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The "F" word...

#261
socialleper said:
At a worship service I don't think "#%$& yeah, Jesus" would go over very well.
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I would love that, actually. But there's a reason I don't do church anymore.

However, if I were playing a worship service, I certainly would never do that. Even if I was really pissed and really wanted to offend. Even for a parting shot. Never. Nuh uh.

That being said.... Does that ever happen at those biker churches?
 
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#262
RickyT said:
If I was at death metal concert I wouldn't be surprised or offended at all. If I was at a blues or jazz show I would be a little surprised but I definitely wouldn't be offended.

It's a word, we all say it (sometimes). If you're losing gigs maybe it has something to do with the quality of the band, not the singer saying ****!
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And maybe it's the singer saying ****!

Unless the singer says it and you're told otherwise, you won't know.
 
#265
whatizitman said:
I would love that, actually. But there's a reason I don't do church anymore.

However, if I were playing a worship service, I certainly would never do that. Even if I was really pissed and really wanted to offend. Even for a parting shot. Never. Nuh uh.

That being said.... Does that ever happen at those biker churches?
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I used to play biker bars, and find they have unusual and unpredictable (at least for me) sensibilities. Sometimes the F word is OK, sometimes not.

One club we played was very pool-playing oriented, and there were signs everywhere saying not to use foul language, among other things.

Another heavily-biker-oriented joint found the owner coming up to me very shortly after we arrived and insisted passionately that we never use the F word. He said the previous weekend the band did, and the bikers got so angry there was a free-for-all causing him to close for the week while they repaired the damage. They had just re-opened.

I don't think the previous band got much work from them after that.

Edit: you know, thinking about this, I know that with bikers it's all about respect. Perhaps that was why they went medieval on hearing cursing.

Extending that idea of respect, is it not disrespectful to the audience to use such language, knowing full well it might displease/anger/upset an audience member?
 
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#270
bdplaid said:
I know that with bikers it's all about respect.
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I find the entire biker thing far too camp to take seriously.
bdplaid said:
Perhaps that was why they went medieval on hearing cursing.
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They assaulted someone for what he said, in the land of the free, which protects their right not to wear helmets and to assemble as a club; what a bunch of morons.
bdplaid said:
Extending that idea of respect, is it not disrespectful to the audience to use such language, knowing full well it might displease/anger/upset an audience member?
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I am not responsible for somebody's hurt feelings, nor do those hurt feelings give them any rights.

Context is everything. Did it help the story and was it well-delivered? Not being re-booked will be the punishment for any contemptible blabbermouth, swearing or not. But thinking that the word "shag", no matter how well-used, gives a person the right to abuse or assault a fellow primate, is playing precisely into the hands of the thugs and bullies who want to control what we are allowed to say. The irony, I'd say, is very much at the expense of those supporting the censorship.
 
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#273
I feel like this has been far more prevelant with screaming metal bands than others that I've seen live. Usually it's four or more guys in stereotypical all-black and a lead singer is trying to amp up the crowd while the guitarists retune or change out guitars:

"Rraahhww rreehh tteehhrr ddeess F------ guuusssii mmooeerrr F------ rraaawwkk?!?!"

(Crowd screams)

I'm all for vulgarity if it fits the song and is written well into the lyrics, but the in-between-song rants and blurbs where some singers expound their ideological and political leanings with as many F-bombs as possible gets really old really fast to my ears.
 
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#275
Many men greater than I have written and talked about this for ages:

"Profanity is the last refuge of the truly ignorant." - Anonymous

"The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it." -George Washington

"Profaneness is a brutal vice. [The person] who indulges in it is no [gentleperson]." -Edwin Hubbel Chapin

"Most people who commit a sin count on some personal benefit to be derived therefrom, but profanity has not even this excuse." -Hosea Ballou

"A single profane expression betrays a [person's] low breeding." -Joseph Cook

"Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent." - Dionysius of Halicarnassus

"Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little." - Tom Stoppard

"To swear is neither brave, polite, nor wise." -Alexander Pope

"Be careful of your words, for they become your thoughts. Be careful of your thoughts, for they become your actions. Be careful of your actions, for they become your character. Be careful of your character, for it becomes your destiny." - Anonymous
 
#277
Cowardly? Ok, let me try it this way: is it intelligent to purposely inflame an audience of any kind? Professionalism aside, there is a crime called incitement to riot.

As for cowardly, I encourage you to leave the danger of your mama's basement and approach a biker wearing a 1%'er patch and discuss this issue with him. Tell him he's all "campy" and you don't take him seriously. Go right ahead.

You know I have played and continue to play biker things with some regularity. The brass knuckles that opened a guy's mouth from chin-to-ear because he dissed the biker's girl was especially "campy...." (story from my first band).

Never mind, I feel like I'm arguing with Otis from Mayberry. If you're not simply a troll and messing with me, you are in for an ass-whoopin some day. That some might enjoy seeing as you chortle about your free speech rights. :-)
 
#278
I'd given you the benefit of the doubt by calling you disingenuous, but, unfortunately, it seems that a lack of imagination is what has you declaring that there is just the one way of going about asserting one's rights. And the level of slack-jawed reverence for violence as a valid rebuttal is frankly embarrassing. My arse-whipping day will never come all the while you think that one wins an argument by punching into silence those who disagree with you. Still, the day you try will be a night out for you and a night off for your family.
 
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