Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" censored in Canada
By Jeff MillsJanuary 13th, 2011, 4:15 pmComments (10)
Legendary rock band Dire Straits' classic tune about blue-collar resentment, "Money for Nothing," off their 1985 juggernaut Brothers in Arms, has a checkered history. Most people know it as that song featuring the distinctive falsetto of Sting singing "I want my MTV," with the cool guitar riff. But going back a quarter century, the song has offended LGBT people for its use of the word "f----t," albeit in the second-person guise of a character within the song. In the ahead-of-its-time animated video for the song, the lead singer of Hungarian pop band Elso Emelet and his feathery hair are shown as the word is spoken.
And now the song can no longer be played on radio stations in its original form in Canada, as the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council has deemed the song offensive. The council ruled that the Grammy-winning song has to be edited or it cannot air. The council explained: "The societal values at issue a quarter-century later have shifted and the broadcast of the song in 2010 must reflect those values, rather than those of 1985."
Comments ( 10 )
I *suppose* this is news because it's a new ruling by this Canadian board, but IIRC, back in the mid-80s, MTV regularly chopped that verse out of the video and numerous radio stations did as well.
Well, in L.A., the local classic-rock station has been at least voluntarily censoring the song for . . . a year, at least, now? I remember listening to it in the car a while ago and noticing they'd cut out the whole verse. I guess what's new is that this is now legislated, eh?
Good lord, next they'll be chopping it out of the Pogues "Fairytale of NYC" (if they ever play it here, you hear it in its full version all the time in Ireland)
It's one thing for a private radio station to censor itself. It's an entirely different thing for the government to mandate that censorship.
The blasted verse is also missing from their greatest hits album. I get the sad (in comparison) 4:00 radio edit instead of the 8:00 exercise in awesomeness.
@Matt
The BBC did censor and edited Fairytale of New York, but the received such a huge backlash that retraced their decision and switched back the the original.
sadly the rational behind it seems logical...
https://www.cbsc.ca/english/documents/prs/2011/110112.php
I was wondering if it would ever come to that; I don't really feel strongly either way, as I can see why the verse would be offensive, even though I am against censorship (although while listening to the song, I've always been somewhat taken aback). But let's not call it the "government", please, as it was the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council - an NGO (non-governmental organization) who came to this decision, not the gay-bashing Conservative government, which would probably never do anything to support/protect the "homosexual agenda".
As a canuk, I'm kindof disappointed. Are we this sensitive now?
I look forward to the day when the word 'politician' is similarly deemed unacceptable in polite company.
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