Sean Kingston's song being banned??

Sinfonia

This issue applies to more than just music, so I'm putting it here...

Anyways, watching the news earlier, and one of the stories was about Sean Kingston's song "Beautiful Girls", and 'should it be banned?'

For those who don't know the song, musically, it's an upbeat reggae-influenced song which samples "Stand By Me"; the lyrics to the chorus are:

You're way too beautiful girl
That's why it'll never work
You'll have me suicidal, suicidal
When you say it's over
Damn all these beautiful girls
They only wanna do your dirt
They'll have you suicidal, suicidal
When they say it's over

Basically the controversy is over the use of the word 'suicidal'.

from Wikipedia:

Certain radio stations play the censored version of the song, which replaces the word "suicidal" with "in denial". On MTV the word suicidal is completely removed with no replacement.

Watching the news (I think it was TV3) revealed an Irish station crossing the song off their playlist (I think it was FM104), despite the song being Number 1 in Ireland, because 70% of the listeners complained about the song or something like that.


Do you think a song should be banned/censored for having the word 'suicidal' in it?
Some dude from some organisation was on the news saying that this kind of music shouldn't even reach the shelf, and could have a negative impact on vulnerable people...I'm not even sure this guy heard the song tbh...

Anyway, IMO this is pretty ridiculous (I think the song should be banned for being sh!te, but anyway). I mean, even if he was ordering the audience to kill themselves, I wouldn't think it should be banned, freedom of speech and all that, but it's nowhere near that context at all.
I honestly think it would have stronger grounds for a banning if it was beautiful girls giving out about being unfairly represented!

Votes and opinions please...

Terry

S.O.D. FTW:

Can't take it, never could
Time to end it, wish you would
Friends and family, they're all gone
Life for you is just a con
Dig yourself a hole in the ground
Push up daisies six feet down
Take a dirt nap, buy the farm
Inject a bubble in your arm

[CHORUS]
Kill yourself, kill yourself
Why don't you kill yourself

Don't rely on no one else
End it all just kill yourself

Life is just a one way ticket
Everyone must go around
Here's a bucket go and kick it
Slit your wrists without a sound
When you fo don't make a big deal
No dramatics, don't overplay
Cause don't you know that we'll all fell
Better once you've gone away
[CHORUS-MOSH PART]

You're a loser, there's nothing left for you
A worthless loser, at everything you do

ryanairzer

OP you are IGNORANT!!!!!!!!!

YOU DONT KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE

I was sui****l okay and anything like this can trigger. you dont know how fragile peoples emotions are

rawr rawr rawr

seamus

Remember when this great song caused controversy?

Rape me
Rape me, my friend
Rape me
Rape me again

I'm not the only one, Ah [3x]
I'm not the only one...

Hate me
Do it and do it again
Waste me
Rape me, my friend

I'm not the only one, Ah [3x]
I'm not the only one...

My favorite inside source
I'll kiss your open sores
I appreciate your concern
You're gonna stink and burn

Rape me
Rape me, my friend
Rape me
Rape me, again

I'm not the only one, Ah [3x]
I'm not the only one...

Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)

Seriously, people who complain about what's put on telly or what's contained in songs should be locked up so the rest of us can get on with giving a **** about the important things.

BrandonBlock

I think it should be banned on the sole basis that it's absolutely ****. Typical of the crap being churned out daily by the pop music industry. Thank god for Phantom fm is all I'll say.

Terry

seamus wrote:

Remember when this great song caused controversy?

Rape me
Rape me, my friend
Rape me
Rape me again

I'm not the only one, Ah [3x]
I'm not the only one...

Hate me
Do it and do it again
Waste me
Rape me, my friend

I'm not the only one, Ah [3x]
I'm not the only one...

My favorite inside source
I'll kiss your open sores
I appreciate your concern
You're gonna stink and burn

Rape me
Rape me, my friend
Rape me
Rape me, again

I'm not the only one, Ah [3x]
I'm not the only one...

Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)

Seriously, people who complain about what's put on telly or what's contained in songs should be locked up so the rest of us can get on with giving a **** about the important things.

What a ****ing brilliant song.

Actualy, that whole album was great.

Scoobydoobydoo

I'm not sure we want to start banning stuff, however the song is total crap, it is in poor taste, but what I would prefer to see is some kind of campaign against the stupid people who are essentially taste-fee zones, who put this mind numbing stuff to the top of the charts and make these 'artists' very wealthy. :rolleyes:
I'd love to see these people in ten years time, looking back on their old music collections in horror and shame!!!

Sinfonia

Scoobydoobydoo wrote:

it is in poor taste

How so?

GhostInTheRuins

Don't know the song but the lyrics are probably just a way of stirring up some attention to get more sales, and guess what, it's working, cause you're talking about it.

entropi

Well apart from it being a sh*te song, i would agree with the words being changed maybe, as having someone very close to me attempt suicide recently i think it's a bit inappropriate to have that 1 word in the song. And no, i'm not a fuc*ing prude for whoever may be thinking it, i've listened to my fair share of lyrics deemed explicit and found most to be well....not released in the charts for starters. even some that may have slipped in, like stuff by rap artists etc were heavily censored.

When the vast majority of listeners to that song would be under 18, and this country having a problem with teenage suicides it was a bad judgement on whoever censors music for radio listeners

kowloon

BrandonBlock wrote:

Thank god for Phantom fm is all I'll say.

Lets not go overboard now

Death Sentence wrote:

When the vast majority of listeners to that song would be under 18, and this country having a problem with teenage suicides it was a bad judgement on whoever censors music for radio listeners

Not an attack or anything, but...... have you noticed your username?
The word death in it, someone might kill themselves on reading your username.
Seriously, like sheltering people from the word suicide and avoiding any mention is progress.
We'll do what we always do, ignore the problem and it'll go away, just like with the squid.

Terry

I know there are other threads about this, but could people please keep an eye out for suicidal people.
It's a serious problem and we need to help these people.

I love you all.
Terry.

Basq

seamus wrote:

Remember when this great song caused controversy?

Rape me
Rape me, my friend
Rape me
Rape me again

I'm not the only one, Ah [3x]
I'm not the only one...

Hate me
Do it and do it again
Waste me
Rape me, my friend

I'm not the only one, Ah [3x]
I'm not the only one...

My favorite inside source
I'll kiss your open sores
I appreciate your concern
You're gonna stink and burn

Rape me
Rape me, my friend
Rape me
Rape me, again

I'm not the only one, Ah [3x]
I'm not the only one...

Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)

Seriously, people who complain about what's put on telly or what's contained in songs should be locked up so the rest of us can get on with giving a **** about the important things.

Ahhhh... The Spice Girls in their hey-day! Wonderful, weren't they?! :rolleyes:

kowloon

basquille wrote:

Ahhhh... The Spice Girls in their hey-day! Wonderful, weren't they?! :rolleyes:

So thats what a zigga zig ahh was.

Tha Gopher

seamus wrote:

Remember when this great song caused controversy?

Rape me
Rape me, my friend
Rape me
Rape me again

I'm not the only one, Ah [3x]
I'm not the only one...

Hate me
Do it and do it again
Waste me
Rape me, my friend

I'm not the only one, Ah [3x]
I'm not the only one...

My favorite inside source
I'll kiss your open sores
I appreciate your concern
You're gonna stink and burn

Rape me
Rape me, my friend
Rape me
Rape me, again

I'm not the only one, Ah [3x]
I'm not the only one...

Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)
Rape me! (Rape me!)

Seriously, people who complain about what's put on telly or what's contained in songs should be locked up so the rest of us can get on with giving a **** about the important things.

Nirvana were even worse and more pointless than that american Ja-fake-an Kingston. Damn right they should have been banned, its not lyricism, its look at me Im being controversial

shay_562

*****_Sentence wrote:

i would agree with the words being changed maybe, as having someone very close to me attempt suicide recently i think it's a bit inappropriate to have that 1 word in the song...When the vast majority of listeners to that song would be under 18, and this country having a problem with teenage suicides it was a bad judgement on whoever censors music for radio listeners

He's right ya know. Listening to the radio yesterday they kept talking about the shootings during that post-office robbery in Lusk; today I found myself inexplicably driven to attempt to rob a post office. Hearing random words, regardless of the context, can totally change your mindset and make you powerless to control yourself. [/sarcasm]

Not trying to be insensitive here - I've lost a family member to suicide too, I'd wager a decent proportion of people in this country have, given how prevalent it seems to be. But this is just like what was discussed a week or so ago with the girl who threw herself in front of a DART after getting her JC results - shutting the word out and making it taboo to even think about it, let alone talk to someone about feelings you may be having, doesn't exactly help anyone. The "now let's forget our troubles with a big bowl of strawberry ice-cream!" philosophy sure as hell doesn't help anyone, and reactionary measures like this are just a vain attempt to be seen to be doing something, anything, without actually having to put effort and resources into trying to help people.

Oh, and as for this:

SumGuy wrote:

Watching the news (I think it was TV3) revealed an Irish station crossing the song off their playlist (I think it was FM104), despite the song being Number 1 in Ireland, because 70% of the listeners complained about the song or something like that.

I'm not going to call you wrong, but could you back this up with a link or something? Because it seems exceedingly unlikely that 70% of the hundreds of thousands of people who listen to FM104 rang in to complain about one song; 70 people in total is more likely, and even that would be an unusually high number of complaints to recieve (at least, based on how many complaints offensive ads usually get)

billy the squid

banning stuff only encourages muppets to go out and get it. anyone remember the hoo ha over the prodgidy and the song smack my bitch up.

the amount of times this is being played on the radio is enough to make anyone suicidal.

is_that_so

BrandonBlock wrote:

I think it should be banned on the sole basis that it's absolutely ****. Typical of the crap being churned out daily by the pop music industry.

From the snippet I heard it should be banned on this basis. Even so the fact that people are talking about it and its content is paradoxically good as it draws attention to the topic once again.

entropi

kowloon wrote:

Not an attack or anything, but...... have you noticed your username?
The word death in it, someone might kill themselves on reading your username.

Maybe because i used this name playing online games nearly 7 years ago, and signed up to boards with said username. I'd gladly change my username if i could subscribe, alas i cannot so i guess you're sh*t outta luck there but listen out for both sides of a story ALWAYS

And there's the story of how i got my username, when boards was sooooo much smaller, but had no Pighead, but Bubbles instead

Poxyshamrock

Yeah i think the line "i'll have you suicidal" is a bit much!

Maximilian

These lyrics are far more upsetting

Don't... don't close your heart to how you feel
Dream, and don't be afraid the dream's not real
Close your eyes, pretend it's just the two of us again
Make believe this moment's here to stay
Touch... touch me the way you used to do
I know tonight could be all I'll have with you
From now on, you'll be with someone else instead of me
So tonight, let's fill this memory
For the last time -

Hold me now
Don't cry, don't say a word
Just hold me now
And I will know -
Though we're apart, we'll always be together
Forever in love
What do you say when words are not enough?

Time... time will be kind once we're apart
And your tears... tears will have no place in your heart
I wish I... I could say how much I'll miss you when you're gone
How my love for you will go on and on and

Hold me now
Don't cry, don't say a word
Just hold me now
And try to understand that
I hope at last you've found
What you've been searchin' for
And though I won't be there anymore
I will always love you

(Hold me now)
(Don't cry,) don't say a word
Just hold me now
And I will know -
Though we're apart, we'll always be together
Forever in love
What do you say when words are not enough?

What can I say?
Now my words are not enough

Basq

McNugget?

FlutterinBantam

Anyone called"Sean Kingston" should be banned immediately.

Sinfonia

shay_562 wrote:

I'm not going to call you wrong, but could you back this up with a link or something? Because it seems exceedingly unlikely that 70% of the hundreds of thousands of people who listen to FM104 rang in to complain about one song; 70 people in total is more likely, and even that would be an unusually high number of complaints to recieve (at least, based on how many complaints offensive ads usually get)

http://www.fm104.ie/article.asp?id=477863 wrote:

FM104 Bans Suicide Song from Playlist

Dublin Thursday 20th September 2007, 16.15

FM104 Management has responded to public outrage at the lyrics of popular Sean Kingston song “Beautiful Girls” by banning the song outright from their playlist.

The move follows a flood of complaints from listeners regarding the suicide aspect of the lyrics.

During discussions on the FM104 Phoneshow with Adrian Kennedy, the majority of callers (particularly those affected by suicide) felt that the lyrics of the song were inappropriate and likely to cause upset.

Some callers even broke down live on air while talking about friends lost to suicide. One caller told Adrian “Every time I hear that song being played on the radio it brings the horror of suicide back to me because I lost my friend to suicide last year..”

Commenting on his decision, FM104 Programme Director Dave Kelly said, “With the rate of suicide among young Irish people at an all time high, I felt it appropriate to stop our DJ’s playing the song”

Kelly continued, “When Adrian informed me that 73% of FM104 listeners in a text poll, wanted to have the song taken off the air, I decided to take action”.

“While I accept that the song is popular and catchy, as a responsible company, FM104 has decided to take this song off the air.”

.

Dudess

It's one of the worst songs I've EVER heard... EVER. And now everyone's talking about it so its popularity will shoot up (like Frankie's Relax). D'oh!

shane86

I get suicidal listening to Adrian Kunteddy. Can he be taken off the air?

Dudess

And now you can get to see as well as hear him - on the City Channel.

DemocAnarchis

The idea of censoring this song is a bit ridiculous. Its certainly very tame in comparison to a lot of material that is broadcast. I dont see why the mention of suicide in a song merits censorship. If anything, its something that shouldnt be censored, it should be out in the open. Suicide is still such a taboo topic, but ts something that needs to be discussed. I think the song, while ****e, doesnt glamorise or promote suicide, it discusses a situation that im sure occurs. Lost a family member to suicide a few years ago, so am well aware that its a painful area for some people, but if you complain about a song mentioning something that has affected you at some stage in the past, where do you stop? Better cross out all those songs referencing drug use, sexual abuse, death, war, terrorism. The world isnt all bunnies and candyfloss, and niether should the songs that are a product of it.

rossie1977

well the bbc banned this little number back in 1982 so http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH7pOUm5s9k

Caliden

It's a good song and people are over0reacting with the suicidal thing. It's a word, get over it.

shay_562

SumGuy wrote:

FM104 stuff

1) Text poll =/= Listeners calling in. Requires much less effort, much less thought is put into it (the Liveline effect of people hearing one side of an issue and saying "Jaysus, isn't that awful?" without actually considering it too much) and is much easier for a few people who feel strongly about the issue (and there's no doubt that some people feel strongly about it) to rig or distort the final results.

2) 73% of respondents to a text poll on one particular FM104 show =/= 70% of FM104 listeners. That could be 100 people or it could be 100,000 people. Which isn't to say that it isn't 100,000 people, but it's misleading in the extreme to represent it as nearly 3/4 of the total listenership.

Call me pedantic or whatever, but if you're gonna quote stuff you heard on the news, it'd be nice for it to be remotely accurate. Oh, and this part:

FM 104 wrote:

Some callers even broke down live on air while talking about friends lost to suicide. One caller told Adrian “Every time I hear that song being played on the radio it brings the horror of suicide back to me because I lost my friend to suicide last year..”

...what? So it's OK to show people being killed and horrificly mutilated in road safety ads, despite the fact that many people in this country have lost people to road deaths, or show people being shot or bludgeoned to death on Coronation St. at 12 on a Sunday morning, but saying the word "suicidal" has people in floods of tears? How on earth are we supposed to deal with an issue when the very mention of the word brings hysteria and censorship? It's farcical...

Crumble Froo

well in fairness, if im listening to the music show, ill probably switch to another show doing music at night, instead of listening to the gobshítes on adrian kennedy goin at each other :rolleyes:

why dont they poll the people who listen to the music shows?

JIZZLORD

It is possibly the worst song i have heard in a long time. the suicidal thing is a pointless addition to the lyrics.

it's a utter piece of crap.

FlutterinBantam

Get off the fence... say what you think!!!

indough

Sweet Jesus, pointless lyrics? I mean, they're only central to the theme of the song like. Back on topic, I don't think hearing the word 'suicidal' is really going to make anyone actually suicidal, whereas that dreary college rock $hite (I have no idea what it's actually called) does very nearly have that effect on me.

Caliden

I've heard the word 'war' being censored in a song.

Rb

Obviously FM104's Directors haven't listened to the Adrian Kennedy show. If they had, maybe they wouldn't base their decisions on the views aired by a bunch of retarded knackers who sit up listening to their fellow retarded knackers ranting about absolute sh1te late at night.

Yakult

Imo Banning it is bull****.

What happened to freedom of speech and expressing yourself. I think its a small bit over reacting!

Theirs hundreads of songs out there which are more lyricly explicit than that pansy song and nothing done.

Lazarus2.0

rossie1977 wrote:

well the bbc banned this little number back in 1982 so http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH7pOUm5s9k

Ahhh .... brings back memories . They were banned by bbc for profanity , methinks . Not for encouraging/condoning suicide . I remember those days well , being an old fart and a wannabe punk back then (which was hard to be in them days lol ) ! God , how we suffered !!

Back on topic now - "Suicide Is Painless" got to No 1 here and in UK in 1980 (theme to M*A*S*H) and there was no rise in suicides then so either people are more susceptible to suggestion now or this thread is a load of ......

I suspect the former , sadly .

weeder

the song should be banned,but only because its rubbish

Jesus Wept

Why does the ****iest music always do well in the charts.

Wertz

This is right out of the same book that censored Rhianna's song Murderer that mentioned a gun :rolleyes:
The similarities don't end there...that song too is sh*te pop reggae aimed at tweenies.
That said, whilst I don't agree with blantant censorship, we should be looking at the target audience and considering if the use of certain topics (especially making light of them) is what we want kids to be soaking up into their developing minds.
Then again if you ban things for content reasons you inevitably promote the banned article and create a false demand...so in the end it doesn't work.

Everytime this comes on the radio I make a dive for the dial, judging by the above replies I'm not the only one.
I would applaud a radio station outright blacklisting the track, but one thing that annoys the hell out of me is replacing words with something less "offensive"....that an artist would agree to the re-writing of their song, shows that it's not really about the music at all...it's only really about chart position and sales.

If someone wants to ban something can they please ban the bloody chipmunk sh*te all these songs seem to have? Personally I find them much more damaging than any individual word...

Nightwish

I'm not a person who gets offended at any song lyrics, but I must admit, when I heard that Sean Kingston song, I found it pretty appalling. I know its a shíte song anyway but the lyrics are terrible.

Mossy Monk

Having just had a listen to this song I think it should be banned completely. It is terrible.

estebancambias

Am I the only one who can't get the stand by me background at all.

phasers

the people who complain about this are the people that watch reality television just to find things to complain about

so many songs have profanity and provocative lyrics, if you don't like it don't listen, there is no reason for it to be banned


although the song itself is rubbish, how did it get to number 1?

lezizi

Thats it i have listened to Sean Kingston and it is the final straw, nice knowing ye guys ...:D

Wertz

estebancambias wrote:

Am I the only one who can't get the stand by me background at all.

Whilst I don't encourage people to listen to the track, if you hear it from the intro you'll hear the classic bassline from Ben E King. It's notable as being the only thing that's any good in the whole rest of the song...

As for how it got to number 1 ? Look at the target audience, the 10-18 age bracket who account for most single sales. Since a lot of the charts also now include mobile ringtone mp3 d/ls and normal d/ls, you can see how stuff like this makes it to the top.
Which is kind of the problem...if I had kids, I don't think I'd be very comfortable with them wanderin' around singing "Suicidial, suicidal" all day, when they maybe haven't got a true grasp on the meaning behind the word yet...I'd prefer them listening to something with swearing and obscenities first (which is almost always edited out for radio play).
I don't think anyone is saying that this song will have people killing themselves en masse, I think it's more about not waving such a sensitive topic in people's faces and seemingly making light of it and as much as I disagree with censorship, they have a semi-point...

rossie1977

wow; 6 people think a song with the word "suicidal" in it should be banned, unf*ckinbelievable :eek:

Where does this end so i ask those people A return to tame things like Playboy and the Exorcist being re-banned or censorship on a Chinese scale where Beijing university grads of today know nothing of the Tiananmen Square massacre less than 20 years ago.

kowloon

Death Sentence wrote:

And there's the story of how i got my username, when boards was sooooo much smaller, but had no Pighead, but Bubbles instead

I was under the impression Pighead was the first sentient lifeform to crawl out of the sea, but the beginnings of Pighead are for another day

I retract my statement, i've heard the song, radio stations are in their right to take it off the air, its terrible.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Beat 102-103 have refused to ban it because they don't want the issue brushed under the carpet. Think the chief excecutive(or someone high up who would call on it) lost a sibling to suicide.