Universal Deems Be Your Own Pet's Best Tracks Too Violent For America
Controversy aplenty this a.m. First, we talked about the Web Sheriff's oddball mission and now we have good ol' fashioned censorship (yeah, this shit happened even before the Internet was invented!). If you're a Be Your Own Pet fan, or a just a fan of freedom, you've likely already heard about the three songs missing from the brand new Get Awkward, out on Ecstatic Peace/Universal. We first noticed it last Monday via Fluxtumblr:
Can someone out there please explain to me why the official version of the new Be Your Own Pet album does not include the two best songs on the record, "Becky" and "Black Hole"? I mean, I have another pre-release promo that includes those two songs, plus another one called "Blow Yr Mind." What gives? It's especially baffling cos "Becky" and "Black Hole" are two of the most obviously commercial tracks on the record.
A commenter there then copied and pasted BYOP's MySpace explanation, which now seems to be down, though you can find it elsewhere on the Web. It's hard to erase things from the internet...
Via The Culture Of Me, for example:
I know everyone is super confused with the three missing songs on the US album. We didn't choose for this to happen and we're not trying to fuck anyone over with giving them an unfinished album.
Universal decided that "Becky", "Black Hole", and "Blow Yr Mind" were "too violent" to be released. Talk about a bummer time! They gave us the choice of changing the lyrics and rerecording the songs, or to have those three songs removed from the album. We decided to remove the songs, because we don't think there's anything wrong with the lyrics in the first place!
We are going to release those three songs on a special EP that's going to come out this summer. Sorry we didn't make an announcement sooner. We've been doing so much press about how the album got fucked in America that I guess we assumed that most people already knew.
Well, hope that clears some things up.
Jemina
Today, P4K's got a more detailed story. They point to an interview with NYU's Washington Square News that Universal won't be able to undo, a la the MySpace post:
Pearl played up her personality too much for Universal suits on three removed "Get Awkward" tracks. They were rejected by Universal lawyers for being "too violent." Pearl sighed when recounting this circumstance. "When I found out that the songs were going to get taken off, I was just like, 'Is there anybody I can talk to?' " Pearl said. "It's like, I don't even really know who these people are. There's no one you can talk to to try to argue your case. Other than that, Universal has been great. But I guess that's just what happens when you decide to have something to do with a major label. They're going to be scared of anything that's not completely cookie cutter."
The P4K piece also notes that Ecstatic Peace is obviously less than ecstatic about the whole thing. Anyway, weird. There are obviously way more violent lyrics out there on other albums, a number released by Universal (50 Cent and Marilyn Manson, to name a couple). So, is the issue here that it's a young female who sometimes dresses up like a nurse doing the vocalizing? Maybe. At least, that seemed to be the case when Jemima had to duck a drunken fan at their Mercury Lounge gig a few weeks ago. So, yes, gender might be a part of it, is our point. Regardless, you can still hear "Black Hole" at the band's MySpace. Their website, which houses "Becky" and "Black Hole," is currently down.
Posted at 11:27 AM
Tags: Be Your Own Pet
Boo Hoo. "We signed to major label, and they don't respect our artistic vision!"
Sounds like a bunch of entitled 12-year-olds.
And by the way, whatever label BYOP is on, this half-hearted ham-fisted approach to publicity is really weak. Maybe you could really put out some controversial music, then we can talk...
Score = -15
BYOP is an awesome band, and hearing news like this is just frustrating.
i think they should ditch the label like so many others are doing and continue to make the music they want!
Score = 7
Publicity Stunt? WTF? If the tracks are good and likely to sell they'd leave them on there. Just slap a Parental Advisory sticker on it.
I think this is a way of drumming up hype. Not that BYOP are not good enough to deserve it on their own. But this whole censorship thing is retarded.
Unless the songs talk about blowing up government buildings or killing the president et. cetera. Then I guess I could see a record label running from 911 family lawyers with fear in their eyes.
Score = -2
so they're signed to thurston moore's label which is a subsidiary of universal and they're getting fucked over like that.
You could chose practically any rap song at random and i've got a feeling its a bit more 'violent'
I guess they don't think the 'indie kids' could handle it
Score = 3
"Black Hole" is such a good song, too.
Drinking Coca-Cola all night
Ooh, baby, wanna get in a fight!
Breaking glass bottles is oh-so-fun
Let's go and kill someone!
Living in this city, I get so bored
Wanna kill myself on a telephone cord
I guess we could go drive around
What's the point in this town?
Score = 2
this is totally a story of some young kids being taken advantage of. I would be yelling and screaming if this happened to me. 'is there anyone you can talk to?' I would be calling everyone I knew. I would call thurston, I'm sure he knows who to talk to.
Score = 1
@Huph
Oh, give me a fucking break. No one in their right mind likes being censored, so get off your high horse. This is especially bullshit, given the content that they often DO allow on store shelves.
If I were in their place, I would just scrap the entire project and give the label as much hell as I could.
Score = 0
America! Land of the Free!
Score = 0
Yeah, they were part of the Universal Machine, but only by way of Thurston Moore's Estatic Peace shingle. If you're gonna jump into that system either play the game or do it yourself exactly how you please.
Score = 0