Rolling Stones agreed to Super Bowl censorship By Claudia Parsons
Mon Feb 6, 1:17 PM ET



NEW YORK (Reuters) - Veteran rockers the Rolling Stones agreed to be censored at Sunday's U.S. Super Bowl halftime show, a National Football League spokesman said on Monday.



The Super Bowl football game is America's top rated broadcast event but it has been the subject of controversy ever since 2004 when there was an outcry about indecency after Janet Jackson bared her breast during the half-time show in what was famously described as a "wardrobe malfunction."

The Rolling Stones delivered their usual slick rock 'n' roll performance with Mick Jagger stalking the stage, grinding his hips and pouting like a man half his age.

But during "Start Me Up," the line "you make a dead man come" was cut short and a barnyard reference to "cocks" in the new song "Rough Justice" also disappeared.

"The Rolling Stones were aware of our plan which was to simply lower the volume on his microphone at those two appropriate moments," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Reuters. "We had agreed to that plan earlier in the week. The Stones were aware of it and they were fine with it."

ABC, which broadcast the Super Bowl, said it had a 5-second delay in place but it was not used to censor anything during the broadcast. "If there were any alterations of lyrics it was done by the NFL," said Mark Mandel of ABC Sports.

The New York Times said last week the Stones had agreed to tone down their language on other occasions in the past.

Back in 1967 the band appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on the same day as the first Super Bowl, which was then called the world championship game. They wanted to sing "Let's Spend the Night Together," but Sullivan insisted they change the lyrics to "Let's Spend Some Time Together."

"Jagger consented, reluctantly, but rolled his eyes while he sang," the newspaper said.

McCarthy said the half-time show retained 98 percent of the overall audience who tuned in to watch the game, in which the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Seattle Seahawks 21-10.

With the Super Bowl played in Detroit this year, the choice of the Stones for the half-time show upset some locals who were pushing for Motown music acts and other home-grown talent.

But the uproar was quelled after organizers announced that Motown legend Stevie Wonder would headline the pregame show, and "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin was tapped to perform the National Anthem.

McCarthy said the only moment producers were caught unawares was when Stevie Wonder said a few extra words than what was expected. He made a plea for peace at the end of his set, saying: "Let us come together before we're annihilated."

"Surprised, yes. Concerned? No," McCarthy said, commenting on the remark.

"the Stones knew of censorship"

That's no surprise - censorship in US tv has been the rule the last many decades....

hell......i'd have a couple of "naughty" words removed from a song to play at the Super-Duper Bowl...............no biggy.......if you're in a band, would you refuse under that condition?..............i sure as hell wouldnt

it's unbelievable what is censored and whats not
They will censor some word or image and then run a commercial for erection pills
or Viagra

Donkey Girl Scout Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > it's unbelievable what is censored and whats
> not
> They will censor some word or image and then run a
> commercial for erection pills
> or Viagra
>


yep......tons of hypocrisy.......then you can turn on "Autopsy" on HBO to watch a corpse being cut open

"Let's spend some time together."

"The wonder of Jimi Hendrix was that he could stand up at all he was so pumped full of drugs." Patsy, Patsy Stone

It's more amusing that parents can tell little Timmy (when asked) why Cum and Cock are dirty words in America. I am from Pittsburgh and find it more offensive that half our team cannot pronounce Pittsburgh. They always seem to forget that the "T" is not silent.

This just shows who ´crazy the hole thing is.

It just in USA something like this could happen, blow a brain out, no problem, say cock and all hell breaks loose.

I thought that the "land of the free" were just that, but no they are slaves of the TV people that decide what to show and belive it or not what we are going to hear.

hahaha

just stupid

By the way dowload the hole shoobang here

[www.mininova.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-02-07 23:13 by Glennta.

Glennta Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This just shows who ´crazy the hole thing is.
>
> It just in USA something like this could happen,
> blow a brain out, no problem, say cock and all
> hell breaks loose.
>
> I thought that the "land of the free" were just
> that, but no they are slaves of the TV people that
> decide what to show and belive it or not what we
> are going to hear.
>
> hahaha
>
> just stupid

amen brother. American tv is lame.

They have sure gotten a good deal of press over the lyrics. I've seen several articles w/ Rough Justice lyrics quoted just so you know what you might've missed.

If there was no censoring I don't think they would've gotten the coverage. I wonder how many people will pick up ABB now just to find out what the fuss is about. Finally a good marketing move from the Stones!

I´m from Europe and all this seems ridiculous.
What about death sentence?

dirksander Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I´m from Europe and all this seems ridiculous.
> What about death sentence?


another can 'o worms....what about the death sentence?

"they are slaves of the TV people that decide what to show"

"American tv is lame."

Yet those lame Americans decided to show the Rolling Stones at half time.

When those TV big wheels censor some language everybody shiits their pants yet when BV not only censors language but also content, the attitude is - well it is his site he can do whatever he wants.

In an eariler post the word hypocrisy was used. Does seem alive and well at IORR.

02.07.06 Stones' Spokesperson Responds To NFL/ABC Censorship
Commenting on the actions taken by the NFL/ABC during the Rolling Stones' Super Bowl XL Half Time Show, a spokesperson for band said today, "The Rolling Stones thought the censorship of their songs by the NFL/ABC was absolutely ridiculous and completely unnecessary."


Belgrade-Bucharest-Budapest-Brno

Of course it was absolutely ridiculous.
But who wouldn't sacrifice two words, and take this opportunity to do this show in front of such a huge audience.

Please, SKIPPY, your remarks about hypocrisy are out of place. Some of us don't approve of censorhip at all - neither on this site, nor on american TV. Nowhere.

Anyway, it didn't seem to me that bad when I was watching the show. Maybe I was too blown away, or just wanted to hear all the words that belong there.
But when I heard the mp3, hm, funny. Or rather sad.
But then again, who doesn't love rare recordings? My only recording of such censored Stones show is this. A show in the US, year 2006.

I think the Rolling Stones are desperately TRYING to drum up some publicity and controversy.

Here in the U. S., despite what some of you may think, the reaction to the "censorship" is one big yawn. No one cares if the words were beeped out or not...no one even noticed...no one cares what the words were...no one cares if the Stones think it's ridiculous...and no one cares enough to "buy the album to find out what the fuss is about." I'll bet the performance will cause barely a blip in 'A Bigger Bang''s sales.

Seventy-percent of people who saw it hated the performance and the performers anyway and it's gotten nothing but bad press and bad reviews. Talk about a tempest in a teacup. No one here in the U. S. gave a crap about "Sweet Neocon" either. It generated not one ounce of controversy...nor any album sales.

It's a NON-NEWS story.. Who really cares