Pop music used to be generally family-oriented. Kylie Minogue and the Spice Girls kept things clean; even more aggressive groups such as Queen didn’t resort to excessive profanity in their lyrics.
Now, profanity has become part of popular music – two thirds of Billboard top 100 songs now contain explicit lyrics containing swearwords! So where can listeners find non-offensive pop songs without swear words? Here are a few suggestions.
Hip-Hop
Hip hop music provides the soundtrack of cultural revolution. Hip hop’s popularity has spread worldwide since its birth on urban American streets where artists such as Run-DMC and Public Enemy used their music to speak out against social injustice and resistance movements. While its roots may be radical, there are several artists producing family friendly hip hop.
Hip hop culture encompasses four elements: deejaying (also called turntabling); deejaying; deejay rapping (sometimes referred to as “MCing or rhyming”); graffiti writing or “graffing”, and breakdancing or “b-boying”. Breakdancing has its roots in street culture where rhythmic beats influence this dance style’s wild and free-form improvisation style inspired by hip-hop music rhythms and energy; graffiti writing or “graffing”, graffiti writing or “graffing”. Finally, hip hop culture often integrates artistic expressions with moral, social and spiritual principles intended to uphold and empower urban communities through artform.
Though finding clean rap can be challenging, the genre often features artists who use profane language on a frequent basis. There are a few artists that make an effort to produce non-offensive songs and albums like Kid Cudi with positive and uplifting lyrics that avoid swear words; also NF is known for creating clean songs without curse words in his songs; Christian rapper Lecrae releases music without swear words as well.
Hip-hop began its development in economically-deprived neighborhoods of the Bronx borough of New York during the early 1970s, as an offspring of an amalgam of African American youth culture and Caribbean youth culture. At first, this scene consisted primarily of dance party events combining elements from soul music with scat singing; over time however it evolved into a platform for visual and literary artists who expressed their individual views about society and world events through visual and literary artwork.
Today, hip-hop has grown into a multibillion dollar global industry and culture that pervades every aspect of modern society – it truly touches every part.
R&B
During R&B’s heyday in the 1990s – which saw it reign supreme as one of the world’s most beloved genres – using profanities was unthinkable; radio censorship prohibited this and none of the top 25 songs on Billboard’s year-end Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart required explicit labels, in the way most top-25 songs require parental advisories today.
Nowadays, rap music is more beloved than ever and its influence can be found across different styles of music. Melodic rap has seen significant popularity due to this cross-over, leading to melodic rap’s rise. Additionally, cultures and languages from all around the globe have had an effect on this genre, creating new ways for rappers to reach global audiences with their music.
Many musicians have taken to experimenting with various genres of music, with one such form being Moombahton; an eclectic fusion between elements of rap and dancehall reggae music that can often be considered seductive and sexualized; however there are also cleaner versions that anyone of all ages can appreciate.
Wiz Khalifa’s hit ‘See You Again,’ released as a tribute to actor Paul Walker after his death in a car accident, has amassed over six billion views on YouTube and is an uplifting and positive track with no swear words in its lyrics.
Listening to clean pop is best accomplished through artists with a varied catalogue such as NF, Drake, Lil Nas X or Charlie Puth who have been around for an extended period. Over time they will have had plenty of opportunities to hone their craft and produce hits ranging from singles to full albums. Some examples of artists with such diverse catalogs are: NF, Drake Lil Nas X or Charlie Puth
Finding an artist with both clean and dirty songs is essential to enjoying music regardless of your mood. No Cursing Music provides an effective means of finding songs with no swear words – making this website teacher friendly so you can play these tracks both in class or at home with children.
Pop
Are there any meaningful modern rock love songs without profanity that I could play for my partner and I? Thanks in advance for any ideas.
Swearing used to be an occasional and exotic pop phenomenon; The Eagle’s F-bombs caused shockwaves on radio, while NWA uprooted pop’s default plain-speaking. George Michael’s I Want Your Sex had an artistic effect through its use of foul language; even today with Super Furry Animals’ Fuck You and CeeLo Green’s 212, vulgar language serves a useful function by adding texture or anger or even simply providing comic relief.
After Emeli Sande included explicit lyrics in her comeback single Hurts, it became abundantly clear: the mainstream had become overrun with explicit pop. We need an overhaul of this genre without swearing – and this playlist strives to deliver it.
Country
People usually associate country music with pickup trucks and cowboy hats, but its history goes much deeper than this. Country began as a working-class form of folk music which became immensely popular during the 1940s and 50s thanks to artists such as Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, the Carter Family and others like them. By the 1970s however, its identity had significantly morphed – becoming more like Vegas crossover genre with stars wearing yoked shirts, fringed boots and singing about drinking and gambling than rural roots – something country establishment tried hard to protect.
Urban Cowboy spawned an upsurge of interest in country music that lasted several years in the 80s. Mickey Gilley, Johnny Lee and Alabama achieved great popularity as their songs topped charts nationwide; yet by 1985 The New York Times declared country was no longer considered popular musical genre.
Dolly Parton, Kenny Chesney and Garth Brooks helped revive the country scene in the late 1990s with performances like countrypolitan. These artists combined traditional country elements with pop influences like strings and Atlanta hip-hop for an innovative style called countrypolitan.
But this attempt to bridge country and mainstream pop music failed miserably, as swearing became more frequent. This resulted in catchy, effective curses such as those found on Super Furry Animals’ The Man Don’t Give a Fuck as well as CeeLo Green’s F**k You and Azealia Banks’ 212 which can still be heard today.
But these songs did not cause the same outrage that accompanied Beyonce and the Dixie Chicks’ performance of “Daddy Lessons.” Perhaps this was due to an acceptance that country was whatever its listeners made it out to be, not what its establishment wanted it to be. Additionally, with the rise of rap-country hybrids such as Jason Aldean rapping over country beats without incurring outrage as was witnessed during Beyonce’s performance with them.