Where Is J. Edgar When We Need Him?

Forget Cee Lo

It didn't start with The Kingsmen in 1963, but it might as well have. It was their big hit Louie, Louie that caused an uproar among the record-buying teens and the parents they were trying so hard to annoy...and annoy them it did. The lyrics, often thought to be incredibly salacious, caught the attention of the country"s moralist (pre-Tipper Gore, Moral Majority and Tea Party folks) leadership, and the F.B.I. got involved, Dillinger and Baby Face long having been apprehended. After countless hours of playing the song over and over at varying speeds, the feds came to the conclusion that the lyrics were "unrecognizable at any speed," ensuring that only parents would be upset while teens used their imaginations and The Kingsmen made money (though Richard Berry probably didn't). However, the censors weren't finished. The Rolling Stones were forced to change the lyrics to Let's Spend the Night Together in order to appear on Ed Sullivan...and if a band could appear on THAT program, it was immediately a hit. As a side note, at least Elvis Costello didn't cave in like that when he appeared on Saturday Night Live when they asked him NOT to perform Radio, Radio, a song that mocked the establishment.But now? Imagination is not a requisite if one want to hear "shocking" lyrics in pop music.
Prince used a word that was definitely NOT "funk" in his "Erotic City" back in the 90's, but lately, it's become blatant.
Cee Lo Green. nominated for a Grammy this year had a mega-hit with Forget You. However, if you went to a concert or watched the video on YouTube, he definitely did NOT say "Forget" you, and he did not say it, oh fifteen times or so. Pink has a song about empowerment in which she states that "...you don't have to be effing perfect," though she does not say "effing" in the song. Mumford and Son ( a band I happen to like) is currently getting a lot of play with a song that intones "I sure mumbled it up this time. The vide is far more explicit. "Enrique Iglesias may be the most cheeky (so to speak). The video for his song Tonight (I'm Loving You) was filmed in a strip club with topless women in a cage and did NOT use the term "loving" at all.
Seriously.
However, there are alternate versions for top 40 radio that either change the word slightly or have a mute button for that part...but we ALL know what is missing. Where do we go from here? Even Howard Stern is not the shock-jock that he used to be since we've all heard that schtick for so long that we just ignore it...maybe that's why radio airplay has gotten more risque.
It used to be all about love and romance. Now, it's all about sex...and not implied sex, either like Hugh Beaumont and Barbara Billingsly sharing a bedroom with two beds, but real Jersey Shore-like sex.
sigh.