http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20 ... el-110113/

Dire Straits' song should be censored, council rules
The Canadian Press

Date: Thursday Jan. 13, 2011 1:08 PM ET

TORONTO — A gay rights organization is applauding the decision that deemed Dire Straits' 1985 hit "Money for Nothing" unacceptable for Canadian radio.

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council decided on Wednesday that the song violates part of the broadcast industry's code of ethics because the lyrics include the word "faggot" three times.

Egale Canada executive director Helen Kennedy says it's the right decision, given the recent high-profile suicides of teenagers who were the subject of homophobic and transphobic bullying.

"I think it's extremely important to take these words out of lyrics in popular culture," Kennedy said in a telephone interview Thursday. "It perpetuates the stereotype, it's negative and it's offensive. If you look to the origin of the word, it's disgusting.

"And you know, I really do think that it should not be part of anybody's lyrics or playbook."

The scrutiny of the Dire Straits song was prompted by a listener of radio station CHOZ-FM in St. John's, N.L., who complained last year about the lyric.

The panel noted that "Money for Nothing" would be acceptable for broadcast if suitably edited.

The decision comes as controversy is still swirling over a Montgomery, Ala., publisher that has issued a censored version of Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" that replaces the word "nigger" with "slave."

Kennedy said that listeners should simply enjoy the edited version of "Money for Nothing."

"It's not as if the song is being taken off the air, there is an edited version out there because people realized that it was offensive," she said.

"So I definitely think that it sends a positive message: 'This word is not acceptable. Don't use it."'

Brad Muir, director of operations for classic rock stations C103 in Moncton and FRED FM in Fredericton, says he wasn't "all that surprised" by the ruling.

His stations actually decided to edit "Money for Nothing" about two years ago.

"I had one phone call about the song a couple years ago," he said in a telephone interview. "The person wasn't necessarily overly angry, it wasn't like a massive complaint, I didn't get into a big fight with them at all, they just said they found it kind of offensive. They didn't ask us to stop playing the song. They just said: 'Is there anything you can do?'

"Because whether the intent of the word is meant to be offensive or not, it doesn't really matter. It's how kids hear it nowadays. So it wasn't that big of a deal for me. I just went and edited it and I've never heard anybody complain about it being edited either."

The controversy over "Money for Nothing" actually isn't new.

Even back in '85 when the song hit No. 1 on the charts in Canada and the U.S., songwriter Mark Knopfler responded to accusations of homophobia by pointing out that the lyric was meant to be ironic and written from the viewpoint of a "stupid" character, as the singer explained to Rolling Stone.

The song, co-written by Sting, was a massive hit when it was released, winning a Grammy and spawning a massively popular music video that featured crude computer animation and became interwoven with the popularity of the then-fledgling music network MTV.

Muir said it's still an essential for radio playlists.

"That song is a staple in classic rock formats, absolutely," he said. "That's one of the top testing songs, that's one of the primary songs that all classic-rock stations play, all the time. And there aren't many like that.

"There's probably only 10 or 20. That's up there with 'Sweet Home Alabama' and 'You Shook Me All Night Long' and 'Stairway to Heaven' and all of those classic-rock staple songs that every station plays."

It bugs me more when they cut out Sting and the full drum solo at the beginning of the song.

Phil Hendrie once had his radio show taken off the air in Canada because he used the word "wop".

You wonder of the classic TV show from the 70's All In The Family could even get air time these days.

It wouldn't even get to the pilot stage, John. Too politically incorrect.

The '70s were the golden age for TV.

I guess the "Grease" soundtrack will be next... Wop bop a loo bop!

Here's the thing--when I was a kid, back in the winter of 1985-86, when this song was actually on the charts, the entire verse containing the "little faggot" line was completely excised by Detroit top-40 FM stations. So I'm not sure that the political correctness in this case is anything new.

"Brothers In Arms" wasn't a bad album the first few times I heard it back in the day, but I completely burned out on Mark Knopfler's "singing" at least twenty years ago. It's a shame, because he's a hell of a guitar player, but the thought of voluntarily listening to "Walk Of Life" or "So Far Away" seems a completely alien notion to me in the year 2011.

Knopfler changed the line during live performances, substituting 'queenie' for 'faggot'. Stuff like this just bugs me - you can't even portray a negative character because his negative qualities might offend someone. Sheesh.

And another thing - I know Sting is listed as a co-writer, but that's only because of the "I want my MTV" line because it uses the melody from "Don't Stand So Close To Me". As I recall, the publisher wouldn't let Dire Straits use the line unless they gave Sting a writing credit. (It feels like I've said this here before.)

Alan

I'm surprised that Roger Waters is still able to perform The Wall live these days considering some of the imagery.

I tend to react to language more strongly because my son has developmental disabilities and the world "retard" is thrown around so much. That said, I think this is misguided. The use of the word "faggot" in this context is intended to criticize the ignorance, not glorify it. Sort of like Randy Newman using the "N" word in the song "Rednecks." It seems to me that if you are going to criticize an artist and the way he conveys his art, you should at least make an effort to understand it.

As I recall Knopfler based the lyrics on an actual rant he overheard while shopping at a big appliance store in New York City. He said that he actually toned down some of the language for the song.

Yes, especially the word "coon" in "In The Flesh" and "Waiting For The Worms". I don't think "queer" in "In The Flesh" is as offensive.

I wonder if the wizardly powers that be believe that Randy Newman actually dislikes short people.

Then there's always been that ever-so-slight bit of cleavage evident on the Mona Lisa. Maybe a small touch-up is in order.

Just for the record, this isn't the Canadian government's doing, conservative though they are. The CBSC is kinda like the Comics Code Authority, and this is a large portion of the industry agreeing to self-censor themselves. Radio sucks in Canada for the most part.

When I was a kid growing up in Detroit, it was an open secret that CBET Windsor (Channel 9) would sometimes show R-rated movies with the profanity intact, and even occasional nudity. And didn't Alanis Morrisette do a thing at some Canadian awards show a few years back where she mocked the U.S. reaction to Janet Jackson's Super Bowl incident by wearing a bodysuit with nipples and a big hairy bush?

In the early eighties, Channel 38 in Boston aired The Deer Hunter uncut. They aired a disclaimer at every commercial break. This was huge back then.

.....which may be why few Canadian recording artists ever find success outside Canada.

Similar time frame, "Chiller Theater" on what I think was still WIIC then (and is WPXI now) in Pittsburgh showed one of the "Friday The 13th" films uncut. Don't recall any warnings (or promotion), but it was on at 1:00 AM.

Not that US networks are that much better than any other countries. In the mid-70s, Richard Pryor had a skit cut from the first show of his series. He talked about how people kept asking him what he had to give up to get on network TV, and as the camera panned back, he appeared to be naked. He said he didn't give up anything, and the camera pulled back further to show him in a bodysuit looking rather Ken-dollish.

Alan

Yeah, Richard Pryor was a strange candidate for a prime-time variety show. They obviously wanted to cash in on the fact he was the hip, new comedian, but could not really capitalize on his appeal.

I think Chappelle's Show was probably more in line with what Pryor probably wanted to do.

When Pryor did SNL, the show was on a seven-second delay - not the usual operating procedure. And they still got away with doing the word association skit.

I watched this week's SNL with Cee Lo Green (I was a bit disappointed with how much of the backing was obviously pre-taped - the backing vocals weren't live), and there were maybe half a dozen laughs in the show.

Alan

I think the word association skit was supposed to be as it was. I used to have an old Saturday Night Live book that contained the script, and the word was in there....don't think it was meant to be on delay to edit out. Saturday Night Live was considered revolutionary groundbreaking TV back then.

The seven-second delay imposed on Pryor (and sources disagree as to whether or not it was actually implemented) was because he would be performing sanitized versions of his notoriously profane stand-up comedy act on live TV. The network worried that he might slip up and drop an f-bomb.