The battle between free speech and conservative ideals raged on a few weeks ago when hard rockers System Of A Down slipped the F-word into their performance on NBC�s Saturday Night Live.  The word was muted throughout the song but not before guitarist Daron Malakian screamed �F*** yeah� near the end unexpectedly. What made the act more obvious was the camera was pointed right at Malakian as he said the word.

What followed was the typical outrage that occurs after all incidents of this matter. NBC was flooded with calls from viewers outraged with the slip up calling for retribution and justice. This is not the first time NBC has had its share of controversy due to explicit language. Motley Crue�s Vince Neil used an expletive during a New Year�s Eve telecast on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno this year and U2�s Bono used one during last year�s Golden Globe Awards.

The battle against explicit behaviour and questionable lyrical content has been going on for so long many people view it as a finished issue. �With Satellite now and cable packages there are so many shows out there on T.V.  like the Osbornes and The Sopranos that are full of profanity,� says educator Collin Fedoruk of Red Deer, Canada.  �Is there a difference when Bono swears or when Tony Soprano swears on T.V?�

Musician Chris Vail of the Canadian indie band Vailhalen had his own take on the situation. � I don�t really think about cursing much these days. I don�t know what SOAD (System Of A Down) said on SNL, but I am so used to hearing swearing in prime time (like The Osborne Show, etc...) that I sort of thought that the issue was dead,� said Vail.

In the 1980�s the crusade against explicit music stepped into high gear with the emergence of heavy metal music and the popularization of rap music and hip-hop culture. Artists such as 2 Live Crew, N.W.A and Ice-T began using expletives in their lyrics and disturbing images in their videos and performances. Around that time former Vice President Al Gore�s wife Tipper Gore co-founded the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) to clean up explicit music. In August 1985, PMRC and other parents pressured record companies to place warning stickers �Parental Guidance: Explicit Lyrics� on albums and cassettes containing explicit lyrics. Later that year the Senate held a hearing addressing the situation with Tipper Gore appearing as a witness. After the hearing many artists and fans accused Gore of promoting censorship and some referred to her as a �cultural terrorist�.

In the 1990�s, it almost became a badge of honour to have the Parents Advisory sticker on an album warning parents and children of explicit lyrics. Gangsta rap and alternative rock contributed to the normalization of profanity in music that we hear today. �When I was younger in the 1980�s I never heard much swearing except in the movies or something but in the 1990�s and even today it�s commonplace in much of the music I listen to as well as some of my students,� says educator Fedoruk. � My friends little nephew is eight and loves 50 Cent�.

Many question why swearing in music sometimes gets more attention than television shows and movies that portray elicit sexual scenes and extreme violence. That�s a whole other issue but it does need to be examined since obviously some organizations have delegated their resources to combat certain issues such as profanity and nudity over other issues like graphic violence.

The crackdown has led to the now-standard infamous seven-second delay, which was a result partially of the Janet Jackson incident at last years super bowl. There is now a delay on many live broadcasted events to deal with potential incidents. The Academy Awards had a delay this year, as did other award shows.

Which brings us back to the recent SNL episode starring System of A Down.  Saturday Night Live does not use the seven-second delay and NBC said it had asked the band to remove swears in their lyrics, but the band refused. So censors were prepared to cut off audio when the expected expletives were said. NBC censors cut five planned expletives but a sixth, unscripted swear word slipped through.

The question arises why do certain instances involving profanity warrant more attention then others? Are the priorities of the groups in charge of regulation misconstrued?  What is art and what is trash?

�I find it curious how some shows are ignored or forgiven, and some seem to be not allowed to swear,� musician Chris Vail said.  I don�t know how that works, I�d be curious to find out. Beyond that, I don�t really have anything to say about it, other than I hope that swearing doesn�t catch on so much so that it ceases to be fun�.