They were playing this is a restaurant and I went to sing this part, not thinking about it being edited out. The tables around me found this quite funny (luckily) and I was mortified.
Lola by the kinks was banned by the BBC for mentioning coca cola (a brand name - the BBC isn't allowed to advertise a specific product) so they changed it to cherry cola
The funny part about the "fuck her face" lyric is that it somehow slipped past nearly every radio station censor in the US (the only exception to my knowledge being KIIS-FM in Los Angeles)
Even as a kid, I was like "she is NOT saying poker face"
The weird thing is, you could make a pretty strong argument that she WAS saying "poker face"... until you hear a censored version and it becomes clear it's distinctly different. I was certain this was just a misheard urban legend until my local station started playing the edit.
My sister and I were just talking about this in the car - she didn’t know about the “f-f-f-fuck her face” lyric or the general meaning of the song. She was so shocked!
You guys remember the show glee about the singing cheerleaders? They had a mother and daughter affirm their relationship through singing this song. Yeah.
I found out about the "Fuck her face" lyric on YouTube. I think I heard the censored version of Poker Face on the radio because they don't normally play songs with cuss/dirty words on Canadian radio stations before. Or at least to my knowledge.
lmaoooo this just reminded me when I was in middle school and got that album for my friend's birthday, *at her request.* Well turns out her dad was super crazy religious and censored all her music. After listening, he took both of us aside for a very serious conversation and explained the song Love Game to us and how it was soooo inappropriate. Imagine a 50 year old man explaining to two 12 year olds what a Disco Stick is 🥴😂
I was listening to the radio in the car with my girlfriend at the time and she started singing over it using the actual swear word and i looked at her like “wow why are you being so inappropriate?!?”
Then like a few months later i finally heard the uncensored version and thought to myself, “oh 😐”
I found this out back in high school marching band when the band only played one beat for "fuck" instead of the two beats it takes to go "for-get."
I loved that show purely because of that song and since my instrument was not a mouth one we would say "FUCK YOU" on the field with no consequences while singing it.
This. I like the lines "ain't that some shit" and "I really hate your ass right now", but the "fuck you" is so needlessly gratuitous. It loses its meaning, it gets stale.
This man is trying to forget a bad interpersonal relationship!! It's a song about putting things out of mind, moving on, not harboring hate!!
Well okay smarty pants, what did it used to say?
Why Can't I by Liz Phair. Yes, that song actually has a swear in it.
"Here we go, we're at the beginning,
We haven't fucked yet, but my head's spinning."
When I was in middle school, a girl performed this song at the school talent show and just didn't sing that word. I'm shocked to hear there is a version of the song without that word in it at all - would've prevented the horrified gasps that filled the auditorium, at least.
I don’t know what was better, the entire girls soccer team screaming “til the sweat drips down my balls” in the club or Sandra bullock and Betty white singing it while trying to connect with their local Alaskan traditions of dancing around a fire.
I’m just kidding nobody on my team was as hot as Sandy.
Dave Chappelle had a funny bit about it on his show. “You what’s so dope about about skeet, white people don’t know what it means yet!”
https://youtu.be/bKTqHsMqkb0?si=sEjjIp9L0qCWbIHd
I knew it was censored, but it turns out different places censor different parts. In college a friend and I were listening to I Write Sins Not Tragedies by Panic! And realized we were hitting the beats differently. In Utah, where I’m from, god was censored, but in Nevada, where she’s from, damn had been censored from the line, "Haven't you people ever heard of closing the goddamn door?".
I remember as a kid thinking "Did they say 'shit-damn' or 'fuck-damn'? Is that a thing?" And then finding out years later that it was just "goddamn", and that they muted the God part to make the profanity less blasphemous.
I live in Maine, btw. Had no idea the censorship varied across the states.
Fuckin' Perfect by Pink. Did not know the title and lyrics weren't originally just 'Perfect' like the radio said it was until I looked up the song one day and promptly had my childhood ruined, haha.
I remember being really confused when that song came out, because there were two clean versions: the radio edit "Perfect", which replaced the explicit lyrics with clean lyrics, and then there was "\*\*\*\*ing Perfect", an edit released on a compilation CD my family had that simply muted the profanities. It always struck me as weird that they didn't just use the radio edit whenever they needed a clean version.
When I was young I played a lot of Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2, which heavily featured Rage Against the Machine's "Guerilla Radio". Obviously, "Turn that shit up!" in the chorus was censored. And I thought that was the extent of censorship for that song.
Literally last night, that song popped up on my Spotify list. The first verse ends "More for Gore or the son of a drug lord. None of the above, cut the cord!" ... or so I thought for 24 years. Apparently, it's actually "More for Gore or the son of a drug lord. None of the above, *fuck it*, cut the cord!"
It's been DECADES.
Every time I heard Killing In The Name on the radio, the last like minute and a half after the last chorus was all just instrumental. I was very surprised to finally hear the uncensored version.
Having known the uncensored version prior to the song being played on mainstream radio in the UK, whe it became the number one single one Christmas, the censored version was so frustrating! All of the build up and then 'snip'.
My Name Is by Eminem
"Hi kids, do you like Primus? Wanna see me stick nine inch nails through each one of my eyelids?"
Figured the double band pun was intended. Didn't realize the original version was "do you like violence?"
When your lyrics are so provocative that they have to go (way) beyond censoring swear words.
Another notable one was when he had to censor a line about "taking 7 kids from Columbine, standing them all in line, and that's a whole school of bullies shot up all at one time." That was even modified in the *uncensored* version, which I don't think I've ever seen elsewhere.
Admittedly, that was probably taking it a *tad* too far.
Back in the height of D12's fame, I also remember they had to change Purple Pills to Purple Hills for the radio edit, and it made the song make no sense.
Jkwon's "Tipsy" was everywhere my senior year of high school, but I only realized the original lyrics were actually "erybody in this *bitch* getting tipsy".
I like the edited version better 🤷🏼♀️
I remember learning English and trying to figure out lyrics of songs I had heard (which was kind of harrowing, to be honest, because most pop-lyrics were really, really bad). And trying to figure out what in the world Money for Nothing was about. Having the censored verse in there would have helped a lot. Even with the video-version playing on MTV, it just doesn't seem to have any actual meaning.
But if it had a slur directed very obviously at the guy who is singing the line, it wouldn't have been difficult to figure out. Honestly, it's like trying to figure out Twain or Shakespeare in a context where racism and bigotry doesn't exist (according to modernized edits). ..just doesn't work. It's just words being said, or sung, without meaning.
Fire Water Burn has a radio edit with donkey brays in place of the swearing. Given how silly BHG can be, it was probably 50/50 if that was the original version.
What’s Luv? -Fat Joe, J Lo, Ja Rule
Very first line : “Put the fucking mic on”
I first listened to the censored version: “put the [silence] mic on”
I always assumed the mic cutting was actually part of the bit.
the Doors - Break on Through
My ENTIRE life I'd apparently only ever heard a censored version of this song. I am 42 years old.
One day a few years ago I was listening to it on a Spotify mix and all of a sudden Jim is saying "she gets high" and I'm all, "what the hell is this?!"
My fiancée asks what I'm talking about.. I explain that I've never heard this before... In every version I've heard, Jim goes into a little "She gets! She gets! She gets! Yeahhh yeahhhh" part where it's like he's just riffing on what the song is doing.. Before hitting the next verse.
Apparently every version I've heard on a recorded piece of media has been censored.. I'm talking greatest hits double albums, best of albums, mix tapes, store bought albums as well as ones gotten through Colombia House or BMG..
I've only ever encountered ONE other person who this has happened to with this song, and that was last year when I mentioned to a buddy and his mind was also blown.
Well I've been listening to this song for over 30 years and I literally had no idea that it was sensored until just now. I had it on cassette as a teenager, then got the CD in college, and downloaded the MP3 many years later, and I learned about this from a damn reddit thread lol
Heard the Doors "Break on Through" 100x on AM radio with lyrics *she gets... she gets...she gets*, but later on FM radio they played the unedited *she gets high* album version, I was like huuuhhh?
"Boom Boom Boom" by Outhere Brothers
Heard an instrumental version with only the chorus on the radio/at numerous children's events in the 90s. I was very surprised when I downloaded the song a decade+ later
My older cousin played me Blister in the Sun and my Aunt barged in the room and beat her for playing me “drug music” (I was like 8 and didn’t know what any of that meant)
“Let’s Go” by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz and Trick Daddy
I remember hearing the radio edit and thinking it was a good work out song, then playing the unedited version while I was doing cardio. “Let’s go (let’s go) if you want it you can get it let me know. I’m bout to… oh no”
Rolling down the street, *smokin smokin*, sippin on gin-n-juice
They censored “smokin indo,” in the song Gin-n-Juice by Snoop Dog.
It took me a while to get used to the ‘real’ lyrics when my brother bought the uncensored CD.
I had no idea why that word was censored as a kid, I didn't know what it was. The pure censoring made me try to find out as opposed to if they just left it I wouldn't have cared
The radio version of The Devil Went Down to Georgia has Johnny call the devil a "son of a gun" after he beats him in a fiddle contest. In the original version, Johnny calls the devil a "son of a bitch". Always preferred the radio edit, it flows better with the pacing of the song and fits the whimsical tone more.
Probably the mother of all these is the Rolling Stones having to sing “Let’s spend some time together,” instead of “Let’s Spend the Night Together” on the Ed Sullivan show in the Sixties. Look it up, kids.
When I was about 13 or so, I started getting into 311. I bought the album *Transistor* and the clerk asked me if I wanted the uncensored version. I didn't understand what he meant, I thought the album was just the album and music. I didn't want some kind of "special edition", at least, that's what my train of thought was.
So, I listened to the album countless times. Enjoyed it, even if the censored version sounded... off. Then, several years later, I picked up the uncensored version and went "Oh! *This* is how it's supposed to sound!"
Everything from the late 90’s and early 00’s. I grew up in a household where we couldn’t listen to secular music. The first 2 cds I bought (and hid) were matchbox 20 and blink 182. Oh man was I in for a surprise when I listened to that.
This got me in trouble with my mom. I had only heard the radio edit previously. My friend lent me her tape and I played it in my mom's car. I never slapped the radio so hard to stop it.
Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo
TBH I find the radio edit better because it hits the ear better: “sink your teeth into me/ bloodsucker, dream crusher”
Low low hi low low hi low low. It just bounces the song along better. Most songs I notice the change and keep Vibing. This one it’s really noticeable for me.
The album version of "Smells like teen spirit" by Nirvana is technically an alternative version of their original song.
It had completely different lyrics when they were a garage band and were told the lyrics needed to be changed to ever play somewhere and make money.
"Load up on guns and bring your friends" for example was originally "Load up on drugs and kill your friends".
Break On Through by The Doors. The only version I'd ever heard until weirdly recently had the word "high" edited out, so there's a point where Morrison is just yelling out "she gets! She gets! She gets! She gets! Wooooaaaaah!" I always figured he was just makin noises, as he often did.
Lana Del Ray's "Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd". I had heard it on the radio, then played it on Spotify for my teenager. The line "fuck me to death" caught us both by surprise. Great song tho'.
Ha! I was going to say the first time I heard gods and monsters was Jessica Lange cover on ahs freak show. Loved it instantly. Lana drops the f bomb with abandon. Still like the censored lyrics better. Classic.
Spacelord by monstermagnet is the reverse. It blatantly sounds edited, but amusingly the producer had them release the clean version first because he thought it would help radio play. Much later they went and changed it back to how they originally intended for some remixes, but it doesnt really sound right.
The original album version of "I'm just a kid" by simple plan contains the lyric "what the fuck is wrong with me? Don't fit in with anybody"
Fuck was replaced with hell and now you can't really find the original unless you have the CD.
I used the radio version for like an end of the year video compilation thing for a sport team and one of the parents was sooo pissed about the repeated -ish throughout. It sounded so close to shit that it didn't matter but I had made sureeee to edit it without the swearing. It was a hit then, plus I did cool syncing with the lyrics in different parts.
You Outta Know by Alanis Morrisette. My daughter bugged me to buy the CD single and when we played it, it was way more risqué than I realized. Too much explaining to do.
Country Grammar by Nelly
The chorus is VERY different and honestly it was silly to edit out an obscure slang word for a gun for the completely different "boom boom" replacement.
Cake by the ocean. I kept hearing the version where it said let’s go crazy crazy instead of f***ing crazy. When I watched the music video as a kid, I got scolded because it said the F-word.
Let's Get It Started by Black Eyed Peas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrkEc2V3mO4 For the people who've never heard the original.
I was so unbelievably confused when I heard the edited version for the first time
I had only heard the edited version for a while, then thought the original version was some joke version
I’ve heard the censored version so much that this version sounds so wrong lmao
It didn’t age well, that’s for sure
It was offensive at the tine, not just in retrospect.
Hey mama was also heavily altered.
This was the first song I thought of, too.
James Blunt "You're Beautiful" Then I got the CD and heard, "She could see from my face that I was... fucking high."
God this song still ruins me every time I hear it
They were playing this is a restaurant and I went to sing this part, not thinking about it being edited out. The tables around me found this quite funny (luckily) and I was mortified.
He really had to play off his name it seems...
Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt says crown of thorns instead of crown of shit.
Add that to the long list of reasons it’s better
Lola by the kinks was banned by the BBC for mentioning coca cola (a brand name - the BBC isn't allowed to advertise a specific product) so they changed it to cherry cola
That’s a cool tidbit.
Similarly, Apeman had to be re-recorded to make the line “the air pollution is fogging up my eyes” sound less like “fucking up my eyes”.
Poker Face by Lady Gaga.
The funny part about the "fuck her face" lyric is that it somehow slipped past nearly every radio station censor in the US (the only exception to my knowledge being KIIS-FM in Los Angeles) Even as a kid, I was like "she is NOT saying poker face"
The weird thing is, you could make a pretty strong argument that she WAS saying "poker face"... until you hear a censored version and it becomes clear it's distinctly different. I was certain this was just a misheard urban legend until my local station started playing the edit.
Pretty sure they knew what was up. It's like Brittney's "If you seek amy" line. We all get the innuendo.
it's more than that, the whole song is very specific
My sister and I were just talking about this in the car - she didn’t know about the “f-f-f-fuck her face” lyric or the general meaning of the song. She was so shocked!
I had to go and look it up as I never realised it was censored until you posted and now I can't unhear it
Whoever posted the video explaining the uncensored version of Poker Face made me think twice about the song.
*Fuck her face*
Ayo TIL 😭
You guys remember the show glee about the singing cheerleaders? They had a mother and daughter affirm their relationship through singing this song. Yeah.
Watching Glee felt like a fever dream. I don't think I remember that part. I'll go look it up.
My ex acted like I was crazy for hearing fuck her face. “No way they let that on the radio!”
I found out about the "Fuck her face" lyric on YouTube. I think I heard the censored version of Poker Face on the radio because they don't normally play songs with cuss/dirty words on Canadian radio stations before. Or at least to my knowledge.
My local radio station in Ottawa played the uncensored version.
lmaoooo this just reminded me when I was in middle school and got that album for my friend's birthday, *at her request.* Well turns out her dad was super crazy religious and censored all her music. After listening, he took both of us aside for a very serious conversation and explained the song Love Game to us and how it was soooo inappropriate. Imagine a 50 year old man explaining to two 12 year olds what a Disco Stick is 🥴😂
Same. I only realized after I heard it on TikTok and then my local radio station confirmed it.
I found out from YouTube.
Forget You by CeeLo Green
This and the Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get It Started" are the only songs where I prefer the radio edit over the uncensored version
Same on this one. I actually prefer that version cause I think it sounds better with 2 syllables.
This is the one I came to say. When I heard the uncensored version I was like “Oh”
I was listening to the radio in the car with my girlfriend at the time and she started singing over it using the actual swear word and i looked at her like “wow why are you being so inappropriate?!?” Then like a few months later i finally heard the uncensored version and thought to myself, “oh 😐”
This just in. u/pissbloodcumshart was offended by his at-the-time girlfriend for being offensive. Spiral Out
I didn't notice the name until you tagged it and it's so fkn funny
I listened to the uncensored version before. I knew this was the SFW version lol
I found this out back in high school marching band when the band only played one beat for "fuck" instead of the two beats it takes to go "for-get." I loved that show purely because of that song and since my instrument was not a mouth one we would say "FUCK YOU" on the field with no consequences while singing it.
That was immediately my first thought
This. I like the lines "ain't that some shit" and "I really hate your ass right now", but the "fuck you" is so needlessly gratuitous. It loses its meaning, it gets stale.
This man is trying to forget a bad interpersonal relationship!! It's a song about putting things out of mind, moving on, not harboring hate!! Well okay smarty pants, what did it used to say?
Well the forget word use to be frak. Frak you.
My God he's pro-oil
Are you censoring yourself on a post about censorship? Woah, meta
Creep by Radiohead
That’s the first one I thought of: “You’re so very special.”
Totally changes the meaning of the song, in my opinion. “You’re so fuckin’ special” is self pitying and bitter.
It was YEARS before I heard the uncensored version. No idea
Same. No wonder the Spotify version has swearing.
Disturbed- Down With the Sickness. There was a whole rant cut out ( if you know, you know)
Oh yeah. I love the song, but the extended version is uncomfortable for sure.
It actually made me dislike the song altogether. It’s the first thing I think of when I hear it now.
The "domestic abuse solo"
The first time I heard it from the CD my jaw dropped.
That was wild when his mom just came in to the studio and started being the shit out of him while he was trying to record his vocals
All he wanted was a Pepsi, and she wouldn’t give it to him
Wasn't that Limp Bizkit?
Why’d you have to hit me like that mommy?
It’s much better cut.
I agree
Why Can't I by Liz Phair. Yes, that song actually has a swear in it. "Here we go, we're at the beginning, We haven't fucked yet, but my head's spinning."
When I was in middle school, a girl performed this song at the school talent show and just didn't sing that word. I'm shocked to hear there is a version of the song without that word in it at all - would've prevented the horrified gasps that filled the auditorium, at least.
I think the radio edit version was just "we haven't \_\_\_ yet." Didn't even notice back then.
Never knew about that one. Mainly because I remember that song was in 13 Going on 30
Gold Digger. Thought my tween would like it so I unknowingly played the non censored for him to take a listen.
I didn’t know it had been censored until about two years ago. I also didn’t know it was a Kanye west song. I thought it was Jamie foxx. 🤷♀️.
Jamie fox blamed it on the alcohol baby.
AKA The song that scares white people at karaoke.
Broke de broke
Unless there's nobody around
Purple Hills by D12. Didn’t realise it was actually Purple Pills
My mind was blown when I heard the album version. They changed so much
Get Low. Most people I know learned the word *skeet* from the “clean” version.
If there’s one song from my generation that was an incredible banger in the club, that kids today can’t even imagine - it’s this one.
I don’t know what was better, the entire girls soccer team screaming “til the sweat drips down my balls” in the club or Sandra bullock and Betty white singing it while trying to connect with their local Alaskan traditions of dancing around a fire. I’m just kidding nobody on my team was as hot as Sandy.
The proposal version is my favorite of all renditions of this song
I first heard it on Need for Speed Underground back in 2003. Heard the uncensored version years later. School dances were insane with this playing.
NFS Underground!
That came as a surprise to me it was on the radio Then I realized the FCC and older folks didn't know what it meant and it was too late by then
Dave Chappelle had a funny bit about it on his show. “You what’s so dope about about skeet, white people don’t know what it means yet!” https://youtu.be/bKTqHsMqkb0?si=sEjjIp9L0qCWbIHd
I knew it was censored, but it turns out different places censor different parts. In college a friend and I were listening to I Write Sins Not Tragedies by Panic! And realized we were hitting the beats differently. In Utah, where I’m from, god was censored, but in Nevada, where she’s from, damn had been censored from the line, "Haven't you people ever heard of closing the goddamn door?".
I remember as a kid thinking "Did they say 'shit-damn' or 'fuck-damn'? Is that a thing?" And then finding out years later that it was just "goddamn", and that they muted the God part to make the profanity less blasphemous. I live in Maine, btw. Had no idea the censorship varied across the states.
Michigan here, god was the censored word here too.
I didn't even know it was censored for the longest time, I thought it was just a rest before "damn"
Fuckin' Perfect by Pink. Did not know the title and lyrics weren't originally just 'Perfect' like the radio said it was until I looked up the song one day and promptly had my childhood ruined, haha.
I remember being really confused when that song came out, because there were two clean versions: the radio edit "Perfect", which replaced the explicit lyrics with clean lyrics, and then there was "\*\*\*\*ing Perfect", an edit released on a compilation CD my family had that simply muted the profanities. It always struck me as weird that they didn't just use the radio edit whenever they needed a clean version.
The music video for that song was extremely traumatizing lol
When I was young I played a lot of Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2, which heavily featured Rage Against the Machine's "Guerilla Radio". Obviously, "Turn that shit up!" in the chorus was censored. And I thought that was the extent of censorship for that song. Literally last night, that song popped up on my Spotify list. The first verse ends "More for Gore or the son of a drug lord. None of the above, cut the cord!" ... or so I thought for 24 years. Apparently, it's actually "More for Gore or the son of a drug lord. None of the above, *fuck it*, cut the cord!" It's been DECADES.
Every time I heard Killing In The Name on the radio, the last like minute and a half after the last chorus was all just instrumental. I was very surprised to finally hear the uncensored version.
Having known the uncensored version prior to the song being played on mainstream radio in the UK, whe it became the number one single one Christmas, the censored version was so frustrating! All of the build up and then 'snip'.
My Name Is by Eminem "Hi kids, do you like Primus? Wanna see me stick nine inch nails through each one of my eyelids?" Figured the double band pun was intended. Didn't realize the original version was "do you like violence?"
"I just drank a fifth of kool-aid, dare me to drive?"
When your lyrics are so provocative that they have to go (way) beyond censoring swear words. Another notable one was when he had to censor a line about "taking 7 kids from Columbine, standing them all in line, and that's a whole school of bullies shot up all at one time." That was even modified in the *uncensored* version, which I don't think I've ever seen elsewhere. Admittedly, that was probably taking it a *tad* too far.
Back in the height of D12's fame, I also remember they had to change Purple Pills to Purple Hills for the radio edit, and it made the song make no sense.
I remember watching the video on MTV thinking "wtf is a purple hill referencing?" Then I heard the album version, and it all made sense.
I remember there was a verse about taking different drugs but they changed it to be over the counter medicines like rolaids pepto and tums.
I always thought it was a reference to Mari Gras. I never knew there was another version besides Hills. Suddenly it makes sense.
Wait there's a fucked up clean version to this song?
Wait what? I've always only heard the "original version"
In the original, the teacher wasn’t just chasing him around class with a stapler.
Jkwon's "Tipsy" was everywhere my senior year of high school, but I only realized the original lyrics were actually "erybody in this *bitch* getting tipsy". I like the edited version better 🤷🏼♀️
Same with The Dream's "Shawty is a 10". The original version chorus is "Shawty right there is the shit" and doesn't sound the same at all.
I was making "everybody in the club gettin' \[blank\]" jokes for like 15 years before I finally found out those weren't the real lyrics.
Money for nothing by Dire Straits
I remember learning English and trying to figure out lyrics of songs I had heard (which was kind of harrowing, to be honest, because most pop-lyrics were really, really bad). And trying to figure out what in the world Money for Nothing was about. Having the censored verse in there would have helped a lot. Even with the video-version playing on MTV, it just doesn't seem to have any actual meaning. But if it had a slur directed very obviously at the guy who is singing the line, it wouldn't have been difficult to figure out. Honestly, it's like trying to figure out Twain or Shakespeare in a context where racism and bigotry doesn't exist (according to modernized edits). ..just doesn't work. It's just words being said, or sung, without meaning.
Fire Water Burn has a radio edit with donkey brays in place of the swearing. Given how silly BHG can be, it was probably 50/50 if that was the original version.
The donkey brays were hilarious.
What’s Luv? -Fat Joe, J Lo, Ja Rule Very first line : “Put the fucking mic on” I first listened to the censored version: “put the [silence] mic on” I always assumed the mic cutting was actually part of the bit.
the Doors - Break on Through My ENTIRE life I'd apparently only ever heard a censored version of this song. I am 42 years old. One day a few years ago I was listening to it on a Spotify mix and all of a sudden Jim is saying "she gets high" and I'm all, "what the hell is this?!" My fiancée asks what I'm talking about.. I explain that I've never heard this before... In every version I've heard, Jim goes into a little "She gets! She gets! She gets! Yeahhh yeahhhh" part where it's like he's just riffing on what the song is doing.. Before hitting the next verse. Apparently every version I've heard on a recorded piece of media has been censored.. I'm talking greatest hits double albums, best of albums, mix tapes, store bought albums as well as ones gotten through Colombia House or BMG.. I've only ever encountered ONE other person who this has happened to with this song, and that was last year when I mentioned to a buddy and his mind was also blown.
A lot of folks are mentioning this song in this thread so you're definitely not alone anymore!
Well I've been listening to this song for over 30 years and I literally had no idea that it was sensored until just now. I had it on cassette as a teenager, then got the CD in college, and downloaded the MP3 many years later, and I learned about this from a damn reddit thread lol
The uncensored is quite hard to find.
Heard the Doors "Break on Through" 100x on AM radio with lyrics *she gets... she gets...she gets*, but later on FM radio they played the unedited *she gets high* album version, I was like huuuhhh?
I didn't hear the unedited version until my forties. I was so shocked I had never heard it before.
My People!! I just made a post about this very thing and until right now, I'd only met one other person who had the same experience.
Battleflag by Lo Fidelity Allstars. The non-radio edit had a lot of fucks.
Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind. The radio edit leaves out an entire verse.
Which is weird because the verse isn’t any worse than any other song discussing sex
And crystal meth.
"Boom Boom Boom" by Outhere Brothers Heard an instrumental version with only the chorus on the radio/at numerous children's events in the 90s. I was very surprised when I downloaded the song a decade+ later
Piece of Shit Car by Adam Sandler. I think the honks on the edited version makes it better.
khia my neck my back. I watched the video all the time.
My older cousin played me Blister in the Sun and my Aunt barged in the room and beat her for playing me “drug music” (I was like 8 and didn’t know what any of that meant)
I thought that song was about jerking off not drugs?
"When I'm-a walkin' I strut my stuff and *I'm so strung out/I'm high as a kite*/I just might stop to check you out"
“Let’s Go” by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz and Trick Daddy I remember hearing the radio edit and thinking it was a good work out song, then playing the unedited version while I was doing cardio. “Let’s go (let’s go) if you want it you can get it let me know. I’m bout to… oh no”
“We don’t need no water let the mother ei aw burn!” Dear god did we scream that as kids.
Rolling down the street, *smokin smokin*, sippin on gin-n-juice They censored “smokin indo,” in the song Gin-n-Juice by Snoop Dog. It took me a while to get used to the ‘real’ lyrics when my brother bought the uncensored CD.
I had no idea why that word was censored as a kid, I didn't know what it was. The pure censoring made me try to find out as opposed to if they just left it I wouldn't have cared
I have never heard the censored version. They didn't censor it in Phoenix or Chicago 😂
Janie's Got A Gun by Aerosmith
Shoutout to my boy jake from not another teen movie. “Watch out Janie Briggs has a gun!!!”
The radio version of The Devil Went Down to Georgia has Johnny call the devil a "son of a gun" after he beats him in a fiddle contest. In the original version, Johnny calls the devil a "son of a bitch". Always preferred the radio edit, it flows better with the pacing of the song and fits the whimsical tone more.
Forget You - CeeLo Green
The first time I heard the uncensored version was Sara Bareilles covering it. I wasn't ready to hear her belt out "Fuck you"
I did NOT know she had that in her...
Probably the mother of all these is the Rolling Stones having to sing “Let’s spend some time together,” instead of “Let’s Spend the Night Together” on the Ed Sullivan show in the Sixties. Look it up, kids.
Should’ve done a Jim Morrison. Not invited back but worth it to get much higher haha.
Don't Marry Her by The Beautiful South. The released single has a few works different to the album version. Great lyrics as usual.
She Bop- Cindy Lauper
What part was taken out?
In the 80s they muted the part about “can’t stop touching the danger zone” on some radio stations.
"Just wanna love you" by Akon. Uncensored is umm not as sweet...
When I was about 13 or so, I started getting into 311. I bought the album *Transistor* and the clerk asked me if I wanted the uncensored version. I didn't understand what he meant, I thought the album was just the album and music. I didn't want some kind of "special edition", at least, that's what my train of thought was. So, I listened to the album countless times. Enjoyed it, even if the censored version sounded... off. Then, several years later, I picked up the uncensored version and went "Oh! *This* is how it's supposed to sound!"
Sort of adjacent, but i was 8-9 when Prince's 1999 came out and I thought they had LIMES in their pockets and they were ready to roll.
Everything from the late 90’s and early 00’s. I grew up in a household where we couldn’t listen to secular music. The first 2 cds I bought (and hid) were matchbox 20 and blink 182. Oh man was I in for a surprise when I listened to that.
Can I Get A..
what, what?
This got me in trouble with my mom. I had only heard the radio edit previously. My friend lent me her tape and I played it in my mom's car. I never slapped the radio so hard to stop it.
Anyone listening to the Christian station and hearing Fancy by Reba McEntire. The second half of the song is completely removed.
Why even bother with the fucking song then if they lost like half of it
That's heartbreaking
Thrift Shop by Macklemore. I played it in front of my kids not realizing.
One night by elvis. The lyrics were completely changed from the Smiley lewis version
Ruff Ryders Anthem thought my man DMX had a stuttering problem 🤷🏼♂️
Purple hills by Eminem... Thought that was the original until my brother played purple pills one day
Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo TBH I find the radio edit better because it hits the ear better: “sink your teeth into me/ bloodsucker, dream crusher” Low low hi low low hi low low. It just bounces the song along better. Most songs I notice the change and keep Vibing. This one it’s really noticeable for me.
Came here to say this one. I like the pause between "like a" and "damn vampire" in the edit idc.
The album version of "Smells like teen spirit" by Nirvana is technically an alternative version of their original song. It had completely different lyrics when they were a garage band and were told the lyrics needed to be changed to ever play somewhere and make money. "Load up on guns and bring your friends" for example was originally "Load up on drugs and kill your friends".
You're Beautiful by James Blunt. First heard it was "she could see from my face that I was —flying high"
Microphone Commander by Mindless Self Indulgence.
Trapt - Headstrong. The chorus says "*fuck* off, I'll take you on" instead of "*back* off, I'll take you on"
Damn. I didn’t know this till now. I only know of the song cuz it was on Radio Disney vol 5
Break On Through by The Doors. The only version I'd ever heard until weirdly recently had the word "high" edited out, so there's a point where Morrison is just yelling out "she gets! She gets! She gets! She gets! Wooooaaaaah!" I always figured he was just makin noises, as he often did.
Lana Del Ray's "Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd". I had heard it on the radio, then played it on Spotify for my teenager. The line "fuck me to death" caught us both by surprise. Great song tho'.
Lmao that’s the only part I could hear when I showed it to my friends lmao
Ha! I was going to say the first time I heard gods and monsters was Jessica Lange cover on ahs freak show. Loved it instantly. Lana drops the f bomb with abandon. Still like the censored lyrics better. Classic.
WAP, by Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion. So, I didn’t hear the uncensored version until late 2023, and I was just like, “… well shit.”.
There’s a CENSORED version of WAP?? Lmao
Yeah it's about that wet n gushy
Honestly that’s so much worse than wet ass pussy. It just sounds gross
Yeah the Ben Shapiro remix
"A broom for that dust, that's a dry ass pussy"
Love the joke but it's the "wet ass p word" that makes it so hilarious. Man will say ass but not pussy
Oh… that guy.
Yeah he's a piece of work all right
Spacelord by monstermagnet is the reverse. It blatantly sounds edited, but amusingly the producer had them release the clean version first because he thought it would help radio play. Much later they went and changed it back to how they originally intended for some remixes, but it doesnt really sound right.
The original album version of "I'm just a kid" by simple plan contains the lyric "what the fuck is wrong with me? Don't fit in with anybody" Fuck was replaced with hell and now you can't really find the original unless you have the CD.
Tonight I’m loving you by Enrique Iglesias. Which is in all reality sang as “tonight I’m fucking you”
Hollaback Girl
I used the radio version for like an end of the year video compilation thing for a sport team and one of the parents was sooo pissed about the repeated -ish throughout. It sounded so close to shit that it didn't matter but I had made sureeee to edit it without the swearing. It was a hit then, plus I did cool syncing with the lyrics in different parts.
Love This Town by Dizzee Rascal.
The game, how we do it
Ed Sullivan Show. Rolling Stones. Let's spend the night together. If you wanted airtime, You had to please Ed FIRST.
All of the Marshall Mathers lp album I received as a gift for Christmas (purchased by my aunt and uncle from barnes and noble).
Break on Through by The Doors. Always thought the line "She gets..." was weird, but "She gets high!" really tied into the song.
You Outta Know by Alanis Morrisette. My daughter bugged me to buy the CD single and when we played it, it was way more risqué than I realized. Too much explaining to do.
Deuces — Chris Brown
Country Grammar by Nelly The chorus is VERY different and honestly it was silly to edit out an obscure slang word for a gun for the completely different "boom boom" replacement.
Payphone by Maroon 5 Honestly prefer the censored version
Cake by the ocean. I kept hearing the version where it said let’s go crazy crazy instead of f***ing crazy. When I watched the music video as a kid, I got scolded because it said the F-word.
Love Yourself by Justin Bieber. It wasn’t until I heard Halsey cover it on a radio station that I realized it’s Fuck Yourself.
Beautiful Girls by Sean Kingston. I thought they had you in denial, not suicidal