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nomad soul

Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 11:47 am Post subject: Classic songs that were banned |
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Classic Songs That Were Banned
by Mark Juddery - November 11, 2011
(Source: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/27ay57/www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/97070)
Radio stations have censored or banned records for almost as long as they have been playing them. (Billie Holliday�s 1939 song �Strange Fruit,� which helped to inspire the civil rights movement, was banned by many Southern stations.) But since the coming of rock�n'roll in the 1950s, famous pop songs have been banned from airplay, or even removed from records, for a number of unusual reasons. Here are some of the most intriguing.
�Wake Up Little Susie� (1957) � The Everly Brothers
Reason: Teenage hanky-panky
Despite their image for showing a wholesome side to rock�n'roll, the Everly Brothers made the news when this song was banned by radio stations because it was all about a pair of teenagers sleeping together (even though, in this case, the emphasis was on �sleeping�).
�Splish Splash� (1958) � Bobby Darin
Reason: Nudity
This ditty was about a guy who walks out of a bath and into a party in the adjoining room. (They sang powerful and topical songs back then.) It was banned for an excellent reason: there was no mention of him putting his clothes back on. In fact, it mentions that he just places his towel around him. Shocking.
�Tell Laura I Love Her� (1960) � Ray Peterson
Reason: Too sad
This song was banned because it was a little morbid: the story of a teenager who enters a stock car race, in the hope of winning the prize money for his girlfriend�s wedding ring� only to die in an accident on the track. Though censors might have frowned upon it, the song moved straight up the charts, and gave them their worst nightmare: a popular craze for songs about teenage death. Many of them (Mark Dinning�s �Teen Angel,� the Shangri-Las� �Leader of the Pack,� Twinkle�s �Terry�) were also major hits.
�Puff the Magic Dragon� (1962) � Peter, Paul and Mary
Reason: Drug references
In 1970, US vice-president Spiro Agnew described rock music as �blatant drug culture propaganda� and warned that it threatened �to sap our national strength unless we move hard and fast to bring it under control.� He immediately went on a crusade to ban songs that referred to drugs. This included the children�s ditty �Puff the Magic Dragon,� which would surely be harmless to anyone for whom it was written. Despite lyrics like �Puff,� �dragon,� �autumn mist,� �little Jackie paper,� and� that�s it, really� composer Peter Yarrow always protested the song was merely an innocent fantasy, with no hidden meaning.
�My Generation� (1965) � The Who
Reason: Unfair to the disabled
This anthem of youth rebellion might have worried a few people, but the line that won the most attention was� a mistake. When it was recorded, Roger Daltrey sang �Why don�t you all f� f� fade away� because he was having trouble reading Pete Townshend�s lyrics. They decided to keep the stutter, and add it to some other lines (�don�t try to dig what we all s� s� say�), partly because it sounded like a young mod on drugs (i.e. like many of their fans). A few listeners, however, were shocked because �f� f�� sounded like he was trying to say something else. Later, the BBC banned the song from radio because it was insulting to people who stammer. As long as it wasn�t about drugs�
�Let�s Spend the Night Together� (1967) � The Rolling Stones
Reason: Low morals
The Rolling Stones were asked not to perform this song on The Ed Sullivan Show. Ever the rebels, they refused, but they worked out a compromise, agreeing to change the lyrics to the less suggestive �let�s spend some time together.� Instead, Mick Jagger sang �let�s spend some mmmm together.� To the more optimistic moralists, he was singing �time� and just mumbling. Nonetheless, Sullivan banned them from ever appearing on the show again.
�A Day in the Life� (1967) � The Beatles
Reason: Drug reference (but only one)
Often voted by musicians and critics as the best Beatles song ever (a very contentious claim), this final number from Sergeant Pepper�s Lonely Hearts Club Band has a few sections. Though it has some bizarre, drug-inspired verses written by John Lennon, whose lyrics (�Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall�) don�t immediately seem to make sense, it was the more straightforward lyrics of Paul McCartney�s section that got the song banned by BBC Radio, specifically the line �found my way upstairs and had a smoke.� This was considered an unmitigated drug reference. Still, while McCartney was certainly known to enjoy the odd marijuana joint back then, you could argue that he was possibly just talking about tobacco. (Moot point, perhaps. Either way, it�s not healthy.)
�Lola� (1970) � The Kinks
Reason: Free advertising
This song by the Kinks won some controversy for its subject matter: the love between a man and a transvestite. However, it couldn�t be played on the BBC for a different reason: the lyrics �where you drink champagne and it tastes just like Coca-Cola.� To solve this problem, Ray Davies, the lead singer (and songwriter), was flown from the US to Britain to re-record this one line, as the government-run station could not be seen to endorse any product. Now, according to the song, the champagne in North Soho (London) tasted like cherry cola.
�God Save the Queen� (1977) � The Sex Pistols
Reason: Unfair to Her Majesty
This song made number one in the British charts, despite being banned from radio for insulting Her Majesty during her Silver Jubilee celebrations. With lyrics like �she ain�t no human being,� you could understand why the radio programmers felt that way. Fans of the Sex Pistols, however, argued that the rebellion of the song was not targeted at the Queen, but at the political classes that treated Britons, including the Queen herself, as something less than human.
�Walk Like an Egyptian� (1986) � The Bangles
Reason: It was the wrong time�
After the World Trade Center attacks in 2001, a Texas-based radio network asked its stations to drop 150 songs from their playlist. Sure, the Gap Band�s �You Dropped the Bomb on Me,� even Peter, Paul and Mary�s �Leaving on a Jet Plane,� could be taken badly. However, banning the Bangles� catchy novelty hit �Walk Like an Egyptian� (because of its references, however goofy, to northern Africa) was perhaps going too far. John Lennon�s �Imagine,� though many people found it inspiring, was also on the list for the line �imagine there�s no heaven,� which was deemed anti-religious. Most strangely, uplifting songs like Simon and Garfunkel�s �Bridge Over Troubled Water� were also banned. Was solace considered insensitive?
Read the full text here: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/106406#ixzz1ghExo0wE
(End of article) |
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Sashadroogie

Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 11061 Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 6:11 am Post subject: |
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Banning was too soft for these bourgeois formalists! A stint out East would make them think twice about penning any such anti-revolutionary drivel again. Here's a real song, full of SOUL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdWBdqkxHKg
Hic! |
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nomad soul

Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 9:58 am Post subject: |
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One of my faves, by the way, along with Moscow Nights. But, alas, I'm still waiting for a rap version of Puff, the Magic Dragon...  |
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Sashadroogie

Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 11061 Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 11:02 am Post subject: |
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Hic! Perhaps the same musical deviant who produced this muddle can oblige you? But be quick! There's a warrant out for him. The organs of corrective services are very efficient, hic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nszXM90-bAo |
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nomad soul

Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 2:09 pm Post subject: |
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Ouch! Lock that guy up and throw away the key! |
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steki47
Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 1029 Location: BFE Inaka
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 2:17 am Post subject: |
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I remember reading that Billy Holiday's cover of "Gloomy Sunday" was banned from the radio as police found numerous suicides with that record on the turntable. |
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Cairnsman
Joined: 22 Jun 2009 Posts: 203
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Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 6:21 am Post subject: |
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Tina Turner�s �Private Dancer� was also, initially, banned from British radio because of advertising:- �Deutsch marks or dollars American Express will do nicely, thank you.� had to be changed to �Deutsch marks or dollars British pounds sterling will do nicely, thank you � |
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