# Songs you can't play today
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 20, 2026, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799 "2026-07-20T03:34:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/41 "2026-07-21T01:08:17Z")
> [@Mijin](#):
>
> The songs that came to mind first were anything by artists with sexual convictions, like Gary Glitter or Rolf Harris. …which I think is going against the spirit of the OP…
Hehe, but it does seem to fit. One of my bands spontaneously went into a bit of “Rock 'n Roll Pt. 2” the other night. Afterward, I said “Yeah, we can’t play that, though. Also, ‘Do You Wanna Touch Me?’ is right out.”
---
### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/42 "2026-07-21T02:25:36Z")
Almost every Mick Jagger lyric from the mid ‘60s should be on this list but because the songs are so ubiquitous (and catchy) we don’t even pay any attention to the words anymore. If “Under My Thumb” comes on the radio, I’m not switching the channel even though the lyrics are some of the most misogynistic in the history of Pop music.
---
### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/43 "2026-07-21T02:44:18Z")
“Your Love” by the Outfield probably wouldn’t get played much today either.
---
### Author:  [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/44 "2026-07-21T11:26:15Z")
> [@Mijin](#):
>
> However, with Rolf he kind of gets in on lyrical grounds too
I don’t think a kangaroo can consent to BDSM, Sport.
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/45 "2026-07-21T12:52:04Z")
> [@Mijin](#):
>
> However, with Rolf he kind of gets in on lyrical grounds too, as “two little boys […] gaily they played” didn’t age well even before the convictions.
I have _never_ interpreted it that way. Never even occurred to me… And I chuckle at The Flintstones and Johnny’s (who came marching home) townspeople being gay. But he does have a very cringy line in _Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport_. He uses a racial slur, and implies (or almost implies) ownership.
---
### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/46 "2026-07-21T13:46:57Z")
Anything where she’s just 16, or 17, and you know what I mean… yeah we’re all done with that stuff, thankfully. Or at least we’re not singing about it anymore.
---
### Author:  [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/47 "2026-07-21T14:02:14Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> … seem like they may be racist, as they seem to be (I don’t know, myself) a stereotype of native African language. That made me think of _[Superman](https://genius.com/The-brothers-four-superman-lyrics)_ by the same group:
wow. That entire song is racist AF.
A more modern song that came to mind is One in a Million by Guns n Roses. However, I see that Superdude beat me to that one.
---
### Author:  [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/48 "2026-07-21T14:11:24Z")
It still gets played on the radio all the time.
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/49 "2026-07-21T14:33:38Z")
> [@Scoobysnax](#):
>
> That entire song is racist AF.
Which one? I’m guessing _Superman_?
---
### Author:  [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/50 "2026-07-21T14:47:16Z")
yes, Superman. Having lived in SoCal, the line talking about using towels to dry off Wetb\*\*\*s crossing the line really jumped out for me.
---
### Author:  [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/51 "2026-07-21T15:26:23Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I have _never_ interpreted it that way. Never even occurred to me
Yeah and I should be clear that I have no issue with the old meaning of “gay” in a song (nor the new meaning…although obviously not in relation to two little boys playing). I merely meant that it’s part of the reason that a channel / event might be reluctant to use the song…even causing 10% of people to smirk can be a reason to pick something else.
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> But he does have a very cringy line in _Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport_. He uses a racial slur, and implies (or almost implies) ownership.
Wow I didn’t know about that – the offending verse got changed in later versions.
It seems a rolf harris album would get more stuff bleeped out than NWA 😄
---
### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/52 "2026-07-21T17:34:47Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#):
>
> Anything where she’s just 16, or 17, and you know what I mean… yeah we’re all done with that stuff, thankfully. Or at least we’re not singing about it anymore.
Which would totally surprise people back in the 50s and early 60s when these songs were so popular.
In America, most states mandated school only through the age of 16. When we were a working class society in which a high school diploma wasn’t a big deal, lots of kids dropped out of school and got jobs or married or both at 16. Same deal in Britain, except that required schooling ended at 15. The age when a kid could leave school was the age of adulthood, almost exactly the way eighteen is now.
Asking what that age _should_ be is asking for trouble. Society decides somehow. That age used to be 16, now it’s 18. What it will be an another generation is anybody’s guess. That society today should condemn that older society’s choice of number isn’t something I’m comfortable with. Slam general sexism and misogyny at every opportunity. But treating adults as adults is a proper course. Society at that time knew the difference. Look at what happened to Jerry Lee Lewis when society realized his wife was thirteen.
---
### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/53 "2026-07-21T17:39:53Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> Asking what that age _should_ be is asking for trouble. Society decides somehow. That age used to be 16, now it’s 18. What it will be an another generation is anybody’s guess. That society today should condemn that older society’s choice of number isn’t something I’m comfortable with. Slam general sexism and misogyny at every opportunity. But treating adults as adults is a proper course. Society at that time knew the difference. Look at what happened to Jerry Lee Lewis when society realized his wife was thirteen.
To my knowledge, even though the age of consent is now 18, we don’t have a lot of songs celebrating the conquest of women who are of “barely legal” age. Society has changed. Like a lot of other things that were legal in the 50’s (wife-beating, marital rape), it’s good that we have moved on, and we can certainly condemn the minority of guys of that era who were a little too comfortable operating in the margins.
---
### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/54 "2026-07-21T17:44:23Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#):
>
> To my knowledge, even though the age of consent is now 18, we don’t have a lot of songs celebrating the conquest of women who are of “barely legal” age.
That’s a good point. Legal age in Germany is still 16, like in the days of “Sweet Little Sixteen”, “I Saw Her Standing There”, “[Siebzehn Jahr, Blondes Haar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBjxD2_-fuY)” and others, but try getting away with that kind of song about a sixteen or even eighteen old girl today.
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/55 "2026-07-21T17:54:53Z")
“Kinko The Clown”. Used to be played over the air all the time on The Doctor Demento Show, which used to be syndicated all over the place.
---
### Author:  [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/56 "2026-07-21T17:59:15Z")
Mellow Yellow:
“I’m just mad about 14. 14’s mad about me…”
---
### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/57 "2026-07-21T18:01:55Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> “Kinko The Clown”. Used to be played over the air all the time on The Doctor Demento Show, which used to be syndicated all over the place.
WTF, what did I just watch and listen to? When was this shown? Who was the audience? Kids, for god’s sake?
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/58 "2026-07-21T18:18:24Z")
The syndicated radio show Doctor Demento, based for most of the time on KMET (The Mighty Met!), and played on quite a few Saturdays and Sundays in the 70’s and 80’s.
---
### Author:  [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/59 "2026-07-21T18:28:47Z")
That was my reaction too.
I used to listen to the Doctor Demento Show in the late 80s and I do not recall hearing this song before. I mostly remember Fish Heads, Boot to the Head, Shaving Cream, Star Trekin’, Wheel of Fortune, the Homecoming Queen has got a gun, Pencil Neck Geek, the songs from Little Shop of Horrors, etc.
---
### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2026, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799/60 "2026-07-21T18:31:02Z")
_Run for Your Life_ by the Beatles. John Lennon had some odd ideas.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799.md?page=2)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-cant-play-today/1031799.md?page=4)