FCC and Clear Channel Attempts to censor artists Eminem and Green Day.
Eminem and the FCC
One Federal Communications Commision encounter with artist Eminem happend when a Colorado radio station was fined for playing "The Real Slim Shady." The FCC placed $7,000 fine against a Colorado radio station for playing the "clean" version of Eminem's hit "The Real Slim Shady." The FCC claimed that they base their actions on customer complaints and the lyrics of the song, though edited, still contained offensive sexual references. The song was he first single from The Marshall Mathers LP and has sold more than 8 million copies. The song had also previously been aired tens of thousands of times by hundreds of stations across the country without government scrutiny.
KKMG-FM, the Colorado Springs station, stopped playing the song along with its parent corporation Citadel Broadcasting. KKMG stated that they played "The Real Slim Shady" 408 times between May and July of 2000. In the end the song was taken off the playlist of 139 Citadel stations. (1)
Obviously Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" was a popular song having been played "tens of thousands of times" but even with the edited version being played why is it still being banned. This issue is just one of many that make audiences question the FCC's authority and reasoning.
Eminem is currently moving his music to Sirius Satellite where the FCC has no control. Read more about his move here.
Clear Channel and Green Day
Clear Channel edits the word "faggot" out of Green Day's popular song American Idiot. At first when Green Day heard the word being bleeped they thought it was an action by the FCC. After further investigation Green Day found out that their lyrics were being edited by Clear Channel radio. The station announced that it would have a zero tolerance policy for indecent content and felt that they could edit the word out of the song because it was their own company. Many consider this a case of corporate censorship and feel that Clear Channel is scared to broadcast the lyrics. (2)
Eminem and the FCC
One Federal Communications Commision encounter with artist Eminem happend when a Colorado radio station was fined for playing "The Real Slim Shady." The FCC placed $7,000 fine against a Colorado radio station for playing the "clean" version of Eminem's hit "The Real Slim Shady." The FCC claimed that they base their actions on customer complaints and the lyrics of the song, though edited, still contained offensive sexual references. The song was he first single from The Marshall Mathers LP and has sold more than 8 million copies. The song had also previously been aired tens of thousands of times by hundreds of stations across the country without government scrutiny.
KKMG-FM, the Colorado Springs station, stopped playing the song along with its parent corporation Citadel Broadcasting. KKMG stated that they played "The Real Slim Shady" 408 times between May and July of 2000. In the end the song was taken off the playlist of 139 Citadel stations. (1)
Obviously Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" was a popular song having been played "tens of thousands of times" but even with the edited version being played why is it still being banned. This issue is just one of many that make audiences question the FCC's authority and reasoning.
Eminem is currently moving his music to Sirius Satellite where the FCC has no control. Read more about his move here.
Clear Channel and Green Day
Clear Channel edits the word "faggot" out of Green Day's popular song American Idiot. At first when Green Day heard the word being bleeped they thought it was an action by the FCC. After further investigation Green Day found out that their lyrics were being edited by Clear Channel radio. The station announced that it would have a zero tolerance policy for indecent content and felt that they could edit the word out of the song because it was their own company. Many consider this a case of corporate censorship and feel that Clear Channel is scared to broadcast the lyrics. (2)
Other Pages
Music Censorship Home Page
U.S. Music Censorship Timeline
Censorship in Other Countries
References
(1) Goodman, F. (2001). The FCC takes on Eminem. Rolling Stone, (873).
(2)Goodridge, M. (2004). "faggot" phobia. Advocate, (927).