Parental Warnings - Are some musical CDs exempt?

[YankeeMate]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:33pm

Avenue Q got slapped with the Parental Warning sticker but there are several cast albums that got away with having racy language on it but didn't get a warning label. Jersey Boys comes to mind. I don't remember a sticker on that and iTunes doesn't flag it. I'm sure there are others I can't think of off the top of my head.

So do Musicals, which have the public perception of being a "feel good" genre, get away with things that other CDs would get a warning label for?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:37pm

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know it's really the decision of the label whether a CD gets a Parental Warning sticker. SPRING AWAKENING has one as well.

What is the language you speak of on the JERSEY BOYS CD?

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:38pm

"Valli with an I. If you don't like it you can go F*CK yourself."

[Pippin]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:39pm

I would think that it has to do with the music, and not the content of the dialogue, if that is what you are referring to about Jersey boys.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:41pm

There can only be a parental sticker on a musical CD if there are more than 3 uses of the word "F**k" in the lyrics. Here are some examples:

AVENUE Q
JERRY SPRINGER: THE OPERA (uses it like 24 times)
SPRING AWAKENING
GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL (I counted the uses during the show, and it came down to like 9)
EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL (Probably the most usage of the word to my knowledge, almost 30!)

[FutureAladdinOnB'Way]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:43pm

Doesn't Rent say F*** three or more times though?

[winston89]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:43pm

The RIA has guidlines and rules about what forces a CD to have a parential warning label. I am pretty sure that an album has to have more then one song with an inapproprate word for it to get a warning label. One song with one word isn't going to do anything.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:44pm

I don't believe so. (re: RENT)

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:47pm

RENT uses the word "F**k" only five or six times. That is surely not enough to get a parental sticker.

[shiz_student94]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:48pm

I haven't listened to the musical soundtrack recently, but I know in the actual movie (of RENT) they only say f*ck twice. Haha. How I remember that, I'm not sure.

Updated On: 8/24/07 at 04:48 PM

Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:48pm

Nope nope nope nope nope. It is completely the record label's decision if a record gets labeled or not. Some companies simply don't sticker their albums- ever. There is no formula.

Some retailers, however WILL NOT stock any stickered CDs. (WalMart) So the labels weigh- will we get complaints from parents? Or will we lose sales if this is NOT in WalMart? And of course, some artists wear their sticker as a badge of honor. I believe Iced T put out a CD back in the day which had NO cover art at all except the black & White warning sticker.

[shiz_student94]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:52pm

Walmart is the last place I would ever buy a CD (besides FYE-NEW) unless it is coming with bonus tracks or something. Their music is way over priced. At least the non-new release CDs are.

[folkyboy]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 5:01pm

i wouldn't shop at Wal-Mart if they were giving away money

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 5:02pm

I think it is as others have said up to the label.

[Kringas]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 5:17pm

Is that F*ck on the Jersey Boys album or is it just a line from the show?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 5:23pm

I remember the first CD I purchased with an obscenity was Titanic and Andrews sang "Dammit, sir listen, we're hemorrhaging fast..." and I was shocked. I'd never heard anyone in a musical curse before. Especially while singing. Little did I know...

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 5:43pm

Umm...where's the curse in that lyric?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 6:15pm

Don't be mean. Dammit was a curse word to me back then.

[misschung]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 6:16pm

I was wondering why Spring Awakening had a parental warning sticker and Rent didn't. Rent uses the F word a few times. Off the top of my head I can think of one in the second Tuneup, one in the Tango Maureen, and 2 in On the Street.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 6:16pm

Well, considering Spring Awakening has a song called Totally F*cked, and RENT doesn't have that much cursing, that's probably why.

Updated On: 8/24/07 at 06:16 PM

[misschung]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 6:36pm

I know, but I thought that f*ck, even in small amounts, led to a warning label. I don't know, though.

[shiz_student94]

Posted: 8/24/07 at 7:41pm

It depends on the company, producers and those types of people. I know of CDs where they have the f word twice on the whole CD (with another not-so-nice word here and there) and that album had a parental advisory sticker on it.
I remember years ago, I put a Green Day CD on hold at my library, my dad brought it home, and took it back because it didn't want me listening to it. Not that that memory has much relation...but I was mad. Grrr.

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 8/25/07 at 12:24am

just to add to the list of cast recordings with PA labels: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

I also think this chice to apply the label or not stretches into mainstream music. A few years ago My Chemical Romance released Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge which had the label and Modest Mouse released Good News for People Who Love Bad News which didn't. I wondered why MyChem's CD, which curses once or twice but it's muffled and cleverly alludes to homosexuality, suicide and sex, was slapped with a PA label and Modest Mouse's album which fequently cursed and made drug references was sticker free.
I guess it really can depend on what the label thinks and how they want to market it.

[mrkringas]

Posted: 8/25/07 at 8:30am

The song is called "Totally F*CKed" and does not contain any asterix.

Some of the high brow UK newspapers have no problem printing that word or any others like it. Never understand the need to self censor when you are just using something in context.

[americanboy99]

Posted: 8/25/07 at 10:35am

AVENUE Q also features an audible sex scene.