First song on the radio you heard with swearing

I once had a 45 of "Volunteers" with "We Can Be Together" on the flip. When it got the to "Up against the wall part...", backing vocal harmonies (ahhs) suddenly appeared in an effort to mask the "offending" words. Wish I had never given that piece of vinyl away!

 

May not have been the first one, but the one that made a lasting impression was Lennon's Working Class Hero.

 

Our local alt station used to slip in the *f* version of "Creep" by Radiohead, which is so appropriate for that song's feel. Anyone could be "you're so very special." I used to hate to hear that on the radio.
That's my earliest [actual] memory of hearing a swear word on the radio.

 

Fine, but 1971 is "around 1969"; I just couldn't remember exactly. But thanks for your help!!!!!!!

 

Where I was working someone insisted we listen to 'Youth Radio' Triple J and this song was playing when they changed the station. When the swear word came on the radio was switched straight back to GOLDFM

 

My first was probably "Bad Bad Leroy Brown", but the most surprising was hearing "Star Star" by the Rolling Stones on the radio in Ottawa during the early eighties

 

That was mine.

 

I wasn't born yet, but the original version of "Big Bad John" by Jimmy Dean ended with the phrase "one hell of a man", so I imagine some folks here may have heard it when it first came out in 1961. Growing up in the 70s, I only heard the clean version which used "a big, big man". However, I have heard the original a few times on SiriusXM during the past year.

 

No, the uncensored version was never played on the radio back then. Not sure if it was even released before the CD era (I first heard it on a Rhino/Billboard CD).

 

Oh bloody, oh bludah by The Beatles.

 

Blondie's Heart of Glass. I felt embarrassed when she said "ass".

 

Ah, ok. I didn't know about it until stumbling across it on YouTube one day and when it was described as the original version, I assumed it actually saw commercial release. It's funny that the hit version still allowed the phrase "man-made hell" though. LOL!

 

I remember in 1969 being shocked hearing 'hell' in "And When I Die" by Blood, Sweat & Tears. Maybe it was partly due to the context of "I'll swear there ain't no heaven and I'll pray their ain't no hell". Kind of dark and shocking to my 8-year-old Top 40 ears in those days. Times (and me) have definitely moved on.

 

"Margaritaville" - Jimmy Buffett.

"...And I know it's my own damn fault."

I was 4-years old and I remember looking around to make sure that nobody saw what I heard.

 

I thought the same thing when I was a kid. I don't think I heard it correctly until I was a teen.

 

I'm pretty sure most of the AM stations in Northern California that played Shaft in 1971 cut the "Damn right!" The first time I heard the D word was during the early '70s, Kingston Trio's Greenback Dollar heard on an AM station in Sacramento (KCRA 132) that played a mix of contemporary mostly softer rock/pop top 40 hits and oldies going back 15 to 20 years. "And I don't give a damn about a Greenback a-dollar, Spend it fast as I can...". Then there was Tie A Yellow Ribbon, number 1 song of '73, and Sister Golden Hair in '75. By the mid '70s damn had gone mainstream.

 

Steve Miller Band - Jet Airliner

I always thought "funky kicks going down in the city" sounded weird until one station played the album version vs the censored version.

(Just noticed this song was already mentioned in an earlier post)

 

"One of a Kind Love Affair" is a really odd one-- It sure sounds like he's saying "You just got to f$%^ her", but why was that on a single?? Atlantic was concerned enough to put out a censored version.

 

When the uncensored version of The Kingston Trio's "Greenback Dollar" finally made it to the airwaves. Damn!!!

 

My real introduction to profanity in rock music was the Woodstock movie and Country Joe McDonald.

 

My first awareness of censoring of a pop song was on Australian radio for "Snoopy Vs The Red Baron" on the word "bloody" (as already mentioned by Mylene) and not too long after was the bleeping of the word "Christ" in "The Ballad of John & Yoko" which is all pretty lame when you consider no one censored "Who Are You" by the Who in 1978 with it's F Bomb so noticeable..It amazes me still that radio or TV (at least here in Oz) never noticed it. The word "****" in "Heart of Glass" and possibly also in ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down" always made me raise an eyebrow. The first song that completely took my breath away as being devastatingly over the top foul was Marianne Faithfull's "Why D'Ya Do it" which no one has ever got close to for sheer vulgarness along with total bitterness & anger. But overall I've never liked strong swearing in songs and find it completely unnecessary..there are many other ways to make an angry point. So don't get me started on modern movies lol.

 

It shows up on the 12" version, but not on the single version that came out on vinyl. I never heard the "pain in the ***" version on the radio.

 

My father had the 8-Track. Perhaps it was that version I remember?

 

I don't believe Lynne says "a--" in Don't Bring Me Down.
Snake in the grass is the lyric I remember.

 

same here. I guess the Pusher came first, but I never heard a REAL expletive like CJoe, I didn't know they allowed such things.