Why is Erotic City played on the radio without being beeped.

really? where? Back in the mid 80's a radio station got fined for playing it uncensored.

I'm not sure what the date is but:

--KLUC-FM, Las Vegas, licensed by Nationwide Communications Inc., fined $2,000 for broadcasting an allegedly indecent musical recording, "Erotic City," by Prince at 7:53 p.m.

ufoclub said:

really? where? Back in the mid 80's a radio station got fined for playing it uncensored.

Everywhere I have gone in the US (new York, pennsylvania, nevada, georgia, california, oregon, florida, texas, minnesota, michigan...) it is played uncensored.

[Edited 8/9/10 21:34pm]

in georgia they play it censored ( they mixe dit it kinda doesnt make sense anymore but whatever)

but in seattle when i was a fetus ( early - mid 90s) they played it uncensored.

They payed it uncensored in chicago and new york (when they played it).

Kiss FM in SF 98.1 plays it every other day but they bleep out the "funk/f*ck" part (somehow the music keeps going!). No one knows for sure which word it is.

I wanna know why the funky synth vamping parts you can hear in un-released versions and live versions (Sheila's Romance 1600 Live) never made it to the official version.

It think that it is definitely "fuck" said in the song since there was legal action taken and thousands of dollars paid by a radio station.

It's only lately that there has been a debate.

i don't think i've ever heard it censored.

Silly americans. We don't have censorship like that in Denmark, here you can easily say fuck, suck, pussy, cock on the radio (in songs)....

no problem at all......

-

[Edited 8/10/10 7:49am]

thedance said:

Silly americans. We don't have censorship like that in Denmark, here you can easily say fuck, suck, pussy, cock on the radio (in songs)....

no problem at all......

-

[Edited 8/10/10 7:49am]

Sure..but are you also allowed to say those words IN DANISH?

Because here in Germany, English speakers sing or say a lot of stuff but it´s quite a different story when artists use vulgar or explicit words and lyrics in German.

American artists can do whatever they want though. I remember this interview Redman gave in the late 90s....he grabbed his crotch, looked to the camera guy and said "Germanyyyyyyy.....I gotta big fat dick for your mouth...ha ha !"

THAT didn´t get censored. But if a German rapper had done the same, he would have gotten into trouble for it.

i have heard it censored 2 ways. 1 it just cuts out the obvious F bombs but leaves the "F so pretty" (which I think is a bit hard to understand as it is) and with each one edited out.

But then they play Baby I'm A Star with it is F word (Backwards so it is really the K word) intact. I called a raido station once and gave the DJ a hard time. He said he knew but it was backwards so he did not care.

I've heard it both censored and not here in LA. Seems that they play it uncensorerd after hours, the subtle use of the word I believe allows it to slip by cause it sounds like "funk" and people who are not familiar with the song most often do not catch the f word.

The last censored version I heard completely cut out the verse with the f word. I actually like it better that way if it has to be censored, sounds smoother than the word being blanked out in the song.

It's hard to beleive after all these years nobody's still 100% sure if it says "funk".

I think if it did say "fuck" they wouldn't have put it on the b-side of Let's Go crazy without some kind of warning label given its popularity at the time.

I still to this day think it is "funk". And I've listened closely sooo many times.

The world may never know.

Funklov said:

I've heard it both censored and not here in LA. Seems that they play it uncensorerd after hours, the subtle use of the word I believe allows it to slip by cause it sounds like "funk" and people who are not familiar with the song most often do not catch the f word.

The last censored version I heard completely cut out the verse with the f word. I actually like it better that way if it has to be censored, sounds smoother than the word being blanked out in the song.

after 11 or 12 they can air the F bomb in songs like EC. (I think the rule is it can be vulgar or profane but not obscenity. Profanity is okay... but not obscenity.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

i have heard it censored 2 ways. 1 it just cuts out the obvious F bombs but leaves the "F so pretty" (which I think is a bit hard to understand as it is) and with each one edited out.

But then they play Baby I'm A Star with it is F word (Backwards so it is really the K word) intact. I called a raido station once and gave the DJ a hard time. He said he knew but it was backwards so he did not care.

I always thought that part was "thoughts of pretty U and me" sung like "Thutts uhh pretty.."

I'm sure if he did it that way he did it to say "how can I make it sound dirty yet argue it isnt.."

PurplePartyman said:

It's hard to beleive after all these years nobody's still 100% sure if it says "funk".

I think if it did say "fuck" they wouldn't have put it on the b-side of Let's Go crazy without some kind of warning label given its popularity at the time.

I still to this day think it is "funk". And I've listened closely sooo many times.

The world may never know.

There are people that are sure!

PurplePartyman said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

i have heard it censored 2 ways. 1 it just cuts out the obvious F bombs but leaves the "F so pretty" (which I think is a bit hard to understand as it is) and with each one edited out.

But then they play Baby I'm A Star with it is F word (Backwards so it is really the K word) intact. I called a raido station once and gave the DJ a hard time. He said he knew but it was backwards so he did not care.

I always thought that part was "thoughts of pretty U and me" sung like "Thutts uhh pretty.."

I'm sure if he did it that way he did it to say "how can I make it sound dirty yet argue it isnt.."

me too. wich is one reason i was confused with the edits.

never heard it censored on radio

"it's funk" -- that's how it got played

SoulSplash said:

never heard it censored on radio

"it's funk" -- that's how it got played

That doesn't explain why after hearing the song many time on the radio back in 1984, there was no "fuck" (maybe search around for that official radio edit 45 b-side) and when we finally had the 12" we were shocked and couple of friends were actually disturbed and didn't want to listen to the song.

Also doesn't explain how a radio station could get fined thousands of dollars back then.

It's gotta be "fuck". They even say "fuck" when performing it way later in the Lovesexy concert.

this is how I remember it as well back then:

"They do say "Fuck" throughout the song. Back in the '80s, when it was played on the radio, it didn't say fuck or funk. They just kept repeating "If we cannot make babies, maybe we could make some time, Erotic City can't you see, Erotic City come alive". I was in high school in the '80s, and this was my favorite song back then. I remember it playing on the radio...very well."

I've heard it uncensored.

I've heard the "fuck/funk" censored.

I've heard the "thoughts of" in thoughts of pretty u and me censored.

All from the same radio station.

ufoclub said:

this is how I remember it as well back then:

"They do say "Fuck" throughout the song. Back in the '80s, when it was played on the radio, it didn't say fuck or funk. They just kept repeating "If we cannot make babies, maybe we could make some time, Erotic City can't you see, Erotic City come alive". I was in high school in the '80s, and this was my favorite song back then. I remember it playing on the radio...very well."

I THINK THATS THE EDIT THEY PLAY HERE I ATLANTA.

i also think they double tracked sheilas voice so in one take she says fuck and the other take she says funk and they laid it on top of each other.

maybe its as simple as that.

ufoclub said:

this is how I remember it as well back then:

"They do say "Fuck" throughout the song. Back in the '80s, when it was played on the radio, it didn't say fuck or funk. They just kept repeating "If we cannot make babies, maybe we could make some time, Erotic City can't you see, Erotic City come alive". I was in high school in the '80s, and this was my favorite song back then. I remember it playing on the radio...very well."

Yes, that's it! Thank you for explaining. You are now one of my favorite fellow Prince fans.

SoulSplash said:

never heard it censored on radio

"it's funk" -- that's how it got played

I think sometimes Sheila says funk, and other times I hear f*ck

It is....We can fuck until the dawn.

and it is.....Thoughts of pretty you and me.

prodigalfan said:

SoulSplash said:

never heard it censored on radio

"it's funk" -- that's how it got played

I think sometimes Sheila says funk, and other times I hear f*ck

So what do you think they say in concert? Listen to a rehearsal for Purple Rain... I need to go check it.

I hear "fuck" throughout the song. I think Sheila says it, and I think Prince says it a ton (fuck so pretty you and me; and later in the song, fuck some creamy human jive).

prodigalfan said:

Now I don't know why this I think this... I don't know if I heard this back in the day or I speculated this but I thought I heard that for moral/religious reasons that Sheila did not say f*ck but instead said funk. I thought I either heard that or read it in article that discussed Sheila's born again experience and the reason she and Prince had parted ways.

but she clearly says "Fuck" to my ears. Someone listen to a live concert of hers and see...

Lovesexy live they are saying "fuck"

The 12" studio mix they sure sounds like they're saying fuck... don't hear the "n" sound in there.

roadhouse rehearsal at the time sounds simply like "fuck"

[Edited 8/11/10 12:01pm]

prodigalfan said:

Now I don't know why this I think this... I don't know if I heard this back in the day or I speculated this but I thought I heard that for moral/religious reasons that Sheila did not say f*ck but instead said funk. I thought I either heard that or read it in article that discussed Sheila's born again experience and the reason she and Prince had parted ways.

Why couldnt Sheila E be Prince's religious muse instead of Larry Graham? Just sayin'!