From E! Online:
<http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,8842,00.html>
"Imagine" All the Inappropriate Songs
by Mark Armstrong
Sep 18, 2001, 2:45 PM PT
Yes, it's probably about time radio stations finally stopped playing
"Stairway to Heaven." But this might not be the best way to do it.
Clear Channel Communications, the country's largest radio network, is
raising eyebrows after one of its station's program directors created a
list of potentially inappropriate songs in the wake of last week's
devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Led Zeppelin, John Lennon's "Imagine," Steve Miller's "Jet Airliner,"
AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" and Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" were
among more than 150 songs deemed "lyrically inappropriate" following last
Tuesday's tragedy. The list also includes everything from the classics
(Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" and Louis Armstrong's "What a
Wonderful World") to recent releases (System of a Down's "Chop Suey!").
Then there's the downright goofy, as the list suggests such un-American
songs like the Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian" and Bobby Darin's "Mack the
Knife."
While rumors initially floated that the list was a corporate mandate, or
a cruel hoax, the radio conglomerate insists that a program director
created and distributed the list to its 1,100 stations, including KIIS-FM
in Los Angeles and Z100-FM in New York.
"Given the environment, a Clear Channel program director took it upon
himself to identify a number of songs that certain markets or individuals
may find insensitive today," the company said in a statement. "This was not
a mandate, nor was the list generated out of the corporate radio offices.
It was a grassroots effort that was apparently circulated among program
directors."
Not all Clear Channel stations are paying attention to the list. For
instance, New York's Z100 has been playing many of the tunes, while Q104
has noted that "inappropriate" songs like "New York, New York" and
"Imagine" were some of the most requested of the week.
Some songs, however, do evoke difficult images from last week's tragedy.
It's not hard to see a connection to songs like Peter, Paul and Mary's
"Leavin' on a Jet Plane" or AC/DC's "Safe in New York City."
As expected, free-speech activists are expressing concern that the list
was even passed around. While Clear Channel insists it did not "endorse or
squash" the list's distribution, First Amendment watchdogs say it's
problematic--especially if you consider that Clear Channel owns one out of
every 10 stations in the U.S.
"It's very dangerous," says Nina Crowley, director of MassMic, a music
free-speech organization. "I understand they're pulling certain violent
songs. But you put out a list of songs like this, and the next thing you
know someone's pulling the albums off the shelves in Wal-Mart.
"There are some very absurd connections," she adds. "'Walk Like an
Egyptian'? You really gotta stretch it to get that."
Most upsetting, Crowley says, is the inclusion of "all songs by Rage
Against the Machine" on the list. "That's political stand against what Rage
Against the Machine has to say," she warns.
Meanwhile, at least one record label has responded to the "objectionable"
list. Wind-up Records is disputing that its single "Bodies," by the band
Drowning Pool, was deemed potentially objectionable. (The song made the
list presumably for its chanting chorus, "Let the bodies hit the floor.")
"From the very beginning, 'Bodies' was never about anything more than the
kids moshing," says Wind-up spokesman Steve Karas in a statement. "We can
obviously understand people's concerns, and we're very sympathetic, but the
meaning of the song still is as it was in the beginning, which is really a
cry for togetherness."
List of Banned Songs
Complete list of "lyrically inappropriate" songs being banned from several
U.S. radio stations in the wake of the attacks.
AC/DC, "Shot Down in Flames," "Shoot to Thrill," "Dirty Deeds," "Highway to
Hell," "Safe in New York City," "TNT," "Hell's Bells"
Ad Libs, "The Boy from New York City"
Alice In Chains, "Rooster," "Sea of Sorrow," "Down in a Hole," "Them Bone"
Alien Ant Farm, "Smooth Criminal"
Animals, "We Gotta Get Out of this Place"
Louis Armstrong, "What a Wonderful World"
Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Barenaked Ladies, "Falling for the First Time"
Fontella Bass, "Rescue Me"
Beastie Boys, "Sure Shot," "Sabotage"
Beatles, "A Day in the Life," "Lucy in fhe Sky with Diamonds," "Ticket to
Ride," "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
Pat Benatar, "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," "Love Is a Battlefield"
Black Sabbath, "War Pigs," "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath," "Suicide Solution"
Blood, Sweat & Tears, "And When I Die"
Blue Oyster Cult, "Burnin' for You"
Boston, "Smokin' "
Brooklyn Bridge, "Worst that Could Happen"
Arthur Brown, "Fire"
Jackson Browne, "Doctor My Eyes"
Bush, "Speed Kills"
Chi-Lites, "Have You Seen Her"
Dave Clark Five, "Bits and Pieces"
Petula Clark, "A Sign of the Times"
The Clash, "Rock the Casbah"
Phil Collins, "In the Air Tonight"
Sam Cooke, "Wonderful World"
Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Travelin' Band"
Cult, "Fire Woman"
Bobby Darin, "Mack the Knife"
Skeeter Davis, "End of the World"
Neil Diamond, "America"
Dio, "Holy Diver"
Doors, "The End"
Drifters, "On Broadway"
Drowning Pool, "Bodies"
Bob Dylan, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Everclear, "Santa Monica"
Shelly Fabares, "Johnny Angel"
Filter, "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
Foo Fighters, "Learn to Fly"
Fuel, "Bad Day"
Peter Gabriel, "When You're Falling"
Gap Band, "You Dropped a Bomb on Me"
Godsmack, "Bad Religion"
Norman Greenbaum, "Spirit in the Sky"
Green Day, "Brain Stew"
Guns N' Roses, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Happenings, "See You in September"
Jimi Hendrix, "Hey Joe"
Herman's Hermits, "Wonderful World"
Hollies, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"
Buddy Holly & the Crickets, "That'll Be the Day"
Jan & Dean, "Dead Man's Curve"
Billy Joel, "Only the Good Die Young"
Elton John, "Benny & The Jets," "Daniel," "Rocket Man"
Judas Priest, "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll"
Kansas, "Dust in the Wind"
Carole King, "I Feel the Earth Move"
Korn, "Falling Away From Me"
Lenny Kravitz, "Fly Away"
Led Zeppelin, "Stairway to Heaven"
John Lennon, "Imagine"
Jerry Lee Lewis, "Great Balls of Fire"
Limp Bizkit, "Break Stuff"
Local H, "Bound for the Floor"
Los Bravos, "Black Is Black"
Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Tuesday's Gone"
Dave Matthews Band, "Crash into Me"
Paul McCartney & Wings, "Live and Let Die"
Barry McGuire, "Eve Of Destruction"
Don McLean, "American Pie"
Steve Miller, "Jet Airliner"
Megadeth, "Dread and the Fugitive," "Sweating Bullets"
John Mellencamp, "Crumbling Down," "I'm on Fire"
Martha & the Vandellas, "Nowhere to Run," "Dancing in the Streets"
Metallica, "Seek and Destroy," "Harvester Or Sorrow," "Enter
Sandman," "Fade to Black"
Alanis Morissette, "Ironic"
Mudvayne, "Death Blooms"
Rick Nelson, "Travelin' Man"
Nena, "99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons"
[Can Dr. Demento still play "99 Dead Baboons"?]
Nine Inch Nails, "Head Like a Hole"
Oingo Boingo, "Dead Man's Party"
Paper Lace, "The Night Chicago Died"
John Parr, "St. Elmo's Fire"
Peter & Gordon, "I Go To Pieces," "A World Without Love"
Peter, Paul, & Mary, "Blowin' in the Wind," "Leavin' on a Jet Plane"
Tom Petty, "Free Fallin'"
Pink Floyd, "Run Like Hell," "Mother"
P.O.D., "Boom"
Elvis Presley, "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
Pretenders, "My City Was Gone"
Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust," "Killer Queen"
Rage Against the Machine, all songs
Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Aeroplane," "Under the Bridge"
R.E.M., "It's the End of the World as We Know It"
Rolling Stones, "Ruby Tuesday"
Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, "Devil with the Blue Dress"
Saliva, "Click Click Boom"
Santana, "Evil Ways"
Savage Garden, "Crash and Burn"
Simon & Garfunkel, "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Frank Sinatra, "New York, New York"
Slipknot, "Left Behind," "Wait and Bleed"
Smashing Pumpkins, "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"
Soundgarden, "Blow Up the Outside World," "Fell on Black Days," "Black Hole
Sun"
Bruce Springsteen, "I'm on Fire," "Goin' Down," "War"
Edwin Starr, "War"
Steam, "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey"
Cat Stevens, "Peace Train," "Morning Has Broken"
Stone Temple Pilots, "Big Bang Baby," "Dead and Bloated"
Sugar Ray, "Fly"
Surfaris, "Wipeout"
System of a Down, "Chop Suey!"
Talking Heads, "Burning Down the House"
James Taylor, "Fire and Rain"
Temple of the Dog, "Say Hello to Heaven"
Third Eye Blind, "Jumper"
Three Degrees, "When Will I See You Again"
3 Doors Down, "Duck and Run"
311, "Down"
Tool, "Intolerance"
Tramps, "Disco Inferno"
U2, "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Van Halen, "Jump," "Dancing in the Streets"
J. Frank Wilson, "Last Kiss"
Yager [sic] & Evans, "In the Year 2525"
[That's _Zager_. Anyone else remember back in the 80s when one of the SLC
stations had a call-in survey to determine the 500 best songs of all time,
and this one came in #3?!]
Youngbloods, "Get Together"
The Zombies, "She's Not There"
[In looking over that list, I think they've truly managed to offend
everyone by banning something they like. I wonder if those businesses that
have prohibited their employees from displaying the US flag or other
patriotic symbols have considered switching the music on their internal
sound system to their local "Clear Channel" station? After all, we
wouldn't want to offend any PC nuts by having them hear a "lyrically
inappropriate" song like "What a Wonderful World" by accident. Makes you
wonder how long until the song whose lyrics appear below is pulled?]
-- Ronn! :)
God bless America,
Land that I love!
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam�
God bless America!
My home, sweet home.
-- Irving Berlin (1888-1989)
