Music That's Been Banned

Since the advent of recorded popular music, there has been controversy about song lyric content whether for political stance, racist views, drug and sexual references, and the glorification of violence. Sometimes the controversy has led to bans by the government and by the music industry itself.

Strange Fruit

One of the most controversial political songs of all time was Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" about lynching in the American South. When Holiday's record label wouldn't record it, she persisted and recorded the song on a specialty record label. Despite no airplay on most radio stations of the time, "Strange Fruit" became a hit.

A side note: The song's author Abel Meeropol is also noted for adopting the two sons of executed atomic spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.

After 9/11

A senior executive at giant radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications distributed a memo to all 1300 Clear Channel stations. This memo included a list of 150 songs with "inappropriate lyrics." Included in this list was the 1968 Louis Armstrong song "What a Wonderful World", R.E.M's "It's the End of the World as We Know It", and Kansas' "Dust in the Wind."

"God Save the Queen"

In 1977, English radio stations, including BBC 1, wouldn't play the Sex Pistols' punk version of "God Save the Queen", especially during the year of the Queen's 25-year jubilee celebration. The Sex Pistols' "revised" lyrics included "God save the Queen, the fascist regime, made you a moron. Potential H-Bomb."

Despite (or because of) the controversy, the song became a huge hit in Britain.

Banned by BBC

During the first Gulf War in 1991, the BBC had its own list of banned songs including Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly" and Eric Clapton's version of "I Shot the Sheriff."

"Puff the Magic Dragon"

The Peter, Paul, and Mary song, "Puff the Magic Dragon", was banned in several countries because of alleged drug references. Leonard Lipton, the song's co-writer, has always claimed that the song was about the loss of childhood innocence. Peter Yarrow, the song's other writer, claimed the drug subtext to be "just a funny rumor that was promulgated by Newsweek Magazine."

Almost Banned

The garbled lyrics of the Kingsmens' 1963 hit song "Louie Louie" made it immediately controversial, interpreted as "dirty" by millions of high school and college students. The song created such a stir that J. Edgar Hoover ordered FBI agents to investigate the song lyrics. The feds tried different methods, including slowing the 45 rpm single to 33 1/3 rpm, but found nothing.

SOURCES:

"10 Most X-rated records", Neil Spencer, Observer, URL: (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/the10/story/0,,1487369,00.html)

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Music/Strike-up-the-banned/2005/06/17/1118869080230.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp2/features/top5/banned_songs.shtml

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/strangefruit/film.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/archive/2017173.stm

"Dancing to the music of the banned", Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney Morning Herald, URL: (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/08/1089000289848.html)

http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/puff.asp

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/louie/louie.html