Cancel culture is a buzzword we can't shake these days. Ban, ignore, refuse, or deny anything, and it's a victim of cancel culture, right or wrong. But the concept of banning things is hardly new. We've been doing it for practically forever. Even music can't escape the cold, calloused hand of the ban-hammer.
Over the years, songs have been banned for countless reasons. Some made sense, but others were far more dubious. We've compiled ten of the most surprising song bans, ranked from the most silly to the most serious, even if none of them made any sense.
10. BBC banned Monster Mash
It is safe to say that Monster Mash 1962 "The Monsters of the Night" is one of, if not the most popular, song about monsters throwing a party. Recorded by Bobby "Boris" Pickett, it's a staple at Halloween and has appeared in cartoons and movies for decades. It's literally a song about a mad scientist who starts a new craze for dancing to monsters like Dracula and the Wolfman. Pretty innocent stuff, but tell that to the BBC in the UK.
For 11 years Monster Mash was banned from British airwaves for being too painful . When they finally let him be heard by the monstrous population in 1973, he took third place in the charts.
No specific reason was given for what was deemed too painful, but with lyrics like "Zombies were having fun (tennis shoes, wa-oooh)," we can only guess.
9. Deep in the heart of Texas
When it comes to songs being banned on demand, even Bing Crosby wasn't immune. His jazz tune «Deep in the Heart of Texas» was taken off air for the very reason that made it popular in the first place: it had a funny beat. And once again, the killers were on the BBC.
Ten years after the song's release in 1942, the BBC played it during its "Music While You Work" program, and chaos ensued. Or, more accurately, people clapped together . Applause plays a prominent role in the song, and apparently the workers were so captivated by the song that they clapped along, dropping what they were doing and reducing their productivity. The song was quickly prohibited for reproduction during working hours.
Apparently the BBC pounced on any American song that dared to include clapping, whistling, or other distracting sounds that a worker might be tempted to imitate while on duty, because a productive worker is a worker without rhythm.
8. Italy banned its own Eurovision song
Every year since 1956, Europe has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, where musicians from across the continent compete to represent their country on the music scene. Performances can be surprisingly challenging, and songs can range from entertaining to irritating.
Typically, the song a country chooses to submit to the contest is one they hope to win, if for no other reason than bragging rights, but that wasn't the case for Italy in 1974 when they banned their own entry.
Singer Gigliola Cinquetti was supposed to perform the song under the name Si . Si , of course, means yes, and the song took second place after Waterloo ABBA. However, no one saw it in Italy. With the country in the midst of a divorce referendum, they were worried that the repeated use of the word "yes" in the chorus would have an impact vote , so they refused to broadcast it at home.
7. My generation from The Who
The Who were one of the biggest British bands of the 60s and 70s and still hold a place of honor in the rock pantheon. Songs like Pinball Wizard и My Generation, cemented their place in pop culture and made them popular. But popularity is no guarantee against banning, and such was fate. My Generation , when, you guessed it, the BBC pulled the plug on the song after its debut in 1965.
This time, the ban was not so much due to the content of the song, but rather to the way it was sung. Lead vocalist Roger Daltrey intentionally stutters in some texts . The BBC refused to play the song because they considered it offensive to stutterers . However, it received widespread airplay on pirate radio, and then, after selling 300,000 copies, the BBC relented and allowed it into regular rotation.
6. Ding Dong, the witch is dead
In The Wizard of Oz« There were a few memorable songs, but only one was a happy tune about someone's death, and that was Ding Dong the Witch is Dead . A colorful and cheerful song performed by an army of munchkins, it's a celebration of their oppressor, crushed by a falling house. It makes all the sense in the world in context. But what about out of context?
We're back in the UK again, where the BBC used its quick and loose banning powers to take this family favourite off the air, not in the 1930s or '40s, but in 2013. The reason this time was because the song was becoming increasingly popular after the death of the former Prime Minister. Margaret Thatcher .
The song rose up the charts after her death thanks to a huge increase in sales, but the BBC, which usually ran a weekly music chart countdown, refused to play the song because they knew exactly why it had risen up the charts and found it distasteful. Although they claimed that they were not banning it directly, They only played the clip during the countdown, not the whole song.
5. Louis Louis from Kingsmen
In 1963, the Kingsmen had a huge hit with their version of the song. Louie Louie . Almost all of us have heard this song, but probably none of us can sing it because no one knows the words. Listen to the song, and it has a catchy beat, but what the hell is that guy singing? In fact, that was the main reason the song was banned for a while.
In 1964 Governor of Indiana got the song banned, and then took it a step further by filing a criminal investigation with the FBI for pornography. Those gibberish lyrics must have been pretty terrifying, right? Well, the FBI didn't think so, but it took them two years to figure it out.
Law enforcement agencies have prepared 119-page document After a two-year investigation into the song, it was concluded that it was not pornographic. This was after agents at more than six different bureaus listened to the song over and over again, at high and low speeds, desperately trying to figure out what the hell it was about.
Many parents wrote to the FBI and the Attorney General, claiming they, too, had heard offensive lyrics. But no one actually found anything. For what it's worth, at least one office, in Indianapolis, did request a copy of the lyrics from the record label and found nothing offensive. They then asked the band, who also confirmed that the lyrics were identical to those in print and not obscene. And the song lives on to this day.
4. «Timofey "At the Buoys" was written specifically for the ban
Chances are you've never heard the song. Timothy by the Buoys, or maybe you've never even heard of The Buoys. Neither of them were very popular, but Timothy was effectively banned. It's a song about cannibalism, specifically about eating a guy named Timothy.
Written by Rupert Holmes, the man behind Escape (Pina Colada Song) ), Timothy was created to cause a stink. The plan was to keep the song on the radio long enough for people to like the catchy beat. Then, once everyone figured out what it was all about, they'd ban it. Then the kids who liked the song would realize it was banned and want to hear it even more. In any case, that was the plan .
The song tells the story of three men caught in a mine collapse, and then, when they're rescued, only two remain, and neither of them is hungry. So how did they ever get a record company to sign them? The band lied and said that we were talking about a mule.
3. Link to Rumble Ray
If you are a fan of Quentin Tarantino, you straightaway you will find out "« Bolt » Link Ray from «Pulp Fiction» , even if you weren't sure of the song's title. The song was once described as invitation to a stabbing, So you can imagine that it must have seriously concerned officials, especially in 1958, when it was banned in cities like Boston and New York. You could hardly blame anyone for wanting to stop a song that incited violence. But there was a problem with that line of thinking.
If you're not familiar, the song has no lyrics at all. It's completely instrumental. In fact, it's the only instrumental song , which was once banned from the radio because people were afraid it would incite violence. And make no mistake, it's a super cool, super cool song that exudes a sense of Tarantino cool, even without being in one of his films. But it's still just a song. Lots of smooth guitar and a relaxed, sultry beat. But no one's cursing at you or threatening to stab you, because no one's saying anything at all.
2. Girl Crush from Little Big Town
Sometimes a song gets banned for making people feel uncomfortable, if the content isn't what people want to hear, but intention and reality don't always align, and sometimes the reasons can be quite awkward. That's what happened with the song Girl Crush country group Little Big Town.
Released in 2014, the song is written from the perspective of a woman who sings about another woman she's jealous of because that other woman is the one the man she desires is in love with. The song details how she wishes she could be more like that woman, be with the man she desires, and have him desire her in return. But not everyone took it that way.
Song was banned on several radio stations after it was claimed that she was promoting gay program . And if you don't listen to the lyrics, you might think it's a story about one woman falling in love with another woman, which in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing.
1. 164 songs were banned after 9/11.
The gravity of the September 11th attacks truly cannot be overstated in terms of what happened that day, the loss of life, and the impact it had not only on America but on the world afterward. Things have changed since then. There was understandable fear and panic afterward, and sometimes it manifested itself in unusual ways. One of them was banning songs. Many of them.
The general consensus was that anything that might remind people of what had happened was impossible to reproduce, but the full list expanded to 164 songs, some more difficult to understand than others. They came from executives at most, if not all, major radio stations in America and were broadcast. were not necessarily prohibited in an absolute sense, they were set in stone, but there was encouragement not to play them.
Some songs made sense right away, at least on paper. Bodies from Drowning Pool and Seek and Destroy Metallica, for example. A multitude of metal and rock songs evoking images of death and destruction. Every Rage Against the Machine song was on the list.
Other options seemed a little more esoteric. Dirty deeds from AC/DC. Walk like an Egyptian by bracelets. «"How beautiful the world is » Louis Armstrong. Rock the Casbah from Clash. Could you justify this - maybe, Rock the Casbah Sounded too Eastern at a time when anti-Muslim sentiment was raging? But that's a stretch, and a strange one.
Fortunately, the ban did not last long, and the radio show became safe, and soon after we were walking like Egyptians again.