Until maybe the late ’80s or early ’90s, I could probably count on one hand the number of songs I heard with curse words in them. Of course, as rare as it was to hear cursing on a record, it was even rarer to hear it on the radio. For a long time, however, there was one exception to this rule that I would hear with some regularity, namely the song “Jet Airliner” by The Steve Miller Band. As early as I can remember, Detroit radio stations would always play the album version, containing the line “…any of that funky shit going down in the city.” No one thought anything of it, at least no one I knew. Then, after hearing this version on the radio for probably a decade or so, all of the stations switched to playing the “clean” version exclusively, replacing the lyric “funky shit” with “funky kicks.” It always seemed so silly to me, even as a child.
Song: “Jet Airliner”
Artist: The Steve Miller Band
Songwriter(s): Paul Pena
Album(s): Jet Airliner (Single) / Book Of Dreams (Full-length)
Release Year(s): 1977
Song: “Regulate”
Artist: Nate Dogg & Warren G.
Songwriter(s): Warren G., Nate Dogg, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller
Album(s): Above The Rim – Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture
Release Year(s): 1994
I Wish You Would Hear Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6jFrq03xPtVVOexYHZF1OW?si=bc9df95d2d854d