Parental advisory stickers

[ManicMatt]

The gen thread seems to be bare on topics at the moment, so I figured I'd raise a question in my head right now, see what you think.

It's the use of parental advisory stickers like these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_Advisory

My dilemma is to whether I should label my promo discs. My music has swearing in it, like the mother-f.. word for example, and I'm going to be giving out fifty promo discs to complete strangers that contain said swearword. Several times. (It's in the chorus)

I'm not going to have it printed on my actual album, as it detracts from the artwork and I have greater control over the album than where these promos end up.

So what would you do? (Or have done?)

[Phemar]

Personally I too can't stand those stickers - it just detracts from the whole album.

If I go out and buy an album, I know what kind of music I'm buying, and I don't need to be warned about it. If parents want their kids to never hear a swear word, they should go hide them under a rock or something.

[ManicMatt]

True enough, the artwork style of my album suggests something un-nice, so it would hardly be surprising to find swearing on it.

And I was listening to EMF's B-side to unbelievable when I was a child which said mother f... and I hardly swear at all!

[Sam.]

I would like to hear your music.

[SSH]

Those things only improve sales. Record companies probably see them as a marketing device...

[modgeulator]

As a kid I always thought of them as a sort of guarantee more than a warning. Like if nothing else you could at least rest assured the record would have a few naughty words on it.  :

Maybe a better question is: do you really want to buy into Tipper Gore's whole stupid moral panic mess by using one of these stickers and thereby endorsing the whole thing (read some of the links on the page you posted)? If you want to put it on your CD as bit of a joke that would be something else. That's just my two cents.

[Nine Toes]

I've never had a problem with the stickers, I'd rather buy an album with a sticker than be forced to buy and edited album.  (Well you know, if certain people get their panties in a bunch over a few "naughty" words...) I'd say do the sticker thing.  People are so easily offended, that it's not even funny.

Sometimes I fail to see the point behind the sticker.  Take Cannibal Corpse's album, Tomb Of The Mutilated.  It has a sticker, but you can't understand a single thing that the singer is saying.

[Hammerite]

i say no.
parental advisory stickers are supported only by sad old people who think that swearwords bring with them civilisation collapse so i say NO.
dont let 'mothers against' assholes win!

[Evil]

I guess it depends on the context of the word and how it's sung. I have CD's where the say "fucking" in every line of the chorus and I didn't even realize it until I started singing the words in front of my family. The word was used as an adjective not a verb or noun. Though, I have other CD's where the whole CD is clean and great for a family, but someone shouts "fuck" in the middle of the CD.  And definatly if you're singing about how someone is going to have sex, then the term "fuck" isn't the best to use.

Also, in reguards to recieving a CD with language on it, choose your sample by how you think they would like the music. If it's metal or screamo, don't give it to an unsuspecting person like a granny.

If you still feel the need to put the sticker on, put it on the back side of the case.

[Ali]

I hate those lables, particularly the ones warning against 'explicit lyrics'.

That's an almost entirely meaningless statement. If a song described the underside of a pebble in minute detail, those would be explicit lyrics.

Warning lables, pah!

I'm also outraged by the way the Curious George trailer tells me that it 'Contains no Sex, Violence or Bad Language.' Why would I presume it did?

Double-pah!

[CoffeeBob]

I'm not too fond of those labels either. They're ridiculous, IMO.

Heh, I saw this guy at school who had a t-shirt saying "FUCK PARENTAL ADVISORY". I'd like one of those shirts too.

[Becky]

The stickers say "parental advisory".  They are advising parents that the songs may contain lyrics or whatever that may not be suitable for young children to hear.  I know you're all blah-anti-censorship-it's-so-fun-to-be-un-PC, but it's only an advisory to parents who may be concerned about such things.

[MashPotato]

I don't see the problem with stickers either.  If you can put it on the back of the CD (so the cover art isn't obscured), it's not hurting anyone, and it will help others.

[lo_res_man]

Its like the Canadian gun registry, do you think the people who are intending to commit crimes are going to register their guns?Political Corectiness is stupid,

[Nine Toes]

The stickers say "parental advisory".  They are advising parents that the songs may contain lyrics or whatever that may not be suitable for young children to hear.

I always thought it meant, "Don't let your mom find out that you have this CD".

[bspeers]

Anyone who says only "old people" like the labels should read the other posts in this thread.  I mean, if you're going to make an absurd claim, at least do it BEFORE it is debunked.

Myself, I think doing it to demo CDs is kind of pointless.  I am opposed to labeling in that the labels usually target anything "risque" like homosexuality or politics to the same degree that they target truly offensive material like Eminem's songs about stabbing gay people.  In the case of the parental advisory, however, it doesn't seem that offensive, and may be useful depending on how you market your work.

That said, I do support GE labelling for food, but am generally against it for labelling Jews and Homosexuals.  I do think people aught to label conservatives, maybe with a "Thanks for Global Warming, moron" safety tag or a "Probably has 3 Mistresses" sort of thing.

Its like the Canadian gun registry, do you think the people who are intending to commit crimes are going to register their guns?Political Corectiness is stupid,

Same with getting a driver's licence.  Do you think criminals are going to get a liscence when they're just going to use it to steal cars?  That's why I think we should get rid of driver's licences altogether, since with them, only criminals will drive cars.  I mean, cars are only marginally more dangerous than guns, at least in Canada where they are regulated.

I mean, it's not as if some ranger or police officer is going to see some poacher with guns and ask for their registry and find they don't have one and then use that as evidence in court.  Using evidence in court?  Puh-leeeeze.

[lo_res_man]

Same with getting a driver's licence.  Do you think criminals are going to get a liscence when they're just going to use it to steal cars?  That's why I think we should get rid of driver's licences altogether, since with them, only criminals will drive cars.  I mean, cars are only marginally more dangerous than guns, at least in Canada where they are regulated.

I don't think guns shouldn't be registered, but making a farmer who owns a 22 for  hunting gophers, or a collector who probably never fired one of the guns in his collection, a criminal, because the system is so difficult, and expensive, and completely bureaucratic, is stupid. I am not making the "only criminal will have guns, so the people must protect themselves" NRA bullshit, I applaud the idea of having a gun registry, just its implimantation has been wasteful, and ineffective.

[ManicMatt]

Zooty:

http://www.myspace.com/manicmatt3uk

Keep in mind I have yet to put my new music up as I'm still in the process of completing the art work. But I can't wait to show the world!

SSH: Whatever will they think of next? Mentioning bonus tracks on the contents instead of them being hidden tracks? (Papa Roach had a hidden bonus song on their 'infest' album. Then when they became really popular to 9 year olds everywhere the album was re-released, this time exclaiming it to be a "Bonus track!".

modgeulator: Tipper Gore's moral panic... um no. I don't. Well then, guess that simplifies things for me!

Mr Hyde: Hyeah makes me wonder if those screaming bands ever don't actually write any lyrics and just make up noises as they go along! I guess that's where my dilemma stemmed from; having people say to me : "WHAT?? You SWORE!! OH MY GOD!" I just won't let them hear it this time.

Hammerite: Is it the same kind of people who insist on having parental stickers and the like, the same ones who insist on the banning of children wearing black band t-shirts to school?

Evil: I was thinking I'd have to be somewhat judgemental when it comes to handing out my cd. If they look like a metal head or a goth, or they wear a NIN t-shirt then I might be pretty safe. And for the record, the context in which it's sung is "Stay away from me, mother f*cker". Hardly the most interesting lyrics I've ever written, but it's intentional as I was just venting pure anger towards a certain horrible person.

Ali: Curious George? Isn't that a children's film?

Largo: What better way to get public opinion than from some people who think like me in some ways. (At least in that we frequent this forum and like adventure games anyway...)

Becky: Yes that's it's intention, but I do know some adults who shy away when seeing the sticker, the wimps!

MashPotato: Ooh no I've got some great artwork on the back, too! Before I posted this thread there was a 30% chance I'd use the labels. Now it's more like 0.05%!

*sidesteps from the gun talk*

What really annoys me about parental stickers are, well, the ones that are not stickers but printed on the cover! That band EMF, when they released their singles collection, the title of it was called "Epson mad f*****s" with a parental sticker over where I just put the stars. When you peeled the sticker off it actually says "epson mad funkers". Clever, as they were known as both! And I always thought EMF stood for electro motive force.

[MillsJROSS]

Let me start out by saying, I do not like cencorship. I don't think curse words are really that bad, but I never use them. I don't think a kid will go bad because they've seen or heard something naughty. More likely, they won't understand what was said or what they saw. The only reason I don't like it, is because people are going to learn these words regardless.

That being said. I do feel that everyone has a right to there own oppinions on such matters, and if you don't want your kid to listen to curse words, than you should have that right. It's not like the stickers hurt anyone. And as a person who doesn't have kids yet, I have no idea how I really will feel on the issue when the time comes. So why deny my future self the option of doing what I think it right or wrong at the time?

One of the biggest problems I find in a lot of things of this nature. Is they're adamant about one thing, but blind to another. For instance, I was on a bus and brought the movie, Kentuck Fried Movie, to watch. Now this bus-ride was fourteen hours, and we're all of us college students. This movie has some nudity...which I had forgot about when I brought it, but they made me take it off immediatly. OK, fine...if you're scared people are going to be offended, I can live with that. It's the fact that they replaced the movie with Sin City. So it's fine if we show people getting killed, but god forbid a tit is shown on screen!

-MillsJROSS

[Erenan]

Swearing in music tends to make me appreciate the artwork less. It just makes it seem so brainless to me when the lyrics are full of that junk. Does that make me a wimp? No.

I think you should have the right to write lyrics like that if you want to, but I probably wouldn't buy it.