# You can't make this stuff up - song bannings

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 19, 2001, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521 "2001-09-19T02:59:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/1 "2001-09-19T02:59:02Z")

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From [http://www.fuckedcompany.com](http://www.fuckedcompany.com):

> [@](#):
>
> Clear Channel, owner of over 1,170 radio stations, has banned these songs from their airwaves. Included are songs about war, the word “Tuesday”, and even “Walk Like an Egyptian”.

OK, I’m looking at the list, and I gotta say: _Rage Against the Machine?_ “Ob La Di, Ob La Da?” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?” **“Morning Has Broken?”** \*

Someone explain this, now.  
Clear Channel’s list of songs with questionable content:

> [@](#):
>
> Drowning Pool “Bodies”  
> Mudvayne “Death Blooms”  
> Megadeth “Dread and the Fugitive”  
> Megadeth “Sweating Bullets”  
> Saliva “Click Click Boom”  
> P.O.D. “Boom”  
> Metallica “Seek and Destroy”  
> Metallica “Harvester or Sorrow”  
> Metallica “Enter Sandman”  
> Metallica “Fade to Black”  
> All Rage Against The Machine songs  
> Nine Inch Nails “Head Like a Hole”  
> Godsmack “Bad Religion”  
> Tool “Intolerance”  
> Soundgarden “Blow Up the Outside World”  
> AC/DC “Shot Down in Flames”  
> AC/DC “Shoot to Thrill”  
> AC/DC “Dirty Deeds”  
> AC/DC “Highway to Hell”  
> AC/DC “Safe in New York City”  
> AC/DC “TNT”  
> AC/DC “Hell’s Bells”  
> Black Sabbath “War Pigs”  
> Black Sabbath “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”  
> Black Sabbath “Suicide Solution”  
> Dio “Holy Diver”  
> Steve Miller “Jet Airliner”  
> Van Halen “Jump”  
> Queen “Another One Bites the Dust”  
> Queen “Killer Queen”  
> Pat Benatar “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”  
> Pat Benatar “Love is a Battlefield”  
> Oingo Boingo “Dead Man’s Party”  
> REM “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”  
> Talking Heads “Burning Down the House”  
> Judas Priest “Some Heads Are Gonna Roll”  
> Pink Floyd “Run Like Hell”  
> Pink Floyd “Mother”  
> Savage Garden “Crash and Burn”  
> Dave Matthews Band “Crash Into Me”  
> Bangles “Walk Like an Egyptian”  
> Pretenders “My City Was Gone”  
> Alanis Morissette “Ironic”  
> Barenaked Ladies “Falling for the First Time”  
> Fuel “Bad Day”  
> John Parr “St. Elmo’s Fire”  
> Peter Gabriel “When You’re Falling”  
> Kansas “Dust in the Wind”  
> Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven”  
> The Beatles “A Day in the Life”  
> The Beatles “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”  
> The Beatles “Ticket To Ride”  
> The Beatles “Obla Di, Obla Da”  
> Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”  
> Arthur Brown “Fire”  
> Blue Oyster Cult “Burnin’ For You”  
> Paul McCartney and Wings “Live and Let Die”  
> Jimmy Hendrix “Hey Joe”  
> Jackson Brown “Doctor My Eyes”  
> John Mellencamp “Crumbling Down”  
> John Mellencamp “I’m On Fire”  
> U2 “Sunday Bloody Sunday”  
> Boston “Smokin”  
> Billy Joel “Only the Good Die Young”  
> Barry McGuire “Eve of Destruction”  
> Steam “Na Na Na Na Hey Hey”  
> Drifters “On Broadway”  
> Shelly Fabares “Johnny Angel”  
> Los Bravos “Black is Black”  
> Peter and Gordon “I Go To Pieces”  
> Peter and Gordon “A World Without Love”  
> Elvis “(You’re the) Devil in Disguise”  
> Zombies “She’s Not There”  
> Elton John “Benny & The Jets”  
> Elton John “Daniel”  
> Elton John “Rocket Man”  
> Jerry Lee Lewis “Great Balls of Fire”  
> Santana “Evil Ways”  
> Louis Armstrong “What A Wonderful World”  
> Youngbloods “Get Together”  
> Ad Libs “The Boy from New York City”  
> Peter Paul and Mary “Blowin’ in the Wind”  
> Peter Paul and Mary “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane”  
> Rolling Stones “Ruby Tuesday”  
> Simon And Garfunkel “Bridge Over Troubled Water”  
> Happenings “See You in Septemeber”  
> Carole King “I Feel the Earth Move”  
> Yager and Evans “In the Year 2525”  
> Norman Greenbaum “Spirit in the Sky”  
> Brooklyn Bridge “Worst That Could Happen”  
> Three Degrees “When Will I See You Again”  
> Cat Stevens “Peace Train”  
> Cat Stevens “Morning Has Broken”  
> Jan and Dean “Dead Man’s Curve”  
> Martha & the Vandellas “Nowhere to Run”  
> Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen “Dancing in the Streets”  
> Hollies “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”  
> San Cooke Herman Hermits, “Wonder World”  
> Petula Clark “A Sign of the Times”  
> Don McLean “American Pie”  
> J. Frank Wilson “Last Kiss”  
> Buddy Holly and the Crickets “That’ll Be the Day”  
> John Lennon “Imagine”  
> Bobby Darin “Mack the Knife”  
> The Clash “Rock the Casbah”  
> Surfaris “Wipeout”  
> Blood Sweat and Tears “And When I Die”  
> Dave Clark Five “Bits and Pieces”  
> Tramps “Disco Inferno”  
> Paper Lace “The Night Chicago Died”  
> Frank Sinatra “New York, New York”  
> Creedence Clearwater Revival “Travelin’ Band”  
> The Gap Band “You Dropped a Bomb On Me”  
> Alien Ant Farm “Smooth Criminal”  
> 3 Doors Down “Duck and Run”  
> The Doors “The End”  
> Third Eye Blind “Jumper”  
> Neil Diamond “America”  
> Lenny Kravitz “Fly Away”  
> Tom Petty “Free Fallin’”  
> Bruce Springsteen “I’m On Fire”  
> Bruce Springsteen “Goin’ Down”  
> Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight”  
> Alice in Chains “Rooster”  
> Alice in Chains “Sea of Sorrow”  
> Alice in Chains “Down in a Hole”  
> Alice in Chains “Them Bone”  
> Beastie Boys “Sure Shot”  
> Beastie Boys “Sabotage”  
> The Cult “Fire Woman”  
> Everclear “Santa Monica”  
> Filter “Hey Man, Nice Shot”  
> Foo Fighters “Learn to Fly”  
> Korn “Falling Away From Me”  
> Red Hot Chili Peppers “Aeroplane”  
> Red Hot Chili Peppers “Under the Bridge”  
> Smashing Pumpkins “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”  
> System of a Down “Chop Suey!”  
> Skeeter Davis “End of the World”  
> Rickey Nelson “Travelin’ Man”  
> Chi-Lites “Have You Seen Her”  
> Animals “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”  
> Fontella Bass “Rescue Me”  
> Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels “Devil with the Blue Dress”  
> James Taylor “Fire and Rain”  
> Edwin Starr/Bruce Springstein “War”  
> Lynyrd Skynyrd “Tuesday’s Gone”  
> Limp Bizkit “Break Stuff”  
> Green Day “Brain Stew”  
> Temple of the Dog “Say Hello to Heaven”  
> Sugar Ray “Fly”  
> Local H “Bound for the Floor”  
> Slipknot “Left Behind, Wait and Bleed”  
> Bush “Speed Kills”  
> 311 “Down”  
> Stone Temple Pilots “Big Bang Baby,” Dead and Bloated"  
> Soundgarden “Fell on Black Days,” Black Hole Sun"  
> Nina “99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons”

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/2 "2001-09-19T03:03:49Z")

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Apparently, you [can](http://www.snopes2.com/inboxer/hoaxes/radio.htm) make this stuff up, darlin’. 😉

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**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/3 "2001-09-19T03:09:42Z")

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I don’t know… my mp3 playlist the next afternoon just happened to have “The End of the Wold as we Know It” by Great Big Sea and “Eve of Destruction” by Barry Goldwater.

It wasn’t exactly pleasant to listen to them.

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**Author:** ![katiekilldare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/838e76/32.png) [@katiekilldare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katiekilldare)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/4 "2001-09-19T03:23:16Z")

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Explain how in the world “Johnny Angel” by Shelly Fabares could _possibly_ be tied to anything offensive/relevant/worthwhile?

My mother had that 45.

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**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/5 "2001-09-19T03:24:22Z")

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Good lord, that’s a lot of songs! I hardly even skimmed the list, but _Ironic_ did pop out at me and I wondered what was so offensive about it. Then I found [the lyrics](http://www.poplyrics.net/waiguo/alanis/030.htm). Yikes! I don’t think I’d want to be singing along to that particular song right now, myself. And frankly, I can understand why a radio station would choose not to play it. I think it’s actually kindof compassionate towards their listeners.

Maybe they just think _Obla Di Obla Da_ is too happy-go-lucky and people don’t want to hear about how “life goes on” right now. That one kindof makes sense.

The others - dunno. But maybe it’s not such a bad idea to be aware of your audience’s feelings for a time and err on the side of caution, ya know?

* * *

Jeg elsker dig, Thomas

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/6 "2001-09-19T03:40:44Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by racinchikki \*  
> \*\*Apparently, you [can](http://www.snopes2.com/inboxer/hoaxes/radio.htm) make this stuff up, darlin’. 😉 \*\*

Well, _poop._ _flounces off in a huff_

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**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/7 "2001-09-19T04:06:54Z")

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Well, I’m glad it’s not an official “ban” list. But it did say that it’s a list of songs that their stations might wish to avoid.

I can understand that, sorta. But putting Cat Stevens on there…well, that’s pushing things just a little too far.

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**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/8 "2001-09-19T04:11:33Z")

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Yes, well, isn’t Cat Stevens now the Muslim guy who dragged his ass out of hiding long enough to say “Yep. Definitely. That is one author who really should be killed”? I’ve felt kinda ooky about listening to his songs ever since then.

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**Author:** ![Lockfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@Lockfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lockfist)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/9 "2001-09-19T05:13:49Z")

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I’m sorry but I’ll admit that I did smirk at the song “Jump” by **Van Halen**. Whoever put that list together does have a flare for the humorous.

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**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/10 "2001-09-19T05:35:14Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by LifeOnWry \*  
> \*\*Yes, well, isn’t Cat Stevens now the Muslim guy who dragged his ass out of hiding long enough to say “Yep. Definitely. That is one author who really should be killed”? I’ve felt kinda ooky about listening to his songs ever since then. \*\*

Yeah, the ol’ “Peace Train” was never quite the same after he said that…

Stations will often self-censor their playlist in response to tragedy and, when it’s so far-reaching, program managers at different stations in the same network (like Clear Channel) will often contact each other and confer. It can be kinda comforting to have someone else say, “No, you’re not overreacting, we pulled some songs too.”

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**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/11 "2001-09-19T07:04:57Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Yeah, the ol’ “Peace Train” was never quite the same after he said that…

I like to think of it more in terms of, he disembarked from it when Mr. Stevens became Mr. Islam. (Mister Islam? Is that a common name? Because it sounds like something you’d name a religious superhero. “Stand back, citizens, and fear no longer! Mister Christianity may have fallen, but Mister Islam is here!” \<dramatic music\>) After all, he had stopped making music for some time before that.

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**Author:** ![Ferggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Ferggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferggie)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/12 "2001-09-19T08:18:15Z")

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Oh good grief. Knowing it’s **not** an official ban list, I still say, “oh good grief.”

A couple days ago I was putting together the front page of _The Anonymous Texas Newspaper_. My supervisor had approved it, and I’d sent it to the press when she said, “I wonder if people will get offended by your main headline.”

I was puzzled. The overall theme of my Page One was about people trying to pull their lives back together, going back to work, that sort of thing. So my main headline had been “Picking up the pieces.”

My supervisor said she wondered if people would think we were referring to the fact that many of the dead are …well… in pieces.

I said, “If people are going to take my perfectly innocent headline in that way, they have bigger problems than I can possibly be held responsible for.”

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![G.Nome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@G.Nome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.Nome)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/13 "2001-09-19T09:12:05Z")

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There is a band from New Zealand called Shihad who are currently recording in L.A. (two good Shihad songs: Home Again and Pacifier). Apparently they are getting strong messages to change the band name because it is so reminiscent of Jihad. While I can’t really relate to censorship of the songs mentioned in this thread I do relate to the people who want Shihad to think of another name. What do you think?

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**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/14 "2001-09-19T09:27:43Z")

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I just noticed the following song in the list:

Yager and Evans “In the Year 2525”

I would now like to announce my full and complete support of this list of songs which must be banned. Now is the time to act.

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**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/15 "2001-09-19T09:29:37Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Shayna \*  
> **I hardly even skimmed the list, but _Ironic_ did pop out at me and I wondered what was so offensive about it. Then I found [the lyrics](http://www.poplyrics.net/waiguo/alanis/030.htm). Yikes! I don’t think I’d want to be singing along to that particular song right now, myself. And frankly, I can understand why a radio station would choose not to play it. I think it’s actually kindof compassionate towards their listeners.**

Yeah, but I’m still glad to hear it’s a hoax. I mean, if you’re a radio station owner, and one of your DJ’s starts playing songs about air crashes and other assorted havoc the morning after such a disaster, then your problem is with your employee - not the songs at hand.

Mind you, I’m all for banning _all_ Alanis Morissette songs. Just not because of the lyrics. 😉

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Damhna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Damhna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damhna)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/16 "2001-09-19T10:00:42Z")

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During the Gulf War apparently US radio stations weren’t allowed to play “Parachute” by the Hothouse Flowers (irish ex-busker band) because it contained the line “Take your parachute and jump” and it was feared that this would depress troops into going AWOL or something.

The bands popularity of course rose instantly because of the “banned” tag.

Nope no cites , but if Matt can get away with that I reckon I can sneak one unsubstantiated claim in unnoticed.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/17 "2001-09-19T10:05:58Z")

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Sounds like you need to join the PAAMM (People Against Alanis Morissette’s Misic), **Coldie**. They used to be based [here](http://www.islandnet.com/~pholden/paamm/paamm.html) but the link now seems strangely dead. Well isn’t that ironic.

pan

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/18 "2001-09-19T10:43:29Z")

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didnt the bbc and the allied forces ban the rolling stones “livewire” during the gulf war becuase they thought it was offensive ?

To me all it did was tell the truth of the situation

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/19 "2001-09-19T13:06:54Z")

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“Parachute” was by Something Happens 😉

I can understand the need to be careful, but the list seems to favour banning one style of music.

Why is U2 “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” strange, but Phil Collin’s “Something in the air tonight” or John Denver “Leaving on a jet plane” isnt?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/20 "2001-09-19T13:16:54Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by katiekilldare \*  
> \*\*Explain how in the world “Johnny Angel” by Shelly Fabares could _possibly_ be tied to anything offensive/relevant/worthwhile?
> 
> My mother had that 45. \*\*

My older brother was named Johnny _BECAUSE_ of that song.

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