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MTV Bleeps Filesharing Software Names In Weird Al Video
Posted by
timothy
on Thu Oct 30, 2008 06:40 PM
from the he-probably-kidnapped-himself dept.
from the he-probably-kidnapped-himself dept.
An anonymous reader writes "We've all heard Weird Al Yankovic's 'Don't Download This Song,' which came out a couple years ago, but did you know that MTV is apparently so afraid that kids listening to the song will discover for the first time that file sharing offerings exist that in its video of the song, MTV bleeps out their names? There's a line in the song that lists out Morpheus, Grokster, Kazaa and Limewire (most of whom don't really exist any more), but for some reason MTV considers those names to be bleep worthy." Unless this is all one grand inside joke from Weird Al.
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This inflamatory you say? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This inflamatory you say? (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:This inflamatory you say? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
MTV Get Off the Air! (Score:5, Interesting)
The Dead Kennedy's had it right.
M.T.V.-Get Off The Air"
Fun Fun Fun in the fluffy chair
Flame up the herb
Woof down the beer
[click!]
Hi
I'm your video DJ
I always talk like I'm wigged out on Quaalude's
I wear a satin baseball jacket everywhere I go
My job is to help destroy
What's left of your imagination
By feeding you endless doses
Of sugar-coated mindless garbage
So don't create
Be sedate
Be a vegetable at home
And thwack on that dial
If we have our way even you will believe
This is the future of rock and roll
How far will you go
How low will you stoop
To tranquilize our minds with your sugar-coated swill
You've turned rock and roll rebellion
Into Pat Boone sedation
Making sure nothing's left to the imagination
M.T.V. Get off the
M.T.V. Get off the
M.T.V. Get off the air
Get off the air
See the latest rejects from the muppet show
Wag their tits and their dicks
As they lip-sync on screen
There's something I don't like
About a band who always smiles
Another tax write-off
For some schmuck who doesn't care
M.T.V. Get off the air
And so it was
Our beloved corporate gods
Claimed they created rock video
Allowing it to sink as low in one year
As commercial TV has in 25
"It's the new frontier," they say
It's wide open, anything can happen
But you've got a lot of nerve
To call yourself a pioneer
When you're too god-damn conservative
To take real chances.
Tin-eared
Graph-paper brained accountants
Instead of music fans
Call all the shots at giant record companies now
The lowest common denominator rules
Forget honesty
Forget creativity
The dumbest buy the mostest
That's the name of the game
But sales are slumping
And no one will say why
Could it be they put out one too many lousy records?!?
M.T.V.-Get off the air!
NOW
Parent
Re:This inflamatory you say? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
But (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:But (Score:5, Funny)
Sure, live the dirty live, but watch your filthy mouth.
Parent
Re:But (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:But (Score:5, Insightful)
that makes more sense than the American film ratings board who worry more about kids/teenagers seeing nipples or other parts of the human body (even in non-sexual contexts) or hearing swear words but will still give movies depicting gun violence, murder, etc. PG or PG-13 ratings.
Parent
Re:But (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:But (Score:5, Insightful)
To me, sex is way more natural than murder.
Now now, they're equally natural. Just one is moral, ethical and wonderful and one is immoral, unethical and disgusting.
The problem is that there are too many lunatics around who can't figure out which is which.
Parent
Re:But (Score:5, Insightful)
In defense of America
If you had even an inkling of understanding, you wouldn't characterize it as "defense".
sex is much more of a temptation than violence is. 99.9% of kids won't commit murder regardless of what movies they watch, but 99.9% of them will make stupid decisions at some point regarding sex
And why do you think that is?
Has it not occurred to you that perhaps it's because they're told from an early age that sex is bad and guns are good, and so therefore want to experiment with the taboo?
Youth is all about rebellion. Tell kids that they shouldn't do something is a surefire way to get them to want to do it.
Parent
Re:But (Score:4, Insightful)
makes sense. that's why the most conservative/repressive cultures are also the most fucked up. i've noticed that extremely repressive Asian cultures like Taiwan and Japan tend to have very polarized populations, where most people are either complete prudes who lead unhealthy, overly sheltered lives devoid of any sort of pleasure, or they lead equally unhealthy lives partying way too much, with absolutely no sense of moderation or self-restraint.
when everything is taboo then there's no difference between having a few drink with your friends and getting completely shitfaced and coked out of your mind. so people end up either being a virgin their entire life, or become extremely promiscuous and have unprotected casual sex with random strangers.
Parent
Re:But (Score:5, Interesting)
mostly based on the fact that all of my cousins in Taiwan are either really crazy, or really boring. two of my cousin are always in and out of prison because of their drug problem, and possibly gang affiliations. a few others ran away from home when they were in their teens, and the one whom i'm still in contact with drinks a lot, does coke/ketamine/ecstasy/etc. (i know this because i partied with her that last time i visited Taiwan). and aside from maybe 1 cousin who's relatively normal and doesn't abuse any kind of substance, the rest all seem incredibly boring and somewhat socially maladjusted--one of whom i found out joined the Mormon church.
most of my cousins seem to fall into one extreme or the other. even most of my aunts and uncles are like that. it really is night and day when you compare one group with the other. i mean, i know tweakers, heroin addicts, gangbangers, convicted bank robbers, and all kinds of crazy people here in the U.S. too. but there's a much more even distribution across the entire breadth of the social spectrum here. and really the thing i can think of that accounts for this are the different cultural values and parenting styles.
i mean, there are strict/overbearing parents in the U.S. too. heck, i dated a girl whose parents were absolutely nuts and wouldn't let her date or even socialize with male friends, and she ended up being the biggest nympho i've ever met. similarly, there was this Korean kid from my home town who went to prison for killing his mom and his younger sibling. he basically just snapped because his parents were so strict and pushed him too hard. granted, that's an extreme case, but you can still see the general pattern that's emerging.
Parent
Re:But (Score:5, Funny)
The human body is beautiful
In a vacuum perhaps, but in practice there are some damn ugly humans.
In a vacuum? They tend to get too bloaty and cold for my liking, but if you're into that sort of thing then be my guest.
Parent
Too late, they realize... (Score:5, Insightful)
You know, promoting music that encourages people to break the law might also encourage them to download music. After all, those 'rap guys' are always stealing shit, and downloading music isn't exactly breaking into a store and grabbing all the CD's you can before the cops get there, right?
I think the record industry may be figuring out that all that moral ambiguity they promoted in the past is now going to bite them in the ass - big time.
See, to paraphrase the great Reverend Wright... The chickens... Have come home... To ROOST! :)
Parent
Re:But (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd much rather have my kid playing with titties and ass than 9mm pistols.
Just sayin'.
Parent
Re:But (Score:5, Funny)
I'd much rather have my kid playing with titties and ass than 9mm pistols.
What an unamerican thing to say. Please report to your local NRA and FCC offices for re-education immediately.
Parent
Re:But (Score:5, Funny)
Adopt me! :D
Parent
Re:But (Score:4, Insightful)
My daughter will someday have sex. I have accepted this, and you should too. Hopefully she will not get shot.
Parent
Re:But (Score:5, Insightful)
Hate to tell you, but obama is not the great black hope. He is a white guy in a black man's body.
Seems to me he's a half white/half black guy in a light brown body.
Parent
Prohibited in Canada (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Prohibited in Canada (Score:5, Funny)
Copyright is serious business here!
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Hello mister Tom,
We've located your cyber and there will be some agents there in a few minutes. They will arrest you for trying to access a prohibited copyright-questioning page. All resistance will be futile, so please be a gentleman.
Re:Prohibited in Canada (Score:5, Funny)
oh man, I'm in China and can't even see the page !!!
You think you have it bad? I live in Australia. Every page redirects to www.australia.gov.au/propaganda
Parent
Re:Prohibited in Canada (Score:5, Funny)
You think that's bad? I live in the UK. Every page I visit just redirects to a picture of a giant lidless eye, rimmed with fire. Looking at me.
Parent
I don't believe it.... (Score:5, Funny)
MTV plays music videos?
I think this is the no free advertising policy.... (Score:5, Interesting)
I was watching MTV several years ago and remember hearing the words "Burger King" getting bleeped out in the "Humpty Dance" song in the verse "I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom".
So, IMHO, I think this is probably part of a general policy to not allow product placement in song lyrics.
What about "white n' nerdy"? (Score:5, Insightful)
But doesn't he explicitly mention "MySpace" in White and Nerdy [azlyrics.com]? Does that get bleeped out?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Maybe just a hunch, but I think the scenario I proposed is just a bit more likely.
Best anti-privacy band names (Score:5, Funny)
Damn clumsy search systems.
More stupid censorship (Score:5, Interesting)
A local radio station (northern NH) bleeps out the the words "white boy" after "Play that funky music...."
That's when I turn the dial to NPR.
Re:More stupid censorship (Score:5, Funny)
You are missing out on a golden opportunity for fun.
Call up the station and complain, but don't complain about the censorship itself. Escalate the call has high as possible. Tell them you are insulted that they think "white boy" is some type of slur. Ask them what they have against white people - "or is it just white males?" Make sure you throw the word racist around a few times, especially if they try to justify the censorship. Demand they censor ALL racial or ethnic words in all their songs.
Sing a few bars:
"I think I'm turning BLEEP I think I'm turning BLEEP I really think so"
"I'm on a BLEEP radio. I'm a BLEEP, woah, radio"
"BLEEP and BLEEP live together in perfect harmony"
"The ink is BLEEP the page is BLEEP together we learn to read and write"
Also demand they edit band and album names
"And now Iron Man by BLEEP Sabbath."
"From the BLEEP album, The Unforgiven."
And as fun as I think this would be, I bet it would be effective, too.
Parent
MTV exercising reasonable caution (Score:5, Funny)
If MTV left the names of the file-sharing programs intact in the song, they could theoretically be a target for a contributory liability suit.
They've got the right idea.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Please! (Score:4, Funny)
Time for Geroge Carlin to update his routine? (Score:5, Funny)
Shit, piss, tits, fuck, cocksucker, motherfucker, cunt, Morpheus, Grokster, Kazaa, Limewire and (*inhale*) bittorrent.
I can't wait for the "clean" version of the Matrix now.
Re:Time for Geroge Carlin to update his routine? (Score:4, Funny)
The 12 words you can't say on TV:
Shit, piss, tits, fuck, cocksucker, motherfucker, cunt, Morpheus, Grokster, Kazaa, Limewire and (*inhale*) bittorrent.
Damn! Samuel L. Jackson's going to be hitting that unemployment queue! The censored version of Pulp Fiction must be a silent movie!
Parent
MTV Still Has Videos? Drawing the line... (Score:5, Interesting)
Hey Kids! It's acceptable to have sex, do drugs, and abuse alcohol, but by golly we here at MTV have to draw the line at filesharing. Sorry.
I want my... (Score:4, Funny)
I want my P2P!
-
Re:Good reason to forget MTV (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah! Let's all go and use YouTube instead.
And whilst we're at it, let's stop using MSN and their associated M$ brands, 'cause they're an evil corporation too.
Let's use Gmail instead.
/ Hope Google aren't evil. Otherwise we're really screwed.
Parent
Re:MTV (Score:5, Funny)
Not MTV1. They just keep moving the actual videos up to higher-numbered channels to keep the costs down as the lower-numbered channels end up on more cable lineups. Last I checked, the videos are on MTV35 or something. :-D
Parent
Re:eh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Now the shit they play could be construed as child porn in some states! It all went downhill for them after they stopped showing the Beavis and Butthead episode where they make a hairspray torch because some dumbass kid copycatted and done burned his house down.
Fuck MTV. I'd rather my kids watch Cinemax.
Parent
Re:eh? (Score:5, Informative)
I dunno what to think. Radio has gotten bad too. I'm listening to the classic rock station (ok, I'm old, it wasn't 'classic' when I first heard this stuff). I was listening to Pink Floyd playing "Money". They bleeped out "do goody good bullshit". What the hell?
After that, they played a lame censored version of Jet Airliner, with the words "funky shit" changed to "funky Stuff". And on the song Who are You...the twice bleeped out the part where it says "Who the fuck are You?". That last one...is so buried in the song, you have to pretty much know when it is said.
When did all this start? I mean, I grew up listening to these songs...and for nearly 30 years, they happily played these songs without editing them. Why start now all of a sudden?
I thought society was getting more permissive....yet NOW they start to censor classic songs that have been perfectly fine to play on radio?
Lord...I used to think it was funny when I could get a DJ to play the Stones song "Star Star"...but, c'mon...the other stuff was always played normally.
What happened?
Parent
Re:eh? (Score:4, Insightful)
yes, Viacom is parent of CBS and MTV. The FCC has been trying to regulate Cable for a while and MTV has been the prime target, they cave on censoring to keep the FCC from actually having grounds to get permission.
Parent
Re:eh? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:eh? (Score:4, Funny)
Whether they wear a turbine,...
I for one WELCOME our new engine-part [merriam-webster.com]-clad overlords!
PS Perhaps you were referring to this slightly more conventional bit of headgear [merriam-webster.com]?
Parent
Re:eh? (Score:5, Funny)
MTV playing music? Wow. I'm impressed.
Parent
Re:eh? (Score:5, Insightful)
There is a music channel for Latin countries called Sol MÃsica. Years ago, when the Lenny Kravitz song "Fly away" was a hit, the clip showed all the time on TV. There was a girl in the clip showing her boobs. In Sol MÃsica we could see the boobies, but on MTV they were blurred.
What's the problem with boobies? Here in Europe, it's not such a big deal. We have statues of naked men and women in every square. You can see full frontal nudes in most European films. It's just naked people. Not that big of a problem. And I like boobies ;-)
Parent
Re:MTV Censoring?!? (Score:5, Funny)
I think it's more a shock that MTV is playing music videos.
Parent