00:00Hey, take a walk on the wild side.
00:04Honey, you take a walk on the wild side.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:10And today, we're counting down our picks for those 70s songs that received some sort of cultural censorship or pushback.
00:17I may not always love you, but long as there are stars above you, you never need to doubt it.
00:30Number 10, Radio Radio, Elvis Costello, and the Attractions.
00:36The lyrics to Radio Radio by Elvis Costello and the Attractions are bitter, biting, and sarcastic.
00:41A pointed attack against those who would censor or control the airwaves.
00:46Radio is a sound salvation. Radio is winning us the nation.
00:52Costello's musings on the BBC's seemingly endless string of bands would eventually become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy on the world-famous stage of Saturday Night Live.
01:05I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, there's no reason to do this song here.
01:08Radio, radio.
01:09The performance has since gone down as a classic, when Costello and the Attractions played a few bars before stopping the song and launching into a furious rendition of Radio Radio.
01:20The stunt, while not getting the band officially banned from SNL, did keep them from being invited back for 12 years.
01:28The disco era was never in any deficit for songs about sex.
01:44Love to Love You Baby was one of the best ones, too.
01:47But not everybody got down with Donna Summer's, well, getting down?
01:52Love to Love You Baby was notably banned by the BBC, as well as other stations for its edgy, full-length version.
02:09This extended cut was somewhat infamous for its eroticism, as Summer's performance in the studio went for the full Monty in terms of moaning, groaning, and wait, what are we talking about again?
02:20Oh yeah, it's a supremely sexy song from a decade that was already pretty focused on that sort of business anyway.
02:37Now, if you don't mind, we're just gonna get comfortable with the rest of the song.
02:42Talk amongst yourselves.
02:43It may be sort of hard to believe nowadays, but that beloved songwriter Randy Newman, yes, he of Toy Story fame, actually had some public heat laid at one of his songs.
03:08Out among the stars, I said, way beyond the moon.
03:17Newman released Short People as a single in 1977, featuring lyrics that were intended to satirize and vilify the short-mindedness of prejudiced individuals.
03:28Instead, some radio stations probably just weren't aware of Newman's pedigree of outside-the-box songwriting and took Short People at face value.
03:37Short People got no reason, Short People got no reason, Short People got no reason to live.
03:48The song was never officially banned, but Short People was briefly taken off the air by some affiliates that thought Newman was poking fun at the vertically challenged.
03:58Don't want no Short People, don't want no Short People, don't want no Short People around here.
04:09Number 7.
04:11Brown Sugar, The Rolling Stones.
04:14Hindsight can be a strange beast, and all of us certainly have things we do differently in our lives, given the chance.
04:21Brown Sugar continues to be one of the most popular Rolling Stones songs, but it's also one of the most problematic.
04:32Brown Sugar, just like the black brown sugar, right now.
04:38Its subject matters of Saxon race got it pulled from some radio stations back in the day.
04:44And there's also a lot of discussion today with regards to its complicated legacy.
04:56Mick Jagger even told Rolling Stone magazine's Jan Wenner back in 2009 that he'd never would write that song now.
05:04Number 6.
05:05The Pill, Loretta Lynn.
05:07The subject of authenticity is one that's often discussed within the world of country music.
05:13But what about reproductive rights?
05:16All these years I've stayed at home while you had all your fun.
05:22And every year that's gone by, another baby's come.
05:27Loretta Lynn courted controversy back in 1975 with her fan-favorite song, The Pill.
05:33Despite being one of country's most unequivocally beloved ambassadors.
05:38All I've seen of this old world is a bed and a doctor's pill.
05:43Lynn had given birth to four children prior to reaching her 21st birthday.
05:47And this personal history helped make The Pill resonate with her devoted audience.
05:52Radio stations weren't so keen on the song, however.
05:56To the point where The Pill is still rarely played on country radio stations at the time of this writing.
06:01Oh, but daddy, don't you worry, nana, cause mama's got the pill.
06:08Number 5.
06:10War.
06:10Edwin Starr.
06:12The original version of War was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and performed by The Temptations back in 1969.
06:20War.
06:21Uh.
06:22What is it good for?
06:25No.
06:26Edwin Starr re-recorded the tune in 1970.
06:30And this is probably the version most of us know today as a stone-cold soul classic.
06:36The immediate aftermath of September 11th, 2001 was a different time, however.
06:42And War, the song and the act were once again in the news.
06:46I despise, cause it means the torture of this life.
06:53Specifically, media conglomerate Clear Channel briefly removed Edwin Starr's song from airplay rotation, citing concerns about its lyrical content.
07:03War me and tears, without some of that.
07:06My sons go off the fight and lose their life.
07:09Although, if you ask us, considering anti-war sentiment as insensitive sounds pretty backwards.
07:17Number 4.
07:18Walk on the Wild Side.
07:20Lou Reed.
07:21It's sort of wild, unintended, to think about how the BBC actually let the uncensored Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed escape unscathed from their banhammer.
07:31Candy came from out on the island, in the back room she was everybody's darling.
07:40The reason?
07:41They didn't understand the sexual colloquialisms utilized by Reed on the song.
07:47U.S. radio stations didn't seem to care either, although the full and uncensored version of Walk on the Wild Side was effectively banned by some affiliates.
07:55Says he, babe, take a walk on the wild side.
07:59Said, hey, honey, take a walk on the wild side.
08:04This came down to the racial terms sung on the song, whereby an unedited description of the girls was included in its place.
08:13Holla came from Miami, Philly.
08:17Hitchhacked away across the USA.
08:20The sex stuff, though?
08:22Yeah, all those descriptors stayed in.
08:24Number three, Imagine, John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band.
08:29We think everybody can agree that we're sick of celebrities singing charity versions of Imagine by John Lennon, right?
08:36Gal Gadot effectively ruined that song for everybody.
08:40And the world will be as one.
08:45What most people are not sick of, however, is discussing Imagine's controversial reputation.
08:51Fans routinely argue about Lennon's anti-religious implications, and Imagine was yet another song that was on the receiving end of Clear Channel's Do Not Play list back in the aftermath of September 11.
09:04Imagine all the people living life in peace.
09:15It's another example of how a song's uplifting melody can sometimes distract from what its lyrics are actually discussing, or how we as listeners interpret those discussions.
09:26You may say, I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
09:38Number two, Lola, The Kinks.
09:41The BBC's ban of Lola by The Kinks actually had more to do with the product placement of its lyrics than its actual conceptual content.
09:50The referencing of Coca-Cola isn't really discussed anymore today, replaced instead with modern appraisals concerning its status within LGBTQIA plus history.
10:09The jury remains out as to whether Lola is a forward-thinking and prescient anthem about gender inclusivity or an archaic relic from a culturally insensitive era.
10:29One thing's for sure.
10:31Everybody has something to say about Lola, and this controversy has helped this song endure for over 50 years.
10:39Well, I'm not the world's most physical guy, but why don't you squeeze me tight?
10:44Why don't you make me grow my spine?
10:46Oh, my God.
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11:04Number one, God Save the Queen, Sex Pistols.
11:08There was no stopping the momentum of the Sex Pistols, nor the filth and fury of their punk rock movement.
11:22Singles such as Anarchy in the UK, and particularly God Save the Queen, got both the band and their manager, Malcolm McCarlin, in political hot water.
11:31Some retail shops in Britain wouldn't stock copies of the Pistols' band anthem, God Save the Queen, despite the tune's overwhelming popularity.
11:46You tell God Save the Queen.
11:50We made it, man.
11:54We have a queen.
11:56This knowing, two-fingered salute to the UK national anthem and national political figurehead effectively made the Sex Pistols legends in their own time.
12:07Does banning anything simply draw more attention than iron?
12:11Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
12:26I'll see you then.
12:36See you then.
12:37Bye.
12:37You're good.
12:38Bye.
12:39Bye.
12:40Bye.
12:41Bye.
12:41Bye.
12:43Bye.
12:43Bye.
12:45Bye.
12:45Bye.
12:47Bye.
12:51Bye.
12:52Bye.
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