I Am the Walrus (1967) It's difficult to see why a song with nonsensical lyrics could be banned from the airwaves, but the BBC decided “I Am the Walrus” was too risque.
'I Am The Walrus'
The aforementioned line, along with “let your knickers down”, was a step too far in the BBC's eyes, and so they banned it for being too sexually explicit. Discussing the lyrics of 'I Am The Walrus', Lennon once said: “The words didn't mean a lot.
“Run for Your Life” is one of the most controversial Beatles songs and one with some extremely questionable, violent, and disturbing lyrics. Thankfully, it's also one of the most often-forgotten.
Beach Boys – God Only Knows
In the United States of the 1960s, invoking the name of God in a pop song was regarded as blasphemy, leading to some radio stations banning the Beach Boys classic.
In 1966, The Beatles were walking on water and could do no wrong. Their fame took them to every thinkable corner of the world, including the Philippines, but a misstep during their visit would lead to the group nearly being banned from the Asian country.
Paul McCartney's arrival at Tokyo's Narita International Airport on January 16, 1980, marked his first visit to Japan since the Beatles tour of 1966. The occasion was a planned 11-city concert tour by his band Wings.
On August 4, 1966, several Connecticut pop music radio stations joined a nationwide boycott and refused to play Beatles music in response to perceived anti-Christian remarks made by John Lennon.
Released in April 1958, “Rumble” by Link Wray and His Ray Men was a major hit in the spring and summer in both stores and on jukeboxes--but not on radio. Interestingly, though “Rumble” contained no lyrics, many radio stations banned “Rumble” for its incendiary title.
“Lola,” The Kinks (June 12, 1970) The Kinks' “Lola” was a popular single that reached #2 on UK charts and #9 in the U.S. This song faced censorship on less common ground than most. The original studio recording contained the word “Coca-Cola” in the lyrics, which violated BBC Radio's policy against product placement.
10cc – 'Rubber Bullets' ABBA – 'Under Attack' ABBA – 'Waterloo'
Lennon noted at the time: “I never liked 'Run For Your Life' because it was a song I just knocked off,” he revealed. The track takes a line from Elvis Presley's song 'Baby Let's Play House': “I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man”.
The Beatles were clever regarding using profanities in their music and never opted to swear overtly in their songs. However, on 'Hey Jude', they managed to sneak in an f-bomb, which most listeners wouldn't even notice, nor radio commissioners or label executives.
The 1966 sleeve cover for 'Yesterday and Today' was withdrawn after it sparked outrage for its graphic images. Known as the butcher's cover, it shows the Fab Four in white coats sitting among dismembered baby dolls and raw meat.
Randolph Peter Best (né Scanland; born 24 November 1941) is an English musician known as the drummer of the English rock band the Beatles who was dismissed immediately prior to the band achieving worldwide fame.
In 1950, Jimmy Boyd sang a song that was banned by the Roman Catholic Church in Boston because it mixed Christmas and sex in the same sum. What was the song? The name of the Christmas song is “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”
Most of the Mughal emperors were also very fond of music. But there was one notable exception- Emperor Aurangzeb, who banned music because he thought that it was illegal and against the spirit of Islam.
Scott Walker – Jackie
This was the first record to be banned by the new Radio 1. Walker's cover of the Jacques Brel classic was banned because of homosexual references in the lyrics. The BBC was offended by the reference to “authentic queers” and “phony virgins”.
John Lennon's “Imagine” was also banned, because envisioning a world where we all got along was at odds with the public demand for bloody justice.
Reasons for why music may be censored include that music is deemed contentious, aggressive or disrespectful. Music censorship therefore aims to minimize the exposure to controversial topics such as sex, drugs and the challenging of social norms.
John Lennon opened up a little more about the song and how it allowed him to reflect on his past abuse behaviour: “I couldn't express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women.
Although the Beatles were never allowed to perform in the USSR, Elton John was permitted to visit the country in 1979 in a historic concert tour, which Billboard magazine referred to as the first there by an "out-and-out rock artist".