Sunday, May 30, 2010

Thank God for College Radio!- Mumford and Sons

I was sitting in one of the two favorite pizza places that my family ventures out to on occasion with my maternal grandparents (grandma and step-grandpa) and brother earlier and something caused me to perk my ears. It was the music that was playing over the speakers. It was playing indie/alternative rock. ... And I quite liked it! One of the first tracks I remember hearing was Dr. Dog's "Stranger", the first track of off their latest album Shame, Shame. That was followed by Vampire Weekend's "Giving Up the Gun", another great tune off their latest Contra. And that was followed by a Mumford and Sons track, of all things. It was "Little Lion Man". And this got me worried. Why, you ask? Let me explain.

On the Mumford and Sons album Sigh No More, there's the track "Little Lion Man". And there are two versions on the CD: the album edit and the radio edit. The key difference between the two: language. To be specific, the word "fucked". In one version, you can hear it and in the other, you can't. Take a stab at which is which.

When the song started, my ears perked up and I put the slice I was eating back on the plate. I expressed concern to my dining mates, but it didn't matter to them. I walked over to the hostess area and asked the waitress there (who happened to be our waitress) if she knew 1) "What station is on?" or "Who is in control of the music?" and 2) "Which version of the song is playing?". She said that the music was on random and she didn't know which version was playing, but she countered by asking why I asked. I replied with something along the lines of "Well, the current song that's playing? There are two versions. One is a bit cleaner than the other." She said she'd see if she could find the manager. And I went back to my pizza.

Now, mind you, this restaurant is more of a family establishment during the day and more of a drinking establishment during the evening (I'm just guessing here), and a song with "fucked" in it five times isn't the best thing to play when there are young kids in the place. And there were ... two or three children probably under the age of twelve in the place. And guess which version of the song played.
When the waitress came over to clear the pizza tray and plates, she asked about the song and I informed her about the artist and song title. My dining party and I then took care of the bill and left.
My conclusion: the station was a Sirus/XM station and it most likely isn't subject to FCC guidelines.

6 comments:

Danielle said...

It amuses me how much you care. Most people don't even notice the music in restaurants =P

profit instruments said...

Just came to read about this, and I ended up spending 20 minutes reading your other stuff too, great stuff dude

Anonymous said...

You know what's weird? Just the other day I was listening to a radio station that's based in the IE (Inland Empire of California) and Jay-Z's song Empire State of Mind was playing. I personally love that song so I immediately noticed that the n-word was present. In other words, the non-radio edited version was playing. Granted, this particular station is slightly more ghetto than most but still... And then about halfway through the song they mixed it into a different song. A cleaner song. At least they caught their mistake!

Alissa said...

(that last comment was from me. I don't know why it said Anonymous...weird.)

Jason said...

Danielle: ^_^
Profit Instruments: Thanks!
Alissa: Hrm ... interesting. Well, at least they caught their mistake.

Danielle said...

I know what song that you're talking about here now!!! XD *dork who wanted to mention that*