example, "d*uchebag" really has its own meaning to describe a stereotype of people that cannot be described as accurately in any other one word
then i assume you'd agree that its kind of ****ing stupid to let others tell you how to live your life, what the **** are you doing here asking us?
End. Of. Thread.
My honest opinion is that a cuss word is not really so different from another group of words. It can be very powerful and also rather invigorating when place with artistic consideration. Like anything, there is a "too much" point. While I love the properly placed, and articulated curse (see Maynard of TOOL/APC) when a song contains a single curse word used more than a few times I kinda don't take the music or musicians to seriously.
+1
Context is everything.
Alanis Morrissette's "You oughtta know" has an amazing degree of impact on listeners with the line 'And are you thinking of me when you **** her?'
Obviously that had to be edited for radioplay, but it was still a huge hit. But when you heard the album version of the song for the first time, the lyric has a really intense sting to it.
Does it work in every song? Clearly, no. You have to pick your spots.
