I DJ and attempt to purchase clean versions of today's popular music. It's nice to be able to provide "clean in language, if not in content" songs for Grandma and Uncle James to enjoy at the wedding reception.
This download-dizzy world has retailers providing only a 20 to 30 second clip to entice you to purchase the song. I mean, I fully understand this because they don't want to get ripped off. These online retailers also mark some records as "Explicit", I assume to warn parents that someone just might be cussing, or the content may not be G rated. I suppose I have gotten used to the PMRC stickers. I always try to make sure there are two versions of music available, especially if the song features a rapper. I mean, for them, cussing is like breathing. Every. Other. Word. You can't even trust them to restrain themselves on network TV. All those weird silences in the broadcast ruin the home viewers experience! (Black Eyed Peas most recently on the AMAs).
Speaking of the Black Eyed Peas, that song "Boom Boom Pow" is STILL HOT! But I can't play the file I downloaded from iTunes in mixed company, even though it's not labeled explicit. That song file is unedited for cuss words; gosh they love their crap!
Being the overprotective Auntie, I downloaded this song on to my godson's iPod. Mind you, I was relying on Apple to properly label their files. Boy was I wrong. One day I listened to the iTunes version and almost did in my chair what they were singing! I was not a happy camper and fired off a letter to Apple about the unlabeled s-bombs that got dropped. They refunded my money. I checked back and never saw that Apple ever re-labeled the song. Since my refund, my doggone external hard drive failed and I lost my music.
(Karma? not really. Old school, remember? Most of the iTunes stuff was on an iPod. The rest were ripped CDs, and I still have those.)
I haven't gone back to the iTunes store since.
The most recent offender is Amazon. Last week I downloaded "American Boy" by Estelle after looking for a version labeled 'clean' and not seeing one. I listened to it today. I was bopping along at my desk at work when Kanye started rapping. A 2:48 into the song, I had to do a double take. KANYE DROPPED THE F-BOMB. Just once. But that's enough. I can't have it in my clean pile when it isn't. There's nothing worse as a DJ than hearing a cuss word in a song and having heads turn and seeing people whispering, "Did I just hear what I thought I heard?".
I checked the site and fired off an email from their site. Not less than four hours later, I had a return email from them (and I quote)
Hello,
I checked out "American Boy (Feat. Kanye West)" by Estelle and confirmed there's a problem with that file. I've issued a full refund of $0.99 to the payment method used for the original purchase. Refunds are typically completed within 2 to 3 business days.
I've also alerted our technicians of the problem so it can be corrected as soon as possible. If you are still interested in purchasing a working copy of this song, you may wish to visit the Amazon MP3 Store again in a few days and see if a corrected version is available.
I'm sorry for the trouble you had with this file.
We look forward to seeing you again soon at the Amazon MP3 Music Store.
Wow, wee! Another refund, and hopefully, a cleaner download experience for those who rely on the tools available to us to make an informed decision.
Peace
Treat 'Em Right -- Chubb Rock, 114 BPM and CLEAN!
