# Most controversial songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171 "2007-06-07T20:08:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/21 "2007-06-07T23:38:38Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] **Jesus Christ Superstar** was protested when it first came out :eek: [/QUOTE] Let he who is without sin stone the first cast. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/22 "2007-06-07T23:45:30Z")
[QUOTE=smhanse751] sex pistols: God save the Queen [/QUOTE] Yeah, I think this one pretty much wins. Went to #2 on the British singles chart as a blank slot, got the band arrested for performing it on the Thames behind the Queen’s flotilla. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/23 "2007-06-07T23:51:36Z")
No mention of Eminem? At the height of his popularity, there must have been a billion people condemning his lyrics at any one time. ---
**Author:** ![ninthnotch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f05b48/32.png) [@ninthnotch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninthnotch)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/24 "2007-06-08T00:06:09Z")
The Rolling Stones _Let’s Spend The Night Together_ is another one. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/25 "2007-06-08T01:24:00Z")
The Boomtown Rats “I Don’t Like Mondays” brought back some bad memories for some. I wasn’t in San Diego when the killings happened at the McDonalds but I was when the song hit the airways. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/26 "2007-06-08T01:43:09Z")
[QUOTE=cbawlmer] The Cure’s “Killing an Arab” was controversial, but only because Casey Kasem took offense to it, not realizing it was a reference to Camus’ _The Stranger_. [/QUOTE] When did this happen? ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/27 "2007-06-08T01:51:28Z")
Wasn’t XTC’s “Dear God” controversial in the more devout parts of the country? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/28 "2007-06-08T01:56:46Z")
Chuck Berry’s [My ding-a-ling](http://www.lyricsdepot.com/chuck-berry/my-ding-a-ling.html) stirred up controversy in the early 70’s. I remember the future Mrs. Mercotan and I giggling to it while my grandmother clucked her tongue in suppressed fury. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/29 "2007-06-08T02:07:45Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] I’m showing my age here, but Barry Maguire’s Eve of Destruction and Janis Ian’s Society’s Child were controversial in the 60s. Banned in some places, if I recall correctly. [/QUOTE] Ahh, the 60’s. It was so easy to be controversial back then. Let’s count the ways. Sex – Lou Christie’s _Rhapsody in the Rain,_ the Stones’ and _Let’s Spend the Night Together,_ Birkin & Gainsberg’s _Je T’aime_. Drugs – The Stones with _Mother’s Little Helper_, The Beatles’ _Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds._ Sexism – The Stones (they scored high in all categories) _Under My Thumb,_ and pretty much the entire collected works of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. Cannibalism – _Timothy_ by the Buoys. (Technically that was the early 70’s, but close enough.) Dirty Words – Country Joe and the Fish with the Fish Cheer, Mitch Ryder’s version of _Good Golly Miss Molly._ I won’t even get into politics. And, although not from the 60’s, doesn’t anyone remember the shitstorm that erupted around John Lennon’s _Imagine_? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/30 "2007-06-08T02:49:27Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] Drugs – The Stones with _Mother’s Little Helper_, The Beatles’ _Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds._ [/QUOTE] Not to mention **Steppenwolf** ’s cover of **Hoyt Axton** ’s _The Pusher_, despite the fact it had a strong anti-drug dealing ( but easy on Marijuana ) message. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/31 "2007-06-08T03:03:42Z")
Ozzy caught a fair bit of shit over the song Suicide Solution as a solo artist even though it was an anti-suicide song, as he did with Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” when the line “I tell you to enjoy life…” got misheard as “I tell you to end your life…” ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/32 "2007-06-08T03:34:02Z")
[QUOTE=cbawlmer] “Justify My Love” and “Like a Prayer” were mostly controversial because of their videos. The songs themselves got a fair amount of radio play when they were new. The Cure’s “Killing an Arab” was controversial, but only because Casey Kasem took offense to it, not realizing it was a reference to Camus’ _The Stranger_. [/QUOTE] The video for “Like a Prayer” showed a burning cross. That’s what got people riled up. I don’t remember anyone being offended by the song itself. I don’t remember what the “Justify My Love” video was like. Was that the one with the guy in bondage? ---
**Author:** ![BlakeTyner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@BlakeTyner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlakeTyner)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/33 "2007-06-08T03:45:55Z")
What about **Brick** by Ben Folds Five? I realize it’s not as controversial as some already listed, but it’s probably the one from my high school days that got talked about the most. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/34 "2007-06-08T03:50:50Z")
[QUOTE=BlakeTyner] What about **Brick** by Ben Folds Five? I realize it’s not as controversial as some already listed, but it’s probably the one from my high school days that got talked about the most. [/QUOTE] Not a single person I knew in middle school, when this song became popular, was perceptive enough to figure out that it was about abortion. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/35 "2007-06-08T03:53:44Z")
**One In A Million** , by Guns N’ Roses. With lines like “niggers get out of my way” and “Immigrants and faggots think they can do what they please/like set up some mini-Iran or start some fucking disease”, it’s mind-blowing from a contemporary mindset that it even got released. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/36 "2007-06-08T03:59:42Z")
Going a ways back, Lloyd Price’s “Stagger Lee” (1959) generated enough complaints about its violence that Price recorded a second version with sanitized lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![BlakeTyner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@BlakeTyner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlakeTyner)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/37 "2007-06-08T04:03:45Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Not a single person I knew in middle school, when this song became popular, was perceptive enough to figure out that it was about abortion. [/QUOTE] I hear you. I get the occasional “shut the fuck up” when I tell people that, even today. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/38 "2007-06-08T04:41:20Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Not a single person I knew in middle school, when this song became popular, was perceptive enough to figure out that it was about abortion. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I was big time into the “Ben Folds Five Super Fans” let’s-talk-about-BFF-all-day club back when that album came out and I, too, never heard any mention of controversy. I thought Metallica’s “Fade to Black” was controversial because it was thought to be about suicide…but reading the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fade_to_Black_(song)) about it, there’s no mention of it being controversial - just misunderstood. ---
**Author:** ![percussion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@percussion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percussion)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/39 "2007-06-08T04:49:09Z")
[QUOTE=Asimovian] So, last night I was driving along in my car in which I had recently removed the stereo. Thus, I had no music to listen to. After a few moments, I realized that I had Ice T/Body Count’s **Cop Killer** stuck in my head. This got me thinking back to when the song first came out, and how much controversy surrounded it. Turns out, there were some folks around who weren’t too crazy about rappers making music about murdering law enforcement for some reason. At any rate, I started wondering if there were other songs out there that had generated such a great stir because of its content, and I knew that the Doper crowd was the right place to turn. I’m not just looking for violent content – any old reason for controversy will do. So, I’ve started it off with “Cop Killer.” I remember that NWA’s **Fuck Tha Police** was also very controversial, as much for the language as for the attitude, but I don’t think it rose to the same level as “Cop Killer” did. I’m not old enough to remember, but I wonder if Marvin Gaye’s **Sexual Healing** generated a lot of news in its day. What can you guys think of? [/QUOTE] Theres a smooth jazz group called fourplay, who are as good as it gets when listening to smooth jazz..(feels wrong even writing that). They have a cd out which features a cover of sexual healing. My mom loves this album but I don’t think she has ever really heard the words to that tune. It always makes for awkward moments when we have extended family over for a dinner and that comes on while your sawin’ away at a pork chop… ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171/40 "2007-06-08T05:31:38Z")
What about “Rape Me” by Nirvana? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-controversial-songs/407171.md?page=3)