Riverside: music and the F word

The UK's no.2 record this week is Riverside by Sidney Samson. A bit too annoying to be my pick this week as best pop song, it is notable for its catchy but soon to be rather irritating riff (think what Crazy Frog might have sounded if it'd been from Holland and a House DJ like Samson). The other salient point about the song - which you won't hear on the radio - is that it's only lyric is "Riverside - MotherF***er". It works quite well and I am sure the profanity is part of its appeal to the thousands who have downloaded it. It got me thinking about other songs that use the F word.

Oddly enough my favorite song of the last few weeks also features F***ers: Boys Who Rape (Should all be destroyed) by The Raveonettes [see blog post] and again very effectively. I originally fell for the track listening to an American radio edit (i.e. minus the expletives) and was quite shocked when I heard to version of YouTube which contains the lyric "Those F***ers stay in your head". Again it's quite effective and my preferred version. Listen - it is brilliant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL1nDdWBfcc

Others that spring to mind are "The Modern World" by The Jam which is an angry but brilliant rant sung by someone alienated from everything they see around them including the final line "I don't give two f**s about your review". I remember this song as a kid and it seemed very brave at the time and again the swearing fits the spirit of the song well. More recently we had F U Right Back (again rather shorn of it's power in the radio edit) and of course If Your Seek Amy by Britney (you subversive thing you). The F word first into the upperreaches of the UK charts in 1995 when Smokie re-released their 70s classic "Living Next Door to Alice" with the lyric "Alice, Who the F*** is Alice?" added in to the chorus. Anything for a comeback eh?

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