Banned Music

[cranionaut]

Im interested in hearing about music that for some reason or another was never released .

For example I heard rumours of a song that existed by group called Nine Inch Nails back in 94/95 that never made the album because it was considered too hard on the button , I recall some of the lyrics had certain theme to it i.e. Just do it .

Are there any examples of this i.e. other groups who , for some reason , or another didnt release song because they were scared of their creation and the effect it might have ?

 

[GNC]

I think there's going to be an article related to this subject in the next issue of Fortean Times.

 

[Tyger_Lily]

Didn't the BBC refuse to play Billie Holiday singing Strange Fruit for many years because they thought it might encourage suicide?

Or did I just make that up? :?

 

[WhistlingJack]

Well, it was on Qi, so it may be true

I recall the BBC, under pressure from the Tory government, not playing various records (such as Lulu's Boom Bang-a-Bang) during the first Iraq war and acts such as Massive Attack and Bomb the Bass had to change their names for the duration

 

[BaronHardacre]

And weirdo pop/rock/art combo Denim had their single "Summer Smash" taken off the Radio 1 playlist in the wake of Diana's crash back in '97.

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

I've got a copy of "Cop Killer" by Body Count (Ice-T's band) that was only released on initial copies of the album. It was removed thanks to Tipper Bloody Gore and the PMRC in the US. :x

Unfortunately, my copy of the album is a cassette :x again.

 

[stu neville]

Didn't the BBC refuse to play Billie Holiday singing Strange Fruit for many years because they thought it might encourage suicide?

Or did I just make that up? :?

No - the Beeb did ban a song for that reason, but it wasn't Strange Fruit. It was Gloomy Sunday, upon which we have a thread here.

It's an unsettling song at best .

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

How about "So What" by Anti Nowhere Leaque (1981), also covered by Metallica.

"So What?" is a song written by the British punk band the Anti-Nowhere League. The song first appeared as the B-side of the band's debut 7" single "Streets of London", in 1981.

The song was written, according to the band, after sitting in a pub one night and hearing two men try to out do each other with stories of past experiences. The song is therefore a retort to people who tell embellished stories to make themselves appear better than the other person they are in conversation with.

The obscene lyrical content of the song caused the British police to seize all copies of the single from the band's distributors under the Obscene Publications Act and remove all copies from sale [1]. The song has subsequently been appended to various CD reissues of the We Are... The League album and has become somewhat of an anthem for the band.

The song was famously covered by Metallica and released as a B-side to the "Sad But True" single and later included on the Garage Inc. album; it is also a bonus track on the Asian and European versions of the Black Album. "So What?" has become an in-concert standard for the band.

Here are the lyrics (my asterisks!), please scroll down sharpish if easily offended....

So f**king what!

Well, I've been to Hastings and I've been to Brighton,
I've been to Eastbourne too.
So what, so what.
And I've been here, I've been there,
I've been every f**king where.
So what, so what.
So what, so what, you boring little c**t.

Well, who cares, who cares what you do.
Yeah, who cares, who cares about you, you, you, you, you.

Well, I f**ked a queen, I f**ked f**k,
I've even sucked an old man's c**k.
So what, so what.
And I f**ked a sheep, I f**ked a goat,
I rammed my c**k right down its throat.
So what, so what.
So what, so what, you boring little f**k.

Well, who cares, who cares what you do.
And, who cares, who cares about you, you, you, you, you.

And I've drunk that, I've drunk this,
I've spewed up on a pint of piss.
So what, so what.
I've had scag, I've had speed,
I've jacked up until I bleed.
So what, so what.
So what, so what, you boring little c**t.

Well, who cares, who cares what you do.
Yeah, who cares, who cares about you, you, you, you, you, you.

I've had crabs, I've had lice,
I've had the clap and that ain't nice.
So what, so what.
I f**ked this, I f**ked that,
I've even f**ked a school girl's t**t.
So what, so what.
So what, so what, you boring little f**k.

Well, who cares, who cares what you do.
And, who cares, who cares about you, you, you, you, you, you.

So f**king what! Yeah!

 

[PeniG]

"Strange Fruit" is about lynching, so it'd be strange if it promoted suicide in England. Mississippi, maybe (total lynchings 1882-1968: 581. The statistics on this crime are interesting but OT. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchingsstate.html)

AFAIK, it was never even banned in America, where it hits deepest, though Holliday feared retaliation when she sang it and she had to record it with an indy label rather than under her regular contract with Columbia, because the executives there were chicken. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that there were stations that would refuse to play it, particularly in the Deep South.

I feel obliged to point out that the thread title "banned music," and the OP, asking about bands not releasing songs for fear of reaction, are not technically the same thing. Censorship and banning are government functions; rejection of a work, or the decision of an artist to withhold it, are editorial decisions. The refusal to carry or supply a work in a particular venue is also not censorship if it is done by the proper decision-makers within the venue and not at the mandate of a government authority.

If these decisions are based on fear of public reaction rather than on artistic, economic, or practical considerations, they are just as bad as, if not worse than, censorship; but a disease can be as bad as cancer without being cancer.

 

[misterwibble]

I suspect most bands have recorded tracks which they failed to release. Usually because they realise said track is a crock of shit.

 

[PeniG]

Or just plain not up to their standard. I have lots of "desk drawer" stories like that; and sometimes even in Hollywood a director will look at a movie and say: "Sorry, but no amount of postproduction makes me willing to put my name on it. Stick it on a shelf; better yet, destroy the copies." I know; one shudders to think!

I think anything that was withheld for fear of reprisal or public outcry, because of sudden qualms about ethics or taste, or has been widely restricted by suppliers or governments suits the requirements of the original post.

I am frankly too traumatized by this song to do a google on it (yes, I'm a wimp), but a group in 1970 (I remember 'cause I was in 4th grade - the name was Bloodryche or something) had a song called D.O.A. which was about an airplane crash. It was so horrifically graphic and depressing that most of the stations in the D.C. area refused to play it and I, who feel very strongly the importance of free expression, cannot blame them. I heard it once and the memory lingered for over 20 years, when the local classic rock station decided to play every record in its inventory in alphabetical order. The DJ who got to D.O.A. told listeners that he hated this song so much he was going to put it on, turn the sound off, and leave the booth, so if there was dead air at the end it would be because he didn't time his return well. I decided to suck it up and listen, and I wished I hadn't. I have since managed to forget almost all the lyrics again.

It's fairly common in visual media for release dates to change or work to be hastily edited in response to news items. For instance, the Buffy episode in which she gains telepathy and has to track down a plotted high school massacre was pulled from its scheduled timeslot after Columbine - even though the school massacre, as it turned out, wouldn't have resembled Columbine at all. I also remember a rumor (never bothered trying to confirm it) about a Jack-in-the-Box fast food commercial that was running in some venues at the time of the Challenger disaster and was pulled in a belated fit of good taste by the company. The original clown mascot, Jack, had been discontinued during the 80s, the change in presentation being marked by a commercial in which a little old lady blew up the clown head which used to house the intercom at the drive-through window. When Jack was reinstated, commercials depicted him as an ousted CEO returning to take back the company after hostile takeover, and in one of these he assembled all his business rivals in a company jet and exploded it.

 

[CodenameThrow]

I don't think many songs will be banned for lyrical content nowadays, particularly not for "subversive" lyrics, unless it's about something which just about all elements of society balk at (sexual abuse, religious or racial intolerance, etc). For example, a song like Harrowdown Hill by Thom Yorke - which is pretty explicitly about the death of David Kelly - has just been rereleased with a new set of remixes! Hard to imagine that happening in a society controlled by a government which bans songs on account of lyrical content.

However, there is some precedent in the UK, although it has mostly been set by record companies. Anyone with a copy of the single Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack will notice that the band's name is given only as Massive - as it was released during the Gulf War. The record company decided to edit the band's name rather than trouble the record-buying public to the extent that they wouldn't shop for it.

Living in Sweden for the last year and a half I heard a couple of songs which I'd like to have seen banned - like anything by Dr Bombay, for example.

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

However, there is some precedent in the UK, although it has mostly been set by record companies. Anyone with a copy of the single Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack will notice that the band's name is given only as Massive - as it was released during the Gulf War. The record company decided to edit the band's name rather than trouble the record-buying public to the extent that they wouldn't shop for it.

if, perchance, you do have a copy on vinyl with the name credited as "Massive Attack", you will be very lucky and possibly quite rich. A few test pressings / acetates / dubplates / white labels / promos snuck through.

 

[ted_bloody_maul]

Well, it was on Qi, so it may be true

I recall the BBC, under pressure from the Tory government, not playing various records (such as Lulu's Boom Bang-a-Bang) during the first Iraq war and acts such as Massive Attack and Bomb the Bass had to change their names for the duration

To be fair they also forced a couple of Status Quo tunes off the airwaves so it was definitely a worthwhile conflict. Sadly it was a number of years later before the tyranny, which started in 1968, was finally ended.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, it was on Qi, so it may be true

I recall the BBC, under pressure from the Tory government, not playing various records (such as Lulu's Boom Bang-a-Bang) during the first Iraq war and acts such as Massive Attack and Bomb the Bass had to change their names for the duration

and megadeth and system of a down.

 

[LaurenChurchill]

why system?

 

[Anonymous]

Beocs the song B.Y.O.B was bannd form geting radio and tv play dring the second Iraq war and megadeth's holy wars bannd form geting radio and tv play as well.

 

[Spookdaddy]

"Strange Fruit" is about lynching, so it'd be strange if it promoted suicide in England. Mississippi, maybe...

True, although ironically (off thread) Charles Lynch's name will be forever linked to extralegal punishment by dint of his penchant for stringing up those loyal to the the British.

 

[GNC]

These were banned on U.K. radio and T.V., I dunno about anywhere else:

I Want Your Sex by George Michael (an instrumental of which was used by D.J. Simon Mayo for his On This Day in History slot).

Give Ireland Back to the Irish by Paul McCartney and Wings.

Tell Laura I Love Her by Ricky Valance (a number one hit that supposedly promoted suicide).

Earth Angel by The Crew Cuts (for the same reason).

Was Johnny Remember Me by John Leyton banned? Wouldn't surprise me.

Spasticus Autisticus by Ian Dury and the Blockheads (those who banned it didn't realise Dury was disabled).

Je T'Aime (Moi Non Plus) by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin (apparently they thought the singers were actually having sex while performing it).

There Ain't Nothin' Like Shaggin' by The Tams (a minor hit in on re-release the eighties, it didn't mean what most thought it did. I'm sure I heard Janice Long play this on her Radio 1 show, though).

Everything by Judge Dread.

 

[Quake42]

I am frankly too traumatized by this song to do a google on it (yes, I'm a wimp), but a group in 1970 (I remember 'cause I was in 4th grade - the name was Bloodryche or something) had a song called D.O.A. which was about an airplane crash. It was so horrifically graphic and depressing that most of the stations in the D.C. area refused to play it and I, who feel very strongly the importance of free expression, cannot blame them. I heard it once and the memory lingered for over 20 years, when the local classic rock station decided to play every record in its inventory in alphabetical order. The DJ who got to D.O.A. told listeners that he hated this song so much he was going to put it on, turn the sound off, and leave the booth, so if there was dead air at the end it would be because he didn't time his return well. I decided to suck it up and listen, and I wished I hadn't. I have since managed to forget almost all the lyrics again.

I was intrigued by this so I did a little Googling and tracked the lyrics down. The band was called Bloodrock and apparently PeniG wasn't alone in being upset by it. I found an interesting article on it but I won't link it as a "click here for more on the band" link led for some reason to a virus-laden page offering porn videos. :?

Re: songs banned by the BBC during the first Gulf War... IIRC inoffensive numbers such as Waterloo and Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting were also removed from the playlist...

 

[GNC]

Wikipedia on Bloodrock's D.O.A.:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%2 ... tage/D.O.A.

I'm quite glad I've never heard this from the description.

 

[PeniG]

To be entirely fair to the group, a different DJ at the same station and a couple of individuals I knew in 1970 admired D.O.A. tremendously, and I'll be the first to admit that a song that can make some people (not psychopaths) admire it and generate such virulent distaste from others (not prudes) probably was put together with considerable artistry.

That's not enough to make me willing to hear it ever again. Would I react differently if the gore concerned a moral topic (the horrors of war, for example) or was intended as a warning (about safe driving)? I don't know. I doubt it, because I have a similar reaction to those "Hell's Highways" videos they used to show in driver's ed (which I watched with my eyes closed thankyouverymuch). But then, those have no artistic pretensions and are intended solely to terrify teen-agers into wearing seatbelts, driving the speed limit, not getting into the car unless the driver's sober, etc.

Excuse me while I go away and sing "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" as a protective measure so I don't wake up with the lyrics magically returned to my head in the middle of the night. (Don't laugh; my memory has played more unlikely tricks on me.)

 

[ted_bloody_maul]

Re: songs banned by the BBC during the first Gulf War... IIRC inoffensive numbers such as Waterloo and Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting were also removed from the playlist...

The most bizzare one, iirc, was Walk Like An Egyptian by The Bangles. :shock:

 

[Spookdaddy]

Starvinsky's The Rite of Spring along with all his other work, was banned by the Soviets in the 1930's. The Nazis were big on banning sounds as well but I notice here that they put a big blue pencil mark through Lambeth Walk - so...not all bad news then.

Are there any examples of this i.e. other groups who , for some reason , or another didnt release song because they were scared of their creation and the effect it might have ?

Actually, if we're talking specifically about self-banning then I suspect that this happens quite a lot but has more to do with chronic embarrassment than with undue concern about the negative effect of the music in question on the listening public.

 

[James_H]

'The Birmingham Six' by the Pogues
'guilty of being Irish in the place and at the wrong time'

The D.O.A. thing reminds me a bit of 'crash' by JG Ballard
or 'Chainsaw Gutsf*ck' by mayhem.

 

[ted_bloody_maul]

I Want To Kill Somebody, a single by mid 90s punk revivalists S#M#A#S#H. I think it charted although it had minimal airplay. To be fair when you write lyrics like this you're probably sort of asking for controversy.

Also, New York City Cops was withdrawn from the Strokes debut LP in the wake of 9/11. I'm not sure at whose bidding this was, though.

 

[WhistlingJack]

Are there any examples of this i.e. other groups who , for some reason , or another didnt release song because they were scared of their creation and the effect it might have ?

Brian Wilson abandoned, I think, Smile, because during the recording of the Fire element of the album's, erm, 'elements' suite, there were some wildfires in the vicinity which Wilson was convinced were caused by his music... :?

Also, Paul McCartney recorded a 'punk' track entitled Boil Crisis which he chose not to release - probably because it wasn't any good

 

[stu neville]

..Also, Paul McCartney recorded a 'punk' track entitled Boil Crisis which he chose not to release - probably because it wasn't any good

Isn't there an urban legend that there's a few, nearly priceless copies of (I think) Band on the Run, which owing to a production boob don't feature Linda in any capacity on the album at all?

Sorry to bring the name of the late Lady Macca into disrepute. The most recent one did it all for herself, however. "24 Million? She'll only spend it all on shoe." Sorry, that was Jon Holmes on Radio 4, not me.

 

[SoundDust]

Also, Paul McCartney recorded a 'punk' track entitled Boil Crisis which he chose not to release - probably because it wasn't any good

Since when did that ever stop him?

 

[IvanVolle]

gncxx

Wikipedia on Bloodrock's D.O.A.:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%2 ... tage/D.O.A.

I'm quite glad I've never heard this from the description.

"The song gives a grisly first person account of the aftermath of a plane crash. The vocalist describes the bloody sheets he lies in with a missing arm and a dead girl lying next to him, as the ambulance attendant looks over him with little hope. This narrative is backed by a rather eerie and grave organ riff & background sounds of ambulance sirens, creating a decidedly bleak and unsettling atmosphere."


...I, on the other hand, now has to hear this song......