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Thread: Songs that have been banned !

  1. #1

    Songs that have been banned !

    Don't know about any outside of the UK but these were once banned by the BBC...

    Relax-Frankie Goes to Hollywood
    God Save the Queen-Sex Pistols
    Lola-The Kinks
    We don't need this fascist groove thang-Heaven 17
    Give Ireland back to the Irish-Wings

  2. #2
    Member davis's Avatar
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    I don't know if songs get banned here, but some have been edited to replace 'bad' words with acceptable words.

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    Member Zeuhlmate's Avatar
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    Did this one get banned in the US?


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    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Todd Rundgren's "F*ck You Jesse"

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    Member Digital_Man's Avatar
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    I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that Pink Floyd's "another brick in the wall pt. 2" was banned in South Africa. Other than that I can't really think of any off the top of my head.

  6. #6
    Eight Miles High by The Byrds was banned by a lot of radio stations because it was believed to be about doing drugs.

    Van Der Graaf Generator's recording of Theme One was allegedly banned by the BBC, allegedly because George Martin was pissed about what the band had done to his composition. According to David Jackson, though, this eventually proved to not be true, and in fact Martin loved what VDGG did with Theme One. The reason the BBC didn't play it, apparently, was because one of Tony Stratton-Smith's henchmen, the guy who was supposed to pay off the BBC disc jockeys to play the single, pocketed the payola money and binned the promo copies of the single that he was supposed to distribute to the jockeys.

    The Kingsmen's infamous rendition of Louie Louie wasn't banned, so far as I can tell, but didn't stop Robert Kennedy from launching an FBI probe, which concluded that the lyrics were "unintelligible at any speed".

    I remember Frankie Goes To Hollywood once being described as Britain's "Most banned band".

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    Member emperorken's Avatar
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    Two 60's songs I recall being banned were Pink Floyd's "Arnold Layne" and Naploeon XXIV's "They're Coming to Take Me Away(Ha Ha)".

  8. #8
    Urban Guerrilla by Hawkwind got banned by the BBC IIFC
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    Nazi's 1994- Roger Taylor

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    Outraged bystander markwoll's Avatar
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    A spoiler to be sure, but from the BBC was pretty prolific at banning airplay of a whole bunch of stuff, at least for some time period:
    List_of_songs_banned_by_the_BBC
    and some others banned in various places with no explanation
    http://www.songfacts.com/category-so...ere_banned.php
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  11. #11
    This tune (written by the recently late Lynsey DePaul) was banned on account of a misheard lyric. Supposedly, the spoken word part contained an F-bomb, which turned out not to be the case. Apparently, in the UK, they aren’t familiar with the police procedural term “Book ’em!” (amazing, considering how long Kojak ran over there!):



    And yes, those are the same women who sang backup on Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side.” Amazing that that was not Too Hot for the BBC, yet this was!
    Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...

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    Member Digital_Man's Avatar
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    I remember in the early 90's someone requested a Nine Inch Nails song on the radio but the dj told her that they can't play NIN. Ultimately NIN's ban didn't last long it seems.

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    "Cop Killer" was forced to be removed from Body Count's album.
    "Lie" by Charles Manson was banned in toto.
    Three songs on "We're Only In It For The Money" were messed with by the label.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    "Cop Killer" was forced to be removed from Body Count's album.
    Ice T voluntarily removed it from the album because he felt the shitstorm surrounding it eclipsed it's musical merit. The suits at Time Warner may have pressured him to drop the song after the President, Vice President, Tipper Gore, and even Charlton Heston shot their mouths off about it, but the choice was left up to Ice himself.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Digital_Man View Post
    I remember in the early 90's someone requested a Nine Inch Nails song on the radio but the dj told her that they can't play NIN. Ultimately NIN's ban didn't last long it seems.
    Depends on which song you're talking about and which radio station. Some songs you probably still couldn't play, not necessarily because of content, but often times because it wasn't approved by the LA based consulting firm that was hired by the radio station in Boise, Idaho to tell them how to do their job.

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  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by davis View Post
    I don't know if songs get banned here, but some have been edited to replace 'bad' words with acceptable words.
    I always get a chuckle out of our local classic rock station. They drop the vocal for the bad words in songs like "Jet Airliner," "Money," and "Show Biz Kids," but they'll play "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" complete with the F-bomb.

  18. #18
    Oh No! Bass Solo! klothos's Avatar
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    Wow == 18 posts later and no "banned"/ "band" puns ....Im SO proud of you guys!

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    I don't think songs get "banned" here these days in the sense that radio stations are forbidden to play them. Some stations have a form of self-censorship, i.e. they won't play songs containing certain themes or certain words, at certain times of the day. Triple-J issues a "language warning" before playing a song with lots of swear words.

    "Lola" was banned here for a short time after release. The ban was lifted after a few months - apparently they belatedly realised no one was going to be harmed by hearing this song.

    "Bleeping" out naughty words used to be accepted practice. I still remember The Royal Guardsmen singing about Snoopy and the *bleep* Red Baron. That was a long time ago - no one raised eyebrows when Supertramp sang "Bloody Well Right", and the word "bloody" is barely considered offensive these days.

    Later on it was more common to edit out the offending word by splicing in a drum beat or something, to make it sound natural. Pink Floyd's "Money" got this treatment, although it was pretty obvious what had been edited out; there are not very many words that are commonly appended to "bull" and which rhyme with "hit".

    The silliest ban I ever heard of was Split Enz' "Six Months In a Leaky Boat" which I believe was banned in the UK (not here). Something to do with the Falklands War. How they interpeted that song as being about the Falklands war or having the potential to harm the war effort is beyond me.

    Astonishingly, David Cassidy managed to get one of his songs banned in many places.
    Last edited by bob_32_116; 10-09-2014 at 12:29 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by klothos View Post
    Wow == 18 posts later and no "banned"/ "band" puns ....Im SO proud of you guys!
    One of the cleverest band names I heard of was just after many public libraries here had decided to longer stock Enid Blyton's series of "Noddy" books. The group called themselves "Noddy's Band" ("Noddy's banned"). Don't think they ever had any hit songs though.

  21. #21
    Member Digital_Man's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    Depends on which song you're talking about and which radio station. Some songs you probably still couldn't play, not necessarily because of content, but often times because it wasn't approved by the LA based consulting firm that was hired by the radio station in Boise, Idaho to tell them how to do their job.
    Well the station I'm referring to (this was in NY)wouldn't play anything by them. This was around 93 after their big album. I own it but can't remember the name off the top of my head.

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    ^^ My guess would be that it was The Downward Spiral, with that song about doing naughty things with animals.

  23. #23
    Member Oreb's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bob_32_116 View Post
    I don't think songs get "banned" here these days in the sense that radio stations are forbidden to play them. Some stations have a form of self-censorship
    Double-Jay, as it was then, started with a bang: the first song they broadcast was the Skyhooks track commercial radio black-listed, 'You Just Like Me 'cause I'm Good in Bed'

    Does it matter that this waste of time is what makes a life for you?

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    Guitarist G.F. Fitzgerald says that MCA refused to release his record "Mouseproof" in the US unless he changed the lyrics to his song "May Four",which is about the 1970 shootings of students at Kent State.

    He didn't change the lyrics.
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    Quote Originally Posted by bob_32_116 View Post

    The silliest ban I ever heard of was Split Enz' "Six Months In a Leaky Boat" which I believe was banned in the UK (not here). Something to do with the Falklands War. How they interpeted that song as being about the Falklands war or having the potential to harm the war effort is beyond me.
    Somebody once told me Lulu's 'Boom Bang A Bang' was banned and for the same reason. I looked it up and he was right- the reason being that songs with certain trigger words were deemed inappropriate at that time by the BBC. This was a temporary ban.

    Certain performers you won't hear on the radio now due to their own personal misdeeds. But whether they are 'banned', I can't really say.

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