Shit, we got away with it ...

In the last verse of ZZ Top's hit single "Legs," Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill harmonize, "Oh, I want her / Shit, I got to have her ..."

In Alice in Chains' triple-platinum single "Man in the Box," Layne Staley introduces himself as "the man in the box / Buried in my shit." In the second verse, he likens himself to an abused dog, entreating the listener to "shove my nose in shit."

In Aerosmith's single "Mama Kin" — not a big hit for the band, but a staple of classic-rock radio today), Steven Tyler sings in the second verse, "The way I see it / You got to say 'shee-it' ..."

And in Pink Floyd's undeniably classic single "Money," David Gilmour tells his detractor(s), "Don't give me that do-goody-good bullshit."

What do these songs have in common, apart from a general hard-rock approach, a high level of popularity and the word "shit" in the lyrics?

They're all songs I've heard many, many times on rock radio in the U.S., with the S-word intact. No beeps or bleeps, no drop-out of the voice where the potentially offending word occurs, no tape or digital trickery to mask it ... the word is intact, right there. (Shit, I heard the Pink Floyd song just today, on the radio, and shit, there it was, just as Gilmour had sung it in 1973.) To the best of my recollection, I've never heard any of those songs in any censored, expurgated or bowdlerized form.

Anybody got any other examples of songs that somehow have slipped under the FCC's attention, and kept their potentially offensive lyric(s) intact while gaining significant time on the airwaves?

This is something of particular interest to me, as one of KSER's shows has been canceled very recently, owing to the DJ playing "Man in the Box" in response to a request. It wasn't the FCC that called him out for this; it was the new station manager, who has warned the on-air hosts to police their selections carefully for such lyrics ... and who apparently isn't kidding around.

Nine inch nails used it in ‘hurt’, but Johnny Cash changed the lyric in his version.

I’ve heard the sh word blipped on Floyd’s “money” many times on fm radio.

ZZTopp is an interesting case. Yes, it’s there. But I always felt they pronounced it without the ‘t’, making it acceptable. They could argue they were saying “sure” instead, if asked?

MTV played that Alice In Chains song I think… I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a ‘clean’ version?

When I was a teenager in the '80s, I heard the uncut version of "Money" on rock radio frequently.

The video of "Man In The Box" edits out "shit."

In the chorus of "Poker Face," Lady Gaga slips in "fuck her face."

The radio edit of Lil' Jon and Ying Yang Twins' "Get Low" leaves in "to all skeet skeet." At the time, I (and radio programmers) didn't know that means "till everyone cums."

Johnny Rotten emphasized the second syllable of “vacant” when the Pistols performed on tv.

People are surprised when I tell them that KROQ used to play Elton Montello‘s “jet boy, jet girl.“ But since “he gives me head“ is not one of George Carlin seven dirty words you can’t say, I guess it was able to slip through.

They also used to play the Rotters “sit on my face, Stevie Nicks“ but I think only later at night. Again, no actual swearwords featured.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/2026 02:20PM by MrFab.

Sweet Virginia always got a lot of play for a non-hit.

And you just can't mistake that shit.

There's also Steve Miller Band's 'Jet Airliner'. I seem to recall that it was faded out when played back in the 70s (as a hyper-sensitive kid I would've remembered hearing it), the same for 'Money' just ended with do-gooder bull but now they are played in full.

I don't understand the FCC, the newspaper and network television use all the words nowadays with a couple of exceptions. I think the station managers are just being paranoid. I think any kind of legal action by FCC would get tossed out because of this.
'

Yep, it's paranoia. The FCC only acts if they get listener complaints. Otherwise, they can't be bothered to listen to every second of every station.
So it's usually not much of an issue. Why would the easily-offended be listening to a station that plays that sort of thing in the first place? The listeners don't usually don't have a problem with it. College station KXLU in the '80s would play ANYTHING. Every scuzzy punker in LA was in the audience, so you couldn't offend them.

One might classify it as paranoia, or one might opt to call it an excess of caution. But the current chairman of the FCC has made it plain that he's no friend of independent/public radio. To hear the station manager tell it, under Brendan Carr's leadership, the FCC is focusing on broadcasters with a perceived liberal bias, and looking either to cripple those outlets by levying onerous fines for "violations of community standards" (i.e., including songs that have potentially offensive language) or else by revoking their licenses.

As for yours truly, I've accidentally included songs with offensive language plenty of times — maybe two or three times a year, at least. Although I've never done it deliberately or in a cavalier way, I've also never received a complaint or warning about it. (Playing Drivin' n' Cryin's song "Powerhouse" stands out in my memory. I just about jumped out of my socks at the song's ending.) When I was at KRCC, the station's management was much more concerned about DJs who didn't play the right PSAs or the right little mini-programs on schedule. An NPR station is much more tightly formatted than a simple "community radio station" like KSER.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2026 08:11PM by Delvin.

Oh I get it about the FCC. Carr is a piece of work and I'm sure when all is said and done, and I'm burning down there, he'll be joining me. I just think that the FCC has absolutely no case. Just point to the networks and it would get thrown out. What we need is someone brave enough to make that stand to expose the house of cards. Hmm. anyone we know?

REO Speedwagon - "Tough Guys"

When I was young, like probably 5th grade, I had a friend that owned REO's Hi Infidelity album. He had a few of their albums if I remember, and now that I think about it, they were probably his older brother's. Anyway, I was over there one time with another friend, and he played us the song "Tough Guys" which includes the line, "They think they're full of fire / She thinks they're full of shit." That may have been the first time I ever heard a "bad word" in a pop song. As 11 year old boys, we thought it was so funny, so much so that we took turns singing that line over and over into the little hand held mic that connected to the stereo's input. That only made it better since we could actually hear ourselves singing it through the speakers. I don't think I've heard the song since that day in 1983 or so, but I remember those lyrics like it was yesterday.

Since Delvin brought up the FCC,
I've always felt a kinship to Roger Waters' sentiment, "14 channels of shit on the TV to choose from" The Wall/Nobody Home

88 Lines About 44 Lines Women by The Nails

I have only ever heard the "unedited" version on college & "alt" radio in the 90's - no "safe harbor" time but mornings, lunch time and afternoon.

I was half paying attention to the CNN fireworks broadcast last night when the subtitles of some hip-hop track they were playing included the word "fuck"

Clearly, "half paying attention" is more than what the FCC was doing.

But I don't want to be the one whose mistake leads to a debilitating fine. KSER operates on a shoestring as it is.

Another thread coming up.

On "Who Are You," Roger Daltrey asks at least once in the chorus, "Awww, who the fuck are you?" I know for sure I've heard that on the radio many times. (Which is not to say I've never heard a censored version.)

This is the only version I've ever heard on the radio. It passes by so casually that I think no one thinks it's worth getting worked up over, I guess.

I remember both the censored version and the LP version of "Who Are You" on the radio. 48 years ago!

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

Because it was assumed Jack Ely of the Kingsmen was hiding profanities with his slurred vocals in Louie Louie, the FBI famously spent 31 fruitless months investigating the song. What they missed was drummer Lynn Easton yelling "Fuck!" in the background when he "clacks" his sticks.

Yeah, that's when Jack started to sing the third verse, "Me see ..." and got distracted by the drummer's flub — causing the band to add four bars before Jack took a second stab at the verse.

Why the producer decided to go with that take, gaffe and all, is a mystery to the ages. Maybe the band (or its label) was on a really tight budget. What's funny is that lots of bands who covered the song later followed the Kingsmen's lead, considering that false start, four extra bars and all to be the "right" way to do the song. (Check out the version by the Angels — not the Aussie rockers, but the American girl group of "My Boyfriend's Back" fame.)