[Music] Fairytale of New York - PC gone mad or correct decision?

[jakarta]

I didn't mention this in previous posts but if you REALLY want to get pissed off with non-PC content I suggest listening to one of my favourite musicians - Frank Zappa.

Amongst his massive output there will surely be something to offend any and everyone (and quite right as well).

 

[Seagull]

I do fear for the oeuvre of the Anti-Nowhere League in this climate

 

[RossyG]

Can’t they just ban the whole song? It’s a tuneless drunken dirge.

If I remember correctly they use to dip the word arse when Kirsty McColl was miming it on TOTP at the time.

They should play the Pet Shop Boys’ Always on my Mind instead: a far superior song.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

I didn't mention this in previous posts but if you REALLY want to get pissed off with non-PC content I suggest listening to one of my favourite musicians - Frank Zappa.

Amongst his massive output there will surely be something to offend any and everyone (and quite right as well).

200 Motels - “Penis dimension” was a good one

 

[GT49er]

They should play the Pet Shop Boys’ Always on my Mind instead: a far superior song.

 

[LlcoolJ]

Indeed. "It's a Sin" is much better.

 

[GT49er]

Indeed. "It's a Sin" is much better.

Opinions, opinions, opinions, innit.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

This thread is double-plus-****ing embarrassing. The only people offended are the ones accusing other people of being offended. FFS get a grip, and while you're at it, look up irony in the wiktionary, It's next to ironing. Near enough

 

[jakarta]

As an example. A true story of course and one which won't make it to Radio One...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP3qZDXFRik

 

[Sheebo]

I always think if no offence is meant it’s ‘less of a crime’. If someone is one step further and doesn’t realise what they’re saying can be offensive as well as not meaning any offence, they need educating if there’s a valid point to be made, but they’ve committed no crime in my eyes.

I think the time something was done also has a bearing. Some of the nitpicking on old programmes or songs has been ridiculous, when at the time there was a different general education of right and wrong words / phrases. Just leave the past be and be better in the future - as one great thing about this decade is the change in attitudes towards racism / homophobia etc etc - as an Albion fan I’ve noticed 95% less homophobic stuff at matches than 15 years ago. It’s so much more frowned upon / action taken on the whole now and people realise how stupid it is so Away fans don’t do it anywhere near as much. It’s a positive of today’s world thankfully.

 

[NorthstandRacoon]

PC gone mad. What's homophobic about a meatball

Poor old Mr Brain must be living every single day in perpetual fear of generation snowflake.

hahaha best response so far.

 

[NorthstandRacoon]

Heard worse in current RnB music, not a massive fan of the song but I’ve never been offended by a song lyric in my life to be honest, if I did I wouldn’t listen to any songs with defamatory words in that are still being produced now.

I find it a bit puzzling to be honest, it’s very easy to just cut out the couple of offensive words, which shouldn’t be broadcast on national radio anyway without making a big song and dance about it, they do it with current songs that have offensive language or terms in, it takes an editor probably less than a minute to just silence out the offensive words and play the rest of the song is normal.

Agree, but it's pretty sad that they have to. Most gay friends I know couldn't give a toss though.

 

[NorthstandRacoon]

I'm 42 and I was listening to R1 last night with the Jnr Bobkins – 12 and 16. Why? Because I – and they – like the music it plays. I don't listen to it all the time, but once in a while I switch to it. Annie Mac, for example, is a fantastic broadcaster who plays great tunes.

Personally I couldn't care less about the station not playing the 'proper' version of FoNY and it makes me laugh how so many people who would (as you point out) never listen to Radio 1 are mortified and incandescent with RAGE about the decision. Like there is no other way they could consume the song!

I see that it's triggered the #DefundTheBBC lot into action – I'm imagining huge crossover there with those people who won't shop in Sainsbury's because one of its adverts featured a black family. But OTHER people are the snowflakes – let's just be clear about this...

I am very pro BBC. Nothing to do with defundbbc as you say, I just want to see some bloody common sense shown for once. Play these old tracks for the youngsters so they can make their own choices to listen to them or not without all this bollocks surrounding them if they are offensive or not.

 

[NorthstandRacoon]

[tweet]1329394157354446850[/tweet]

Nice to see them putting that feckless tosser Fox in his place.

Agree there. That Fox bloke seems a tosser. However, my point was that I just find this constant changing of narratives irritating as its only pandering to small minorities or find this offensive, the majority don't. ]

But as said, I respect everyones views on the matter.

 

[NorthstandRacoon]

I think the less homophobia, racism and misogyny in life the better.

These things may not affect you personally but they affect many, often causing huge mental health issues. So many gay men take their lives every year simply because they are too afraid to come out because society thinks it's ok to use the word gay as a jibe. Using homophobic insults needs to be as socially unacceptable as using racist terms and that will happen in the coming years.

So, so many women have suffered at the hands of men that think it's ok to treat women disrespectfully because that's how they're treated in the media.

So to my mind songs like The Fairy tale of New York need to be consigned to the unacceptable bin just as several 70's and 80's TV programs are due to their racism. Just as page 3 girls are now and 90's lad mags etc.

As much as I'd like to agree, I do think this is being a little melodramatic and I'm rather left of centre with many friends from different sexual oriantations and races.

 

[NorthstandRacoon]

As I said in the other thread, this seems like an incredibly sensible decision by the BBC if you actually read what they’re doing.

They’re playing a decent, amended version on Radio 1 that is more appropriate for current times and the youth of today who ultimately are their core audience. Despite being out of their target age range, I fall on this side. I don’t think the lyrics are appropriate or necessary anymore.

But if you’re one of those who needs to listen to the original, you can on Radio 2 and then it’s down to the individual DJ’s choice on Radio 6.

I can’t see any reason at all for a negative response to this. I shouldn’t be surprised but I cannot for the life of me work out why the Daily Mail brigade have got their knickers in such a knot again. Are they/you bored of Marcus Rashford already?!

And this is where the other side of me ultimately agrees that they've been sensible with it.

So it's not an overall bad decision, but I just find this constant censorship rather irritating. It has bought together a very interesting conversation anyway.

Back to what bought us together on Saturday which is the Albion.

 

[NorthstandRacoon]

This thread is double-plus-****ing embarrassing. The only people offended are the ones accusing other people of being offended. FFS get a grip, and while you're at it, look up irony in the wiktionary, It's next to ironing. Near enough

haha I agree with you on a hell of a lot, but you've made me laugh here.

 

[Lurker]

I haven't read a single post on this thread because I was just having a very quick troll through the thread titles to see if anything caught my eye before shooting off to bed ... and I saw this one, and felt the hairs on the back of my neck start to quiver as my heckles began to raise ....

Now somebody else is bound to have already made this point, so I apologise if they have and I'm just repeating the same old dross .... but FFS ........... it is a song.
It is not a political or social statement or any other type of subliminal protest .... it is a SONG!

If anyone is offended by a SONG then might I suggest they give up listening to music, their life will be all the better for it.

Be truthful people ... does anybody REALLY buy a SONG for the words?

"Oh the tune is absolute dirge, but I love the words so I just had to buy this song".
Garbage ... nobody honestly does that.

They like the tune first and hope that the words might add to the experience, but it's no big deal if they don't, people will buy a good tune anyway.
I'm probably in a minority, but I struggle to understand the lyrics in songs nowadays, it's only about 1 in 50 that I can actually make out what's being said.

For the record, I love the melody and the singing of "Fairytale ....."
It's one of my favourite all time xmas songs, and I have never bothered to register what the words are actually saying or not saying, I don't listen to it for the words ... it's the TUNE that's important!

 

[MattBackHome]

I haven't read a single post on this thread because I was just having a very quick troll through the thread titles to see if anything caught my eye before shooting off to bed ... and I saw this one, and felt the hairs on the back of my neck start to quiver as my heckles began to raise ....

Now somebody else is bound to have already made this point, so I apologise if they have and I'm just repeating the same old dross .... but FFS ........... it is a song.
It is not a political or social statement or any other type of subliminal protest .... it is a SONG!

If anyone is offended by a SONG then might I suggest they give up listening to music, their life will be all the better for it.

Be truthful people ... does anybody REALLY buy a SONG for the words?

"Oh the tune is absolute dirge, but I love the words so I just had to buy this song".
Garbage ... nobody honestly does that.

They like the tune first and hope that the words might add to the experience, but it's no big deal if they don't, people will buy a good tune anyway.
I'm probably in a minority, but I struggle to understand the lyrics in songs nowadays, it's only about 1 in 50 that I can actually make out what's being said.

For the record, I love the melody and the singing of "Fairytale ....."
It's one of my favourite all time xmas songs, and I have never bothered to register what the words are actually saying or not saying, I don't listen to it for the words ... it's the TUNE that's important!

I disagree with almost everything you've written there, but very much like the cut of your jib.

"No one listens to lyrics" is, at the very least, a new gambit in this particular culture war, and you are to be commended for bringing that to the table.

 

[keaton]

I haven't read a single post on this thread because I was just having a very quick troll through the thread titles to see if anything caught my eye before shooting off to bed ... and I saw this one, and felt the hairs on the back of my neck start to quiver as my heckles began to raise ....

Now somebody else is bound to have already made this point, so I apologise if they have and I'm just repeating the same old dross .... but FFS ........... it is a song.
It is not a political or social statement or any other type of subliminal protest .... it is a SONG!

If anyone is offended by a SONG then might I suggest they give up listening to music, their life will be all the better for it.

Be truthful people ... does anybody REALLY buy a SONG for the words?

"Oh the tune is absolute dirge, but I love the words so I just had to buy this song".
Garbage ... nobody honestly does that.

They like the tune first and hope that the words might add to the experience, but it's no big deal if they don't, people will buy a good tune anyway.
I'm probably in a minority, but I struggle to understand the lyrics in songs nowadays, it's only about 1 in 50 that I can actually make out what's being said.

For the record, I love the melody and the singing of "Fairytale ....."
It's one of my favourite all time xmas songs, and I have never bothered to register what the words are actually saying or not saying, I don't listen to it for the words ... it's the TUNE that's important!

If you never listen to the lyrics how do you know it's a Christmas song?