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From stuttering lyrics to mentions of Coca-Cola, some songs got banned for the most ridiculous reasons! Join us as we count down the tracks that radio stations and networks decided were too controversial for airwaves. From innocent dance hits to protest anthems, these songs all faced censorship at one point or another!
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 songs that were
00:12controversial enough to be banned or censored in one way or another.
00:30It should come as no surprise that a song called My Generation that actively attacked modern-day
00:40values was banned in the 1960s.
00:43Networks had a habit of doing this at the time, but the main surprise here is the exact
00:47reason why it was banned.
00:49Funnily enough, it wasn't the lyrics that got the Who in Hot Water, or at least not
00:53really.
01:04Instead, the ban stemmed from the decision Roger Daltry made to stutter his way through
01:08some of the lyrics, which the BBC thought would be offensive to people with legitimate speech
01:12impediments.
01:13On the long list of bizarre reasons to put a song on ice, this one has to be close to
01:18the top.
01:23Splish Splash by Bobby Darin is a truly harmless song about a guy who gets out of a bath and
01:37joins a party that is going on in his house.
01:39Seems innocent enough, right?
01:41Well, unfortunately, the song only mentions him putting a towel on to hide his modesty,
01:45and at no point does he clothe himself fully.
01:55Somehow this was enough to get the song banned by a handful of stations in North America.
01:59This depiction of partial nudity was deemed to be inappropriate for mass audiences, which
02:04is frankly hilarious by modern standards.
02:07Was an impressionable kid ever corrupted by hearing Darren's Splish Splash?
02:10Well, guess we'll never know.
02:28Sometimes a single word is enough to get a song blacklisted.
02:32For Blondie's Atomic, timing was the main issue.
02:34Despite the song having no real mention of war or violence, its release coincided with
02:39the Gulf War, and its title alone forced the BBC to ban it.
02:51The network was incredibly sensitive at the time to songs that had a vague reference to
02:55the war, and for that reason, Atomic was canned.
02:59It was one of 67 songs that they decided to put to one side, even though it had already
03:03been released for 11 years.
03:05Needless to say, the ban only lasted as long as the war itself, and these days, the track
03:09has returned to airplay.
03:28Ray Peterson's track, Tell Laura I Love Her, is a tragic tale, telling the story of a young
03:32couple who are ripped apart when a stock car race ends up killing one of them.
03:36It's presented as a narrative that culminates in the death of a young lover, and his dying
03:40wish to remind his partner that he loves her.
03:51The BBC decided that the song glorified reckless driving, and decided to ban it so impressionable
03:57youths wouldn't end up impersonating the song's doomed protagonist.
04:01Seriously, that's an all-timer when it comes to hilariously tone-deaf reasons to resort to
04:06censorship.
04:07Neil Young well and truly went on the offensive with 1988's This Notes For You, taking shots
04:13at corporatised rock'n'roll.
04:14He didn't pull any punches with the music video either, taking shots at Michael Jackson, Whitney
04:20Houston and Houston, and both Pepsi and Coke.
04:27Jackson's lawyers were so angered by the song's depiction of MJ's hair catching fire, that
04:34they threatened legal action if it wasn't removed.
04:35In the end, their threat worked, and the song was briefly pulled, although MTV eventually
04:59reversed their decision and the song received heavy rotation from there onwards.
05:03At the top of our head, we can name about 50 song titles that are more offensive than
05:26Let's Spend the Night Together.
05:28That didn't stop Ed Sullivan himself taking issue with it at the eleventh hour, calling
05:32on the British band to change the words to Let's Spend Some Time Together.
05:45The implication that a man and a woman might ever consider spending some time alone together
05:50overnight was clearly too much for Sullivan to handle.
05:53Would the world be a different place if Jagger hadn't been forced to sing Some Time instead
05:57of The Night?
05:58Who knows, perhaps Sullivan prevented total mayhem, but probably not.
06:16The edgy subject matter of the kink song Lola might be the first thing that springs to mind
06:20when you think of bannable offences.
06:22However, the truth is a lot simpler.
06:25The issue wasn't the song's lyrics or overall message, instead it was the use of
06:29the brand name Coca-Cola.
06:39The usual suspects, the BBC, refused to play the song under any circumstances until something
06:44was done about the offending lyric.
06:46Ray Davies had a quick fix though, and flew back to Britain to change the lyric to the far
06:50less specific, Cherry Cola.
06:57The Rolling Stones never shied away from being openly provocative if the occasion called for
07:13it.
07:14We're sure they were at least a little proud of the fact that their classic track, Street
07:18Fighting Man, was banned by the Chicago mayor during the Democratic National Convention.
07:30There were fears that the song would incite violence due to its lyrical content and aggressive
07:34vibe.
07:35Talk about having faith in your own voters' intelligence, eh?
07:38Thankfully, the song was never pulled from radio stations for the same reason, making
07:42it easily accessible to millions in the late 60s.
07:45Rock Around the Clock is not the first song that springs to mind when you think of inflammatory
08:03music, but its inclusion in the legendary 1955 film Blackboard Jungle was a big deal.
08:09Not only was it the first example of a Hollywood movie utilising a popular rock and roll song
08:13in its soundtrack, it was also banned in several cities and countries.
08:23The film's depiction of juvenile delinquency led to riots in certain theatres.
08:28On the flip side, the use of the Bill Haley and his comics track led to rock and roll reaching
08:32a new mainstream audience during a pivotal point in history.
08:39If Puff the Magic Dragon had been written by any of their contemporaries, there might have
08:58been some truth to the rumours that it really referenced drug use.
09:01However, Peter, Paul and Mary seemed to be genuinely shocked that people thought that this innocent
09:06track about the loss of childhood innocence was about anything other than a magic dragon.
09:18The song was totally banned in Singapore in 1963, after the powers that be were convinced that
09:23it was one big innuendo.
09:25Right up until his death in 2025, Peter Yarrow never changed his story.
09:29The song was about exactly what its title claims it is.
09:48The idea of anyone getting too physical was way too much for radio stations to handle,
09:52and so banning Olivia Newton-John's physical was their natural response.
09:56The music was definitely on the edgy side, but it was the specific lyric, let me hear your
10:01body talk, that caused so much controversy.
10:10By all accounts, they also weren't overly fond on the line, there's nothing left to talk
10:15about unless it's horizontally.
10:17The song went on to be a smash hit for Newton-John, regardless, and remains one of her most enduring
10:22hits to this day.
10:36For as much as the Sex Pistols' anarchy in the UK could have gotten our pick, we couldn't
10:40help but side with their classic track, God Save the Queen.
10:43There should be no confusion over why a song attacking the British monarchy got banned in
10:48England, of course.
10:54However, the song was singled out for censorship in a particularly vibrant time for British
11:00punk.
11:01All in all, banning God Save the Queen ended up just proving Johnny Rotten & Company's
11:05point.
11:06This is a favourite within the Sex Pistols catalogue, and it's not hard to see why.
11:13Out of all The Beatles songs that ended up getting banned from the radio in the 60s, no song was
11:30outlawed for a more ridiculous reason than Come Together.
11:34The band were no strangers to ruffling a few feathers in their heyday, but despite having
11:38more than a few songs about risqué topics, Come Together was a little different.
11:42As did the kinks' Lola, the song references Coca-Cola.
11:56As a result, the BBC declared that it went against guidelines and constituted an advertisement.
12:01It's not like John Lennon was screaming at people to drink Coke in the chorus or anything,
12:06but even a passing mention was enough to bring the axe down.
12:14The debate over the censorship of Fairytale of New York rages on to this day, with one
12:30line of lyrics being the point of contention.
12:32The song was a huge hit for the Pogues, but there is a section in the song where Kirstie
12:36McCall is hailing insults at Shane McGowan, and one slayer in particular hasn't aged overly
12:42well.
12:49The song was an outright banned, but in 2020, the BBC played a version of the tune with
12:53the offending line removed.
12:55McGowan himself defended the lyric, claiming that the song was supposed to portray flawed
12:59people, not angels.
13:05Queen certainly knew a thing or two about provoking their audience.
13:21Their music video for I Want to Break Free never tried to hide its intentions, showcasing
13:25the band in drag performing the song.
13:28As you might expect, this sparked outrage from conservative viewers, and according to Roger
13:32Taylor, it was banned by MTV.
13:42Supposedly, it promoted cross-dressing a little too openly for the company's executives, and
13:47as a result, this legendary video was shelved.
13:50In reality, the video was intended as nothing more than a bit of fun, a way for Freddie Mercury
13:55& Co to show off their playful side.
13:57But clearly, some people didn't see it that way.
14:16Loretta Lynn was a trailblazer, and the very frank and honest discussion about birth control
14:21she had on the pill was way ahead of its time.
14:23One look at the song's lyrics will tell you exactly why it was a problem.
14:27Many conservative stations had absolutely no desire whatsoever to hear a woman speaking
14:32about the empowerment she felt over making her own reproductive choices.
14:43For that reason, many DJs flat-out refused to give the song any airplay.
14:47That didn't stop it from becoming her highest-selling single up to that point, and it even went
14:51on to number one on Canada's country chart.
15:08Link Wray's Rumble may have been the first instrumental track to be banned from major
15:12radios, a distinction we're certain he must be extremely proud of.
15:16The title alludes to a slang term of a fight, sure, but one spin of this song is enough to
15:22make it clear that the censors just didn't like the track's tone.
15:35Rumble sounds like a bar fight waiting to happen, painting a smoky and somewhat seedy dive without
15:40the use of a single lyric.
15:41If that's not masterful songwriting, then we don't know what is.
15:45It's an all-time great rock'n'roll classic.
16:01Walk Like An Egyptian put The Bangles on the map in many ways, so we doubt they ever imagined
16:06their song would get banned years after it initially came out.
16:09First, it was concerned over the track's sensitivity during the Persian Gulf War that
16:13led to it getting banned in 1991.
16:20Then after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the song was taken out of rotation
16:25once again, this time over fears that it might increase tensions with the Middle East.
16:30Of course, it was far from the only track to get blacklisted during that period, but the
16:34reasons certainly stand out.
16:36Imagine is John Lennon's signature solo recording, a track that has been covered and referenced
16:54endlessly since its release.
16:56However, following the events of 9-11, its lyrics were deemed to be questionable by the
17:00Clear Channel Communications Network.
17:02Supposedly, its anti-nationalist, anti-religion and anti-war message was the last thing the
17:07American public needed to hear.
17:19They seemed to ignore the song's overarching call for unity and a fairer society, and so
17:24the track was taken off of turntables for a while.
17:27Some people will just choose to see the negative in everything.
17:31If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
17:50In the middle of the Gulf War, the BBC decided to get very liberal with their outlawing of
18:03songs, choosing to bring the hammer down on anything that made even the most vague reference
18:08to the war.
18:09Waterloo, by ABBA, is one of the most inoffensive songs of the 67 chosen, with its issue of the
18:14Battle of Waterloo as a metaphor for a relationship going too far, according to the censors.
18:28To this day, it remains one of the most innocent songs to have ever been branded as controversial,
18:32while potentially damaging to the public.
18:34Somehow, this fact succeeds in making us love the song even more.
18:45So what previously banned song springs to your mind first when the question is posed?
18:49Let us know in the comments below!
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