Here Today... Gone To Hell!

 
http://www.velvetrevolver.net/news/news.asp?item=3181

A Message From Scott | 6/10/2004

It was a painful decision to modify my life in words for anyone or anything, forsaking art and gaining silver. But there you have it, two versions, Clean Vs. Wicked. Censorship Is Very American.

-Scott Weiland
 
 

So does the clean version have different lyrics or are they bleeped out?

i'm guessing that the edited version is the version on MTV.com and VH1.com

clean versions suck... they should have refused to do clean edit...

Releasing a clean version of any given record is the only way artists can get into WalMart.  Love it or hate it, WalMart accounts for a big percentage of record sales in the U.S.  It would have been suicide for them not to do this.

He's right, it's very american, I've never seen an edited version of a cd here in belgium (or europe) !

Why is it that they make that ?!  Do some people really want an edited version :s


off-topic :
I don't get why you can't drink a beer at 16 but you can drive a car, that's just weird! you should be wise enough to handle alcohol before you drive!

That's what I was trying to tell Booker in another thread....  ;)

Having to change your words just so you can make more money.  :-\



/jarmo

You told me that unlike Axl, he was forced to rewrite lyrics...Did he rewrite all of the lyrics?  Because I believe they were just muted out(the MTV preview), which would qualify as "modifying"...And in that case, its no different than anybody else, including GNR, like I said in the other thread.

Weren't you the one who brought in Axl into that discussion?

As far as I know, Axl hasn't released a new album in a while so things might have changed since 1993....

There's a reason I didn't mention Axl.....


/jarmo

Yeah...to illustrate how common a practice it is.  But then you implied, wrongly to my knowledge, that Scott was forced to rewrite and rerecord lyrics when that doesnt seem to be the case.  


What do future releases have to do with anything?  Im talking about whats on the shelves.

What you tried telling me in the other thread is that the record company forced Scott to rewrite lyrics...That doesnt appear to be the case, does it?

Who is to say that the mtv version is the mal mart version?
And what does Axl have to do with this topic? When I mention axl in here people like you get all pissy?

What does this quote tell you?

"It was a painful decision to modify my life in words for anyone or anything"


Who told him to modify the words then?  A voice in his head? ???

Did he just come up with the idea himself? "Hey, I'll modify these original words for fun!".  ???


I know they have muted out words in GN'R songs, I'm not that ignorant, but Axl hasn't been asked to modify words as far as I know. Maybe it's because he heasn't released anything in a while.


/jarmo

record company tryes to make as much money as much they can. But I wouldn't take Slash/Duff and co. to that trip too much. I'm not trying to say that Duff/Slash aren't into the money but todays music industry is what it is..nothing that Slash/Duff can do about it. If they would do and whine about it we probably wouldn't have the album on our hands. So blame the record company  ;)

The record company asked to put out a clean version...

As far as I know, the clean version of Contraband is muted out like the GNR records.  If thats not the case, somebody correct me, but Im assuming thats the case because of the MTV preview.


When Scott says modify, couldnt that mean the words were muted...or does modify exclusively mean "rewritten"?

But speaking hypothetically...If Scott were to rewrite his lyrics, it would be the lesser of two evils for him, if that was his choice.  Its obvious that he doesnt like being censored, period.  That includes putting out a clean album with mutes.  If an artist wanted to do something different and rewrite lyrics, like I said that Eminem had, then thats their choice.  Im positive that they dont have to, since nearly every edited record out there is simply muted.  Why would Scott be the exception?  So, yes, he could have decided on his own to change his lyrics if that was his preference to just deleting the words.

Booker read the rest of the interview, didnt he say the record company did not like he using poppy seeds because it was a drug reference and wanted him to chang that word, so he then replied, how about  Nazi.

So maybe the clean version maybe he change the words.
Tool did that with one of their radio edits on their undertow album.

I hate censorship.  I hate that the hypocritical bastard of a company known as Wal-Mart will sell "R" rated movies and an arsenal of firearms (and other weapons) but will not not sell CDs that contain the word "fuck".  It's bullshit.

i have the edited version. i was in Northville, NY all week some hick town in the middle of no where, about an hour NW of albany. the ONLY place to buy the cd within 50 miles was a walmart. and i didn't want to wait the extra 3 days to get the real version.

for the most part, the foul language is just muted. i don't think this is what scott's talking about though.

dave is right about the drug references.

but record labels have all the power. and i'm sure they threatened to delay the album. so bands need to make a decision.....keep their fans waiting, or make a minor change to the lyrics. it really sucks.

The meeting about deciding on the Clean edit was featured on PBS Frontline, and was hardly threatening.  If nearly all of the curses are muted, you think they have a problem blanking out "poppies"?  It appears that changing the lyric, and giving it a new meaning, was his own choosing.   I sincerely doubt he was pressured to change the word "poppies," which appears among an avalanche of "fucks" and "bitches".  They obviously called for its edit, but I dont see why hed be forced to rewrite it when it can simply be muted like anything else.  

yea, whats with the whole 21 thing in America??? odd!!

on topic: clean versions suck, why would you want to buy that?

They will sell Guns n' Ammo, Knifes, Trashy Magazines, R rated movies. They will sell you paint after they card you to make sure you are 18, since they are afraid you might sniff it. Who in the Hell is walmart to tell artist to censor the Fuck's or Shit's . Hell I seen Con Air at Walmart and everyone other word in that movie is FUCK.

Why not just card people who want contraband there. Our society is letting Walmart take over every city and now we are gonna fall under the Wal-america

No they don't sell trashy magazines anymore.  They recently stated that they would no longer sell magazines such as Maxim which featured scantily clad women on the covers.

But they will sell you a plethora of firearms, knives, machetes, and other destructive weapons.

Basically Wal-Mart's attitude is "violence is okay, sex is not".

Ahhhhh, you gotta love those Christian, i mean, those AMERICAN, values.
 :confused:

Christian values are "violence is okay, sex is not"?

Um, yeah!  :hihi: Have you ever read the Bible? Obviously those aren't the only reoccuring themes, but clearly our county's penchant for glorifying war and condemning sex is taken directly from the Big Book.

this is so stupid. now everyone is jumping on the censorship bandwagon to appear like they've been victimized so they can get attention

censorship would mean having only the clean version of the album and places like WalMart are guilty of it, but America is not "censoring" Scott, cuz you can still walk into Tower Records and get the real version. Though I don't know why anyone would wanna get either version of Contraband. I got all excited when I heard Slither and when I read all the rumors about songs like Falling to Pieces, but after I heard the album preview on MTV, it was totally disappointing. Contraband is just another mediocre corporate rock album.

bottom line is: giving people the choice of having a clean and an explicit version is not "censorship"

You obviously haven't! Not all of it anyways. Sounds like you've never heard about the New Testament. Let's not forget that the Vatican is one of the most vocal anti-war voices. And the bible does not condemn sex, it condemns pre-marital sex, sodomy, and promiscuity.