Cannabis News Media Awareness Project
  MTV To Air Popular Song About Marijuana Use
Posted by FoM on August 23, 2001 at 14:42:56 PT
By David Bauder, Associated Press 
Source: Associated Press 

cannabis MTV is joining the party surrounding the hot pop song ''Because I Got High,'' but so far won't inhale. After negotiating some changes with the artist Afroman's record label, the network has agreed to play the song's video but only in the overnight hours and not on the popular teen show ''Total Request Live.''

''Because I Got High'' appears on the movie soundtrack to ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'' and has quickly become one of the most requested songs on radio across the country. It presents an agonizing dilemma for programmers and anti-drug activists.

Is it an anti-drug song? Or is it just a joke for those who like to toke? The comical rap song begins with the narrator lamenting, ''I was gonna clean my room until I got high,'' and quickly escalates through a series of best-laid plans and lost opportunities.

''I messed up my entire life because I got high,'' Afroman says in the next-to-last verse. ''I lost my kids and wife because I got high. Now I'm sleeping on the sidewalk and I know why. Because I got high.''

Steve Dnistrian, executive vice president of the Partnership For a Drug-Free America, says, ''It's really in the eye of the beholder, and makes this song particularly tricky to judge the impact on different audiences.''

The partnership hasn't taken a position on the song.

''It's a novelty song and it's a joking song,'' said Steve Bloom, senior editor of the magazine High Times. ''It's not to be taken seriously. If anyone takes this song seriously as an anti-drug message, they're off-track.''

High Times has nominated ''Because I Got High'' as best pot song of the year for its annual Doobie Awards, given next month. Afroman will perform at the awards ceremony, Bloom said, and Universal Records has taken out a full-page ad in High Times for Afroman's album. The label is distributing 20,000 free copies of the song to buyers of the magazine.

MTV was caught between two conflicting impulses: the desire not to be left on the sidelines with a hot pop trend, and its policy not to promote drug use.

Its standards department negotiated for a couple of weeks with Universal before getting an acceptable version of the video to air.

''We asked them to make changes and they said `sure,''' said MTV spokesman Graham James. ''They were minor changes. We looked at it like, `we want to get this music on the channel and how can we make it happen?'''

MTV wouldn't detail the changes, but a record company executive who requested anonymity said all visual references to smoking marijuana were removed. A scene at the video's end showing Afroman sharing a spliff the size of a baseball bat with the movie's stars, Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, was excised. So was a common vulgarity referring to a woman's anatomy, and a sneaker company's logo.

The simple fact that the song's lyrics ''I got high'' were in the past tense also made things easier for MTV censors, the executive said.

Universal had no problem with the changes, said Steve Leeds, a senior vice president at the company.

''We're in the business to sell music CDs,'' he said. ''Without MTV, we would have a level of success. With MTV, it takes us to the next level. The video puts a visual and a face on the project and we live in an age when visuals are very important.''

James would not say whether MTV, in making its minor edits, looked at whether the song as a whole encouraged or discouraged drug use.

In a similar case of editing, the channel has been airing a video of the rock band Weezer's song ''Hash Pipe,'' but bleeped out the word ''hash.''

Afroman's real name is Joseph Foreman and he is from Hattiesburg, Miss. His album, ''The Good Times,'' which contains ''Because I Got High,'' goes on sale next Tuesday.

''He's going to get the last laugh,'' Bloom said. ''He's going to go to the bank with this song and people can call it whatever they want.''

Complete Title: MTV To Air, With Restrictions, Popular Song About Marijuana Use

On the Net:

http://www.mtv.com

http://www.hungryhustler.com

Source: Associated Press
David Bauder, Associated Press
Published: August 23, 2001
Copyright: 2001 Associated Press

Related Articles & Web Site:

High Times
http://www.hightimes.com/

Reading, Writing And Propaganda
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10560.shtml

The Quiet Death of Prime-Time Propaganda
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10185.shtml


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Comment #7 posted by jAHn on August 24, 2001 at 16:26:16 PT
Who's to say,
that the substance being used in this song to "get high" isn't
Alcohol,
Valarian Root ((smelly, foot-sock herbs))
Mandrake Root, Wizard Smoke???
Maybe the artist of the song IS REALLY singing about popping pharmaceuticals, or even better:
The artist is crushing up OxyContin's and SMOKIN''EM UP!!
Mixed up with a little tobacco--
"Ashcrofts' Assanine Artists Association"
ha ha ha!~~
seriously,
WHO KNOWS what "Afroman" is getting high on...
It's probably NOT even weed they're singing about...
I just see that kind of enthusiasm abound.


[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #5 posted by Forest Gump on Crack on August 24, 2001 at 00:38:00 PT
I got high
I dont think this is an anti pot song at all...I think its a parody of the "drug warriors" messages that smoking pot will ruin your life. If it is for real its the most ignorant piece of crap ive ever heard.
By the way, I think MTV is the anti - christ. An elderly business mans idea of what will appeal to the misbegotten youth of today. The sad thing is how many teens buy into it. The way of the world.
Light up and Live


[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #4 posted by happy on August 23, 2001 at 21:56:58 PT:

Free the Weed
I got an idea for a song. How about one who's chorus is Free the Weed, like "testify" by rage.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #3 posted by J.R. Bob Dobbs on August 23, 2001 at 21:15:57 PT
Wheeze
>>In a similar case of editing, the channel has been airing a video of the rock band Weezer's song ''Hash Pipe,'' but bleeped out the word ''hash.''<<

Great, so you bleep it out and most people will assume the song is called "Crack Pipe" instead. Brilliant.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #2 posted by ekim on August 23, 2001 at 18:28:42 PT:

how long before we get a good cannabis tune
who will give the people a great song to rally by. please step forward.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #1 posted by Pontifex on August 23, 2001 at 16:37:33 PT:

Give me a frickin reprieve
Based on the lyrics, MTV should be getting payola from ONDCP, not stuffing this video in the wee hours. Even an anti-pot song isn't acceptable for the children!

Of course, despite their "policy not to promote drug use", MTV has no problem playing "Gin and Juice" by the inimitable, permanently stoned Snoop Doggy Dogg. The haunting chorus:

"Rolling down the street/smoking indo/sippin' on gin and juice/with my mind on my money and my money on my mind."

So in a single popular refrain, played over and over on MTV and TRL, Snoop is "promoting" cannabis smoking, drinking, DUI and crass materialism. Not to mention that he throws a party while his parents are out of town for the weekend.

The notion that MTV has any "policy" other than maximizing profits is pure myth.

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