It was a damn good year for alternative music–and for a certain four-letter word that still makes your mom blush. Rarely heard on the radio before 1994, that word showed up in at least six songs that got extensive airplay on any of three major local FM stations (Q101, WXRT, and B96). It was censored each time, but with varying degrees of precision–in some songs the record label silenced the whole word, but in others just a sound or two was cut, giving the singer a weird case of hiccups.
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“People understand the limitations we’re working with,” says Bill Gamble, Q101’s program director. “There are some words you just can’t let slip by if you want to keep your license. Some of the edits are pretty loose, but we’re living up to the letter of the law.” Or all four letters of the law, if you prefer.
Artist: The Murmurs
What’s actually missing: fuck
How you might think the lyric goes: You obliterate whole civilizations like a volcano, and you’re everything to me.
Lyric, as edited for radio: Gonna ____ your sweet ass.
