Do you think that songs that are tagged as explicit on iTunes because of swearing etc are affected sales wise?

 

I always thought that perhaps children 13 downwards would be put off purchasing the song (because perhaps they can't listen to it with their parents or whatever)

 

Eventually, do you think this can affect sales?

I can think of two really awful number one singles from about 10 years ago that did very well out of having expletives littered throughout the song.

There will always be explicit songs doing well but I always think they could fare slightly better if children didn't hear the swearing in it? Just something I've always wondered :lol:

 

Personally, when I started downloading when I was 9, I never used to buy explicit songs because my mum always checked my iPod :lol:

Edited April 17, 201411 yr by jsilv

ISTM gratuitous use of expletives is specifically intended to appeal to teens who want to shock/annoy their parents, so in the sense that they might be bought for that reason and not otherwise, I dare say they increase sales a little.

Eeek, when I was 9 the compact disc was something only very rich people could dream of owning...and you could only buy Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms.

 

I do think the "explicit content - parental advisory" stickers do attract certain teenagers.

yeah I don't think it really affects it that much, where sales are lost from young children not being allowed to buy songs with expletives, they are made up by young teens buying it because they're at their 'swearing is cool' phase

Depends on how you look at it. There are both positive and negative effect to the song's sales I think. Imagine Cee Lo Green's 'Forget You' didn't have an explicit version, I bet the song wouldn't sell as much as it has, but then without the clean version, it wouldn't have as much exposure on TV and radio, affecting the sales.

 

When talking about age, I think there's a small impact or there's not much difference. Some or many kids/teens and adults/parents don't care that much about expletives anyway, it's about the song primarily.

Edited April 17, 201411 yr by FM11

If anything it increases sales because young kids - and not just teens - think it's a bit naughty. My primary school friends loved Eminem back at the turn of the century.

 

I think what's more astonishing is the increase of songs in the top 40 that have expletives in - as recently as the early 1990s it would be a tiny handful in the entire chart, maybe the occasional early rap track in the lower top 40 and that's it. The year 1995 seems to be the turning point in that the rap/hip-hop scene grew, the Outhere Brothers scored two extremely explicit #1s, a song with the word 'F***' in the title charted top 3 for the first time (the Smokie/Roy Chubby Brown collaboration 'Who The F*** Is Alice' which was still being sung at my secondary school six years later) and then when Eamon became the first #1 with a major swearword in the title in 2004 there was no going back.

 

I genuinely think that by the end of this decade, a major song - possibly a #1 - will contain the C word in its title, as Azelia Banks paved the way for that with 212. I'm imagining a repetitive EDM dance track containing nothing but the words "You're a c***" repeated at every drop, selling huge simply because of that word.

Edited April 17, 201411 yr by BillyH

I'm imagining a repetitive EDM dance track containing nothing but the words "You're a c***" repeated at every drop, selling huge simply because of that word.

 

We had Loca People a couple of years ago which was like that (although with a different swear word).

 

I think expletives probably help sales tbh. However, I think young people today have become desensitized to swearing now. It's got to the point where songs having swear words is hardly note-worthy anymore, it's just normal.

Is swearing nessecary - does it add anything valuable to a song?

 

 

I remember the Roy Chubby Brown / Smokie song, however Chubby Brown is notorious for swearing and being rude in his stand ups anyhow, so really it wasnt surprising. I bought it simply because I didnt know what the word was they kept bleeping out on the radio and I wanted to know what the fuss was about

 

 

However wheather the whole Eamonn / Frankee thing was really nessecary I'm not sure

Edited April 17, 201411 yr by fiesta

Is swearing nessecary - does it add anything valuable to a song?

 

'Killing In The Name' is one of the very few songs I can think of where the swearing really adds to it in a positive way - the culmination of a slow build and then bursting out in that final screamed few lines.

 

Most tracks just do it for the fun. The Eamonn/Frankee thing seemed like a crap publicity stunt when I was fifteen and still does now, and depressingly I could see exactly the same trick working today - following on from my last post, David Guetta could record "You're a C***" and get knocked off number 1 by "No, YOU'RE a C***" by Calvin Harris feat. Azelia Banks.

I actually want to see this happening. 'You're A c**t' for #1 *.*

Smokie got to #5 with "Living Next Door To Alice" then Roy 'Chubby' Brown comes along and tags "Who The Fuck Is Alice" on at the end and you have a #3 hit in 1995. So I think expletives DO sell..

I really think Hard Out Here by Lily Allen could have absolutely smashed if it was released with a radio edit. Nobody was going to play that song with so many "balls", "tits" and "bitch" throughout.

 

I absolutely love that track though and wish it had got the recognition it deserved.

I do also think sometimes songs with blatant swearing serve as a statement of anarchy and rebellion against the clean, polished, nice songs that radio always play somewhat as obviously something like the aforementioned You're a c**t (what have you started :P) would prove quite a problem for commercial pre-watershed radio but that would just spur some people on.

Calvin Harris feat. Azealia Banks 'You're A C***' needs to happen! I would add in a James Arthur rap too for even more controversy :lol:

If anything it increases sales because young kids - and not just teens - think it's a bit naughty. My primary school friends loved Eminem back at the turn of the century.

 

I think what's more astonishing is the increase of songs in the top 40 that have expletives in - as recently as the early 1990s it would be a tiny handful in the entire chart, maybe the occasional early rap track in the lower top 40 and that's it. The year 1995 seems to be the turning point in that the rap/hip-hop scene grew, the Outhere Brothers scored two extremely explicit #1s, a song with the word 'F***' in the title charted top 3 for the first time (the Smokie/Roy Chubby Brown collaboration 'Who The F*** Is Alice' which was still being sung at my secondary school six years later) and then when Eamon became the first #1 with a major swearword in the title in 2004 there was no going back.

 

I genuinely think that by the end of this decade, a major song - possibly a #1 - will contain the C word in its title, as Azelia Banks paved the way for that with 212. I'm imagining a repetitive EDM dance track containing nothing but the words "You're a c***" repeated at every drop, selling huge simply because of that word.

I suspect you will be proved right. 30 years ago it would have been unthinkable for a big, mainstream hit to have the F word in the title. (I know about the Dead Kennedy's in 1981 but that was only a minor top 40 hit) But of course it happened some time ago now. But once you use the C word, well that's the 'last taboo' in swearing, what's ruder than that word, where do you go from there?

Edited April 17, 201411 yr by Col1967