# You can't make this stuff up - song bannings **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![JuanDeCuba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@JuanDeCuba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuanDeCuba)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/21 "2001-09-19T13:32:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*Louis Armstrong “What A Wonderful World” \*\* [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![berdollos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@berdollos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/berdollos)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/22 "2001-09-19T13:34:59Z")
ALL OF THEM! ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/23 "2001-09-19T13:40:53Z")
I’m not for banning anything, but people need to exercise good judgment. So I can see why some of the more lyrically violent songs may not be played right now. But a song like “Imagine”? Why? This program director doesn’t want people to be sad? We aren’t supposed to hear songs that give us hope for a better world? Are we supposed to forget about what happened? Am I going for the record for most number of questions in a post? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/24 "2001-09-19T13:48:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by berdollos \* > \*\*ALL OF THEM! \*\* My thought exactly. There’s gotta be a Howard Stern wannabe station out there saying, "Cool. New playlist!’ ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/25 "2001-09-19T14:07:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TwistofFate \* > \*\*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? \*\* Yeah, well, Collins wrote “In the Air Tonight” about this friend of his, see, who was drowning? And Collins couldn’t save him, but there was this other guy there who could have, and he, like, didn’t even try? So Collins sends this guy front row tickets to his next show? And then he sings “In the Air Tonight” while the spotlight shines on this guy, and then the cops come in and arrest him, and later he committed suicide in jail. So that’s why. – Ukulele “I Love Snopes” Ike, who’s wondering about why “Ticket to Ride” in on the list, himself ---
**Author:** ![TripleAnt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e19adc/32.png) [@TripleAnt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TripleAnt)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/26 "2001-09-19T14:23:45Z")
I didn’t quite understand “Ticket to Ride” either, but this is the only part I could think of: "I think I’m gonna be sad I think it’s today, yeah The girl that’s driving me mad Is going away She’s got a ticket to ride She’s got a ticket to ride She’s got a ticket to ride But she don’t care" Why is “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” on the list? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/27 "2001-09-19T14:41:17Z")
I don’t get this one at all. At some point during the last week someone in the news mentioned that it had been discouraged during the last big hurricane; I suppose that made some kind of sense, but I don’t see what it has to do with the present situation. Is it just because it was another disaster? ---
**Author:** ![magdalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@magdalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magdalene)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/28 "2001-09-19T14:43:16Z")
Kamikaze, by PJ Harvey should definitely be on that list. Although I’ve found it strangely comforting to listen to… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/29 "2001-09-19T15:35:27Z")
“Eve of Destruction” was by Barry McGuire, 1965. That song really pissed off the Establishment when it first came out. (Does anybody remember “the Establishment”?) In Cat Stevens’s defense, he has said he was misquoted over that Salman Rushdie brouhaha; he never called for S.R. to be killed. Someone had asked him what Islamic law said about the death penalty, and he answered that, not being an expert on the subject, the death penalty might apply for all he knew. But since then he’s admitted he was wrong about it (nobody reported his retraction). Some DJs really overreacted when that was blown out of proportion, burning heaps of Cat Stevens records, the way rednecks were burning Beatles records after John Lennon said they were “bigger than Jesus.” Why do people throw fits of hysteria over offhand remarks by pop stars anyway? Speaking of John Lennon, banning “imagine,” a song about hopes for a better world, is really sick and inexplicable. We need more of John Lennon’s spirit now. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/30 "2001-09-19T16:34:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels “Devil with the Blue Dress” why? For most of the rest I can make some sort of connection. A tiny small weak one, but a connection nonetheless. I’m baffled here. ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/31 "2001-09-19T16:53:03Z")
More ClearChannel news: At least one of the Phoenix stations is a Clear Channel operation. I heard a PSA this weekend that this week they were going to have a $100000 give-away contest nationwide this week but that they had scrapped the idea in the wake of the attacks and were donating the money to the relief effort. They also provided a listener contribution number. I actually thought that was kind of cool of them. Sure, they’re a soulless, musically homogenized behemoth, but at least they’re doing something to get good PR points. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/32 "2001-09-19T18:04:30Z")
I think it’s total bullsh\*t that they’d ban any song (why not pull words out of the dictionary too?) butt if they’re so inclined then why did they leave out The Doors - Break On Through Light My Fire The End? ---
**Author:** ![Oicu812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f475e1/32.png) [@Oicu812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oicu812)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/33 "2001-09-19T18:59:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*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_ \*\* What year and model is your Huff? I am an avid collector… 😉 ## O Fighting what since when? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/34 "2001-09-19T19:15:14Z")
Since Clear Channel owns so many stations in the Houston-Galveston market, and since so many of these songs are featured on Clear Channel stations, I was disappointed to find out the list was false. I was hoping the CC stations would have to change their playlist. Robin ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/35 "2001-09-20T04:36:34Z")
> **[THE POP LIFE; After the Horror, Radio Stations Pull Some Songs (Published 2001)](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/19/arts/the-pop-life-after-the-horror-radio-stations-pull-some-songs.html)** > > Clear Channel Communications, Texas-based company that owns about 1,170 radio stations nationwide, circulates list of 150 songs and asks its stations to avoid playing them because of attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon; some listed songs... The New York Times has a good article on this. It is not as false as snopes leads one to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/36 "2001-09-20T12:34:26Z")
Do you think if they’re advising against playing songs with warlike and destructive lyrics they should consider that other one, you know, the one with _rocket’s red glare_ and _bombs bursting in air_? :rolleyes: **G. Nome** , Shihad’s name isn’t just similar to Jihad, it kinda is. The name is derived (I believe) from the name given by the Fremen in Frank Herbert’s Dune to their war across the galaxy… which I assume Herbert got from _jihad_. (Even so… I can’t see a really good reason for them to change a name they’ve been using since 1988). ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/37 "2001-09-20T12:39:44Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*I think it’s total bullsh_t that they’d ban any song (why not pull words out of the dictionary too?) \*\* Um, because they have the power to control what songs get played **on radio stations that they own** but they don’t control the publishing of any dictionaries? I’m just guessing from waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of left field here. Nobody is “banning” any goddamned thing. **One** radio station ownership group (which happens to be the largest in the country, and pleasse don’t think for a minute that I defend them as a general proposition, because I don’t) is suggesting to its stations that maybe they lay off playing these songs for a little while. If it so happens that, for some reason, there is a huge demand for these songs, rest assured that any competing stations with similar formats will jump on it. (“Tune in to WXYZ and hear the songs that WABC won’t play!”) In the meantime, if someone just absolutely _has_ to hear the Dave Clark Five’s “Bits and Pieces” or Skeeter Davis’s “End of the World,” I’m sure you can find them at a music store or on the Internet. Jesus, talk about a tempest in a fuckin’ teapot. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/38 "2001-09-20T13:37:31Z")
I’m with you, **pldennison**. If they choose not to play the songs for awhile, what exactly is the problem? Sure the list has silly choices; all lists of this nature do. But it certainly makes sense to refrain from playing songs that might be hurtful to those who lost friends and family in the disaster, and there’s no way to know exactly what songs people might find hurtful. The list, BTW, were merely suggestions made by program directors of songs that might seem insensitive at this time. It wasn’t an outright ban on any song on the list. And why weren’t any of you up in arms when Fox decided not to run “Independence Day” last Sunday? Wasn’t that exactly the same sort of thing? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/39 "2001-09-20T13:51:45Z")
Hmmph…cospicuously missing from that list would be **The Cure’s** _Killing an Arab_. According to a British source, it was banned in the UK by the BBC during the Persian Gulf War/Conflict. ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521/40 "2001-09-20T14:22:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pulykamell \* > \*\*Hmmph…cospicuously missing from that list would be **The Cure’s** _Killing an Arab_. \*\* [tounge in cheek] Oh, I disagree. That would be the perfect song to play at a time like this. I say let The Cure rally the troups! [/tounge in cheek] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-song-bannings/82521.md?page=3)