From Cee Lo Green to Pink,Speaking the Unspeakable

The offending syllable is right in the titles of two of the songs,deployed as an imperative by Cee Lo Green and as an adverbial participle by Pink. Greens song was nominated for a Grammy Award ,where its televised listing was coyly phrased, The Song Also Known as Forget You. Pinks song,a self-help power ballad assuring insecure people that they dont have to be (emphatically) perfect,also has a cuss-free version. Theres an airplay-ready variant of Enrique Iglesiass hardcore hit dis titled Tonight (Im Loving You). But its the bluntness of his original choruswhich is prefaced by Iglesias singing,I dont mean to be rudethat got the song noticed in the first place.

Of course he means to be rude! Pop songs fight to be noticed in an arms race of sentiments,gimmicks,and promotional strategies. Iglesias decided that the crudity would turn on more fans than it would drive away. Its a cheap shot that worked.

Even if the original lyrics are off-limits to old media,its clear to everyone that the profane versions of the songs are going to be heard. Shock value is viral,and probably a selling point.

Forbidden by the Federal Communications Commission as broadcast indecency,the original songs gain a tiny frisson of rebellion for those who click through to the grown-up versions on YouTube or iTunes. When Green played at Madison Square Garden recently,he didnt even sing his blunt chorus. He just beamed,pointed his microphone at the crowd,and let thousands of fans shout it for him. He had deniability,while the audience got to shout the forbidden word.

Of course,its not exactly forbidden. Its all over books,movies,comedy,cable TV shows and schoolchildrens conversations. Cussing in public has become more the rule than the exception,sometimes even on formal occasions.

But Top 10 pop is a kind of last frontier. Its pleasures multiply with the size of its audience; its meant to spill out of car radios,to be recognised as something shared by its growing audience.

Visibility brings vulnerability. Parents and other moral guardians have long worried about pops effects on children,about the use of insidiously catchy tunes to lodge nasty phrases in youthful minds that cant defend themselves from an exposure to radio play. Regulatory agencies have backed them up. In 1967 the Rolling Stones had to change Lets Spend the Night Together to Lets Spend Some Time Together on the Ed Sullivan show. The hip-hop decades have multiplied the phenomenon of the edited version,which may have alternate lyrics substituted for profanities or just chop out offending phonemes.

But to make its impact,swearing needs scarcity. There was still some shock value when Green sang his song in the kind of well-groomed 1960s soul production that would not,40 years ago,have welcomed such language. But 10 minutes into an episode of The Sopranos or an Eminem album,the incessant profanity becomes little more than punctuation.

Green,Iglesias and Pink got their competitive advantage by making a relatively early breach of pops decorum. But any kind of bandwagon effect is going to get boring fast,even if radio stations never play that scary word. Deploying the f-bomb also defuses it; give or take a few copycats in the months to come,its going to sound about as potent as a popgun.