hey i had asked before on the low but got no response. i read in the naucc rules thing online that if there is profanity in your music during your performance then it isnt good. it said to like remember it was a family event. so if i use a song with several cuss words during my freestyle competition thing will peopel like get mad or disqualify me or whatever?
deuces.
amanda gallacher
They’ll probably form a lynch mob and drown you in a river, burn you or hang you from the rafters. Whichever is more convenient. They’re quite keen on family values at NAUCC.
You could probably use the song if you beeped out the swear parts or if they were in some obscure Cantonese dialect.
I think it’s also about your style of music - if it’s aggressive screaming and guitars distorted to sound like white noise, it’s not gonna give you any bonus points. Try to do it in the spirit of freestyle and NAUCC. Nice and entertaining.
Don’t be daft Ivan, you think they’re stuck in the middle-ages at NAUCC?
They’d use tasers.
Your audience is likely to include a high percentage of small children. There shouldn’t have to be a policy on such things, but some people just don’t get it. See section 3.25 in the USA Rulebook.
what do you mean by some people dont get it? thats the exact section i was referring to so i get it. what i dont get is whether or not its a real rule. if it isnt then anything goes. and dude like not everyones attacking you john, its ok to chill man. you always seem so uptight. i removed you from my ignore list for a sec to see if you had maybe answered my question but i guess not.
Jonny, I don’t think he was being out of line, and also if what you read is in the Rule Book then I’d say its a rule. Even if it wasn’t a rule why would you not want to act respectfully for the others attending?
Here is section 3.25:
3.25 OBJECTIONABLE LANGUAGE OR CONTENT: Competitors should remember that the convention audience includes children, families, and people from all backgrounds. Music selection, costume, and choreography should be considered with this in mind.
It is extremely generic and makes no statement about the consequences should a competitor choose to ignore it. If I were you, I would email the organizers of NAUCC directly and pose the question. They should be able to give you a definitive answer.
I think it’s common decency not to use music with swears when there are children around.
Children are like little fury animals: they are kewl, but fragile.
I more or less agree with the first statement.
I would argue that in this matter it is not the children but the adults who are the more fragile. (But I sort of suspect that you already know this.)
Yes. If people were commonly decent we wouldn’t need to mention it.
Jonny, Yes, people will get mad. As to whether you’ll get disqualified is unknown as we haven’t heard your music, and the policy is, I think deliberately open to interpretation. My interpretation of 3.25 is that they have the option to disqualify you. The person to ask would be the Chief Judge, who I’m pretty positive is Constance Cotter (also the USA and IUF President). Currently she’s out at the Mediterranean Unicycle Tour; not sure when they get back. Send her a copy of your music. For fun, post a link to it here as well and you can get lots of opinions.
How much non-regular-TV language do you want to expose other peoples’ small children to?
History:
I think that little section is the watered-down result of an attempt to legislate some anti-offensive content rules with specific consequences. Actually, I think the originator was Bill Gilbertson (Gilby’s dad). The problem is it’s always a matter of taste and perception, and local values, as well as a matter of degree. I think people didn’t accept the earlier, stronger versions of the proposal and that’s what was able to get passed. By contrast, the IUF has no such section, as the cultural “rules” change from country to country. I heard some ultra-raunchy lyrics at Unicon last summer…
When in doubt, pretend you want your act to be shown on regular broadcast TV and you should be fine. If for some reason you have a need to use a piece of music that has obvious offensive language in it, section 3.25 wants you to know that NAUCC is not the place for it. Save that for your video.
Good luck at NAUCC! You might have me as one of your judges… 
+1
Let’s see…it’s in the real Rulebook, so what would lead you to suspect it might not be a “real rule”?
Seems like the rules are not the only topic you’re confused about.
If you want to enter a sanctioned national competition, just play by the rules. The real rules, as defined in the sanctioning organization’s Rulebook. Is it really that tough for you kid?
i suspect it isnt a real rule because it doesnt say what the consequences are for doing it and seems to imply it as a suggestion. do you understand? and as far as coming back after that post i made there isnt anything wrong. i stood by what i said.im more focused on making money now and ive made a lot it. ive had good times with unicyclign and dont do it nearly as much as i used to. maybe an hour a week all together. and i still kick ass, probably way more than you and a lot of other people.(not saying im anywhere near the best though, people like shaun are really doing it big.) and i still dont post much, jsut here and there if i need to get something answered so yeah i stand by what i said 100% homeboy, but im flattered you wanted to prove something so much that you dug through the archvies for that post. nice try on using my words against me, i think its pretty cute. and as far the whole ‘‘play by the rules kid’’ thing, my response is bite me. im not really a kid, i feed myself three meals a day, pay for my own cars insuance and gas, and have had a job steadily since i was 15. im no kid. why is everyone always so mean to me on here. its really retarded. just let this thread die all you guys are gonna say is condescending shit so peace.
JP, it seems like you’ve got a good head on your shoulders and can take yourself fine, so just use your best judgment in reading that rule. Even if it won’t get you disqualified, wouldn’t it just be in better taste to not have a profanity in a song that will be blasted right where little kids and families are? I’d suggest at least bleeping them out.
Hey GK, thanks for digging up that old post. 
While I definitely get where you’re coming from with your overall critique, I just want to clarify that I was in no way trying to troll you with the post you reference, but rather was trying to encourage you to “step into the light” and be proud of your unicycling skill. It seemed to me from a number of your posts that it was something you tried to hide from other people. From your most recent posts (which I won’t dig up), it seems like that is no longer the case, which is great.
Point well taken on the general usefulness issue. John_Childs I’m not. I’ll give that one some thought. I tend to speak up only when something irritates me, and in this case it was a mouthy kid who asked a marginally stupid question and then started busting on someone I consider to be a helpful and productive member of the community just because he didn’t like the answer he received. Perhaps I can learn to be a more productive denizen going forward, and keep some of my annoyance to myself. I’ll go veg on that one a bit.
Root
maybe I missed it in one of the posts already, but do you have a song in mind yet?
There’s a good reason why there’s little or no harcore rap performed on American Idol; it does not appeal as much to the masses mainstream and pop. The vast majority of family oriented audiences are turned off by super agressive, profanity ladden music, be it rap or otherwise. Much of it is mean-spirited and glorifies violence, killing and all that bad stuff.
You obviously want to try to use music that will help you to ride better, but you also want it to appeal to the widest popssible audience as well. Your riding should “speak louder” than the music.
You have John Foss on your ignore list?!?
You need all the help you can get my friend.
If you have any difficulty in obtaining a family-friendly version of the song you want to use, feel free to email an mp3 version of the song to me on unigild (at) gmail (dot) com.
I’ll be happy to do whatever kind of editing job you feel you need on the piece of music. I can silence the offending words, bleep them out with a traditional electronic noise, replace them with another word or, if you want to make a political statement of sorts, download the sound of one of the shots the killed Kennedy and use that to replace the offending lyrics.
You can also mail me at that addy with the title and artist of the song and I can see if I can get hold of it over here if you prefer.
Alternatively, post the details of the song here and see who comes up with the most entertaining ‘family-friendly’ version.
Think of it as ‘Audio-shop Tennis’.
For wanting to not be treated like a child, you certainly act like one. The fact that you even have to ask whether or not it’s okay to have a song with profanity in it, when there is a clearly stated preference for non-offensive music, again shows that you do have a lot of learning and growing to do. If nothing else, a good performer knows that it’s necessary to play to your audience. When you know that your audience includes children and is intended for families create a routine that is appropriate for that audience.
This is mostly true. What it is is a lousy rule because it’s so unclear, and because there is no “if” part. But by virtue of being in the rulebook, lousy as it is, it’s real, which can make it a little dangerous. The problem with not having an “if” is that it gets left up to the officials. You might get scolded, you might get disqualified, you might even get ignored if it’s something hard to hear in the song, especially if it’s covered up by amazing riding. On the other hand, if it’s the song I was referring to from Unicon last summer, I wouldn’t be opposed from the organizers ejecting you from the premesis without refund. Those were REALLY offensive lyrics, no doubt about it, repeated over and over, loudly!
Actually there are two primary reasons: rap is not pop, so therefore no rap-only artists are wanted in the first place. They don’t come out and admit this directly, though it’s clearly a pop singing/performing contest. Rock, country or other genres, if they can’t be reconciled with mainstream pop, don’t get to the top spots. The other reason is the lack of “hardcore rap” that has TV-friendly lyrics. While on other shows lots of stuff gets bleeped over, obviously they don’t want to have to do this in a singing/performing contest. The end goal (which the majority of first-round applicants don’t seem interested in) is to sell lots of records. That means mainstream, which doesn’t have to mean pop, but that’s what they seem to prefer.