Quote Originally Posted by Troy
Swearing works in certain musical contexts, yeah. I'm not offended by it at all because in person I tend to curse like a sailor.

But when you are consciously writing lyrics, sitting there creating wordcraft, I can't imagine writing a bunch of 4 letter words into a song. It's too cheap, too easy and in the final anaylisis, just boring. It makes the writer look uneducated and illiterate.

Only children are really impressed by swearing. Adults have heard it all before. Adding a bunch of cursing to your music will make it appeal to 13 year olds, not adults.

Troy,

Agree with most of your points... Many of the artists that rely heavily on profanity are indeed uneducated and probably borderline illiterate... That's not to say unintelligent, because as I think we all know - it is 13 year olds who get a titter (hehe I said titter) out of profanity and buy these artist's products - the record companies know this.

On the other hand, sometimes a choice insertion of a four letter word is chillingly effective. Case in point for is Elliot Smith - just his whispered hush of "focked up" really conveys his sense of frustation and futility of a given situation.

I think no matter the genre, whether it's rap, rock, metal... profanity for shock value is cheap but in the proper contex can be an effective way of conveying thoughts...

On the same topic different spin... Does a comedian who uses profanity (Rock, Carlin) taking an easier way out than those who work clean( Cosby, Seinfeld)?

In the end, it's all sticks and stones...