ClearChannel Plays It Safe

mertzman writes: "Rather than wait for the government assaults on civil liberties to reach full steam, ClearChannel, one of the nation's largest radio networks, has decided to do some censorship on their own! According to F***edCompany, ClearChannel has created a list of banned songs with "questionable content" in light of the recent tragedies. Stuff ranging from Drowning Pool's "Bodies" to Nena's anti-war hit "99 Red Balloons" have made their list." ClearChannel owns many radio stations, so this probably affects you. Update: 09/18 18:30 GMT by M : The San Francisco Chronicle has more on this - ClearChannel says it isn't an official mandate, just some sort of internal memo circulating. Update: 09/18 23:18 PM GMT by T : Fuzzy points out that "snopes.com has an explanation of the ClearChannel hoax. ClearChannel has also sent out a press release saying they have released no such list."

Comments

Radio

[nigiri]

Just another reason not to listen to the radio.

Re:Radio

[nycdewd]

Sign O' The Times... ClearChannel is a tragically disgraceful company with troglodytic management and they treat their employees like slaves and worse... ClearChannel is gobbling up radio stations like they were Cheetos...You Could Look It Up... just another reason to BOYCOTT any radio station owned by ClearChannel.

Re:Radio

[TrollMan 5000]

This is exactly what the terrorists wanted. This is a fine example of how are normal daily lives are affected by their actions.

Re:Radio

[ichimunki]

The terrorists wanted us to all become gullible twits who believe anything we read posted semi-anonymously on the internet? They were dead set on us all turning words like "questionable content" into "banned song list"? They were hoping and praying that large corporations would now become arbitrary and dull-witted? I don't think they needed to do a damn thing to achieve that.

First of all, even if this list was circulated and is being followed as a "banned" song list (which I tend to doubt since I just heard "Stairway" a day or two ago on a Clear Channel owned classic rock station), it's not like we need these songs on the radio-- most of them have gotten way too much airplay in the last 20 years.

Second, Clear Channel playlists don't affect my daily life at all. I have an extensive library of songs that no Clear Channel affiliate has ever played on air that I plan to continue listening to. I'd say the FCC helped two or three large radio conglomerates degrade the quality of our daily lives long before Sept. 11, 2001.

Re:Radio

[yerktoader]

Mod me down if you want, but I live through ClearChannel Hell. I can't help but say this.

As a resident of San Diego, this is abhorrently clear(isn't it ironic?) and true.

Many people may not know it, but law regulates how many stations a company can own in a given area. I think it's 4. But since San Diego is conveniently located by the Mexican border, ClearChannel has purchased several radio stations located out of Tiajuana and beyond.

It's been well known for the past few years how bad ClearChannel sucks at programming radio. Just listen to a day of Rock 105.3 or 91X. It boggles the mind how many times(must I ask myself, why?) you might hear the same song. What I love is when one ClearChannel station plays a song, then another sister station plays it at almost the same time! WTF?

Straight from my heart to any FoggyChannel executive:
FUCK YOU!

Sincerely,

Toad of the Yerk

Re:Radio

[kitzilla]

It's just not true. I'm a CC programmer. I was on all the internal conference calls. The list was an ad-hoc effort of local programmers. Anything anyone suggested went on it. There was no company mandate to "ban" these titles. I thought a lot of the titles were silly--until I took my first complaint call about Kansas' "Dust in the Wind," of all frikkin' things. People are unreasonably sensitive right now--as perhaps evidenced by all the self-righteous breast-beating going on around here.

In the end, I rested a few titles. They're good records, and will be back on the air sometime. Get the hell over it.

I wish someone would talk about all the CC people who went days without sleep covering this story. Or that our company, as a whole, dropped EVERYTHING for fulltime news (including commercials, in many cases). Or our relief fund at http://clearchannel.com.

Back to work. Keep NY, DC, and PA in your prayers.

640WGST in Atlanta was making fun of the list...

[Shivetya]

Kim Peterson, a talk show host here in Atlanta was making fun of the Clear Channel list yesterday. I thought at first it was a joke, but apparently its not.

I wonder when Kim Peterson will get "talked to" over it (he was playing the list as bumper music. Many may not agree with what he has to say all the time, but at least he stands up for it.

Sorry, but music doesn't make terrorist.

Massive Attack

[Nicolas MONNET]

During gulf war, some radio stations reffered to Massive Attack as "Massive", period.

Sofa King wee tadd deed.

Re:Massive Attack

[braque]

I still have a 7" of "Unfinished Sympathy" by "Massive" :-)

Re:Massive Attack

[chemical55]

Too bad its unfinished...:-)

Re:Massive Attack

[Djaak]

Not only that, but they were also "forced" (or "strongly
advised") by the British authoririties (IIRC) to realease
their album "Blue Lines" under the name "Massive". I wonder
how they handled metal bands whose names are for example "Annihilator"
"Massacra" "Slayer" or "Agressive Agrikultor" :D

Re:Massive Attack

[Anonymous Coward]

I forget the name of the band, but there is a band with an album called "Massive killing capacity". It could've been a single, I'm not sure (not a fan).

Re:Massive Attack

[Anonymous Coward]

Vinyl?!!!
What are you some sort of technology-fetishist-with-social-defecit?!!!
(I hate to think what the people that recognize the phrase are gonna call me!)

Re:Massive Attack

[Anonymous Coward]

hmmm, Interesting. I am looking at the CD now and the cover art says Massive attack but the cd itself only says Massive!

Never noticed that before

Re:Massive Attack

[AnalogBoy]

I'd say in times like this, many bands are willing to drop the commercialism B.S. and join the rest of the human race in a period of mourning and respect to one extent or another. And i believe that removing, temporarily, reminders of how cruel the human race can be, while wrong in a way, also provides for a more.. "Calming" experience on the airwaves.

This too, shall pass.

Re:Massive Attack

[velouria]

I'm pretty sure they were called Massive for quite some time before changing to Massive Attack...
I bought my copy of Blue Lines quite soon after it was released and all of the packing refers to Massive rather than Massive Attack.

Tuesday's Gone

[FatalException]

I didn't see Lynard Skynard's Tuesdays Gone on the list.

Awesome song.

Re:Tuesday's Gone

[FatalException]

Doh, I guess i was on the list. I can't spell lynyrd skynyrd.

Still, awesome song right now.

Re:Tuesday's Gone

[Midnight Ryder]

I didn't see Lynard Skynard's Tuesdays Gone on the list.

It's on the list of banned songs, right between Edwin Starr's "War" and Lip Bizkit "Break Stuff".

Re:Tuesday's Gone

[DrQu xum]

WDVE, a ClearChannel station in Pittsburgh, has played Tuesday's Gone several times already in the past week. They've even had a "new" mix with audio clips of Bush, Powell, news anchors, survivors and rescuers intersperced (sp?) throughout the song.

If you really like the station, keep on calling and requesting these songs -- especially if your company is advertising locally on the station. They'll get the message.

Re:Tuesday's Gone

[Anonymous Coward]

OT, but 94.1 in Philly, a Cirrus broadcaster, is doing the same thing with a few songs, i.e. interspersing comments from Bush et al, into songs. Most notably, they've done this with Bruce Springsteen's "My City In Ruins," U2's "Peace On Earth," and Don Henley's "New York Minute"

I think it's pretty cool.

This must be a joke...

[Dman33]

I mean, they have "Walk Like an Egyptian" by the Bangels on this list...

Is this a joke or is this just a list of songs that radio stations should 'tip-toe' around for the next week or so to keep people from getting depressed??

Re:This must be a joke...

[Yorrike]

The Beatles "Obla De Obla Da","Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" !?!?

There's no way they can be serious. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Obla De Obla Da" are about as offensive as the Barney theme song. It seems they're taking a broad sword and going at anything that mentions "life" or "the sky". Someone needs to grow up.

Re:This must be a joke...

[Pseudonym]

I kinda get that one. The first verse has talk of tombs toppling over.

I really can't work out the Cat Stevens version of Morning has Broken, though. I'm willing to bet that more than one church sang that last Sunday in memory of the fallen. Perhaps it's because he's now known as Yusuf Islam?

Re:This must be a joke...

[Anonymous Coward]

I think they may be thinking along the lines of :

"Osa Ma Binla Din"

Paranoid times, these are.

Re:This must be a joke...

[Anonymous Coward]

Barney is far more offensive than anything on that list.

That purple monster needs a violent end.

Re:This must be a joke...

[TomV]

Interestingly, although 2 cat songs were on there, "Where Do the Children Play", featuring the lines

"well you've cracked the sky
scrapers fill the air"

didn't make it onto the list.

yet?

TomV

Re:This must be a joke...

[irksome]

I find it slightly absurd that they banned "Peace Train"

Re:This must be a joke...

[xinit]

I didn't see "Killing an Arab" on there, though...

Re:This must be a joke...

[CdotZinger]

Cat Stevens is a Muslim.

That is all.

Re:This must be a joke...

[Mojojojo Monkey Inc.]

Or "Ahab the Arab"

Re:This must be a joke...

[Tackhead]

> I mean, they have "Walk Like an Egyptian" by the Bangels on this list...

So I suppose KFMDM's Power and Son of a Gun are right out ;-)

Re:This must be a joke...

[pcidevel]

So I suppose KFMDM's Power [kmfdm.net] and Son of a Gun [kmfdm.net] are right out ;-)

Being a very long time KMFDM fan.. I'm going to assume that if any of KMFDM's songs were sloted for air time on the radio (very unlikely to happen in my experience) the radio station would decide not to play the soung... I forgot the name of the song (it's on Nihil, but since I listen to primarly cd's I never can remember the song names) there is a song that has a sample of someone with an arabic accent (at least it sounds arabic to me) stating "Some people call them terrorists, these boys are just misguided"..

Most of KMFDM's songs probably would seem inappropriate to most of the mindless radio industry at this point in time.. Just on the albumn Nihil (which is one of my least favorite KMFDM albumns but since my previous example was from this albumn I thought I would draw more from it) you could check out the lyrics to Terror (which is about stripping away our civil liberties after a terrorist attack, hmmm, sound familiar? ) or Search and Destroy, either song is probably slated as unsuitable for play at the moment.. ;)

As another poster stated above, I'm amazed that The Cure's Killing An Arab isn't on the list of songs not to play.. but since that song's based on Albert Camus's The Stranger I guess we'd have to burn the book too! :)

oh, hypocritical..

[crazney]

Your knocking "ClearChannel" for censoring there networks, while you cant even say "fuck" in public.. quit censoring your submissions, be open with your language if you want everything else to be open.

Re:oh, hypocritical..

[Anonymous Coward]

the word fuck is universally banned as not being appropriate. these songs listed are completely pathetic. the pussyfication of america, now one step farther.

Re:oh, hypocritical..

[Anonymous Coward]

He's not censoring himself dumbass, follow the link! It IS F**ked Company, not Fucked Company.

Re:oh, hypocritical..

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, before you jump to any conclusions, note that the "F***edCompany" is within the quotation marks usually indicating, the submittor did this him/herself.

Re:oh, hypocritical..

[Anonymous Coward]

We are open with our submissions, cocksucker. However, sometimes cussing and being an asshole isnt needed, cuz other people can do all that for us.

This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[luge]

There are songs that people who were involved in this tragedy (and that is many of us, all over this country) are not going to want to hear in the coming months. For a radio station to list these songs out and say 'you know, these might cause hurt and anguish to some of our listeners, so maybe we shouldn't play them' is absolutely a great call, and I commend them for it. To those of you who can't tell the difference between censorship and taste- grow up, or even better- go to downtown NYC and play these songs on a boombox. See how long it is before someone beats some sense into you for re-opening their wounds and pouring salt into them.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[spagma]

I guess I will just have to bust into my MP3 stash to hear the music that I like. Too bad I didn't get to grab any Metalica before it was too late.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[ostiguy]

Did you actually read the list? Doesn't sound like it, since you make it sound like a radio station did it, instead of a company that owns hundreds of stations. Some of the banned songs are ridiculous.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[plague3106]

What is good taste for you might not be for me. If you find certain songs in 'bad taste' don't listen to the fucking radio.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[ral]

And even if you don't agree with what they think is bad taste, this can't be a huge surprise to anyone paying attention.

Clear Channel carries Rush Limbaugh and Dr Laura!

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

have you taken a look at the list, out of the songs on there I know(small minority of those on the list) several don`t make sense, or are at best a far stretch. They`ve got
"What A Wonderful World" (Louis Armstrong) on there for example, I mean what`s the relation?
I can understand not playing songs about airplane crashes, or terrorist attacks, but this list just doesn`t make sense

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Kevon]

Did you even look at the list??? Some of the songs are on the list solely because they have the word crash in the title.

I've got a great idea!!! Let's all meet in Central Park and we'll burn every book, magazine, record, videotape, and computer game that has the word crash somewhere in it. This way we can be sure we'll never ever have to be faced with something that might remind us of this tragedy.

I'm sorry, but if someone's in downtown NYC, I'm sure there are plenty of other reminders to re-open wounds other than songs on the radio. Think about it.

This kind of behavior by CCC, I think, is one of the goal of the people who did this. They already have us giving up seemingly simple thing we take for granted, like being able to listen to what we want. Next time, what will we give up? Being able to travel to other states?

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

So "coming to America" (Neil Diamond), an exceedingly patriotic song which got played as finale in many bicentennial celebrations, is viewed as "questionable"???

Are these people out of their minds?

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

Surfaris "Wipeout" is on the list. This song
has one lyric... "Wipeout". The rest is just
instrumental -- good clean fun. This is very
funny. How did they pick the list? Random?

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

oh i see the relation.. you C, that song - What a wonderful world - was used in a movie 'seven monkeys' where the world ended (basically) due to bioterrorism.. and someone who hears that song and saw that movie might get upset. :)

Actually, at first that was supposed to be almost a totally laughable answer, but now i wonder..

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[NMerriam]

To those of you who can't tell the difference between censorship and taste-

Are these mutually exclusive? Is it not possible to censor based on taste?

This is censorship. It may also be taste. If so, its pretty poor taste. I don't know of many people working the WTC who would beat you up for playing Neil Diamond's "America" (well, maybe for playing Neil Diamond)...

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[RasputinAXP]

For a radio station to list these songs out and say 'you know, these might cause hurt and anguish to some of our listeners, so maybe we shouldn't play them' is absolutely a great call, and I commend them for it.

Could you PLEASE explain to me what hurt and anguish could be caused by 99 Red Balloons?

Other than the voice of the singer, that is.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[SquierStrat]

I'm sorry, but "Tuesday's Gone"...it's about a friggen girl!

Rooster by Alice in Chains? Smooth Criminal (The Alien Ant Farm version?)

That's a moronic comment, if theyc an't handle a lynyrd skynyrd missing a girl either turn the radio off or become a "Jumper"

They don't HAVE to listen.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

There are songs that people who were involved in this tragedy (and that is many of us, all over this country) are not going to want to hear in the coming month

well then switch off the radio

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[max_power26]

How are these songs going to cause 'hurt and anguish' exactly? I'm sure that if I was walking through downtown NYC playing S & G's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' everytone would be really pissed. And Walk Like an Egptian?!?!? WHY? because its got the word Egyptian in it. The Egyptians had nothing to do with this thing. This is the kind of shit that gets people thinking that it was 'those damn Muslims'. Its like saying I'm responsible for the holocaust 'cause I'm a white guy...ridiculous. This things gotta be a joke. I mean CCR's 'Travellin Band'? and J. Taylor 'Fire and Rain'. There's gotta be more horribly tasteless songs with the word fire in them that we should ban also (*sarcasm*). Get real man.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[SlashDread]

Insightfull my rightious Dutch ass...

Moron moderators,

Ok: "This isn't censorship, it's good taste"

I have a question: WHOES taste?

certainly not mine.

Gr Richard

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Jaysyn]

and that fucking piece of crap "Bubba the Love Sponge".

Jaysyn

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[thenightfly42]

You mean, other than the fact that it's about nuclear war destroying the world?

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

Its like saying I'm responsible for the holocaust 'cause I'm a white guy...ridiculous

Well, you ARE responsible for slavery. :)

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Dallam_]

Seems that exercising the option to change the channel would work. When I can't hear something I want to hear because someone has decided for me that I can't hear it, that isn't good taste, that is censorship in its true form. What is next, going into the libraries and book stores and removing offending titles and subject matter?
It might be nice to email the parent company, your local participating station as well as their sponsors and let them know you will be boycotting them until they change their ill conceived policy..

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Quila]

Hey! She has a nice voice in German.

The accent's so thick in the English version, I don't think she even knew English.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[toriver]

There are songs that people who were involved in this tragedy (and that is many of us, all over this country) are not going to want to hear in the coming months.

You can of course explain what, say, Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution" - a warning about drinking - has to do with the terrorist attack?

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[SealBeater]

If you don't want to hear it, then don't listen to it, you idiot. Don't try to force your attitudes about music on other people. Personally, I don't see how Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful
World" is going to pour salt in anyone's wound. Grow up and use your head.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Sinistar2k]

ClearChannel owns 1,170 radio stations in the US. They are not pulling songs based on regional requests, they are demanding that every station in every location stop playing these songs regardless of the demands of the community served by each station. That seems like censorship to me.

If libraries started pulling all books about war, all books about airplanes, all books about the Middle East, all books about terrorism, and, to bring it in line with the ClearChannel list, all books about balloons, blue dresses, love, rescues, sex, mothers, irony, LSD, Satan, and dance in NYC, there would be a fair bit of outrage from everybody in this forum. So what's the difference in pulling songs because of that content?

I see that Cat Stevens' "Peace Train" is on the list. Does that mean that the 10,000 Maniacs cover is also banned, or are all 10,000 Maniacs songs banned because the word 'Maniacs' is in their band name?

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Arcturax]

You know... those who don't want to hear them can turn to another channel or turn the radio off or just ignore it until the song has passed.

If someone asked me to change the station or turn it off for a song, sure I'd do it, but at least leave the choice in the hands of the people, not corporations and the government... Censorship like this is NEVER a good thing. I believe that those affected by this (all of us in some way right?) can deal with this in an adult and dignified manner. We don't need Clearchannel to nanny us, at least I would certainly hope not, otherwise there is no hope for the human race after all.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[AnalogBoy]

Possibility: 99 Luftbaloons/Red Balloons is about a nuclear war. Something many people DON'T want to think about when listening to the radio right now.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

"Too bad I didn't get to grab any Metalica before it was too late."

no, this was a good thing. now youll be forced to listen to music instead

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[monkeydo]

J. Taylor 'Fire and Rain'

"Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground"

I can understand that one.

Not that I agree with the idea of this, but ClearChannel is not the government (the only entity bound by the First Ammendment) they are a corporation, they can do whatever the hell they please until people start dumping their stock. Corporate management has every right to tell the individual stations what they can and can't play (raise your hand if you really believe DJs make their own playlists) for any reason whatsoever. If the jackass CEO of ClearChannel doesn't want to hear these songs, then it is his perrogative to ban them on HIS stations. And if you don't like it you can bring it up at the next stockholders meeting.

Most of their stations are shitty top 40 anyway and the playlists are all generated by computer..

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[sirben_kobs]

I agree; this sort of civil disruption is EXACTLY what terrorists hope to accomplish. For a minimal investment of resources, they have acheived major disruption of every aspect of American life, in addition to the massive destruction of lives & property. In many places, the very diversity which has made America strong has been attacked as fear and anger gets the better of our good sense. Attacks on Muslims, their places of worship, and even those who are not Muslims but merely resemble (the media portrayal of) them outwardly (Sikhs), have increased dramatically (as reported 9/17 on http//www.cnn.com). This censorship is probably just the first of many things about our freedom that will change, whether through corporate or governmental (is there a difference?) actions in the near future. The true fight lies in not letting our own fears make America an armed camp or police state, not in Afghanistan.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[jazman_777]

What's scary is not the censorship thing (because, after all, they _own_ the stations and have the liberty to determine what shall or shall not be played on their stations), but the hysteria thing.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Carlos Laviola]

Don't turn it on, then. Simple. All this bullshit makes me think of all the people who want to censor porn and pretty much everything else they want on the Internet.

Land of the free...

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

If one person threatens another with violence for playing as harmless a trifle as a Bangels song (Walk Like an Egyptian) in public, which one is really lacking maturity and intelligence? (Hint, since apparently you need it: it won't be the one holding the radio.)

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[JohnSmith1138]

Well... if I may stand up for them, both Wonderful and Armstrong have 9 letters each, which means September. The word World is also in World Trade Center. If you take out "hat Wonde ful World" you are left with "WAr". It's right there in front of your eyes man!

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[AsylumWraith]

"Rooster" is an account by Jerry Cantrell about his father's experiences during the Korean (?) war... I guess I can understand how someone might find it offensive right now.

This is not to say I agree with it being on a "banned list," and I'm glad that the local rock station here in Philly, WMMR, isn't affiliated with ClearChannel.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

Well if anyone is going to start a nuclear war its going to be the Americans being bloodthirsty idiots....

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Derkec]

Right on man. There are certain things you do out of respect. For radio stations, it is watching what you play. For baseball, it's taking a few days off and not playing games. For the far left wing, its taking a few days off from saying "Global trade is bad and the U.S. should stop doing X and Y and Z." For Congress its being civil to one another. What we see and hear changes for a short while. Not because of censorship, which is a bad thing, but because of a desire to be respectful and decent which of course is a good thing.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Kinchie]

Of course the 10,000 Maniacs cover isn't banned: they aren't Muslim. What a crappy thing for ClearChannel to do.

Whoever thought this one out was a real sensitive and thoughtful person.(sarcasm)

God this pisses me off. Damn shame these fuckers are in business at all.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF? Are you saying ALL those songs would be in bad taste if they were played? Yes? Then you are just too stupid for words. Many of those songs have positive messages and are about stopping violence.

It seems like a bunch of the songs were just added to the list because they have the word "trigger", "fly", or some other "distateful" words in the title, lyrics, or the name of the band.

So in sort, please feel free to censor yourself and stop speaking for the rest of the nation -- it's in poor taste ;)

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[SquierStrat]

How is that going to offend someone, and so what if it does, again they don't have to listen. I know you weren't saying it should be banned, but, my point still is: they don't have to listen. Also, how many people knew what rooster was a about? I did, because a friend of mine bows down and worships alice in chains, but most people aren't and you wouldn't know just by listening.

Unfortunately, one of our big rock stations in atlanta IS a clear channel station (96 Rock) and the other I believe is Cox.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

t might be nice to email the parent company, your local participating station as well as their sponsors and let them know you will be boycotting them until they change their ill conceived policy..

The point is that clear channel owns a good number of the competing stations as well, so boycotting means just turning the radio off. And what's absurd about that is that the radio waves are a public resource that we've basically handed over to these people and we've been brainwashed into thinking that it belongs to them instead of us. So, it is censorship. In a huge way.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Hyler]

The list is simply to broad. What does an instrumental track like Surfaris - Wipeout got to do with anything?

I'm not American, but I think the lyrics to another song goes "O-oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light" and the attack took place in the morning (probably why they stop Cat Stevens - Morning has broken) so "they" should stop that one too.

The list baffles me. Come on, Bridge over troubled water?!

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Karl Cocknozzle]

What many non-radio people don't understand is that CC owns so many stations that, in some cities, if it ain't on a CC station it doesn't exist.

My favorite entry on the list is:

ANY SONG BY RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
I wonder if this has anything to do with their many references to "Evil broadcast conglomerates warping the minds of America"...

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[charon_on_acheron]

Actually, Rush Limbaugh plays many of these songs as the lead-in and fade-out (?) music on his program. That is one thing I wondered about for a while. He is obviously against the "really bad" songs, that advocate violence or anti-christian thoughts, but plays some very cool music after commercial breaks. Guess we will hear all country songs for a while.

At least they didn't list AC/DC's "Night Prowler" this time. It was believed to be the cause of that psycho Night Stalker in LA in the 80's. But it doesn't cause terrorism, so it's OK.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[charon_on_acheron]

Well, we've been bloodthirsty idiots for years, and it's worked ok until now.

Yeah, I know that's in poor taste, but you asked for it. ;^)

But you're right, we are the only country to have used nukes against anyone. Hopefully we don't decide to use them again. They won't work very well, and will turn most of the world away from our cause.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

If your see or hear someting you don't like you turn it off. Good or Bad taste have nothing to do with it. They can censor sons but they still can't give out common sense, and that's a shame.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

WHY? because its got the word Egyptian in it. The Egyptians had nothing to do with this thing.

Not that I'm defending this list, which is probably a hoax anyway, but there is some sense in ceasing to play that song publicly for a while. The song light-heartedly equates "egyptians" with "old paintings on the tomb". It kind of reduces Egypt to a trivial conversation piece. The images of the song (bazaars, hookahs, crocodiles) have little to do with modern Egypt.

It's not true to say that Egypt has nothing to do with this. Bin Laden drew followers from all over the Middle East, including Egypt. So playing this song right now is saying that we continue to treat some countries as amusing toys.

Just to be clear, there is nothing wrong with the song. It's just the timing.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

[snip]
Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky"
[/snip]
mmmm, that will hurt...

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

Speaking of poor taste:

A WTC haiku for you all:

Plane hit the building
I'm on the one-hundredth floor
Quick, to the window!

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a limit to the old "you can always change the channel" argument and it's called common sense (or, for the more cynical, good marketing).

Since they own so many stations and broadcast to so many people, it would be reasonable for CC to consider temporarily avoiding songs that might be considered sensitive to many listeners, though obviously this list goes a lot further than that. Anti-war songs are what's needed now, it seems like misguided patriotism - a kind of panic that promoting peaceful interests might result in confusion or dissent against the US going to war.

It's like them normally avoiding songs that are packed full of swearing - you personally might enjoy it, but it would be inappropriate for the 'reasonably' sensitive listener. You might like the song and tell other users they can switch it off if they don't like it, but as far as the station is concerned it's better to keep a large audience, than to play anything that someone quite likes.

Re:This isn't censorship, it's good taste

[plague3106]

promoting peaceful interests might result in confusion or dissent against the US going to war.

Isn't it part of American culture that we ARE allowed to have dissenting opinions? I mean thats what free speech is all about isn't it?

Back to the issue at hand...many songs seem to be on there quite arbitraruly (sp?). So its ok that the news is constantly showing us the images of destruction but any song that even mentions are airplane is over the line? You have got to be kidding me.

Stairway to Heaven

[Wyatt Earp]

Freakin' Stairway to Heaven is on the list.

It has NOTHING to do with violence or dying or anything...well maybe shopping. But thats it.

Idiotic list and idiotic Clear Channel Communications.

Re:Stairway to Heaven

[archen]

yeah, I was extremely surprised to see that song on there. I mean that's a highly requested song that's played on the radio quite often. I mean I really don't see how stairway to heaven could even offend anyone.

Re:Stairway to Heaven

[per unit analyzer]

Oh man, what are all of CCC's classic rock stations going to do when they do their countdown of the greatest rock songs of all time? They won't be able to play the number one song!!!!!

--z

Re:Stairway to Heaven

[Anonymous Coward]

No Stairway? Denied!!

</WAYNE'S WORLD>

Re:Stairway to Heaven

[Control-Z]

It's probably because of all the people that died last week and are on the "Stairway to Heaven". Quite a reach if you ask me.

That song list is totally idiotic, I thought we weren't supposed to let the terrorism affect us, that we were supposed to get on with our daily lives? Now I'm seeing movies, games, and now songs being censored or not released at all because of it? I'm so sick of big business trying not to offend anyone.

That was my rant for today.

Re:Stairway to Heaven

[bytes256]

This is insane!

Censorship has to stop before we are left listening to polka and bluegrass!!!

All songs are offensive in their own way, you will never please everyone.

Sorry for the ranting...it's just that when people start banning my favorite song of all time from the radio I get slightly pissed off.

Re:Stairway to Heaven

[Wyatt Earp]

I like Polka.

Lawarence Welk played at my grandfather and grandmother's wedding in South Dakota in 1948.

I like Bluegrass too, the Hayseed Dixie covers of AC/DC are very good, I wonder if Clear Channel will ban them as well.

I think the Clear Channel thing is nuts, and I'm glad that alot of Clear Channel PDs and DJs are going out of thier way to play the banned songs today.

Re:Stairway to Heaven

[cornette]

It looks like they just listed any song with "Heaven" in the title. They also have "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and "Say Hello 2 Heaven" (although they did misspell the latter).

It is kind of strange. I would think songs like "Say Hello 2 Heaven" would be a comfort to people. It was written as a way to work through the grief of the loss of a friend.

By the way, I am surprised that Soundgarden's "Limo Wreck" isn't on the list. Check out the lyrics.

Re:Stairway to Heaven

[Anonymous Coward]

"It looks like they just listed any song with "Heaven" in the title. They also have "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and "Say Hello 2 Heaven" (although they did misspell the latter)."

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door", a first-person account of someone's thoughts as they lie dying, is probably not the series of images anyone in NYC who knows someone who worked in the Towers is going to want to hear.

Think about the *lyrics*, not just the title.

far sighted

[Anonymous Coward]

I have followed their lead and no longer use the words "tuesday" or "imagine".

Re:far sighted

[Publicus]

I think that'll only be the beginning of words that will be banned from use on the air by Clear Channel. Soon things will not be "amazing," but rather "double interesting," or for more emphasis, "double double interesting." News will not be "shocking," but rather "double arousing." I think you get my drift.

Do you think the terrorists had a problem with American Culture? It's nice that we're doing away with it, so we don't make anyone angry.

Re:far sighted

[jgerman]

It's ironic that you say that. I'm all for punishment of those who were behind this atrocity, but I can't help watching the media with a critical eye. Last night I was watching a propaganda piece about muslims, listing their, in our culture "evil ways", basically pointing at them and saying look what they do they're DIFFERENT. All I could thing of was "five minute hate".

Do they even listen to the songs?

[Quila]

Banning 99 Luftballons/Red Balloons? These people are banning songs they've never even listened to. Are individual radio stations speaking out against this?

This reminds me of the episode of WKRP where they were told to stop playing, among others, John Lennon's Imagine because it referred to imagining there's no heaven or religion. You know, forget that the song is about world peace.

Re:Do they even listen to the songs?

[Pseudonym]

Banning 99 Luftballons/Red Balloons? These people are banning songs they've never even listened to.

You've heard the English version of the lyrics, right?

It's all over and I'm standing pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenier
Just to prove the world was here

Of course, personally, in this time of warrior rhetoric, I think the song is more apt than ever.

Re:Do they even listen to the songs?

[Quila]

Yeah, they did screw up the lyrics in the English version (not to mention her singing of it).

The song is about WWIII, the end of the world, by accident, telling us to be careful about running off to war without a real solid reason and target (it started by them at a concert in West Berlin, wondering what would happen if the balloons floating to East Berlin were thought of as hostile).

They took pretty much everything in the songs out of context.

Re:Do they even listen to the songs?

[ShavenYak]

For those of us who's knowledge of German begins and ends with 'gudentag', is there a more accurate translation of the original lyrics than the English version available on the web anywhere?

Re:Do they even listen to the songs?

[Knara]

It certainly does seem ridiculous that this song would be banned out of all the songs that _could_ be banned. A song that cautions us against going off to war. But then again, I suppose it could depend on the political leanings of the parent company. Right now military action against terrorists is a very popular line in politics, peaceful methods are out of style (which would be more effective is another discussion).

Besides, the Deutsche version is better. Translating songs always messes up the rhyme/rhythm of the song.

Re:Do they even listen to the songs?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's all over and I'm standing pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenier
Just to prove the world was here

And here is a red balloon
I think of you, and let it go...

For me, the last part of the song sums up a lot of the feelings I've had during this tragedy. Despite all the violence and senselessness, something fragile and beautiful survives: the spirit of New Yorkers, the heroism of the emergency crews, the coming together of people all over the world. These things survive.

Re:Do they even listen to the songs?

[Anonymous Coward]

>>Of course, personally, in this time of warrior rhetoric, I think the song is more apt than ever.

The song was made in a time were the cold war was still raging, the song is also a political statement AGAINST politicians / generals who just want to have war... As such I am not surprised that they ban the song. Hell it's left, and more than once I was told to "move to Kabul" because I didn't quite agree with full retaliation.

Welcome to the new world.

Re:Do they even listen to the songs?

[Anonymous Coward]

Are individual radio stations speaking out against this?

Are you *kidding*? Clear Channel owns hundreds and hundreds of stations, and they don't hesitate to um, 'decline to renew the contract' of personalities who don't toe the corporate line.

Being tasteless is perfectly fine. Having an opinion is, afaik, not.

It certainly isn't about producing quality radio. And CC is doing just fine for revenue, thank you very much.

Re:Do they even listen to the songs?

[Anonymous Coward]

We seem to forget that ClearChannel OWNS these radio stations and therefore can do whatever they damn well please with them. Personally I think this "censorship" is in rather good taste. And besides, how is somehow forcing ClearChannel to play these songs NOT censorship? Telling people what they have to say and telling them what they can't say aren't all that different. If you people want radio stations that don't "censor" your favorite songs, get your money together and buy your own stations.

Re:Do they even listen to the songs?

[BravoXL]

Dosent suprise me, look they banned Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World" one of the greatest songs ever. Terrible simply terrible.

Re:Do they even listen to the songs?

[csbruce]

The song is obviously a warning about the growing US-military reliance on Microsoft software:

Back at base
Bugs in the software
Flash the message
Something's out there

Good ol' media self-censorship

[stitch]

There is something incredibly wrong when the largest radio owner in the US censors songs like 'War Pigs', '99 Red Balloons' and even 'Blowin in the Wind' because of their anti-war lyrics. Not that I'm against a "war" (that's another post) but the fact that the company doesn't view Americans to be adult enough to cope with an anti-war(monger/pig) sentiment.

'Hey Joe' - cos it mentions a gun? Please!
'Sunday Bloody Sunday' - cos it criticises a slaughter of innocents!?!

Sad, sad times.

Re:Good ol' media self-censorship

[Anonymous Coward]

What is incredibly wrong is you people looking for civil liberties issues related to the aftermath of the most horrible civilian loss in US history. ClearChannel is obviously doing all those affected a favor. If you don't like what a privately-owned radio station is doing, buy yourself your own radio station and play whatever the hell you want. Its not like the FCC is banning these songs! You people should think before you post.

Damn censorship....

[aetherspoon]

Bah to it all. Why can't people just realize that human adults censor what is inputed in to their brains to begin with? I mean, come on! How does censoring music that has some relation to the NYC bombing help anything at all? Those people died for certain liberties and rights sort to speak- why take away what they died for just to try to soften the impact that they died?!!

If I died in a terrorist bombing in the United States, the supposed country of freedom, I would be rather offended that this country of freedom that I died in is now restricting it.

They took away the second amendment, but I didn't complain since I had no guns.
They took away the fifth amendment, but I didn't complain since I had nothing to fear from the courts.
They took away the first amendment, and I couldn't complain.

Re:Damn censorship....

[Drone-X]

How does censoring music that has some relation to the NYC bombing help anything at all? Those people died for certain liberties and rights sort to speak- why take away what they died for just to try to soften the impact that they died?!!

I fail to see how they died for certain liberties and rights. They died because terrorists had a problem with what those people's government was doing.

If I died in a terrorist bombing in the United States, the supposed country of freedom, I would be rather offended that this country of freedom that I died in is now restricting it.

Only US Americans themselves seem to fancy their freedom so much. This may be because a lot of other countries are enough/equally/more free than the US or this may be because other people haven't been thought to appreciate the freedom, but that's not important. What I do find important is that you shouldn't use those that died as an excuse to either invoke censorship or to stop censorship.

I can't comment on those last three lines because I don't know what they mean.

Re:Damn censorship....

[aetherspoon]

As I said... sort to speak.

They died from terrorists. You are absolutely right on that one. However, they died ... hmmm... let me think on how to phrase this correctly.

Because of certain freedoms, this act went on. I know it doesn't make much sense, but let me put it this way- if the US was a police state, this would not have happened. Yeah, its taking it to an extreme, but I can't think of a better way to illustrate what my reasoning behind my logic was in words.

The last three lines are to prove a point. We have the first amendment covering our rights to the government. Yes, the company can do what they wish since it IS their company, however that kind of thinking will get someone elected with the purpose to change the freedoms of the citizens of the United States.

What I do find important is that you shouldn't use those that died as an excuse to either invoke censorship or to stop censorship.
So instead you should let someone invoke censorship and not try to stop it? Maybe I didn't get the meaning of that line correctly... I'm not trying to use the people dying to stop censorship, I'm trying to get people to stop using the people dying as a reason to invoke censorship.

Re:Damn censorship....

[Drone-X]

Because of certain freedoms, this act went on. I know it doesn't make much sense, but let me put it this way- if the US was a police state, this would not have happened. Yeah, its taking it to an extreme, but I can't think of a better way to illustrate what my reasoning behind my logic was in words.

Trying to follow your reasoning, I think at most you could say they died because they live in a democracy and are thus indirectly responsable for their government's actions.

What I do find important is that you shouldn't use those that died as an excuse to either invoke censorship or to stop censorship.

So instead you should let someone invoke censorship and not try to stop it? Maybe I didn't get the meaning of that line correctly... I'm not trying to use the people dying to stop censorship, I'm trying to get people to stop using the people dying as a reason to invoke censorship.

This was more of a response to (something you said in your first post):

Those people died for certain liberties and rights sort to speak- why take away what they died for just to try to soften the impact that they died?!!

which sounds a lot like a justification for your cause (freedom) on the assumption that the people killed, died for that same cause.

Online radio

[Anonymous Coward]

Listen on AM or on the web to foreign radio like BBC (altho, even they are getting swept along in all this)

Re:Online radio

[rm-r]

Isn't it Ironic, dont you think?

What gets me is the large amount of songs which are only teniously related to this and the general anti-war (what is it good for?) songs on the list. It's almost as if the station is asking you not to think about the solution to this problem (IMHO it isn't bombing the shit out of a country which has had 20 years of having the shit bombed out of it)

I'm all for showing a little consideration, 'Leaving on a jet plane' is certainly guaranteed to upset someone who has lost a loved one, but any RATM song? this situation kind of reminds me of their song 'Bullet in the head' -Nothing proper 'bout your propaganda...

Re:Online radio

[snatchitup]

Better yet, listen to some truly original radio by The Man of a Thousand Voices

You'll be ??? for a few days, then become part of the ???? I won't say.

Not much else to say for radio except that it's the "Methadone Metronome" like TV.
-
Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy

Re:Online radio

[Zaknafein500]

Dave Matthews Band "Crash Into Me"

This just proves how ignorant radio execs are about music. This song in paticular has to do with a peeping tom, and nothing to do with a crash of any sort.

Re:Online radio

[CaseStudy]

So? Due to the title it's still in bad taste.

Re:Online radio

[Anonymous Coward]

I can see why RATM would get censored. Most, if not all, of their songs attack America, government, and pretty much everything but themselves (slight exageration). Hearing a band scream about how horrible and corrupt and oppressive the government is and how it should be destroyed in a war isn't exactly in good taste, no matter how good the guitars are.

Re:Online radio

[flufffy]

imho, people being protected (by authorities who claim to know better than them) from any form of information that might cause them to pause and think about the current situation, is partly what got us into this mess in the first place.

Re:Online radio

[yerktoader]

...and the general anti-war (what is it good for?)
Absolutely Nuthin! Say it again yall!

Re:Online radio

[4mn0t1337]

So,... Has no one from /. set up their own streaming server with all of those songs in the playlist?

Re:Online radio

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree, Phil Hendrie is the best thing on radio.

Re:Online radio

[reverius]

You think that is unrelated to the terrorist attacks? Try "Surfaris - Wipeout". :)

The song has no lyrics AT ALL except for the word "wipeout", like twice in the song. It's an instrumental surf song. NO LYRICS. :)

choice does not = censorship.

[bmongar]

Hey, they own those stations, so they have a right to choose what to play. If they think something is in bad taste, the won't play it. That's not censorship that's choice. The government hasn't told them not to play questionable songs, they decided it was in their best interest as a business or maybe in their interest as humans. This is not censorship this is a business esercising it's freedom to choose to do what it wants.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Stiletto]

What, it's only censorship if the government is doing it?

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Cary]

Or censoring what their DJs want to play. Or what I might call up and request.

ClearChannel's business tatics and huge market shared do NOT earn them the benefit of my doubt.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[pallex]

Yes. Thats exactly it. Otherwise another company/individual can do it. Its their choice what they play.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[JCMay]

Actually, yes, your statement is correct:

What, it's only censorship if the government is doing it?

Censorship is the act of government limiting the speech of its citizens by use of force. What's happening here is called a "management decision."

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[uberdood]

Are you aware of how many stations they own? Are you familiar with the concept of monopolies? ClearChannel owns most, if not all, of the music-oriented radio channels in my town.

It's sort of like the evil Simon owning most of the malls. It used to be fun to go to a different city's mall when on a business trip to kill the evening. (Ohhhh, I better not use that evil kill word.) Now most bloody (whoops) malls look pretty much the same. Most music stations sound pretty much the same these days - bland.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[imadork]

What, it's only censorship if the government is doing it?

Umm, yeah, that's kinda the definition.

The Censor is grated authority by some governing body, be it political or religious (in any case, not you), and tells you what you can or can't do with your own property and ideas, giving you no say in the matter.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[bradleyjay]

No, they're censoring what the HIRE their DJs to play.

Remember, they did not hire the DJ to sit in the studio and do whatever the hell he wants. The DJ is an employee like anyone else and does what he's told. If he doesn't, I suppose he's fired like any other employee also.

Like somone above sid, it's a business and obviously will be treated as such.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[tigrrl]

No, this is the abuse of monopoly power in the radio markets to control the content of what we are exposed to. It's corporate censorship, not government censorship.

It wouldn't be as *much* of a problem if Clear Channel weren't the Microsoft of the radio world. As it is, broad groups of people are effectively denied exposure to these pieces of music, without any viable feedback mechanism for voicing their dissatisfaction with the situation to the company.

And I am certain that the artists of these songs would certainly object to their suppression in this manner.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[TheAJofOZ]

Censorship is anything that stops you from saying what you want to say or hearing what you want to hear - or at least, that seems to be the attitude of most people who complain about censorship. All the same, it is rather silly to ban songs because of a terrorist incident. Life must go on or the terrorists win and most songs on the list really aren't so inappropriate that they could be said to be inciting terrorism.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[NMerriam]

It's their choice, but its still censorchip.

Censorship has nothing to do with the government, it has to do with the act of censoring.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[NMerriam]

Censorship is the act of government limiting the speech of its citizens by use of force.

No its not.

Censorship has nothing to do with the government, it has to do with the act of censoring.

I'm going to keep saying this until people get it, or pick up a dictionary.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[dwdyer]

Actually it is censorship, because stations are usually free to set their own playlists. That's why stations have program directors. When the PDs and jocks are choosing what to program, because they know their audience and local market best, that's "choice". It's "censorship" if corporate HQ is telling the stations "you can't play this". It's "choice" if they're telling the stations "we recommend you don't play this". The fact that the authority making and enforcing this decision is not the government -- that's a meaningless distinction.

Look up the definition of "censorship" if you still think that state censorship is the only kind. And guess what -- just because it's "censorship" doesn't mean it's illegal. State censorship is illegal (in the US at least), private censorship is legal. Your point should not be "it's not censorship" but "sure it's censorship, but it's perfectly legal". Or, "just because it's censorship doesn't make it bad".

Yes, they have the right to dictate to their stations that they play this or that song and not play others. The fact that they have the legal right to censor their stations doesn't make it reasonable nor sensible. I'm sure this list made them feel like they were doing something, however reactionary and pointless.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[skinny23]

Simply because the decision was not made by a government body does not mean it's not censorship. The airways are a natural resource, and when we give corporations the right to broadcast on them they have an obligation to give us a variety of choices. Once they start to limit (their already limited selection of choices) they are failing us and we should take the airways back and let someone that will provide us with better service take them over. This is all moot for me though, I never listen to the radio anyways. ;)

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[dwdyer]

No, it's not the definition -- did you read what you linked to? Where did it say "government"?

Answer: nowhere

You read that into it yourself.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Publicus]

That's a nice thought, but in my town Clear Channel owns more than half of the high power radio stations, AMFM owning the rest. The lines are blurred when there's that kind of market dominance - especially when most people aren't even aware of it. I understand their motivation here - but the amount of control they have over the distribution of culture really bothers me.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[(void*)]

I see. So if newspapers ran an untruthful account of you doing something borderline illegal, you writing in to correct them have no grounds to complain if they refuse to publish your rebuttal becuase the newspaper is not the government, and it isn't censorship.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Ded Bob]

So if newspapers ran an untruthful account of you doing something borderline illegal, ...

That is called slander. It would be time to sue if they did not post a retraction.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[NMerriam]

Remember kids, reading comprehension is part of the SAT, so start studying now:

Censorship has nothing to do with the government, it has to do with the act of censoring.

censor (snsr) "A person authorized to examine books, films, or other material and to remove or suppress what is considered morally, politically, or otherwise objectionable."

censored, censoring, censors
"To examine and expurgate."

Nowhere does it say government. The word "authorized" would apply to the company that owns the radio stations. They are authorized to censor their own stations, that doesn't make it any less an act of censorship.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[iamklerck]

Furthermore, if you don't like what they're doing, then the best thing to do is not turn on any Clear Channel-owned stations in your area. It's much like the DVD boycott that I've been supporting and involved for years now--the best and most American way to make Clear Channel change is to deprive them of advertising dollars. You do this by not tuning to their stations. This will cause their ratings to drop, and, subsequently, advertisers to not advertise.

The quickest way to get to any corporation is by hurting them where it hurts the most: the pocketbook.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[pallex]

How does someone who is not the government censor you? With what powers/rights?

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[datawar]

Funny how they left all the most popular songs that are the biggest grocers off the ban-list. I don't see one rap, R&B, or pop song anywhere on the list, in fact most of the list is classical rock, pop rock, and to a certain extent, heavy metal. Does this imply that they think all Rap/R&B/Pop songs are pro-peace, anti-violence, God-loving happy-music? *Ahem* 2Pac *Ahem*

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[CaseyB]

So, when they choose not to play Beethoven or Rammstein on "Lite Hits FM", it's censorship?

Give your head a shake. Censorship (in this obvious context -- boneheaded pedantic dictionary definitions aside) implies the denial of freedom. NO ONE'S freedom is being denied here. People don't have a RIGHT to hear the songs on that list from those radio stations.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[isorox]

My mp3 list randomified into a recent geeks in space yesterday. I decided to listen (It was about half way though when I got back into the room).

One of them (cant remember who), said something appropiate. You're on my turf, and uner my rules. No one is forcing you to go there (the website).

When a public entity (acting for the people) censors stuff, its bad. When a company censors stuff, you have the choice of not using htat companies services.

There are, however, exceptions. Mainly when that company is the only provider of a service in an area, and a local law prvents anyone from competing/it is impossible to compete.

It's not all bad though, companies are answerable. If a company refused to let a specific group of people use their services normally open to the public, then they will get into trouble.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[mjh]

What, it's only censorship if the government is doing it?

So what are you saying? That we need to make a law that forces Clear Channel to play those songs? To give equal time to that list? I hope that's not what you think.

If you're opposed to creating the law that forces certain songs to be played, then you are left to the will of the owner of the company to determine for themselves what they want or don't want to play. That's all there is to it. Either they have to freedom to choose which set of songs they want to play or they don't. Take your pick.

Either way, this isn't censorship.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[pallex]

They wouldnt be censoring me, because they are not the government. I do not have an automatic right to have what i write published by a private company.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Yorrike]

So you're saying (incorrectly, might I add), that if a parent prevents their child from listening to Slayer until they're at least 16, then that's not censorship?

Authority, moron, does not mean government. Firstly, actually read the dictionary.com definition, then I suggest you look up a few other words, such as "authority" and "govern".

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[platos_beard]

Right. And discrimination has nothing to do with race, religion, etc. Discrimination is just the act of making distinctions.

There's nothing wrong with discrimination defined this way and there's nothing wrong with censorship as you define it.

But that's not the way most people use these words.

A radio network has every right to decide what to play and what not to. No doubt they "censor" jazz and classical music as "99 Red Balloons". Fine. Take your ears elsewhere.

You need to apply more discrimination in your reaction to censorship.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[doonesbury]

Just to point this out: it's censorship when there's no other choices to broadcast that medium - even if the government is not doing the censorship. Clear Channel's a monopoly in some areas (see this Salon.com article and this one as well.) This means that while it's not government censorship, these songs are de facto censored in those areas.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[sunking2]

Umm..its only censorship if someone forces you to do it. Perhaps the owners/board of directors came upon this decision on there own? They are the ones in control of the company. At this point it is their choice. Just like you have the choice to listen to another station.

And don't give me crap about how the DJs are being censored by not being able to play the music they want. They are simple employees.

This may be silly, but it is not censorship and it has nothing to do with our civil liberties being violated.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Ded Bob]

It is censorship, but most people think of censorship when it comes from the government. That is where the confusion probably lies.

While it is commendable that they are trying to be considerate of those suffering, I still don't understand some of their choices:

1) Kansas "Dust in the Wind". This is song is more enlightening than sad.

2) Cat Stevens "Peace Train" & "Morning Has Broken". Cat Stevens?!? Since when were his songs inappropriate?

3) Neil Diamond "America". As others have pointed out, this is considered a patriotic song. You would think this would be required playing.

4) Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly". I don't know this song, but I noticed they didn't go after Pink Floyd "Learning to Fly". They longer version of the word must have confused them.

5) Frank Sinatra "New York, New York". Wouldn't this be considered inspirational?

Maybe everyone should find the ClearChannel station in their area and request a song off of this list.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[clare-ents]

The radio station is censoring it's DJ's.

It's DJ's have been told what they are and aren't allowed to play.

It has not censored the general public. Members of the public are still free to play and purchase those songs.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[vkt-tje]

I finally found someone still sane among the posters: Life must go on
It is beond any doubt that this incident is a tragedy without precedent. But if you are reading this, then you have survived and yout life will indeed go on. Then why not make the best out of it? Why not do the things you enjoy and have fun? Why not listen to any song you like?
Your Life Goes On, Enjoy It! as much as you can.
Even the President asked everyone to restart working and return to school, in other words continue with your life.
Even if this thing didn't kill you but it still stops you from living then the Bad Guys will have won. Don't let that happen. You are stronger.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[AnalogBoy]

3) Neil Diamond "America". As others have pointed out, this is considered a patriotic song. You would think this would be required playing.

Perhaps they're trying to be neutral and evoke as little "deep reflection" as possible. Some people might seek the radio to relax, not to be reminded. Just my $0.02

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[nanojath]

I agree completely. Nobody called ClearChannel stations' boring, repetetive, mainstream garbage marathon playlists censorship, even though there are literally millions of songs you would never have a snowballs chance of hearing because they are ethnic, or thoughtful, or somehow unique or striking in any way. Or because they aren't produced by a sufficiently huge media conglomerate to pay off the stations for the privilege of airtime.

Accusing ClearChannel of censorship is like accusing a colon of being full of shit.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Genom]

You left out Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" -- which I was *highly* suprised to see on the list -- that's always a highly requested song in times of trouble.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[CaseStudy]

That's not a violation of the First Amendment, though it might be a violation of the Sherman Act.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[NMerriam]

boneheaded pedantic dictionary definitions aside

So now using a word correctly is boneheaded and pedantic?

Censorship is censorship. If the negative connotations of that word make you feel uncomfortable about it, then feel free to call it "tasteful restraint", but don't say it's NOT censorship.

I'm simply trying to reign in the folks who somehow have it stuck in their head that "censorship == first amendment violation".

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

Radio stations have been using playlists for years. DJs are used to being told what they can and cannot play.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[FatOldGoth]

Cat Stevens "Peace Train" & "Morning Has Broken". Cat Stevens?!? Since when were his songs inappropriate?

I really hope the decision wasn't inspired by the fact that he converted to Islam.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[NMerriam]

My mother didn't want me watching woody woodpecker cartoons as a child because they were excessively violent. Therefore, she censored my TV watching.

She wasn't breaking the law, she had every right to do it as my mother. But she was stil censoring what i saw.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Brazilian Geek]

2) Cat Stevens "Peace Train" & "Morning Has Broken". Cat Stevens?!? Since when were his songs inappropriate?

Cat Stevens is now muslim and has always been revolutionary. Maybe that's what motivated this, ClearChannel might believe his songs may contain subliminal messages that might corrupt the USA's youth, this might be the same type of thinking that added "Walk Like and Egyptian" to the list.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[sqlrob]

A company that is using PUBLIC airwaves, and is a near monopoly in several areas?

If this were webcast or PPV, I'd agree with you, but it's not.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes you moron. This business CHOOSE to take this action. It is their decision because it is their radio station. If you don't like it a) stop listening to their stations b)let them know what you think of their decision.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[pallex]

In the broad definition of censorship you may have a point. But using that definition of censorship, you could just as well accuse someone on the same bus as you of censorship for standing up and getting in the way when you were looking at an advert!

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[NMerriam]

If I say someeone is very discriminating in what they buy, "most people" would completely understand what i'm saying.

I'm not even complaining about the pejorative connotations of the word censorship, i'm complaining about the VERY limited view of censorship that people here seem to have, making it synonymous with the first amendment. If it doesn't violate the first amendment it isn't censorship!

Censorship was around long before the constitution. I think Libertarian reeducation camp has really done a job on folks at slashdot, though.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

ClearChannel probably doesn't have stations which play those formats. None of the R&B/Hip-Hop stations in my area (Philadelphia) are owned by ClearChannel.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[solaris_system]

AMEN on that note.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[kin_korn_karn]

Cat Stevens also publicly supported the decisions of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini during the 80s. He's been an enemy of the right-wing reactionaries for years because of that.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[ThymePuns]

I don't remember who said it, but "The worst kind of censorship is self censorship."

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[h0mi]

"yes".

Or is it "censorship" when a R&B station decides NOT to put Rage Against the Machine songs on the air?

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[volpe]

Yes.

Or are you suggesting that you are *entitled* to hear the songs you want to hear, despite whether the station wants to play them?

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[jayhawk88]

If this were simply an arbitrary decision by Clear Channel to not play these songs anymore, then it would be OK, but clearly that's not the case. This is a reactionary move to save their stations and themselves nasty-grams from upset people who happened to hear "Learn to Fly" on the radio at the wrong moment.

Which is of course why this list is utterly ridiculous. As if these were the only songs that could be upset people about the attack. People hear what they want to hear from music, you can't protect them from it.

Still, it's not something to get upset over. There's no way songs like Imagine and Stairway to Heaven can now be banned forever from all Clear Channel stations. It's just a temporary CYA.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[CKW]

No. That's why we have anti-monopoly laws and the like. When one company controls so much, they begin to have more power over what you are free to do, because your choice is restricted. The entry barrier to the market that clear-channel has a near lock on is so high that your options are limited. Your only option is to give up listening to rock on the radio. That's like giving up playing video games because your only option is (or was) Microsoft.

Of course, the internet and mass colaboration may shift things slightly, but not if our personal distribution mechanisms keep getting suppressed.

(Monty Python sound-bite runs through my mind - "Help! Help! I'm being repressed!!".)

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[pallex]

BBC1 (a tv channel in the UK) uses public airwaves. Are you suggesting that unsigned bands are being censored because they dont broadcast every last demo they send in?
Censorship (to me) is when someone is prevented from expressing an idea by another body (ie the government). If someone approaches the band and threatens them with prison for playing a song, thats censorship.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Keith Mickunas]

I got to thinking that they don't like the song "America" because it has to do with others coming to America. You look at some of these choices, and they seem to be saying anyone different is bad. Apparently since some Muslims did this, they assume all Muslims are terrorists, or at least want to enforce that stereotype and that's why they are cutting "Walk Like an Egyptian". This is the stupidest reaction I've seen so far to the attacks, well maybe not as bad as Falwell and Robertson, but its damn close.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[SirGeek]

So if they chose to only play the songs of groups that blow them (pay "contributions") to their stations, thats ok ?

Having it as a "guideline" is one thing, telling their stations point blank is another. A guideline is fine (If it is that, a guide).

Once ANYONE starts proscribing what CAN / CAN NOT be played is censorship. If the stations have a choice, correct. But if they are told point blank they can't play something for an arbitrary reason, sorry. Its censorship

*thinking of the WKRP episode*

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[NMerriam]

A random person on the bus does not have the authority to censor me. Censorship is an act of authority.

My mother had censorship authority over me as a child, Clear Channel headquarters has censorship authority over their member stations.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[jekk]

> What, it's only censorship if the government is doing it?

Precisely.

Well, almost. Censorship can be practiced by any monopoly (the government has a monopoly on governing). So, for instance, if Microsoft were to include an ELUA with their OS that said you can't use an internet connection to disseminate info that criticizes M$, then that'd be censorship. But it is nearly always practiced by the government.

So if the government told radio stations to stop playing certain songs, then that's censorship. If the stations themselves decide not to play them then it's free speech! (Which includes the right NOT to say things that you don't want to!) The only exception would be if one company had what was effectively a monopoly on radio transmissions (I don't know... maybe 80% market share?). ClearChannel may come close, but they're not there yet.

-- Michael Chermside

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Jburkholder]

This is thesame conclusion I have been reaching recently. Yesterday's story about Cartoon Network pulling shows (and apparently Nickelodeon/Viacom too with Invader Zim) initially got me going in a 'what the hell are they thinking' mode. Now I am realizing that these are businesses making business decisions.

It doesn't make much sense from a 'what is the harm is playing these songs' viewpoint. But that isn't really the point, is it. What is the old saying, perception *is* reality. Right now many people are very emotional and extremely sensitive. The businessmen making these decisions to *temporarily* halt airing shows and playing songs are doing it for what they must think are valid business reasons.

I don't agree that running shows/songs will really do any real harm to anyone, but the perception must be that real or imagined, people will react negatively to certain content. Some people here are making comments that this kind of decision is gutless. Think about it though, are they motivated by people's perception of their intestinal fortitude, or by their stockholder's perception of their responsible handling of their financial charge?

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[operagost]

Right-wing reactionaries? Such as Islamic Fundamentalists? Such as Khomeni himself? Anyone who advocates torture, kidnapping and murder is an enemy of every good hearted human, liberal or conservative.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[omnirealm]

This was heavily debated at my school last year. I attend a conservative religious college with an Honor Code. A homosexual was kicked out of my school last year because his lifestyle violated the school's Honor Code. Every major newspaper in the region carried the story except for the school newspaper. The editors responded by saying that they sat down and decided that the story was not newsworthy, and so they did not print it. While the school administration did not dictate to the newspaper what they could or couldn't print, many said that this was an incident of self-censorship.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[JCMay]

Hrm. In my post I prodcue a working definition for "censorship," while you merely say that it "has to do with the act of censoring." First, what you said is vacuous because it's circular: something is X because it deals with X.

What you completely miss is the fact that nobody besides the government is capable of censoring in the way that most people think about censoring: completely removing an idea from public consumption.

Yes, there are things called network censors that "clean up" objectionable material from television, but these people are only able to do so for whatever network they work for. For example, last week FoxNews decided not to air videotape they had of the WTC buildings actually falling on people. This benevolent self-censorship is in my opinion A Good Thing; there was no need or reason to show individuals dying. Shepard Smith even said on-air that the tapes weren't fit for public consumption. The world is grotesque enough without adding to the horror.

When most people think of censorship, they envision Sovietesque repression. This malevolent brand of censorship is only possible when carried out by a government agency under threat of bodily harm. Individual outlets may choose not to carry an item, but there's always someone that will unless they're crushed by a larger power.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Jburkholder]

Certainly it is correct to say you censor yourself if you exercise "tasteful restraint" in comments you make in front your boss.

The networks employ censors that review content of shows and flag content that violates either FCC standards or even their own internal policies.

Censorship does have a negative connotation as one of the worst examples we were told of were toletarian [sp?] governments controlling newspapers and television to limit the information available to citizens.

So, it is indeed a question of semantics. When someone cries CENSORSHIP!! when a broadcaster decides what it wants to play or not play, they run the risk of being seen as overreacting by using a word that has a more common use and meaning that is perhaps inappropriate to describe what really happened.

Ok, the equine assault is now excessive.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[tswinzig]

What, it's only censorship if the government is doing it?

Yes! Well, it only really "counts" as censorship if the government is doing it. Those that complain about this showing that our first ammendment is being taken away really show how clueless they are.

Folks, I realize Clear Channel is big, but they aren't the government! If people want to listen to songs that remind them of WTC right now, they can buy a CD, or they can wait a few months and turn the radio on.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[iphayd]

You're completely right, as it is our right to complain about this, and boycott clear channel until they remove this list, as it is hindering healing, and those that do not want to hear a given song will change the station, wait for the song to be over, then change it back.

I personally change the station when I hear Danzig's "mother" as I've always interpreted part of the lyrics to be "If you want to fly to hell with me, I will show you what it's like." I realize that the lyrics are actually different, but this is what I hear.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[carlos_benj]

Censorship has nothing to do with the government, it has to do with the act of censoring.

I'm going to keep saying this until people get it, or pick up a dictionary.

OK. Here's your dictionary definitions according to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary:

1 : one of two magistrates of early Rome acting as census takers, assessors, and inspectors of morals and conduct
2 : one who supervises conduct and morals: as a : an official who examines materials (as publications or films) for objectionable matter b : an official (as in time of war) who reads communications (as letters) and deletes material considered sensitive or harmful
3 : a hypothetical psychic agency that represses unacceptable notions before they reach consciousness

Now, unless your contention is that Clear Channel is a Roman magistrate or a "psychic agency" (so Miss Cleo could be a censor?) censorship is not the issue since they are not operating in an "official" (read governmental) capacity.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Velex]

Exactly. Remember, although this is not government sponsored sensorship, this is the beginnings of it. Also remember, in the United States, and most of first world for that matter, the government is of the people, for the people, and by the people. Actions such as this indicate that the people believe in censorship. Therefore, why should a government of the people do anything different from what the people want?

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[HiThere]

I'm not sure. They have been granted a limited monopoly of the public airwaves. So I'm not at all sure that they should have the right to choose. All I can say for that, is that it's a tiny bit better than the government choosing. But a government sponsored monopoly should be required to have community support for their decisions. At least decisions that affect their interface with the community. Otherwise they should forfit their monopoly.

And I don't care that they "paid good money" for that frequency. So does anyone who pays a bribe. That shouldn't automatically entitle them to anything. Certainly they didn't pay enough to justify the grant of a monopoly. I'm not certain that that's possible. Monopolies need to be justified on the basis of the provision of needed services to a community in a way that cannot be done either freely or in competition. Most radio stations cause me to doubt that they are providing services to anyone besides their advertisers.

FWIW: I generally try to avoid listening to radios. They have declined steadily since the early 1950's. I'm told that it's really since the 40's, but I wasn't paying attention then. I used to spend hours listening to the radio. Now I just try to avoid it as much as possible. I'd rather be bored than inflict that stuff on me. It doesn't seem to matter much which station. That just changes the variety of "that stuff".

Now I'll admit that a part of the problem is that some of their services were taken over from TV, but seriously! TV has gotten so bad that radio could take them back. There are a few programs that are exceptions, but they are so rare that I don't bother looking for them. Well, truthfully, just because it's a good program doesn't mean that I'll like it. E.g.: I recognize that "Prarie Home Companion" is a good program. I just don't particularlly like most of it. But my not liking it doesn't mean that it isn't good. And radio is generally BAD! I know the difference, and it isn't whether or not I like it.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[imadork]

Yes, I read the definition. (parts of it follow...)

1.A person authorized to examine books, films, or other material and to remove or suppress what is considered morally, politically, or otherwise objectionable.

2.An official, as in the armed forces, who examines personal mail and official dispatches to remove information considered secret or a risk to security.

...

1. (Antiq.) One of two magistrates of Rome who took a register of the number and property of citizens, and who also exercised the office of inspector of morals and conduct.

2. One who is empowered to examine manuscripts before they are committed to the press, and to forbid their publication if they contain anything obnoxious; -- an official in some European countries.

censor n : a person who is authorized to read publications or correspondence or to watch theatrical performances and suppress in whole or in part anything considered obscene or politically unacceptable v 1: forbid the public distribution of; as of movies or newspapers [syn: ban] 2: subject to political, religious, or moral censorship; "This magazine is censored by the government"

I thought it was obvious that while they never said "Governments are the only ones that can censor", the root of the word lies in the Roman government and all the examples imply "authority" that only a government, secular or religious, can provide, and can compel compliance through the force of law. It can't be censorship if just one source is restricted, as in these radio stations, because the music is still legal, they're just not playing it for a while. Perhaps its not as obvious to others...

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[someone247356]

Actually it does.

It's self censorship as opposed to gov. censorship. THat the most dangerous kind.

If we want to avoid the problems of a single entity dictating what large numbers of people are exposed to we need to insure that there are many differnet voices on the airwaves. That was the point of the restrictions limiting the number of radio/television/newspapers a single company could control in a given market. Unfortunately, the powers that be changed all of that.

I get the feeling that large sums of money changed hands and once again we got what is better for large corporate interests, and worse for the common man.

Until we start voting large numbers of corporate whips OUT of government we can probably expect more of this....

Just my $0.02 (Canadian, before taxes)

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly. Business != government (not yet anyway). FYI, the company owns own the radio stations, not the government. They can play whatever they want to on them. If you don't like what they're doing, don't listen to them. If enough people get pissed off by what they're doing, they'll stop because their profits just disappeared.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

But since the Goverment has given the right to broadcast to only to a few companies and people, and not ALL companies and people.
If the majority on the companies won't play a song, then they use their goverment given right to censor.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[gorgon]

No, companies can censor. That why all of the US broadcast networks have people on staff who job title is "network censor" or something similar. Clear Channel is censoring its own playlists.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Sloppy]

What, it's only censorship if the government is doing it?

Usually. Censorship implies the use of force.

If I tell you, "shut up" it's not censorship, because you can ignore my ridiculous attempt to give you orders. I am nothing to you.

If we do a lot of business with each other and I tell you "shut up or else we're through" it's still not censorship. If you don't shut up and I follow through on my ultimatum and boycott you, that's just tough cookies. You can do business with my competitor, or find another field in which to make a living if my boycott makes your business too unprofitable, or whatever.

If I tell you, "shut up or else I will kill you" that is censorship, assuming my threat is credible. (It's also another type of crime as well.)

Whenever the government says "shut up or else you're in violation of law x" it is censorship, because

1. If you ignore the government, the government is always willing to escalate to force. (Try not showing up for court sometime, which results in arrest warrant, and then try resisting arrest when the armed cops come to your house, and see what happens.)
2. The government's threat is credible.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[CapnGib]

EXACTLY. The programming broadcast by a media company is their voice, and it is not only their right, but their responsibility to edit their programming to conincide with the message they want to convey. If they feel certain songs are inapropriate given the state of things, it is well within their right to remove those songs from rotation.

Corporate radio (except for howard stern) is crap anyway. Go listen to a college radio station, or NPR.

Go read the salon article.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[NMerriam]

censorship is not the issue since they are not operating in an "official" (read governmental) capacity

Why read governmental? If the definition was "governmental" wouldn't they have used that word?

Does the owner of Clear Channel not have an official status to dictate what may or may not be broadcast at subsidiary stations? Does being official make him part of the government?

censor (snsr) "A person authorized to examine books, films, or other material and to remove or suppress what is considered morally, politically, or otherwise objectionable."

censored, censoring, censors
"To examine and expurgate."

Nowhere does it say government. The word "authorized" would apply to the company that owns the radio stations. They are authorized to censor their own stations, that doesn't make it any less an act of censorship.

Censorship has nothing to do with freedom of speech, the first amendment or the government.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Kristopher Johnson]

If the government or another external organization tells Clear Channel that they can't play certain songs, that's censorship.

If Clear Channel decides not to play certain songs, that's editorial control; not censorship.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[sqlrob]

Let's see:
These were previously played songs (not demos) that express an idea. And its expression is being prevented. That doesn't fit your idea of censorship?

Why does it have to have jail time to be censorship?

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Seraph]

That is called slander.

Actually, that is called libel. Slander is verbal; libel is printed. Same concept, different method of delivery.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if the artists feel the same way.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[NMerriam]

. In my post I prodcue a working definition for "censorship," while you merely say that it "has to do with the act of censoring." First, what you said is vacuous because it's circular: something is X because it deals with X.

Well, gosh i wouldn't want you to go to all the trouble of typing in the word censor at dictionary.com. here, let me cut and paste for you:

censored, censoring, censors
"To examine and expurgate."

I assumed people were familiar with the physical and mental act -- the process of actually sorting and deleting or prohibiting. All I was pointing out is that the ACTOR (the Censor) has no requirement to be a government agent.

For example, last week FoxNews decided not to air videotape they had of the WTC buildings actually falling on people. This benevolent self-censorship is in my opinion

So you insist that a company cannot be a censor, and then provide an example of a company censoring itself. Clearly you understand the use of the word censorship, you're just focused on the notion of "bad" and "good" and want to thus foster all the "bad" connotations off on government.

When most people think of censorship, they envision Sovietesque repression.

When most people think of the word "propoganda" they think German WW II propoganda. That doesn't make it any more representative of the meaning of the word propoganda.

Please keep in mind -- i didn't start this conversation because I thought someone was using a word incorrectly and felt like being the grammar police. I am defending the original posters against self-styled "censorship" police who have been insisting the first posters were incorrect in using that word. The first posters were not incorrect.

I just prefer not to see people vehemently asserting their limited understanding of a word as the only "acceptable" definition.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Jeremi]

Either they have to freedom to choose which set of songs they want to play or they don't. Take your pick.

You're trying to reduce the situation to only two courses of action when there are in fact many. In particular: ClearChannel has the right to censor its member stations, and we (the listening public) have the right to criticize them for doing so.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[flatrock]

I suppose if you decide you don't want to play country music on your car stereo, that's censorship too?

No one is telling the radio stations they can't paly that music. The radio stations are choosing not to play that music. THis is likely not even a long term plan. They just don't feel that the music is appripriate at this time.

It's their radio station, it's their choice, it's their right to make that decision.

They aren't keeping you from listening to this kind of music, got buy the album, or even better, you might be able to rent it from your local library.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Sentry21]

No, this is the abuse of monopoly power in the radio markets to control the content of what we are exposed to. It's corporate censorship, not government censorship.

That's not right at all. As a corporation, they are allowed to play or not play whatever they want. They could play the same Brittney Spears song 24 hours a day if they wanted to, it's their choice.

They don't have to play any of those songs, and you don't have to listen. That's how capitalism works.

They're probably just doing this so they don't get sued by profiteers who suffered 'emotional trauma' after hearing one of these songs on the radio; a wise move, considering how happy the US courts are to hand out large sums of money to idiots who like to spill coffee on themselves.

--Dan

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[flatrock]

You have viable feedback, you're consumers. Radio stations make money from advertising. If you don't like what a radio station is playing, listen to a different station.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, so let's see.

Guy likes Rage Against The Machine.
Guy calls radio and asks that they play, say, "Freedom".
DJ tells the guy he can't play that song.
Guy asks why.
DJ says 'because'.

Better yet, a whole bunch of people want to listen to it and can't.

What is the difference between government censorship and private censorship, at the end of it? You still aren't able to fucking hear the song.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

"A homosexual was kicked out of my school last year because his lifestyle violated the school's Honor Code."

And you stayed? You give money to people who do this? Have you no honor?

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Mr. Foogle]

It bothers me too. I made an effort to take their crap stations off of my car's presets and find 'other' stations in the Dallas area.

I have not listened since.

Know what? There is some really good radio out there. Public broadcasting, community radio, a charming effort by a public school system, local DJs who could be your neighbor.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[TGK]

Self Censorship. Discuss.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Panaflex]

I guess you couldn't go get an FCC license, an FM exciter, and stick an antennae on a tower and play your song?

Yes there is a LOT of private censorship going on in the taste department. Not even "That'll be the day" survived.

But your rights have not been trampled. Switch stations. Do your own thing if you believe in it!

Pan

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[JLouder]

No, this is the abuse of monopoly power in the radio markets to control the content of what we are exposed to.

You're right, some broadcasting companies have almost become monopolies. I live in Orlando, where there are about six Clear Channel stations.

If we don't like this, we should tell our senators and representatives that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 [fcc.gov], which tried to reduce telco monopolies by opening competition, has helped to create radio monopolies by removing the limit on the number of stations a company may own nationwide.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

No, this is the abuse of monopoly power in the radio markets to control the content of what we are exposed to.

What you say is true, but the right course of action here is to attack the root of the problem: The monopolization and consolidation within the radio market (and the media at large, for that matter).

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[MaxVlast]

"America" is a great song, but I can see why they chose that. (From memory, there's a line like 'on the boats and on the planes, they're coming to America'). That's a little scary sounding =)

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[KaiserSoze]

No, this is the abuse of monopoly power in the radio markets to control the content of what we are exposed to. It's corporate censorship, not government censorship.

Dude, if you thought that radio was ever anything but a monopoly, I'm sorry that this shattered your worldview. The truth is, radio stations are beggars living off of the scraps that the music industry hands their way. They live and die by their advertisers and hoping that Britney will do an appearance at their studio when her tour comes to town. Of course, not all stations play Britney, so substitute Staind, or perhaps Mary J. Blige as appropriate. Clear Channel is worse than most; I mean Christ, just the other day I figured out that they own exactly half of the radio stations on my first FM presets in my car!

Now, we can look at this as a conspiracy to shove more N'Sync and Britney down our throats, or we can see this as an enormous corporate arm that's attempting to sweep up as much money as it can, and that means: don't piss off the advertisers. If even one advertiser thinks a song is inappropriate, and pulls his ads, that's most likely too much for Clear Channel.

Now, Clear Channel can broadcast anything they want, its their company and they own the airwaves, but that doesn't mean that the American public has to like it. If people called in and said, I'm not listening to you anymore because what you're playing sucks, and I'm certainly not going to patronize the advertisers that subsidize this crap, well then maybe they would get it through their executive heads that this is a bad idea. Or you could call up the businesses who advertise and say that you would not support any business that advertises on a Clear Channel station. This is all idealogical claptrap, but it is a solution, albeit not a realistic one.

I'd like to thank our great government for listening to the radio media in their time of need and graciously deregulating radio so that Clear Channel had the opportunity to now own, what, a third of the FM bandwidth? More than a third? Anyways, I'd like to thank the government for that. I'd also like to give a shout-out to my homey Orrin Hatch for the DMCA, and all the other playa pros in Congress who are working tirelessly for the rights of the RIAA, the MPAA, and the BSA. Peace.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[mOdQuArK!]

Hmm...I think you're missing the point of the concept "monopoly".

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think he may have been referring to the right-wing reactionaries in the U.S. But I may be wrong...

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Tackhead]

> Yes, there are things called network censors that "clean up" objectionable material from television, but these people are only able to do so for whatever network they work for. For example, last week FoxNews decided not to air videotape they had of the WTC buildings actually falling on people.

And while we're at it.

RANT:

I'm saying "Holy SHIT!" over and over again as soon as I wake up. And I'm noticing the networks bleeping the videographers saying "Holy fucking SHIT!" when they see the planes go in or the towers go down. Or worse, not bleeping them and then apologizing for the language after the fact.

I questioned the point of this to someone, who replied that "well, there might be children listening."

At that particular moment, they showed a jumper falling to his or her death.

Which is where I lost it.

"Yeah, good thing the children don't have to worry about hearing someone say 'fuck' or 'shit' after watching 5000 people murdered, over and over again, from 20 camera angles, some of whom chose a 1000-foot freefall to their deaths rather than being incinerated alive. And you're worried about exposing them to naughty language? Where the - FUCK, yes, 'FUCK' - are your priorities?"

*end rant*

I'm not proud for having lost it. But I just couldn't believe what I'd heard.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[junkgrep]

If they are indeed a monopoly (especially if they are a government sponsored one, as favoritism from the FCC could well be argued) then they have just as much power to censor music as the government. The fact that we call one entity the government and another entity a corporation makes little difference if the authority is the same.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Snaller]

Accusing ClearChannel of censorship is like accusing a colon of being full of shit.

I.e. true.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[carlos_benj]

You're correct. I did read too much into the term "official".

The difficulty I have, if we go with the broader definition of censorship, is the knee-jerk reaction that what Clear Channel is doing is reprehensible. The intent of this "ban" appears to be akin to the way most people choose their words carefully around someone who has suffered a recent loss.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, they own those stations, so they have a right to choose what to play.

Actually, we the public own the airwaves. We permit them a monopoly on frequency through the power of the FCC. Take that away and they would have to struggle to get "clear" broadcasting space over the transmitters of hundreds of amateur operators. They could not exist without our explicit grant of that monopoly and the taxpayer's funds for the government office that enforces that monopoly. Originally there were many small radio stations and they had to compete with each other for listeners. Now that ccc owns just about everyone's radio station, they compete with themselves.

So, yes, it is censorship. Have you read the list? It looks like a comprehensive run-down of the cultural criticism in music of the last 30 years. It casts such a wide net that almost any topic is banned. I don't think their true objective is to do anything other than satisfy some corporate fuckwit's need to look like he's doing something useful.

Personally I think it's time we broke the monopoly up and sent the stockholders home with their little heads in their hands. What passes for business practice in radio these days is revolting.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[M-G]

You have viable feedback, you're consumers

Hahahahaha! Tell me you're not serious. Radio stations make their money by packaging nice demographic groups to sell to advertisers. Advertisers are the consumers in radio, and the listeners are the product.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

I.e. true.

Gosh! Thanks for clearing that up for me, Einstein! I'd have never figured it out without your help! Hey, while you're at it, could you give me a hand with my math homework: What's 2+2?

Dumbass.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[vb.warrior]

I'm listening to Learn to Fly by the Foo's right now and as far as I can tell its about someone going away to sort themselves and there life out.

e.g.
"..make my way back home when I learn to fly"
"run and tell the angels that everything is alright.."
Also 'Brain Stew' by Green day is clearly a song about insomnia:

"I'm having trouble trying to sleep, Im counting sheep but running out"
Jon

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

You are so obviously are misinformed regarding the Liebeck vs. McDondalds' case. I'm sick of hearing this used as an example of frivolous lawsuits... it was anything but. McD's, after their own research indicating that it was extremely dangerous to do so, made it policy to consistently hand consumers foam cups filled with, well, what might as well have been hot lava. If you got your crotch burned off as a result of this, regardless if you were at partial fault, wouldn't you pursue the case to keep others from being hurt? To keep other corporations from making policy decisions without regard to safety for the consumer? I daresay I would.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm going to keep saying this until people get it, or pick up a dictionary.

Your last name is "Merriam".

"Merriam-Webster" prints dictionaries.

You're a spammer, aren't you?

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like an antitrust issue, not a censorship issue. The FCC used to limit how much of a given market one company could control, but those rules got jettisoned some time after 1992.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[ethereal]

No "Learning to Fly" by Tom Petty, either, although I see that "Free Fallin'" is out. All of these songs seem to have been picked by people who never actually sat through them. Then again, that doesn't really surprise me for network radio executives :)

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[johnslater]

> 5) Frank Sinatra "New York, New York". Wouldn't this be considered inspirational?

Scott Simon played this on NPR's Weekend Edition on Saturday, a show not usually big on music. He followed it with a comment along the lines of "I don't know, I just somehow needed to hear that".

An inspired choice, if not inspirational.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[vivekb]

I think the point of this is that Clear Channel doesn't want people changing away from their stations. So, they came up with a list of songs that might make people stop listening, and then suggested that maybe DJ's don't play those songs. Sounds fair enough, especially for a company who's primary goal is to homogenize a marketplace to prime it for advertisers (rather than just play music).

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[CleverNickName]

If you don't like what a radio station is playing, listen to a different station.

This is great in theory. However, in practice, it's not that simple. If you live in a city like Los Angeles, and you prefer "Alternative" music, your choices are KROQ and ...KROQ.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

Moded!

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Schaffner]

All radio stations "censor" themselves in what they'll play. For example, a 50's oldies station won't be playing much from "Rage Against the Machine". They play what they think is appropriate for their station. Usually a station has a program director that has some input on this.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[uberdood]

geez. where's a moderator's redundant point when it is needed.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[kwdmb]

True. But if I had heard "What A Wonderful World" last Wednesday it would have depressed me so much I probably would have jumped under a bus. It's not just a question of taste or censorship, it's also a question of our current level of emotional sensitivity.

It's like that John Cusak movie, "Better Off Dead". At one point Blane's girlfriend has just dumped him for a ski jock and no matter what station he turns to on his car radio, some sappy breakup song is playing. He eventually gets so depressed that he yanks the stereo out of the dashboard with his bare hand and throws it out the window. I think Clear Radio is trying to prevent that kind of thing.

Re:choice does not = censorship.

[Anonymous Coward]

You are correct, but fail to see the BIG picture.
the reason those "types" of music aren't being
targeted/victimized is that the Melting Pot
strategy is being pushed as an ultimate solution to "hate crimes".
Insofar as it is a sociological problem to hate others not of your racioethnic heritage, but
a psycological problem to hate others within your racioethnic profile OR yourself, and sociological problems are harder to solve (larger) than smaller (small groups or self) are.
It seems well-intentioned that this "blending"
is being pushed in ALL strata of life, but I have
to ask, being me, when all of us are "mutts" isn't
the top dog/cat still going to be a purebred?

This really made my day

[Mik!tAAt]

- All Rage Against The Machine songs
- Dio "Holy Diver"
- Van Halen "Jump"
- Queen "Another One Bites the Dust"
- Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
- The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da" (???)
- Simon And Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"

Oh please.

Re:This really made my day

[Dimensio]

I think that I can understand 'Obla Di, Obla Da'. One of the lines in the song is 'Life goes on.' and I suppose that Clear Channel thinks that such advice is a bad idea, and might get people out of a blind murderous rage against all Arabs.

How dare we think that people should move on with their lives at some point.

Re:This really made my day

[Drath]

The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da Clearly advocates Crossdressing with the lyric (and I'm paraphrasing)
"Desmond comes home and does his pretty face and in the evening she still sings it with the band"
This bluring of genderlines could confuse already tramautized children. Why doens't anyone ever think of them?

Re:This really made my day

[Anonymous Coward]

obl = Osama Bin Laden

ac

Partial list?

[/Wegge]

Is the posted list of banned songs complete? One of the more obvious candidates, "First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin" by Manfred Mann is missing.

Re:Partial list?

[Cary]

This is probably analogous to censorware for blocking web sites.

I'm a gamer and the blocking software used at my workplace blocks Wizards of the Coast's website (they are the biggest game company, the makers of Dungeon's and Dragons). But none of the smaller companies.

Obscure songs are probably not on the list. Do you really thing they had time to go through EVERY song they MIGHT every play or have requested? Keep in mind they own a buttload of stations.

Of course the flip side of this is that they homogenize things so much, maybe they did have time since the play lists are so small. :-(

Re:Partial list?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wasn't that Leonard Cohen who wrote that, not Manfred Mann?

Absent from the list is the Dead Milkmen's "Violent School", with these offensive lines:

1000 people gather in the streets of Manhattan
The lights go out, guess what happens
It's time to steal, it's time to shoot
It's time to rob, taste my boot

Then again, the Dead Milkmen are not exactly mainstream...

Re:Partial list?

[Merkins]

Hate to be picky, but I do believe "First we take Manhattan" is by Leonard Cohen.

Re:Partial list?

[poemofatic]

I though that was a Leonard Cohen song..

Re:Partial list?

[syrinx]

"First We Take Manhattan" is by Leonard Cohen.

Possibly Manfred Mann covered it though. *shrug* I know R.E.M. did a pretty good cover of it once.

Re:Partial list?

[p_christ]

also i noticed 'I'll sink Manhattan' by they might be giants isn't there either. although you're not likely to hear that on a clear channel station anyway.

Re:Partial list?

[gorilla]

Actually that's a Leonard Cohen song, though it's been covered by many different artists.

Re:Partial list?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well in that case the cure's killing an arab is missing too...

Re:Partial list?

[Luminous]

And what about the theme song to 'Muppets Take Manhattan'?

Re:Partial list?

[Anonymous Coward]

"why not the theme to 'muppets take manhattan'." that is the funniest things I have heard in weeks.

Re:Partial list?

[Evangelion]

Awesome cover, actually. It was on the I'm Your Fan tribute album.

If you want another awesome disc of Cohen covers, check out Tower of Song, although amazon currently lists it as out of print. It contained an awesome cover of Famous Blue Raincoat by Tori Amos.

Re:Partial list?

[xinit]

I didn't think about the Muppets connection... maybe Animal was involved, and if not, that Doctor Honeydew has always worried me. Heh.

Re:Partial list?

[Tackhead]

> One of the more obvious candidates, "First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin" [... is missing]

As long as we're talking about Leonard Cohen...

The Future should be required listening.

Give me back the Berlin wall
give me Stalin and St Paul
I've seen the future, brother:
it is murder.

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
The blizzard, the blizzard of the world
has crossed the threshold
and it has overturned
the order of the soul

Re:Partial list?

[BinxBolling]

Is the posted list of banned songs complete? One of the more obvious candidates, "First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin" by Manfred Mann is missing.

They probably didn't bother to "ban" any songs that their stations would never play, anyways.

It's a Sin

[donabal]

Comment:
It's a Sin - Pet Shop Boys.

Re:It's a Sin

[Genom]

How is a song about a youngster's rage against themself and their father related to recent events?

?

Re:It's a Sin

[donabal]

its a sin... .thats its come to this.

man. think a level higher.

--donabal

They're a PRIVATE COMPANY

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not censorship if the government isn't dictating it; it's editorializing.

Re:They're a PRIVATE COMPANY

[Anonymous Coward]

ClearChannel is expressing their opinion through the songs it chooses to play.

Are you saying that these opinions should not be allowed?

Re:They're a PRIVATE COMPANY

[Anonymous Coward]

From M-W.com

One entry found for censorship.

Main Entry: censorship
Pronunciation: 'sen(t)-s&r-"ship
Function: noun
Date: circa 1591
1 a : the institution, system, or practice of censoring b : the actions or practices of censors; especially : censorial control exercised repressively
2 : the office, power, or term of a Roman censor
3 : exclusion from consciousness by the psychic censor

And, for "censoring"

One entry found for censor.

Main Entry: 2censor
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): censored; censoring /'sen(t)-s&-ri[ng], 'sen(t)s-ri[ng]/
Date: 1882
: to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable

I don't see the word "government" in there.

Eh?

[SomethingOrOther]

The list to me reads like some bloody good rock music. Sabbath, Floyd, Queen etc. Dare I be so cynical as to say that this is just a lame attempt for stations to push the latest manufactured crap?

Heard about this yesterday

[Cando]

In NYC, WNEW afternoon jocks Opie and Anthony were discussing this yesterday. I understand that people can be cruel sometimes, but I don't see what these songs have to do with anything. There is nothing horrible about Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'" or Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky". This is just overly-PC corporate america at it's best. They are so concerned with not offending anyone. Yes, the whole debacle of 9/11/01 is awful, but banning pop songs that had nothing to do with it? Please! If people want to joke and be cruel in the wake of these events, they will. I heard a joke last night when I stopped for gas. I was tempted to hit the jerk who told it, but I figured it was just his way of dealing with everything.

Re:Heard about this yesterday

[ebh]

Not only that, "Spirit in the Sky" is, for all intents and purposes, a prayer:

You can see the lyrics here.

Re:Also

[plague3106]

No...those are the good metallica songs. Not the crap they play today..

Mirror?

[big_cat79]

Can somebody mirror the list or post it or something? Fuckedcompany.com is Websensed as tasteless here at work.

Re:Mirror?

[FatalException]

f---edcompany.com?

Re:Mirror?

[JCMay]

At least your company tells you why they're blocking it. We just get a boilerplate message saying that the site is inappropriate.

In any case, you beat me to the punch on this one.

Re:Mirror?

[pallex]

www.safeweb.co.uk
(use https if your company blocks http)

Cultural bias?

[griblik]

I notice The Cure's "Killing an arab" made it thru...

Re:Cultural bias?

[bradleyjay]

But the Clash's 'Rock the Casbah' did not...
Go figure...Damn, actually both are good songs.

Re:Cultural bias?

[prizog]

And "4.37 am (Arabs with Knives and West German Skies)", by Roger Waters is also not listed....

Conspiracy!

Re:Cultural bias?

[Quila]

And it's not even about killing an Arab!

What, did they actually listen to this song and let it through as opposed to all the others?

Re:Cultural bias?

[Mike Connell]

> And it's not even about killing an Arab!
> What, did they actually listen to this song and let it through as opposed to all the others?

http://thecure.aberration.org/words/lyrics/k/kil li nganarab.shtml

"Staring down the barrel
At the arab on the ground"

and from the chorus (sung three times):

"I'm the stranger
Killing an arab"

Re:Cultural bias?

[tb3]

Yeah, and the Clash's "Rock the Casbah".

Re:Cultural bias?

[AnalogBoy]

Im not sure where you are or what CC does in your area, but i've never heard that song played here. Its possible CC just looked at their list of "Currently rotating songs" or the equivilant songbank, and selected those songs which may offend the sensibilities of some of their listeners and cause them to lose on the bottom line by losing listeners. Personally, i think they're trying to appeal to the "Lowest common denominator"

Re:Cultural bias?

[LinuxHam]

I notice The Cure's "Killing an arab" made it thru...

DAMMIT, you beat me to it! :) Opie and Anthony in New York were also playing the list during the evening drive time, and adding some of their own, like "Ahab the Arab". I IM'ed them asking them to play Killing an Arab.. my tape backups beckoned so I never found out if they played it after all.

I would have definitely put that one near the top of the list..

Re:Cultural bias?

[Ringwraith]

I think it's actually about the Camus book "The Stranger." The main character kills an Arab for no real reason, other than it was hot out. (Gross simplification.) But maybe that's just me. That was the first song I thought of though -- funny it's not on the list

Re:Cultural bias?

[datacide]

Yes, it is based on The Stranger.

I remember that song getting a lot of airplay during the messiness ten years ago. I also remember seeing stickers on their compilation CD Staring at the Sea here in the U.S. saying something to the effect of "The Cure do not condone the use of 'Killing an Arab' for racist sentiment."

The novel, of course, isn't racist at all, and neither is the song -- if you have that context. If not, well, The Cure did set themselves up for misinterpretation.

Re:Cultural bias?

[Ringwraith]

Thanks for the confirmation. I never realized it until I actually got around to reading The Stranger a few months ago, and though "hey, this is like that Cure song." For what it's worth, my sister is a bartender and she said they had to pull the Staring at the Sea CD out of their jukebox. Go figure.

Re:Cultural bias?

[elefantstn]

Yeah, but they never play it anyway, so what's the point of banning it? I mean, they didn't ban "Never Be Rude To An Arab" by Monty Python either, did they? Nor did they ban "I Wanna Shoot Afghans" by some crappy garage band from Nebraska. It didn't get banned because it never got played to begin with.

Not that it's a bad song, of course. I love it. But it's not "Friday I'm In Love," so don't expect to hear it from your local commercial station anytime soon.

Re:Cultural bias?

[ceswiedler]

Those lyrics are a reference to the novel "The Stranger" by Albert Camus, a french existentialist writer. The main character, Meursault, finds an Arab man on the beach and kills him for no reason at all.

Re:Cultural bias?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not that it's a bad song, of course. I love it. But it's not "Friday I'm In Love," so don't expect to hear it from your local commercial station anytime soon.

I heard it about twice a month on an Infinity station during their 80's lunch hour show.

Re:Cultural bias?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yah, but neither did Siouxie and the Banshee's Cities of Dust.

Probably because it's about Pompeii, but you never know how some nut may interpret things.

Re:Cultural bias?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but so did "American Woman".

Re:Cultural bias?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think they only bothered with songs that they might concievably have played under normal circumstances.

Re:Cultural bias?

[Mike Connell]

I know axactly what the lyrics refer to. I was pointing out that the statement "And it's not even about killing an Arab!" is wrong.

It's no big deal

[alen]

this kind of thing always happens. After Columbine movies with people in black trench coats were bad. I forgot what happened after Oklahoma City. In the 80's Ozzy got a lot of flack because supposedely someone killed himself after listening to suicide solution. Iron Maiden used to get labeled as devil worshipper's. Elvis'e hips were evil. The Doors became famous on Ed Sullivan.

I'm 27 and still listen to Ozzy and Iron Maiden. And somehow I'm still alive and don't worship the devil.

Re:It's no big deal

[ScumBiker]

I'm 42 and still listen to Ozzy and Iron Maiden. I guess this makes me satan or something.

Is this targetted at me?

[Tet]

The first half of the list looks like someone's reading out my record collection :-) That said, it's not going to affect me anyway because:

• I'm not in the USA
  
• I don't listen to the radio
  
• Even if I did, there aren't any radio stations that play my preferred music (apart from Totalrock, but back in January they switched to broadcasting in a format only usable by Windows Media Player, so that put a stop to that)

lmfao

[pipeb0mb]

John Lennon "Imagine"
Bobby Darin "Mack the Knife"
Surfaris "Wipeout"

This is classic. What a wonderful spoof!

Re:lmfao

[pipeb0mb]

Dammit.
Whay can't we edit our postings.

This is obviously a spoof; again, no source other than a site known for its conjecture and lunacy (not /., but FC).

Not even Grudge would print this...

Re:lmfao

[Anonymous Coward]

hahaha Cat Stevens "Morning Has Broken" made the list. This is too funny to be real.

WTF!

[scott1853]

I listen to one of their stations here in central NY, The Nerve and they play a lot of these songs, or they used to.

The fact that they banned Don McLean's "American Pie" really outrages me. This is one of America's songs. I used to like this song when I was 6 and I still do. Sorry if it's not like "Don't Worry, Be Happy" but jeesh.

BTW, I didn't read any articles, is this ban permanent?

Re:WTF!

[DiS[EnDeR]]

Except the Fact tha Don McLean is Canadian, and it was never intended to be an American Song...

Re:WTF!

[jfunk]

The fact that they banned Don McLean's "American Pie" really outrages me. This is one of America's songs.

Don McLean is Canadian...

Re:WTF!

[Sorny]

Last I checked, Canada is in the Americas :)

Re:WTF!

[TheGratefulNet]

american pie is about buddy holly dying and how the whole music scene has just changed; its not about the end of the world in the literal sense.

if this list was created by artificial intelligence, then someone should upgrade its code - I don't see much intelligence here at all.

Re:WTF!

[inquis]

haha, when i saw american pie i was like 'irony alert'!

first, it looks like they banned the original but not madonna's deplorable, vomit-worthy remix; and also maybe it was before my time, but american pie was an anti-war song in the first place, right?

hmm, banning anti-war hymns... a good idea in this time of national focus-to-go-kick-some-ass, right?

-inq

Re:WTF!

[seann]

lol...
thank aplath we're not part of america, your government is wierd.
"He won! no wait.. we can't add, the other guy is now president!"

Re:WTF!

[Anonymous Coward]

Typical self-righteous Canadian response. You people and your holier than though bullshit is really getting old.. especially at a time like this.

Good taste is obviously subjective.

[Alt_Cognito]

In good taste, please stop hanging signs of Christianity up all over the place. No more open prayers... etc... Stop assaulting me with unbridled patriotism. It's all free speech and so long as it doesn't stand a very good chance of instigating a violence, just let it be.

Re:640WGST in Atlanta was making fun of the list..

[Evil MarNuke]

LOL!! The kimmer would make jokes about anything!! If wasn't for the Kimmer and Art Bell i would never listen to WGST. And 96 Rock, peach 94.9 and the rest suck ass anyways.

er, sorry man, but SUNDAY BLOODAY SUNDAY???

[BaptistDeathRay]

A song that comes out squarely AGAINST mass bloodshed? Yep, that U2 is one of the most pro-terrorist bands I've ever heard. We need to ban 'em, but QUICK.

Sheesh.

Re:er, sorry man, but SUNDAY BLOODAY SUNDAY???

[JWhitlock]

Here's the lyrics:

I can't believe the news today,
I can't close my eyes and make it go away.
How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long? Tonight we can be as one.
Broken bottles under children's feet,
Bodies strewn across a dead end street,
But I won't heed the battle call,
It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

And the battle's just begun,
There's many lost, but tell me who has won?
The trenches dug within our hearts,
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long, Tonight we can be as one.
Tonight, tonight.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

Wipe the tears from your eyes,
Wipe your tears away,
Wipe your blood shot eyes.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

And it's true we are immune.
When fact is fiction and T.V. is reality,
And today the millions cry,
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die.
The real battle just begun.
To claim the victory Jesus won,
On a Sunday bloody Sunday,
Sunday bloody Sunday.

Are they anti-war? ( "But I won't heed the battle call, / It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall." )

Do they just acknowledge the loss? (" And the battle's just begun, /There's many lost, but tell me who has won? / The trenches dug within our hearts, / And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart." )

Are they a call to Christian forgiveness and values? ( "The real battle just begun. / To claim the victory Jesus won, / On a Sunday bloody Sunday, / Sunday bloody Sunday." )

Are they a call to bomb those Islamic bastards? ( "The real battle just begun. / To claim the victory Jesus won, / On a Sunday bloody Sunday, / Sunday bloody Sunday." )

Is it a question of, "why did they die and not us? ( "And today the millions cry, / We eat and drink while tomorrow they die." )

Or is it a call to get on with our lives, and exact revenge at a later date? ( "And today the millions cry, / We eat and drink while tomorrow they die." )

Still, I agree - stupid to ban a song that advocates a thoughtful position toward violence. - or maybe it was for the Edge's amazing guitar work (which would help explain the Rage Against the Machine ban).

BTW - Clear Channel has banned your sig. - "The urge to destroy is a creative urge. - M. Bakunin "

Re:er, sorry man, but SUNDAY BLOODAY SUNDAY???

[jazman_777]

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
Those who study history are doomed to know it's repeating.

Variant: those who know history will find new ways to make mistakes.

Re:er, sorry man, but SUNDAY BLOODAY SUNDAY???

[Anonymous Coward]

Speech from the live version of Sunday Bloody Sunday:

Let me tell you something.
I've had enough of Irish Americans
who haven't been back to their country in twenty or thirty years,
come up to me and talk about the resistance,
the revolution back home.
And the glory of the revolution,
And the glory of dying for the revolution.
Fuck the revolution!
They don't talk about the
glory of killing for the
revolution.

What's the glory in taking a
man from his bed,
and gunning him down in
front of his wife and
children?
Where's the glory in that?
What's the glory in bombing
a remeberance day parade,
of old age pensioners?
Their medals taken out and
polished up for the day?
Where's the glory in that?
To leave them dying, or
crippled for life, or dead,
Under the rubble of the revolution,
That the majority of the people in my country don't want.

No more! No more!

-Bono in a live version of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" 1998

Re:er, sorry man, but SUNDAY BLOODAY SUNDAY???

[Anonymous Coward]

Most anti-war songs should be okay to play now, and certainly should NOT be avoided if it comes to war. So many people are already wanting violent response against anyone and everyone, that we will need reminders of the horrors of war instead of the (likely) TV pro-American propaganda that would be spouted.

However, I think this particular song would be in slightly poor taste at the moment... the references to "Bodies strewn across a dead end street", and "mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart" might be a little too graphic and hard to deal with for some at the moment. Perhaps (just for the short term) while anti-war songs are good, references to violence and death should be avoided.

Fire and Rain

[jruschme]

The list also contains James Taylor's "Fire and Rain" which was used by one of our local stations as part of a very moving tribute to the victims of the attack.

But then, with lyrics like "sweet dream and flying machines in pieces on the ground", it sounds almost more prophetic than the phony Nostradamus prophecies being circulated.

From a quick scan of the list, it looks more like the results of a keyword search of a title database than of a serious attempt at judging content.

Re:Fire and Rain

[TheMidget]

From a quick scan of the list, it looks more like the results of a keyword search of a title database than of a serious attempt at judging content.

Well, a title database would not be enough; indeed in order to include stuff like Pink Floyd's Mother they'd have to search the lyrics too.

Of course

[reynaert]

Can you imagine what the effect would be if radios would play good music? People might go think for themselves! We can't have that, can we?

You disagree? Well, that's another dose of Britney Spears and 'N Sync for you!

Re:Of course

[Anonymous Coward]

hmmm....i can visualize footage of the 2nd crash into the WTC with "Oops...I Did It Again" playing in the background.

ok, that was sick.

Clearchannel: something everyone should know about

[vondo]

Salon.com (referenced in the editors comments) has done a great job covering Clearchannel and radio payola in general. The full set of articles can be found here.

If you care about music and still think that songs become popular because lots of people like them, you owe it to yourself to read some of this.

Back to the subject at hand, when a major corporate conglomerate decides that the country shouldn't be listening to "Bridge over Troubled Water" it is a sad day.

Re:Really?

[snatchitup]

Everyone uses a radio to get talk like The Man of a Thousand Voices or O&A's WOW! WOW! WOW!.

For music we listen to whatever we've downloaded from gnutella.

Gee, maybe this will force some jocks to actually think, and play a song that isn't on some moronic, hypnotyzing playlist.

-

Re:It's a Sin? Why?

[iainl]

Err, remind me. What does 'Its A Sin' have to do with this? By all means point out that their obscure album track about the 1986 fatal underground fire 'Kings Cross', with the line 'Dead and wounded on either side, you know its only a matter of time' is a little touchy at this time, but I fail to recollect anything about 'Its a Sin' right now.

you == retarded

[ebbv]

first of all, if you're that out of control of your own emotions that you a) can't control your reaction to a song and b) can't change the fucking station then well.. you're a very sad little person.

second, did you even look at the fucking list? now granted a lot of it is shit, but a lot of it is really good.. and a good portion i think would actually be songs you'd *want* to listen to at this point in time, more than others.

this is censorship in every way, this is not a suggestion, this is corporate black listing, and very arbitrary at that.

i lost all hope for radio years ago, and haven't used the radio in my car other than a week ago today in a year.
...dave

Re:you == retarded

[joe-cecil]

"assaults on civil liberties"
"censorship in every way"

You guys must be joking. Because a radio station
decides to alter its playlist (probably only for a few weeks) to try to be sensitive to its listeners???

This is not the government telling you that you can't listen to these songs, that you can't play them or sing them or think them. This is a radio station(s) choosing to not to play them. I'm sure if you asked a country station to play Rage Against The Machine they wouldn't. Are you being censored? Fox didn't show it's regular programming this week- were you being censored?
These songs will be on the air again and many DJs simply mocked the list and played them in spite.
Why must people cry 'foul' and 'censorship' at something that is obviously not?

Think first... judge sanely... find something useful to do!

(I wonder if those "censoring" moderators will mod me down? Those Bastards!!) ;/

Re:you == retarded

[JohnSmith1138]

Because a radio station
decides to alter its playlist (probably only for a few weeks) to try to be sensitive to its listeners???

Even though I am on the fence on this one, people aren't upset because A radio station altered it's playlist, but a corporation that owns 1200 radio stations nationwide. I don't think this really affects me, as the only Clear Channel owned radio here as far as I know, is a top 40 station that wouldn't play the majority of these songs anyways. But what about a community that has ALL stations owned by Clear Channel?

The thing that bothers me about this is just the selection of songs that they are not playing. If they stop playing every song that mentions war, fire, death or dying, tuesday, airplanes, fighting, guns, violence, Heaven or Hell, falling, and flying, and anything else they think MAY be similar to the tragedy, they are not going to have a whole lot left to choose from.

That said, one part of me say this is probably in good taste and the playlists will get back to normal in a few weeks. The other part of me knows that events like this shape music. The Vietnam war was a catalyst for really great music of that time. The songs that were written during that time really capture the emotion of the day. Being just of the age that I really don't remember much of what happened then, the music that was written helps me to understand what was going on then. What's going to happen when some of todays artist's write music that captures the feelings we are having today and the owner of 1200 stations around the country decides that we can't handle it? That would be a tragedy.

Re:you == retarded

[joe-cecil]

What's going to happen when some of todays artist's write music that captures the feelings we are having today and the owner of 1200 stations around the country decides that we can't handle it? That would be a tragedy.

i agree with that 100%
(although I'm not looking forward to that Michael Jackson song :p - well at least it'll raise some good $$ )

Re:you == retarded

[Anonymous Coward]

"first of all, if you're that out of control of your own emotions that you a) can't control your reaction to a song and b) can't change the fucking station then well.. you're a very sad little person."

God protect you from ever being personally involved in an event such as NYC - which you were obviously NOT - so that you learn firsthand what it is to not be able to control your reactions to songs, images, etc due to the overwhelming feelings they generate.

Re:you == retarded

[dietcrack]

Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" generates overwhelming feelings for you?

What about Elton John's "Benny & The Jets"?

That's just sad.

Amusing and Ironic

[DumbMarketingGuy]

That slashdot, bastion of free speech and scourge of censors everywhere, sees fit to refer to FUCKEDCOMPANY.COM as F***EDCOMPANY.COM.

Could this be because slashdot has been taken over by a bunch of F***ING A**HOLE WAN**R S**THEAD CENSORS ?

Yes, I think it could.

Thank you

U2 song

[Anonymous Coward]

This Song is ANTI terrorism and was originally written about an act of terrorism.

I mean the lyrics go "I cant believe the news today" and continue "How long must we sing this song?"

Its the perfect song to be the Anthem of the whole anti terrorism campaign.

It appears they are just stopping playing everything that could possibly remind people of the whole event. Songs about war,terrorism,suicide and fire. Even when the majority of these songs are against these things.

Will they ban wacko and spears duet which they are recording to raise money for the relief efforts as it will remind people as well?

Re:U2 song

[Anonymous Coward]

the U2 song I was refering to was Sunday Bloody Sunday I had that as the title but lameness filters kicked in and I copped after I posted I should have mentioned it in the body instead... whoops.

Re:U2 song

[IMWakko]

I was thinking Judas Priest's "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll" would be a better anthem. :-)

Re:U2 song

[Remus Shepherd]

It appears they are just stopping playing everything that could possibly remind people of the whole event. Songs about war,terrorism,suicide and fire.

That's right...and 'Tuesday'. Yes, they've banned all songs that refer to 'Tuesday', regardless of the content.

As someone else here mentioned, this is still not censorship. What this is, is known as STUPIDITY.

Re:U2 song

[Spagornasm]

dude -

"Sunday, Bloody Sunday" was written when U2 was visiting Libya and they saw the US bomb the living hell out of Khadafi. They thought we were being "unjust" to bomb a country that just had its own government agents bomb a dance club in Germany. It's not anti-terrorism, it's anti-United States, and I think that's also why they decided to not play any Rage songs. Rage Against the Machine has said it hates Capitalism, and the US (yet they sell all their records through Capitalism and the US...another story, though...)

This is just a company trying to be sensitive to people who have had their lives shattered by hate-filled people, and playing songs about plane crashes, death, strife, et. al doesn't help these people deal with their grief at all.

Occaisonally, it's OK to be sensitive to what other people feel.

Re:U2 song

[kenthorvath]

In the same train of thought, it would be untasteful or inappropriate to give news updates as well, seeing as how that has a much more direct means of getting people to think about what has happened.

I mean, Dave Matthews Band?! Now, I've always believed that alot of those songs sucked anyway and I wished I never heard them on the radio, but choosing to ban them because they use the word crash, speed, air, or even news is just plain wrong. "I read the news today, oh boy..." - OH NO!

I can just see a deluge of restrictions and revocations in the civil liberties. Terrorists have incited the mob and the changes will be of French Revolutionary proportions. I am truly afraid. Not of the terrorists, but of the resulting hysteria.

Re:U2 song

[vkt-tje]

Err, one lithle thingy...

The "news" referenced in this song is the killing of citizens by armed forces i.e. the government. Go refresh your North-Irish history.

As clearly "stated" in other posts here this list bans lots of anti-war songs, therebye justifying violence performed by a government.

This song is against "governemental violence" and in fact doesn't say much about terrorism.

Don't get me wrong I'm 100% against this kind of list, "editorializing" (as it has been called here) and any form of cencorship.

Re:U2 song

[slashBastard]

"Sunday, Bloody Sunday" was written when U2 was visiting Libya and they saw the US bomb the living hell out of Khadafi.

what??? where'd you hear that? I'd be seriously surprised if the song wasn't written about the British soilders shooting the civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland (known as 'Bloody Sunday'), or it could have been about the time the British soilders opened fire with machine guns on a crowd of people watching a football match in Dublin (a long time ago in fairness) which also became known as 'Bloody Sunday'....given that they are an Irish band and all.

Re:U2 song

[grummerX]

"Sunday, Bloody Sunday" was written when U2 was visiting Libya and they saw the US bomb the living hell out of Khadafi.

The bombing of Libya to which you refer took place in 1986. "Under A Blood Red Sky", the album which contained "Sunday, Bloody Sunday", was released in 1983.

Unless Bono and company were using a crystal ball, this song was most definitely not referring to the US bombing Khadafi.

--grummerX

Re:U2 song

[gorgon]

Or Stroke 9's "Kick Some Ass" from the Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back soundtrack.

How many people want to kick some ass?
I do! I do!

Re:U2 song

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, I think Rage Against The Machine were banned cos e.g. Sleep Now In The Fire and Killing In The Name Of could be regarded as being in poor taste.

Re:U2 song

[Nurlman]

It appears they are just stopping playing everything that could possibly remind people of the whole event. Songs about war,terrorism,suicide and fire.

And a pretty shoddy list at that. They missed common adult-contemporary FM radio fare like:

• Smoke On the Water- Deep Purple ("smoke on the water / fire in the sky")
• Fire on the Mountain- Grateful Dead
• Sonny Came Home- Shawn Colvin (Each chorus ends with "I close my eyes / and fly out of my mind/ into the fire")
• The Fire Inside- Bob Seeger
• Fire- Jimi Hendrix (they got "Hey Joe," but forgot "let me stand next to your fire"?)

• And that's just a sampling of the "fire" theme. Don't get me started on planes...

Re:U2 song

[Anonymous Coward]

Has nothing to do with Khaddafi, it predates Khaddafi (what, 1979? 1981?); it's about terrorism in Ireland (and it's very, very anti-terrorist). Haven't you seen Rattle and Hum, for heaven's sake?

Re:U2 song

[Anonymous Coward]

Priest. Fucking. Rules.

What a .....

[Gehenna_Gehenna]

crock of shit. How about we get the fscking networks to stop replaying the distaster scene over and over instead of music thet might be upsetting to a minority of people.

On the other hand, if you could add {sarcasm} any NSYNCH song to the list I'd be much abliged. Not that it has questionable lyrics, I just don't want to hear it on the radio{/sarcasm}.

Re:What a .....

[the_brat_king]

Fuck Karma...
Do NOT refer to our esteemed president, even in a sig, as "dubya" He is President George Bush! Clinton didn't have the balls to fight terrorism, and President Reagan and President George Bush Sr. had plates full ... I am a fan of Reagan, in my opinion he is the best President we've had in war! (Washington was "officially" a president AFTER the Revolution). Please, show the second greatest President to have graced our country with his abilities the proper respect due!

Re:What a .....

[Gehenna_Gehenna]

I would.... but I am at the sig charecter limit. No more room, and I wanted the whole uncut quote in there.

No offense meant to Mr. President, but I will not judge his wartime success until he takes some action. He has done a fine job thus far, but as a resident of the tri-state area (can see the skyline from my house) I am becoming impatient waiting for an offensive action to be taken .

Re: Dance bands during the Gulf War

[iainl]

As far as I'm aware, all releases of 'Unfinished Sympathy' are credited to just 'Massive'.

For bonus points you can also own 'Love So True' by Tim Simenon, rather than his usual 'Bomb The Bass' nom de plume...

Re:Mirror? here you go

[Hammer]

Drowning Pool "Bodies"
Mudvayne "Death Blooms"
Megadeth "Dread and the Fugitive"
Megadeth "Sweating Bullets"
Saliva "Click Click Boom"
P.O.D. "Boom"
Metallica "Seek and Destroy"
Metallica "Harvester or Sorrow"
Metallica "Enter Sandman"
Metallica "Fade to Black"
All Rage Against The Machine songs
Nine Inch Nails "Head Like a Hole"
Godsmack "Bad Religion"
Tool "Intolerance"
Soundgarden "Blow Up the Outside World"
AC/DC "Shot Down in Flames"
AC/DC "Shoot to Thrill"
AC/DC "Dirty Deeds"
AC/DC "Highway to Hell"
AC/DC "Safe in New York City"
AC/DC "TNT"
AC/DC "Hell's Bells"
Black Sabbath "War Pigs"
Black Sabbath "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
Black Sabbath "Suicide Solution"
Dio "Holy Diver"
Steve Miller "Jet Airliner"
Van Halen "Jump"
Queen "Another One Bites the Dust"
Queen "Killer Queen"
Pat Benatar "Hit Me with Your Best Shot"
Pat Benatar "Love is a Battlefield"
Oingo Boingo "Dead Man's Party"
REM "It's the End of the World as We Know It"
Talking Heads "Burning Down the House"
Judas Priest "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll"
Pink Floyd "Run Like Hell"
Pink Floyd "Mother"
Savage Garden "Crash and Burn"
Dave Matthews Band "Crash Into Me"
Bangles "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Pretenders "My City Was Gone"
Alanis Morissette "Ironic"
Barenaked Ladies "Falling for the First Time"
Fuel "Bad Day"
John Parr "St. Elmo's Fire"
Peter Gabriel "When You're Falling"
Kansas "Dust in the Wind"
Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
The Beatles "A Day in the Life"
The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
The Beatles "Ticket To Ride"
The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da"
Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Arthur Brown "Fire"
Blue Oyster Cult "Burnin' For You"
Paul McCartney and Wings "Live and Let Die"
Jimmy Hendrix "Hey Joe"
Jackson Brown "Doctor My Eyes"
John Mellencamp "Crumbling Down"
John Mellencamp "I'm On Fire"
U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Boston "Smokin"
Billy Joel "Only the Good Die Young"
Barry McGuire "Eve of Destruction"
Steam "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey"
Drifters "On Broadway"
Shelly Fabares "Johnny Angel"
Los Bravos "Black is Black"
Peter and Gordon "I Go To Pieces"
Peter and Gordon "A World Without Love"
Elvis "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
Zombies "She's Not There"
Elton John "Benny & The Jets"
Elton John "Daniel"
Elton John "Rocket Man"
Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire"
Santana "Evil Ways"
Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World"
Youngbloods "Get Together"
Ad Libs "The Boy from New York City"
Peter Paul and Mary "Blowin' in the Wind"
Peter Paul and Mary "Leavin' on a Jet Plane"
Rolling Stones "Ruby Tuesday"
Simon And Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Happenings "See You in Septemeber"
Carole King "I Feel the Earth Move"
Yager and Evans "In the Year 2525"
Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky"
Brooklyn Bridge "Worst That Could Happen"
Three Degrees "When Will I See You Again"
Cat Stevens "Peace Train"
Cat Stevens "Morning Has Broken"
Jan and Dean "Dead Man's Curve"
Martha & the Vandellas "Nowhere to Run"
Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen "Dancing in the Streets"
Hollies "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"
San Cooke Herman Hermits, "Wonder World"
Petula Clark "A Sign of the Times"
Don McLean "American Pie"
J. Frank Wilson "Last Kiss"
Buddy Holly and the Crickets "That'll Be the Day"
John Lennon "Imagine"
Bobby Darin "Mack the Knife"
The Clash "Rock the Casbah"
Surfaris "Wipeout"
Blood Sweat and Tears "And When I Die"
Dave Clark Five "Bits and Pieces"
Tramps "Disco Inferno"
Paper Lace "The Night Chicago Died"
Frank Sinatra "New York, New York"
Creedence Clearwater Revival "Travelin' Band"
The Gap Band "You Dropped a Bomb On Me"
Alien Ant Farm "Smooth Criminal"
3 Doors Down "Duck and Run"
The Doors "The End"
Third Eye Blind "Jumper"
Neil Diamond "America"
Lenny Kravitz "Fly Away"
Tom Petty "Free Fallin'"
Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire"
Bruce Springsteen "Goin' Down"
Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight"
Alice in Chains "Rooster"
Alice in Chains "Sea of Sorrow"
Alice in Chains "Down in a Hole"
Alice in Chains "Them Bone"
Beastie Boys "Sure Shot"
Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
The Cult "Fire Woman"
Everclear "Santa Monica"
Filter "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"
Korn "Falling Away From Me"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Aeroplane"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge"
Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
System of a Down "Chop Suey!"
Skeeter Davis "End of the World"
Rickey Nelson "Travelin' Man"
Chi-Lites "Have You Seen Her"
Animals "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"
Fontella Bass "Rescue Me"
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels "Devil with the Blue Dress"
James Taylor "Fire and Rain"
Edwin Starr/Bruce Springstein "War"
Lynyrd Skynyrd "Tuesday's Gone"
Limp Bizkit "Break Stuff"
Green Day "Brain Stew"
Temple of the Dog "Say Hello to Heaven"
Sugar Ray "Fly"
Local H "Bound for the Floor"
Slipknot "Left Behind, Wait and Bleed"
Bush "Speed Kills"
311 "Down"
Stone Temple Pilots "Big Bang Baby," Dead and Bloated"
Soundgarden "Fell on Black Days," Black Hole Sun"
Nina "99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons"

The List

[Anonymous Coward]

For those that can't get to Fuckedcompany:

Clear Channel's list of songs with questionable content

Drowning Pool "Bodies"
Mudvayne "Death Blooms"
Megadeth "Dread and the Fugitive"
Megadeth "Sweating Bullets"
Saliva "Click Click Boom"
P.O.D. "Boom"
Metallica "Seek and Destroy"
Metallica "Harvester or Sorrow"
Metallica "Enter Sandman"
Metallica "Fade to Black"
All Rage Against The Machine songs
Nine Inch Nails "Head Like a Hole"
Godsmack "Bad Religion"
Tool "Intolerance"
Soundgarden "Blow Up the Outside World"
AC/DC "Shot Down in Flames"
AC/DC "Shoot to Thrill"
AC/DC "Dirty Deeds"
AC/DC "Highway to Hell"
AC/DC "Safe in New York City"
AC/DC "TNT"
AC/DC "Hell's Bells"
Black Sabbath "War Pigs"
Black Sabbath "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
Black Sabbath "Suicide Solution"
Dio "Holy Diver"
Steve Miller "Jet Airliner"
Van Halen "Jump"
Queen "Another One Bites the Dust"
Queen "Killer Queen"
Pat Benatar "Hit Me with Your Best Shot"
Pat Benatar "Love is a Battlefield"
Oingo Boingo "Dead Man's Party"
REM "It's the End of the World as We Know It"
Talking Heads "Burning Down the House"
Judas Priest "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll"
Pink Floyd "Run Like Hell"
Pink Floyd "Mother"
Savage Garden "Crash and Burn"
Dave Matthews Band "Crash Into Me"
Bangles "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Pretenders "My City Was Gone"
Alanis Morissette "Ironic"
Barenaked Ladies "Falling for the First Time"
Fuel "Bad Day"
John Parr "St. Elmo's Fire"
Peter Gabriel "When You're Falling"
Kansas "Dust in the Wind"
Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
The Beatles "A Day in the Life"
The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
The Beatles "Ticket To Ride"
The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da"
Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Arthur Brown "Fire"
Blue Oyster Cult "Burnin' For You"
Paul McCartney and Wings "Live and Let Die"
Jimmy Hendrix "Hey Joe"
Jackson Brown "Doctor My Eyes"
John Mellencamp "Crumbling Down"
John Mellencamp "I'm On Fire"
U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Boston "Smokin"
Billy Joel "Only the Good Die Young"
Barry McGuire "Eve of Destruction"
Steam "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey"
Drifters "On Broadway"
Shelly Fabares "Johnny Angel"
Los Bravos "Black is Black"
Peter and Gordon "I Go To Pieces"
Peter and Gordon "A World Without Love"
Elvis "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
Zombies "She's Not There"
Elton John "Benny & The Jets"
Elton John "Daniel"
Elton John "Rocket Man"
Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire"
Santana "Evil Ways"
Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World"
Youngbloods "Get Together"
Ad Libs "The Boy from New York City"
Peter Paul and Mary "Blowin' in the Wind"
Peter Paul and Mary "Leavin' on a Jet Plane"
Rolling Stones "Ruby Tuesday"
Simon And Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Happenings "See You in Septemeber"
Carole King "I Feel the Earth Move"
Yager and Evans "In the Year 2525"
Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky"
Brooklyn Bridge "Worst That Could Happen"
Three Degrees "When Will I See You Again"
Cat Stevens "Peace Train"
Cat Stevens "Morning Has Broken"
Jan and Dean "Dead Man's Curve"
Martha & the Vandellas "Nowhere to Run"
Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen "Dancing in the Streets"
Hollies "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"
San Cooke Herman Hermits, "Wonder World"
Petula Clark "A Sign of the Times"
Don McLean "American Pie"
J. Frank Wilson "Last Kiss"
Buddy Holly and the Crickets "That'll Be the Day"
John Lennon "Imagine"
Bobby Darin "Mack the Knife"
The Clash "Rock the Casbah"
Surfaris "Wipeout"
Blood Sweat and Tears "And When I Die"
Dave Clark Five "Bits and Pieces"
Tramps "Disco Inferno"
Paper Lace "The Night Chicago Died"
Frank Sinatra "New York, New York"
Creedence Clearwater Revival "Travelin' Band"
The Gap Band "You Dropped a Bomb On Me"
Alien Ant Farm "Smooth Criminal"
3 Doors Down "Duck and Run"
The Doors "The End"
Third Eye Blind "Jumper"
Neil Diamond "America"
Lenny Kravitz "Fly Away"
Tom Petty "Free Fallin'"
Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire"
Bruce Springsteen "Goin' Down"
Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight"
Alice in Chains "Rooster"
Alice in Chains "Sea of Sorrow"
Alice in Chains "Down in a Hole"
Alice in Chains "Them Bone"
Beastie Boys "Sure Shot"
Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
The Cult "Fire Woman"
Everclear "Santa Monica"
Filter "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"
Korn "Falling Away From Me"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Aeroplane"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge"
Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
System of a Down "Chop Suey!"
Skeeter Davis "End of the World"
Rickey Nelson "Travelin' Man"
Chi-Lites "Have You Seen Her"
Animals "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"
Fontella Bass "Rescue Me"
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels "Devil with the Blue Dress"
James Taylor "Fire and Rain"
Edwin Starr/Bruce Springstein "War"
Lynyrd Skynyrd "Tuesday's Gone"
Limp Bizkit "Break Stuff"
Green Day "Brain Stew"
Temple of the Dog "Say Hello to Heaven"
Sugar Ray "Fly"
Local H "Bound for the Floor"
Slipknot "Left Behind, Wait and Bleed"
Bush "Speed Kills"
311 "Down"
Stone Temple Pilots "Big Bang Baby," Dead and Bloated"
Soundgarden "Fell on Black Days," Black Hole Sun"
Nina "99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons"

support your local public radio

[tigrrl]

This is disgusting. If we're going to have a war, let's have it, but for crying out loud, let's not insist on sanitizing it as well. Either we've got to turn our minds from this situation in an effort to heal (in which case the songs dealing with guns and fire can go, but the anti-war songs must stay; not only stay, but be played repeatedly) OR we've got to stay mindful of our pain and steel our resolve to fight (in which case the guns and fire songs stay and the anti-war songs go). It doesn't make sense to avoid reminding us of the tragedy while *also* calling us to battle.

Furthermore, the ENTIRE conflict is about freedom and liberty. This censorship (and yes, if the primary broadcast company has a list of songs that affiliates are not allowed to play, that *does* constitute censorship) is against everything that we stand for. If large portions of certain communities are offended by some or all of these songs, let them speak out to their local broadcasters. Don't blanket the rest of us with this silly and misguided propaganda disguised as "sensitivity".

I, for one, will be tuning into the public radio. A source of objective and high-quality news and information, and a lone voice in the wild for FREEDOM!!!

They missed one

[Anonymous Coward]

"It's raining men"

who, what ?

[beanerspace]

Well, I guess this old-fart of a programmer is scrathing his head saying clear who, censor what ? Desperately trying not to be a troll, I'm just wondering if this isn't more a move by some company that I've never heard of to remain profitable by makin and adjustment for the recent change in mood.

Let's go to the site and see.

Okay, there's a picture of Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura, Alan Keyes ... It's publically traded ... their ops got disrupted since they're in downtown NYC .... hmmm, Department of Justice to investigate whether Clear Channel's concert-promotion company is engaging in unfair business practices after some New Jersey constituents complained.

Hey guys, I think this looks like a company that's trying to keep a low profile. In other words, this may have less to do with civil liberties than it does with their bottom line. Either giving their demographics what they want (or don't want) ... and by not pissing off "The Man."

Here's the list

[stinkydog]

Clear Channel's list of songs with questionable content

Drowning Pool "Bodies"
Mudvayne "Death Blooms"
Megadeth "Dread and the Fugitive"
Megadeth "Sweating Bullets"
Saliva "Click Click Boom"
P.O.D. "Boom"
Metallica "Seek and Destroy"
Metallica "Harvester or Sorrow"
Metallica "Enter Sandman"
Metallica "Fade to Black"
All Rage Against The Machine songs
Nine Inch Nails "Head Like a Hole"
Godsmack "Bad Religion"
Tool "Intolerance"
Soundgarden "Blow Up the Outside World"
AC/DC "Shot Down in Flames"
AC/DC "Shoot to Thrill"
AC/DC "Dirty Deeds"
AC/DC "Highway to Hell"
AC/DC "Safe in New York City"
AC/DC "TNT"
AC/DC "Hell's Bells"
Black Sabbath "War Pigs"
Black Sabbath "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
Black Sabbath "Suicide Solution"
Dio "Holy Diver"
Steve Miller "Jet Airliner"
Van Halen "Jump"
Queen "Another One Bites the Dust"
Queen "Killer Queen"
Pat Benatar "Hit Me with Your Best Shot"
Pat Benatar "Love is a Battlefield"
Oingo Boingo "Dead Man's Party"
REM "It's the End of the World as We Know It"
Talking Heads "Burning Down the House"
Judas Priest "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll"
Pink Floyd "Run Like Hell"
Pink Floyd "Mother"
Savage Garden "Crash and Burn"
Dave Matthews Band "Crash Into Me"
Bangles "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Pretenders "My City Was Gone"
Alanis Morissette "Ironic"
Barenaked Ladies "Falling for the First Time"
Fuel "Bad Day"
John Parr "St. Elmo's Fire"
Peter Gabriel "When You're Falling"
Kansas "Dust in the Wind"
Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
The Beatles "A Day in the Life"
The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
The Beatles "Ticket To Ride"
The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da"
Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Arthur Brown "Fire"
Blue Oyster Cult "Burnin' For You"
Paul McCartney and Wings "Live and Let Die"
Jimmy Hendrix "Hey Joe"
Jackson Brown "Doctor My Eyes"
John Mellencamp "Crumbling Down"
John Mellencamp "I'm On Fire"
U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Boston "Smokin"
Billy Joel "Only the Good Die Young"
Barry McGuire "Eve of Destruction"
Steam "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey"
Drifters "On Broadway"
Shelly Fabares "Johnny Angel"
Los Bravos "Black is Black"
Peter and Gordon "I Go To Pieces"
Peter and Gordon "A World Without Love"
Elvis "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
Zombies "She's Not There"
Elton John "Benny & The Jets"
Elton John "Daniel"
Elton John "Rocket Man"
Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire"
Santana "Evil Ways"
Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World"
Youngbloods "Get Together"
Ad Libs "The Boy from New York City"
Peter Paul and Mary "Blowin' in the Wind"
Peter Paul and Mary "Leavin' on a Jet Plane"
Rolling Stones "Ruby Tuesday"
Simon And Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Happenings "See You in Septemeber"
Carole King "I Feel the Earth Move"
Yager and Evans "In the Year 2525"
Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky"
Brooklyn Bridge "Worst That Could Happen"
Three Degrees "When Will I See You Again"
Cat Stevens "Peace Train"
Cat Stevens "Morning Has Broken"
Jan and Dean "Dead Man's Curve"
Martha & the Vandellas "Nowhere to Run"
Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen "Dancing in the Streets"
Hollies "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"
San Cooke Herman Hermits, "Wonder World"
Petula Clark "A Sign of the Times"
Don McLean "American Pie"
J. Frank Wilson "Last Kiss"
Buddy Holly and the Crickets "That'll Be the Day"
John Lennon "Imagine"
Bobby Darin "Mack the Knife"
The Clash "Rock the Casbah"
Surfaris "Wipeout"
Blood Sweat and Tears "And When I Die"
Dave Clark Five "Bits and Pieces"
Tramps "Disco Inferno"
Paper Lace "The Night Chicago Died"
Frank Sinatra "New York, New York"
Creedence Clearwater Revival "Travelin' Band"
The Gap Band "You Dropped a Bomb On Me"
Alien Ant Farm "Smooth Criminal"
3 Doors Down "Duck and Run"
The Doors "The End"
Third Eye Blind "Jumper"
Neil Diamond "America"
Lenny Kravitz "Fly Away"
Tom Petty "Free Fallin'"
Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire"
Bruce Springsteen "Goin' Down"
Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight"
Alice in Chains "Rooster"
Alice in Chains "Sea of Sorrow"
Alice in Chains "Down in a Hole"
Alice in Chains "Them Bone"
Beastie Boys "Sure Shot"
Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
The Cult "Fire Woman"
Everclear "Santa Monica"
Filter "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"
Korn "Falling Away From Me"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Aeroplane"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge"
Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
System of a Down "Chop Suey!"
Skeeter Davis "End of the World"
Rickey Nelson "Travelin' Man"
Chi-Lites "Have You Seen Her"
Animals "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"
Fontella Bass "Rescue Me"
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels "Devil with the Blue Dress"
James Taylor "Fire and Rain"
Edwin Starr/Bruce Springstein "War"
Lynyrd Skynyrd "Tuesday's Gone"
Limp Bizkit "Break Stuff"
Green Day "Brain Stew"
Temple of the Dog "Say Hello to Heaven"
Sugar Ray "Fly"
Local H "Bound for the Floor"
Slipknot "Left Behind, Wait and Bleed"
Bush "Speed Kills"
311 "Down"
Stone Temple Pilots "Big Bang Baby," Dead and Bloated"
Soundgarden "Fell on Black Days," Black Hole Sun"
Nina "99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons"

Copied from F*ckedCompany.com

Re:Here's the list

[JonS]

Hmmm, really well thought out.

They ban the Alien Ant Farm version of Smooth Criminal.

What about the original?

It just goes to show how little thought has been put into compiling this list.

Re:Here's the list

[Anonymous Coward]

Curiously, "Oceania, tis for thee", isn't listed.

Re:Here's the list

[MrKevvy]

Hehe... they banned two of Pink Floyd's from The Wall: "Mother" because of a single "Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb?" line and "Run Like Hell" because it deals with organized brutality ala Nazism but completely missed the one from The Wall that I expected that they would target: "Goodbye Blue Sky"

Did-did-did-did you see the frightened ones?
Did-did-did-did you hear the falling bombs?
Did-did-did-did you ever wonder why we had to run to run for shelter when the promise of a Brave New World unfurled beneath the clear blue sky?

Did-did-did-did you see the frightened ones?
Did-did-did-did you hear the falling bombs?
The flames are all long gone but the pain lingers on.
Goodbye, blue sky...
Goodbye, blue sky...
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye...

(This is from memory.) Yes, I had a little listen after the events of September 11th.

Re:Here's the list

[Anonymous Coward]

So. Alien Ant Farm (Smooth Criminal) but not Michael Jackson (Smooth Criminal). Hmmm, is that because one is a small emerging band with a fun song based upon the MJ song, and the other is well established, rich and not averse to launching lawsuits?

I say Boycott these stations. What Internet radio stations does this company that thinks for its listeners manage? I don't want to listen to it - the music will be crap now!

So yet another victory for the terrorists. Banning music is something that the Taliban actively persue - how ironic!

Re:Here's the list

[Nurgster]

Also no mention of Metallica's cover of "Tuesday Gone"...

Re:Here's the list

[Pseudonym]

Goodbye Blue Sky wasn't a single.

Re:Here's the list

[gwillden]

No this makes a lot of sense. We can't have people listening to these songs. Look what they are about:

Dave Matthews Band "Crash Into Me"
about: Sex

Barenaked Ladies "Falling for the First Time"
about: Falling in love for the first time (Sex)

Billy Joel "Only the Good Die Young"
about: All the crazy, stupid fun things that you do when you are young including but not limited to Sex.

Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World"
about: I love this world and I'm gonna sing about it. (Sex is probably in there too.)

Neil Diamond "America"
about: One Really Great Country! Let's all go live in America where we can be free from tyranny, opression and censorship.

Yeah better not have anyone listening to Evil Terrorist provoking garbage like that. People might see what a great world this is and how much they love to make love in America. Stinking Communists.
(Score: -1, Too Much Sex)

Re:Here's the list

[iomud]

look mommy its an airplane up in the sky...

Re:Here's the list

[EllisDees]

Could someone please set up a shoutcast stream that just plays this list over and over, please?

End of free thoughts?

[Anonymous Coward]

What's that? Do they really think, their listeners aren't old enough to decide for themselves, what songs they want to listen to?

From my german point of view this is a strange understanding of patriotism. This has nothing to do with the freedom of mind which is often stated as the highest good of the civilized world.

The guys from clearchannel are obviously trying to manipulate the public opinion about what happens in the world. No good.

Don't get me wrong: i condemn the terrorist attack to the US, but everyone has the right to set up his mind about effective steps to fight terrorism. IMHO war is no solution. Neither is retaliation to innocent people in Afghanistan. Moreover, one have to take into account the very very sensible situation in the arabic region. Think about a possible World War III that slowly appears on the horizon ...

Complete List

[Tyler Eaves]

Drowning Pool "Bodies"
Mudvayne "Death Blooms"
Megadeth "Dread and the Fugitive"
Megadeth "Sweating Bullets"
Saliva "Click Click Boom"
P.O.D. "Boom"
Metallica "Seek and Destroy"
Metallica "Harvester or Sorrow"
Metallica "Enter Sandman"
Metallica "Fade to Black"
All Rage Against The Machine songs
Nine Inch Nails "Head Like a Hole"
Godsmack "Bad Religion"
Tool "Intolerance"
Soundgarden "Blow Up the Outside World"
AC/DC "Shot Down in Flames"
AC/DC "Shoot to Thrill"
AC/DC "Dirty Deeds"
AC/DC "Highway to Hell"
AC/DC "Safe in New York City"
AC/DC "TNT"
AC/DC "Hell's Bells"
Black Sabbath "War Pigs"
Black Sabbath "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
Black Sabbath "Suicide Solution"
Dio "Holy Diver"
Steve Miller "Jet Airliner"
Van Halen "Jump"
Queen "Another One Bites the Dust"
Queen "Killer Queen"
Pat Benatar "Hit Me with Your Best Shot"
Pat Benatar "Love is a Battlefield"
Oingo Boingo "Dead Man's Party"
REM "It's the End of the World as We Know It"
Talking Heads "Burning Down the House"
Judas Priest "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll"
Pink Floyd "Run Like Hell"
Pink Floyd "Mother"
Savage Garden "Crash and Burn"
Dave Matthews Band "Crash Into Me"
Bangles "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Pretenders "My City Was Gone"
Alanis Morissette "Ironic"
Barenaked Ladies "Falling for the First Time"
Fuel "Bad Day"
John Parr "St. Elmo's Fire"
Peter Gabriel "When You're Falling"
Kansas "Dust in the Wind"
Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
The Beatles "A Day in the Life"
The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
The Beatles "Ticket To Ride"
The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da"
Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Arthur Brown "Fire"
Blue Oyster Cult "Burnin' For You"
Paul McCartney and Wings "Live and Let Die"
Jimmy Hendrix "Hey Joe"
Jackson Brown "Doctor My Eyes"
John Mellencamp "Crumbling Down"
John Mellencamp "I'm On Fire"
U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Boston "Smokin"
Billy Joel "Only the Good Die Young"
Barry McGuire "Eve of Destruction"
Steam "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey"
Drifters "On Broadway"
Shelly Fabares "Johnny Angel"
Los Bravos "Black is Black"
Peter and Gordon "I Go To Pieces"
Peter and Gordon "A World Without Love"
Elvis "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
Zombies "She's Not There"
Elton John "Benny & The Jets"
Elton John "Daniel"
Elton John "Rocket Man"
Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire"
Santana "Evil Ways"
Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World"
Youngbloods "Get Together"
Ad Libs "The Boy from New York City"
Peter Paul and Mary "Blowin' in the Wind"
Peter Paul and Mary "Leavin' on a Jet Plane"
Rolling Stones "Ruby Tuesday"
Simon And Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Happenings "See You in Septemeber"
Carole King "I Feel the Earth Move"
Yager and Evans "In the Year 2525"
Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky"
Brooklyn Bridge "Worst That Could Happen"
Three Degrees "When Will I See You Again"
Cat Stevens "Peace Train"
Cat Stevens "Morning Has Broken"
Jan and Dean "Dead Man's Curve"
Martha & the Vandellas "Nowhere to Run"
Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen "Dancing in the Streets"
Hollies "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"
San Cooke Herman Hermits, "Wonder World"
Petula Clark "A Sign of the Times"
Don McLean "American Pie"
J. Frank Wilson "Last Kiss"
Buddy Holly and the Crickets "That'll Be the Day"
John Lennon "Imagine"
Bobby Darin "Mack the Knife"
The Clash "Rock the Casbah"
Surfaris "Wipeout"
Blood Sweat and Tears "And When I Die"
Dave Clark Five "Bits and Pieces"
Tramps "Disco Inferno"
Paper Lace "The Night Chicago Died"
Frank Sinatra "New York, New York"
Creedence Clearwater Revival "Travelin' Band"
The Gap Band "You Dropped a Bomb On Me"
Alien Ant Farm "Smooth Criminal"
3 Doors Down "Duck and Run"
The Doors "The End"
Third Eye Blind "Jumper"
Neil Diamond "America"
Lenny Kravitz "Fly Away"
Tom Petty "Free Fallin'"
Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire"
Bruce Springsteen "Goin' Down"
Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight"
Alice in Chains "Rooster"
Alice in Chains "Sea of Sorrow"
Alice in Chains "Down in a Hole"
Alice in Chains "Them Bone"
Beastie Boys "Sure Shot"
Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
The Cult "Fire Woman"
Everclear "Santa Monica"
Filter "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"
Korn "Falling Away From Me"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Aeroplane"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge"
Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
System of a Down "Chop Suey!"
Skeeter Davis "End of the World"
Rickey Nelson "Travelin' Man"
Chi-Lites "Have You Seen Her"
Animals "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"
Fontella Bass "Rescue Me"
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels "Devil with the Blue Dress"
James Taylor "Fire and Rain"
Edwin Starr/Bruce Springstein "War"
Lynyrd Skynyrd "Tuesday's Gone"
Limp Bizkit "Break Stuff"
Green Day "Brain Stew"
Temple of the Dog "Say Hello to Heaven"
Sugar Ray "Fly"
Local H "Bound for the Floor"
Slipknot "Left Behind, Wait and Bleed"
Bush "Speed Kills"
311 "Down"
Stone Temple Pilots "Big Bang Baby," Dead and Bloated"
Soundgarden "Fell on Black Days," Black Hole Sun"
Nina "99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons"

Can we find a confirmed source?

[Rommel]

I read the article on FsckedCompany, but their attribution was pretty weak: an anonymous email.

Can anyone point to a credible source to confirm or deny this?

Re:Can we find a confirmed source?

[Eccles]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A471 93-2001Sep17.html quotes a DJ mentioning specific songs from that list ("Crash into Me", "I'm on Fire") as ones that won't be played for at least a year.

Re:Can we find a confirmed source?

[Rommel]

Hmmm. Here is what that article says:

Like the meaning of the Dave Matthews Band's "Crash Into Me" and Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire." Said Tony Mascaro, a programming director for New York's WPLJ-FM, a station that plays Top 40 pop: "It'll be a year -- if ever -- before we put those songs on the air."

Not much of a source -- it doesn't even reference the List. Those two songs might be from the List, but that doesn't mean the List is for real (or not for real).

Re:Can we find a confirmed source?

[Anonymous Coward]

Lets face it, the list of songs is a complete joke.
Why ban Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire." and not Bruce Springsteen's "Fire." both are about the same thing SEX
Why ban Edwin Starr "War" but not Bruce's cover of "War" ?

Re:Can we find a confirmed source?

[Anonymous Coward]

NPR during Morning edition had a segment on this. Verified it.

*sigh*

[Anonymous Coward]

This is not censorship. Censorship is what a government does to its private citezins or private organizations.

This private company is exercizing its editorial right and privelege to not play certain songs.

You may or may not agree with their decision (and here's where a free market comes in), and they may or may not be right (but ain't it great we can debate it?), but it's not censorship. Please stop calling it such.

For a better (and longer) explaination, check out this column, written by a lawyer, partly about this very subject (but in a different medium). His first point is the one that applies to this discussion (but the rest is good too).

Re:*sigh*

[Anonymous Coward]

From M-W.com

One entry found for censorship.

Main Entry: censorship
Pronunciation: 'sen(t)-s&r-"ship
Function: noun
Date: circa 1591
1 a : the institution, system, or practice of censoring b : the actions or practices of censors; especially : censorial control exercised repressively
2 : the office, power, or term of a Roman censor
3 : exclusion from consciousness by the psychic censor

And, for "censoring"

One entry found for censor.

Main Entry: 2censor
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): censored; censoring /'sen(t)-s&-ri[ng], 'sen(t)s-ri[ng]/
Date: 1882
: to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable

I don't see the word "government" in there.

Massive Attack

[jarty]

I remember in the Gulf War that here in the UK 'Massive Attack' changed their name to simply 'Massive' to avoid being black-listed on UK radio stations. I think I also remember that 'Bomb the Bass' changed their name to 'Tim Sinemon' or something. to avoid similar treatment.
Pretty soon after the war was over, the banned (sorry) names all changed back to their original. I think it may be an issue of taste and sensitivity, rather than one of censorship, although the ClearChannel list does appear to be a little too comprehensive!

Venga Boys

[cyberdonny]

Some songs they forgot to put in there:

• Venga Boys: 24/7 In My 911 (reference to 911)
• Venga Boys: We're going to Ibiza (airplane)
• Michel Sardou: Chanteur de Jazz (detailed references to former NYC landmarks, and smoke)
• They only listed 2 Pink Floyd songs. Many more than the 2 listed could qualify...

Where's "Born in the USA"?

[mbanck]

Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire"
Bruce Springsteen "Goin' Down"

Well, they missed "Born in the USA", but as history shows, this song will be the war anthem again...

Re:Where's "Born in the USA"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe, after 17 years, they finally understand that BITUSA is not a simple flag waiving song!!

Did you just see that flying pig ? :-)

Re:Where's "Born in the USA"?

[glenmark]

It would have been ironic if "Born in the USA" had been on the list. The Arrow, a Clear Channel classic rock station in Houston, has been playing that song with a montage of soundbites from last week's tragedy superimposed upon it. Very well done and quite moving...

Re:Where's "Born in the USA"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Born in the USA is a complete slam against America. People are just insanely stupid. When I was in the Air Force during the Gulf war, they played that song in front of the CNN cameras when our pilots returned. If figured it would make us look stupid as hell, but apparently most Americans can only hear the "Born in the USA" part of the lyrics. It's amazing the difference between what you say directly to someone, and what they think you said.

Re:Where's "Born in the USA"?

[Anonymous Coward]

I always found the "son, dont you understand" line kind of ironic...

Ironic...

[Anonymous Coward]

Alanis Morissette "Ironic"

Banned Songs.

[suss]

Nine Inch Nails "Head Like a Hole"

Yeah, i get this one:

Head like a hole
Black as your soul
I'd rather die
than give you control.

Wouldn't want anyone to resist the government's control, now would we?

Other choices though, leave me kinda puzzled:

Bangles "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World"

The list goes on. I wonder what they'll be playing all day now.... Britney Spears and N'Sync? I bet they can find some 'offensive' words in there too. (Baby hit me one more time? Oops I did it again? (referring to the crash on the pentagon) and ofcourse Nsync's "bye bye bye".)

If you feel the urge to moderate this down as flamebait/troll, read the message again, think about what it says, and then decide again.

Re:Banned Songs.

[Anonymous Coward]

"If you can make it there you can make it anywhere. New Yooork, New Yooooork!"

I think that lines sound really cynical in the aftermath of last week's events. So I can understand why some folks might find that offensive, or "It's raining men! Halleluyah!".

And yeah, they will ban anything that doesn't fit into the "America mourns/suffers/dies" headline of the day. When the going gets tough, the media get in tune with the party line. You can't expect much from media you don't own. If they feel like banning content, they will do so without asking you. If you don't like it, get that icecast server running and roll your own radio. And post the url, please.

Re:Banned Songs.

[Quila]

The NIN song refers to control by religion, not the government.

Of course maybe that's why it's banned, it has a negative reference to religion, and with everyone going back to church now, that might offend.

Of course, if those people piloting the planes hadn't let religion control them, they wouldn't have done it.

Re:Banned Songs.

[Nurgster]

I'm suprised some of the newer NIN songs weren't listed...

Big Man With A Gun
Eraser
The Day The World Went Away
Into The Void (made for a film which featured a *shudder* plane crash)
Heresy
Mr Self Destruct
Please
Starfuckers Inc (lot sof reference to false gods and shit)

Re:Banned Songs.

[Peyna]

Other choices though, leave me kinda puzzled:

Bangles "Walk Like an Egyptian"
-----------------

Egyptians are pretty darn close to being Arabs if they aren't already. They do speak Arabic there.. I guess we don't want to encourage people to walk in the manner that people etched into the walls of ancient Egypt do, then they might become a terrorist. </SARCASM>

Re:Banned Songs.

[Redline]

The NIN song refers to control by religion, not the government.

Huh? "Head Like a Hole" is about the pursuit of money, and how unbridled greed is bad.

You are thinking of "Terrible Lie" which is about religion and the lack of real answers that it gives.

Re:Banned Songs.

[billcopc]

Well firstly, "Big Man With A Gun" is about a different gun . And then, "The Day The World Went Away" is so darned mellow and depressing, it's about the personal "world" that exists only within one's mind, not the world that we would call Planet Earth.

But really I'm just guessing the reviewers simply don't know about these NiN tunes, mainly because they aren't nearly as mainstream as "Head Like A Hole", which was the first to be widely played across North America, and probably still to this day the most visible tune to NiN-haters, even shadowing "Perfect Drug".

Choice can = censorship

[BAKup]

Hey, they own those stations, so they have a right to choose what to play. If they think something is in bad taste, the won't play it. That's not censorship that's choice. The government hasn't told them not to play questionable songs, they decided it was in their best interest as a business or maybe in their interest as humans. This is not censorship this is a business esercising it's freedom to choose to do what it wants.

Well, if they didn't own like 50-100% of all the stations in most markets I wouldn't have a problem with it, but since they do (go look at a list of stations they own), that means you won't be able to hear the songs at all unless you own the albums! So this could be considered a case of censorship(It's not just for goverments anymore) and also a good reason why the FCC should have never relaxed how many stations a compay could own.

Clear Channel

[slutdot]

I find it ironic that Clear Channel is behind something like this. WXTB (or 98 Rock), which is a Clear Channel station in Tampa, consistently plays unedited songs containing profanity. Not that it matters to me if the word 'fuck' is on the radio but most stations seem to want to edit that out.

At first I thought that maybe the laws changed to allow profanity during school hours and late nights but apparently that was wrong. I think the only song I've heard edited was Closer by Nine Inch Nails and I guess the program manager might have figured the lyrics were too obvious. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see if the DJs and the PMs pay attention to this censorship.

Hello? This is fake.

[pipeb0mb]

Oviously this is an FC troll attempt.
There are no links, no corroborating articles and it's absolutely ludicrous.

Please guys, calm down and THINK.

Re:Hello? This is fake.

[CerebusUS]

I agree, this was on Fark yesterday, and there you don't expect to see confirmed news, but when posted to slashdot, I think this article should get a -1 Troll until confirmed.

Re:Hello? This is fake.

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny how no one else is bothering to slow down and think about his; guess that trolling gets the best of them all.

idiotic

[fadir]

if this is true.

You say censorship, I say good business sense

[iainl]

Of course you can change the station if you didn't appreciate it playing songs that involve subjects that are delicate at this time. If you are a radio station and you suspect a significant number of your listeners will do just that however, then its really a rather bad idea to do so, don't you think? This station is, deep down, just doing what it can to avoid driving its listeners away. They are a business, so they are bound to do so.

Fundamentally, its if the government decide that I've got to let them have my Massive Attack collection, rather when radio stations don't want to play them that I'll worry about censorship.

Re:You say censorship, I say good business sense

[Tassach]

Of course you can change the station

Oh really? What if it's playing in a bar? In the elevator? On the phone while you are on hold? Sorry, but there are lots of circumstances where you can hear the radio but can't change the channel or turn it off.

While it is a thoughtful gesture to try and avoid upsetting people unnecessarily at a time like this, ill-conceived knee-jerk reactions seldom have the desired effect.

The only acceptable response to terrorism is to keep on living life as normal. That does not mean that we should forego justice or vengence, nor does it mean that we should not implement prudent, carefully considered security measures to prevent another similar tragedy -- indeed, failure to do these things would be unconcionable. However, if we sacrifice our freedoms to provide an illusion of security, the bastards have won. If we give in to hate, the bastards have won. If we live in fear, the bastards have won. All we can do is mourn the dead, comfort the survivors, clean up the mess, and get on with the rest of our lives.

Irony?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahh.. the banning of Don McLean "American Pie" .. "the day the muuuusic died". some of these selections seem outright silly.

Vendetta against Rage?

[Lizard_King]

I noticed in the list: "All Rage Against The Machine songs"

you've got to be kidding me. This seems like blind censorship to me. I'm doubtful they've listened to all of Rage's songs.

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[brennan73]

I noticed this too. I guess the song's contents don't matter if the artist has been known to express certain political opinions. This, IMO, is just WAY more offensive than banning specific songs.

Unbelievable. Seriously; this whole list, and the thinking of the people who came up with it, just absolutely boggles the mind.

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[merlin_jim]

The entire list seems to be, much like the FBI's monitoring program, generated from keywords. I agree entirely with your comment about Rage... but check this out:

Dave Matthews Band "Crash into me"... Apparently the word Crash is just bad stuff. Of course, every time I hear this song, it makes me want to go buy a gun.

Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"... I'm assuming for the refrain "music is my airplane"... ummm. That's all I got to say. Ummm. Those lyrics sure are questionable!

Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Aeroplane"... see above

Frank Sinatra "New York"... what were they thinking!!!

People, if you haven't, go read the list. Some of the songs on the list are certainly questionable and callous, but a lot of them are really good music that just happens to mention a word or two. The music itself and its message doesn't come anywhere near questionable, but it has a keyword in it...

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[AnalogBoy]

Does it really matter? All of rage's songs [i'm no expert, they arent on my "listen to often" list] are the same concept with different lyrics, and its pretty old. One way or another, their songs aren't the best material for right now - the nation does NOT need to be kicked while it's down.

use STD_DISCLAIMER;

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[EisPick]

The entire list seems to be, much like the FBI's monitoring program, generated from keywords

Another good example: Why else would they ban "Wipeout"?

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[DeadMeat (TM)]

Actually "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" is the one with the refrain "Despite all my rage/I am still just a rat in a cage."

That said, after reading the list, I'm wondering if it's genuine or not. Why would they ban Alien Ant Farm's cover of "Smooth Criminal" but not Michael Jackson's original version? And some of the bannings like "What A Wonderful World" don't even make any sense.

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[merlin_jim]

Thanks for the correction! That puts Bullet with Butterfly Wings on the barely questionable list...

Yeah, a lot of this just doesn't make sense. I'm calling friends now, urging them to boycott ClearChannel radio in our area.

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[Erasmus Darwin]

"The entire list seems to be, much like the FBI's monitoring program, generated from keywords."

On the other hand, a keyword could be all it takes for a DJ to generate some completely tasteless, pseudo-innocuous on-air comment that would get a station in deep shit.

Imagine, for example:
"We here at KPX wish to express our deepest regret over what happened in the WTC incident. I know I, personally, would give my life if it meant saving the victims of the horrible tragedy. (pause) And now Dave Matthews' Band, 'Crash into Me'."

Still, I think in a number of cases, Clear Channel has erred on the side of raging stupidity ("Imagine" is especially appropriate right now, with all the racial violence going on in the US; "Walk like an Egyptian" seems to be a racist choice of equating any and all Middle-Easterners with the terrorists).

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[tswinzig]

Dave Matthews Band "Crash into me"... Apparently the word Crash is just bad stuff.

"Crash into me" is likely going to be immediately associated with an airplane crashing into a building right now.

Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"... I'm assuming for the refrain "music is my airplane"... ummm

Ummm, I'm guessing it's the title. The hijackers turned airplanes into "bullets with butterfly wings."

People, if you haven't, go read the list. Some of the songs on the list are certainly questionable and callous, but a lot of them are really good music that just happens to mention a word or two. The music itself and its message doesn't come anywhere near questionable, but it has a keyword in it...

Apparantly you don't understand the point of a list such as this. You seem to think this music has been banned from the radio for all time? Music on the radio is meant to be enjoyed. Most people, after the WTC events, would pick up on these "keywords" or themes and stop enjoying the music -- and possibly TURN THE CHANNEL.

It's called being sensitive. It's why HBO and the other movie channels have been running different movies in place of the scheduled "Passenger 57" and "Die Hard" reruns. It's why Hollywood has postponed or changed certain movies.

These people are trying to ENTERTAIN us. Right now, things that trigger thoughts of WTC are not very entertaining.

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[merlin_jim]

Apparantly you don't understand the point of a list such as this. You seem to think this music has been banned from the radio for all time? Music on the radio is meant to be enjoyed. Most people, after the WTC events, would pick up on these "keywords" or themes and stop enjoying the music -- and possibly TURN THE CHANNEL.

I understand that, and you make good points about a few of the songs I mentioned, but I think they are clearly erring on the side of stupidity in this case. A lot of the songs on the list are ANTI-war or ANTI-terrorism, just the sort of thing we should be listening to. And about turning the channel? I'm already calling all my friends, asking them not to support Clear Channel radio. I don't see how they really accomplished that objective...

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[billcopc]

This one's easy : New York Mayor Giuliani absolutely hates Rage and their mindset. He's closed down many of their public shows and harassed them very generously.

All of you free speech advocates should be aware that Rage's message is one of freedom from the dirty hands of corporate rule and corrupt leaders. They never go too far with their lyrics, their intent is to expose the crooked and hang them out to dry, for the better of society and justice. I'll go out on a limb here and say that they would even support government if it were done right, which it obviously isn't.

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[Anonymous Coward]

RATM sucks ass, so it's actually a great service to the country that they're being censored.

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[JimPooley]

Frank Sinatra "New York"... what were they thinking!!!

Ah, but doesn't it have that line about being top of the heap - as in heap of rubble?
Aaaah! Fuck! My brane 'urts from trying to think like some stupid suit!
Seriously, you'd think this song would be one to play, to celebrate the city, not let the bastards get you down, that kind of thing...

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[ocie]

What's next? Ban all songs by Jefferson Airplane, but none by Jefferson Starship?

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[llzackll]

When is the last time you heard michael jackson's 'smooth criminal' on the radio? I woudl imagine it's not on clearchannel's current 'play list'

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[Angst Badger]

Of course it's blind censorship. There are several anti-war and anti-violence songs on the list. For crying out loud, they've banned the Beatles' "Obla Di, Obla Da", which has got to be one of the least offensive songs of all time. What did they do, take a list of song and throw darts at it?

I don't know about this supposed war on terrorism, but it looks like we're already losing the war on drooling stupidity.

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[csbruce]

Unbelievable. Seriously; this whole list, and the thinking of the people who came up with it, just absolutely boggles the mind.

On the plus side, they'll be facing a massive backlash and PR disaster.

Re:Vendetta against Rage?

[Anonymous Coward]

or maybe it's because they got some taste and realized that Rage is crap?

Missed a song

[stinkydog]

"Never be Rude to an Arab" By Monty Python

Re:Missed a song

[The_Steel_General]

Also "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway) ," Billy Joel.

I've seen the lights go out on Broadway
I saw the ruins at my feet
You know we almost didn't notice it
We'd seen it all the time on Forty second street

(Been listening to it this week -- has a fine, defiant tone.)

TSG

There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender.

The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain. -- J. Michael Stracynzki

Re:Missed a song

[liquidsin]

I didn't see "Killing an Arab" by The Cure on that list though...wonder if that was an intentional oversight...

First the DJs...

[Anonymous Coward]

Clear Channel already made waves by taking the axe to a good deal of local jocks, replacing them with regional (or even national) "and it's 15 past the hour" talent. Makes sense that they'd want to keep a nice and tidy playlist so the radio computer doesn't get tired thinking too much.

1200 + Radio Stations

[Jonathan Byron]

Heres an article on Clear Channel Communications at Salon Magazine.

ridiculous

[Anonymous Coward]

No, it's not censorship, but it IS ridiculous. Some of these songs have been around for so long they are part of our collective consciousness. Does anyone really believe that people that had a direct loss from this situation aren't going to be painfully reminded of it every time they visit a familiar restaurant, look to the NY skyline and see the huge gap where the WTC was, or any of a million other things? Does anyone truly believe that hearing Stairway to Heaven on the radio is going to cause any more pain than they are already enduring? Ridiculous.

Maybe their thoughts are in the right place, but this really won't make any difference to anybody directly affected through personal loss, and likely not to anybody else either.

Censorship or restraint?

[steevo.com]

I am not a ClearChannel fan. Far from it. Nor am I one that lets freedoms slip through my hands without a fight.

That being said, I think the censorship aspect is a matter of perception. I believe that ClearChannel is working from the perspective of taste and decorum. They aren't banning them from existence, they are just saying that they won't play them. They hold the FCC licence, and they get to make the call for programming.

If you are a DJ or other "on-air personality" it is perception of censorship. They aren't allowed to play anything and everything they want.

ClearChannel is just saying that, right now, they don't want their stations playing X right now. As the licence holders, they have that right. Their employees don't have a right to say or do anything they want while on the air; it is not a venue for their free speech. If the FCC gave ClearChannel a list of banned songs, that would be censorship.

Will I be listening to any ClearChannel radio stations? No. I don't like their practices, and wish they would go away. But are they practicing censorship? I have to be honest and say no. I believe they are trying to cater to a sensitive public right now.

Re:Censorship or restraint?

[Anonymous Coward]

Idiot.
This is a troll.

You and your bandwagon buddies have been duped, AGAIN.

AHAHAHAAHAHA

Re:Censorship or restraint?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hm... I think I'd have to disagree the matter of taste and decorum. How can this be a matter of taste or decorum when they are banning the play of music by Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, Elvis Presley?

The problem with being sensitive is that you become overly concerned with public perception to be point of being anal. What is next? Will Clear Channel ban all commercials that advertise products or companies that were affected by the terrorist attack? Not likely. What about removing all DJs who are Muslim? That would be highly inappropriate, but since Muslims and Sihks are already being attacked in racially motivated crimes it wouldn't surprise me. What would we say if a magazine removed all references that some editor felt would remind people of the tragic events of September 11.

All Clear Channel has done is to make themselves and all their listeners a victim of the attack. The terrorists won again. And will continue to win whenever people let their behaviour be dictated by fears.

Other may feel all the flag waving and praying and such is getting a bit much, and I would be lying if I said it didn't get on my nerves (not being an American). But far better that Americans respond in that fashion then in the manner that Clear Channel has chosen. Defiance is the only path that can be followed in response to terrorists.

Re:Censorship or restraint?

[steevo.com]

I disagree with ClearChannel's taste and decorum as well. There are many songs that I don't find distasteful, and would play them on my radio stations, if I had any.

ClearChannel made a call as to the tone they want to set for their stations. They are free to do so. They made a bad call. They are free to to that as well.

Look, I don't condone their choice. I don't like the way they run their business, or the product their radio has become. I do, however, celebrate that they have the abilty to make choices, even the ones I don't like.

gang of four and the minutemen are ok though!

[stego]

I mean, their not on the list! and don't forget the Dead Kennedys - whose morning drive to work would be the same w/ Holiday in Cambodia?

Commercial radio has been empty for years. Like this really matters at all...

Re:gang of four and the minutemen are ok though!

[CoreWalker]

I love the Minutemen, and I grew up listening to the Dead Kennedy's; I know exactly what you're talking about (they haven't banned NoMeansNo, either). You have to realize who made this list, though. You can't ban something if you don't know of its existance. I doubt if these groups are on their playlists anyway, so there is no need to ban them.

Yeah... let's not let terrorism change us....

[Halo-]

Gee... This ougtha show dem der terries... Screw with our country, and we know just how to respond. Ha! Try to make an impact by doing sometime to affect the things which make us American... We'll show you! We can take away the things you don't like about our country all by ourself! So there!

I can only hope this is a joke...

For you

[Anonymous Coward]

Closing your eyes won't make the pain go away.

Actually a good list!

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't a list of songs that should be banned from playing. This is actually a list of the best songs out there in rock-n-roll! And Rage Against the Machine must really be doing something right to get every one of their songs banned. For a current list of the best songs and bands out there today, check out this list! Notice that these songs will actually deter you from feeling bad about yourself, as opposed to Britney Spears crap that will just make you want to kill yourself...

What stations are Clear Channel in your town

[baby_head_rush]

See what stations belong to Clear Channel in your town. Boycott/Call/Email them about the list if you disagree.

Re:What stations are Clear Channel in your town

[Anonymous Coward]

either that search is totally screwed up, or they dont have ANY stations in kansas city... yet

Re:What stations are Clear Channel in your town

[baby_head_rush]

You must be lucky. A search for just "City" brought up quite a few listings, but nothing for Kansas City.

Re:What stations are Clear Channel in your town

[Anonymous Coward]

dont know what i could have done about it anyway, cant stand commercial radio, theres always some asshole on there tryin to sell me a cell phone.

Some of these songs have helped me keep my sanity

[hedgefrog]

I've been playing some of these songs enough to drive my office mate crazy.
They also forgot some of the better ones: Fight Fire with Fire and For Whom the Bell Tolls by Metallica, Electric Funeral and Children of the Grave by Black Sabbath and Goodbye Blue Sky by Pink Floyd.

And since when is Suicide Solution by Black Sabbath anyway? Or for that matter about suicide; the song is a warning not to drink yourself to death.

Uh no.

[vtechpilot]

The station I listen to 93.5 WARQ in Columbia SC, is owned by clear channel and they just played "bodies" like five minutes ago, but they have also been taking donations for requests as a Red Cross fundraiser so if somone donated $10 to bodies the DJ's here would probably say "Hey $10 for playing 'Bodies'. Woulda played it for free."

Anyone verified this?

[weslocke]

I've been listening to my local ClearChannel station for a bit, and so far I've heard quite a few of those songs. (Fuel's 'Bad Day', Dave Matthew's 'Crash Into Me', and I'm currently listening to AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell'.)

Not sure if it's just "Renegade Radio" or not, but since I can't get in touch with 'em yet I was wondering if anyone else had called their local station to see.

Re:Anyone verified this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just called a semi-local station, 96.9 in Alexandria, LA, and the man told me they followed the list for a few days but are only not playing a few of the songs now. He was rather surprised to find out it was public info though.

Hypocrites!

[TheMidget]

They ban all those perfectly good thongs, but when you go to their own web page, they prominently display a banner saying United we stand. Scroll down to section 5) for the meat...

some Gang of Four titles

[stego]

from A Brief History of the 20th Century:

• Capital (it fails us now)
  
• To Hell with Poverty!
  
• Anthrax
  
• Not Great Men
  
• A Hole in the Wallet
  

Can you say, "all-request friday?"

[1010011010]

Everyone call in requests for these songs, especially things like "Walk like an Egyptian" and "Obla Di, Obla Da" which are just fun, bouncy songs that have nothing sinister about them, except what's implied by their appearance on ClearChannel's list.

I have a request...

[BMonger]

If you've actually looked at the list you'll realize how ridiculous the list is... call your local radio station and request the songs... see what they say...

"Bob, don't play any of these songs... Sally lets roll the news and ummm... lets show more videos of the planes crashing and the current rubble situation."

karma

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it possible to raise the karma of an account that has trolled before?

Not Censorship

[Byteme]

You can still go out and buy the CD or request it played via a non-Clear Channel station. Clear Channel has the right to choose what does and does not get played on their stations... I mean look at the list! I don't see Nihilist Spasm Band or Throbbing Gristle on their list; so while we are on this topic why not just blast for not playing all the other stuff that they refuse to play? Do they play songs with swears in it? Do they play sexually explicit Rap? Most of the list looks like it hits one demographic, so why split hairs? CLASSIC ROCK! Clear Channel thinks it will alienate listeners if they play songs with lyrics that are provocative or morose. If people are changing the dial, then they will not be selling advertising. It business, plain and simple.

The only choice for music is college radio, NPR and live performance... Commercial radio sucks and that list is 85% bunk, but that is besides the point.

If you want some uplifting music during these times, try some John Zorn, Peter Brotzmann, William Parker or some Matthew Shipp. Do yourself the favor.

Missing Song ?

[Goody]

Not to make a joke of this, but isn't there a song called To Kill an Arab by that depressing band (I can't remember their name) ? I guess it doesn't get enough airplay to warrant being on the list, but I could imagine that some stupid DJ would pull it out of somewhere and play it.

This list is so out there; you can tell someone doesn't have a clue as to what half these songs are actually about. Considering the mood I think much of this list would make a rather good playlist right now. I'm tempted to snarf a couple songs from Gnutella and play them while I work today.

Re:Missing Song ?

[{tele}machus_*1]

Oh yeah, "Killing an Arab" by the Cure--the song is about The Stranger by Albert Camus. Of all those songs, this one should have made the list for its title (but not for its content). Further reinforcing my belief that this is a hoax.

Re:Missing Song ?

[Byteme]

The song is Killing an Arab by The Cure and the lyrics are inspired by the book The Stranger by Camus.

Re:Missing Song ?

[Nurgster]

The Cure, depressing?!?!

You havn't recent to any new songs, like Britnet or N'Sync... every time I hear those "artists"I want to hang myself...

San Diego Stations

[Null_Packet]

I was just thinking about this on the way in to work this morning... Clearchannel owns 91x (quasi-alternative/pop), 95.7 (80's and 90's) and (one of those damned) star 100.7 (pop). Unless you live in San Diego, you probably wouldn't know that these three stations make up for at least 50-60 percent of the radio market in town.

Food for thought, I suppose.

Neil Diamond "America" ????

[Tiger Smile]

Neil Diamond "America"

Some of these songs might not be played for good reason. Judgement should be used by the DJ. This list is weird. Like it was generated by work search program and not any human.

I don't like Neil Diamond, but banning a stiring song about how great our country is, how we are the fantasic nexus of the world's people and cultures.

What the fucking hell do these anti-american morons think they are doing. Next week they'll be going to court to protect their 1st amendment rights to play a song about killing a cop.

Sorry. it's earily and this stuff in the morning does not sit well with me. Hell, I never listen to the damned radio anymore anyways. Maybe crappy companies like this are the reason.

Take care, and be safe.

-- James Dornan

Re:640WGST in Atlanta was making fun of the list..

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not a feminine name in every country (it's a masculine name in Sweden). Shouldn't this be celebrated as multiculturalism?

FYI

[bradleyjay]

Randy Palmer is CC's VP of Investor Relations, and can be "reached" Here

Perhaps some potential investors should let him know what they think. With the financial markets in the shape they're in right now, I'll bet the're in need of investors right about now.

this has to be a hoax

[{tele}machus_*1]

There is no way this can be for real. "What a wonderful world," by Louis Armstrong is on that list. What could possibly be offensive about that song? And 99 Red Balloons? Or Love Is a Battlefield? Or Walk Like an Egyptian? It seems like whoever made this list made it specifically to get people riled up--no band is sacred. Some of the songs make sense, in a twisted way, like Black Sabbath's War Pigs (but it's an antiwar song!). Banning many of these songs just makes no sense (the Beatles' Obla Di Obla Da?), this must be a hoax.

corporate censorship

[sckeener]

Would someone please post the list of banned songs here or at least mirror it to a neutral site...

I'm being smartfiltered trying to visit f%$#company.com

;)

Sterling

It is their Radio Station their business

[jjr]

No is stopping you from listening to the music. And anyways the radio is already censored so. The station is must likely trying not to affend anyone if you want to listen to those songs then go to the music store find another station or find the MP3 somewhere. Well anyways have fun.

Cover versions?

[bolsh]

I noted with amusement that some of the songs (example, American Pie by Don Maclean) have covers which aren't banned (Madonna), and for some others (Dancing in the streets) some covers are mentioned, but not all (Mick Jagger & David Bowie) - does this mean that we could have a playlist that includded Ella Fitzgerald's version of "Mack the knife", followed by Joe Cocker singing "Hey Joe", with an encore of Michael Jackson's "Smooth criminal" without violating the banned song list?

In fact, about a quarter (from what I can see) of the songs on the list have been covered somewhere, by someone, and the covers would be OK? Or am I misreading the situation? Also - why ban anti-war/anti-terrorist songs like, say, "Imagine", "Sunday bloody Sunday" or "Blowin' in the wind" (but only the Peter Paul & Mary cover, mind)?

Dave.

A few highlights from the list

[Foochar]

Here are a few highlights from the list...
REM "It's the End of the World as We Know It" - Why does everyone always pick on this song without listening to what they are really saying. Everyopne always stops after reading the first six words of the title.
The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da" - The only offense I can think of for this song is that it says "Life goes on" and isn't that what everyone has been saying anyway, that we need to try and return to normal
U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday" - This song speaks out against terroism, rather blatantly.
Jan and Dean "Dead Man's Curve" - What are we doing, banning any song that mentions death in any way?
Lenny Kravitz "Fly Away" - Or any song that mentions air travel?

I can see banning a few songs, but they have just decimated the play list, not only of Rock stations, but of oldies stations as well. I would say that about half of the list predates 1980! In my opinion they are fully within their rights to do this, but they are making an ill reasoned bussiness decision.

Re:A few highlights from the list

[inonit]

REM "It's the End of the World as We Know It" - Why does everyone always pick on this song without listening to what they are really saying. Everyopne always stops after reading the first six words of the title.

Because no one can understand what they're saying. :)

Re:A few highlights from the list

[Anonymous Coward]

U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday" - This song speaks out against terroism, rather blatantly.

The problem with songs like that, and songs like John Lennon's "Imagine", is that they conflict with the insane racist bloodlust that the U.S. is so carefully nurturing at the moment.

How are people supposed to stay pumped up and ready to commit genocide with songs like those questioning their morals?

Re:A few highlights from the list

[jamesoutlaw]

Why does everyone always pick on this song without listening to what they are really saying. Everyopne always stops after reading the first six words of the title.

It's because the general public is "stupid". They don't look beyond the obvious and avoid anything that might force them to actually THINK. These are the same people who drive 90 on the interstate in bumper to bumper traffic while talking on their cellular phone.

Re:A few highlights from the list

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget Van Halen -- "Jump". That's the one that took me a moment to figure out...

Meanwhile, you can't play Paul McCartney's "Live & Let Die" -- but the Guns N Roses version (from the Grosse Point Blank soundtrack) is just fine, otherwise it would have been called out at the same time.

Seriously, though, I'm not sure whether to be disappointed with this list or not. The exclusion of Our Lady Peace's "Superman's Dead" means I should be grateful that a great song didn't get censored, but disappointed that they didn't pay enough attention to it to think it worth censoring (compared to Van Halen's "Jump").

Either way, I've got the CD so I don't really care...

change the definition

[budcub]

Isn't it time we changed the definition of censorship to include cases like this? Clearchannel might not be the government, but they're pretty powerful if they own enough radio stations.

Who's in charge of the English language, who do we see about making this happen?

Not really.

[poemofatic]

They may own the transmitter and physical plant, but they don't own the airways. Exclusive licenses (not deeds) to use the airways were given away by the government to businesses which pledged to use them for the public good.

The airways are a public asset, and without a government enforced monopoly, clear channel would find its physical properties pretty much worthless.

Because of that, I think this is censorship, and may be illegal (if we had any decent courts left). Especially the part about banning anti-war songs. That's political speech and should enjoy the highest protections. Especially and primarily when we are deciding wether or not to take military action.

Letter to a local ClearChannel station

[Jaysyn]

This is the letter I just sent to (one of) my local ClearChannel stations.

To whom it may concern,

I was appalled to learn today from one of my favorite message-boards www.slashdot.org that your parent company has decided to pull songs from their playlists due to "questionable content" concerning last Tuesday's tragic terrorist attack. While the attack was a horrible, horrible thing to happen, this decision is wrong headed, and is one of the knee-jerk reactions that the terrorists were hoping for. Your company has basically given in to the terrorist's "demands" that America changes it's ways, and I am ashamed & sorry that American media can be cowed this easily. I for one, have no dealings with censors or cowards, and will be boycotting your station & advertisers, as well as asking my friends & family to do the same. I will also be sending a list of "banned" songs to your competitors so they can spread the word as well.

Feel free to copy this letter if you also have a problem with this sort of behaviour.

Jaysyn

One song missing

[tsetem]

What about Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't fear the Reaper"?

Damn, I'm gonna miss listening to these songs on the radio here. (They own our Rock station 92.5 WKGB) Some I agree with, but a lot I don't.

It's not sensorship, it's called SENSITIVITY

[ihadalittledog]

This is no different than David Letterman being careful what he jokes about and how he goes about it on his show.

This is no different than TV shows (e.g. Law and Order) changing the scenes in their opening credits to be sensitive to people's feelings.

This is no different than a network scrapping an entire pilot for a series due to its content.

This is not sensorship, it's called SENSITIVITY, and I think that any media company that does not examine the content it is putting out with the recent events in mind is being insensitive to its end user's feelings.

We will not all agree on what is or is not insensitive, but each company has to draw a line somewhere.

Free expression in practice or just in theory?

[Savage-Rabbit]

I used to wonder about how some conservative Americans reconcile their ideas of Morality, Democracy and Freedom of Expression with the fact that the USA is the largest Manufacturer of Pornography in the Known Universe.

The answer seems to be they don't! They only seem to want Freedom of expresson for "the right kind of people". The problem with this philosophy is that either you have Complete freedom of experssion for all and that includes pornographers, people who make lewd songs, Religious nutters, Politically uncomfortable people, Enviromentalists..... (the list goes on) or you gag the ones who's politial, moral and other views are not palatable to you.

If you fix it so that all Americans are free to express their views in what ever format they prefer, in theory. But in practice some Americans who's views you like are more free to express them selves than others you can not call America a true Democracy anymore.

Unfortunately for the consevatives of this world, and fortunately for the rest of us, it takes real and unrestriced freedom of expression to qualify for that most exhulted title Democracy.

Of course these people are free to do what they want on their radiostation. But god for bid they try to ram it down the throat of the rest of the free world.

Why ban "Walk Like an Egyptian"

[kireK]

First, I don't like the censorship, but I could understand a memo asking stations to be considerate of the situation. Now that has been said, why ban the Bangles "Walk Like an Egyptian"?

Re:Why ban "Walk Like an Egyptian"

[uucp]

It mentions Egypt. "Egypt had received a large influx of Islamic veterans of the
Afghan war."

That, and, well, come on, the song is really really bad. ;)

congratulations you completely missed the point!

[ebbv]

it wouldn't be a large number of people changing the station, that much is obvious.

you managed to totally dodge my point and instead spout of worthless babble. please, next time you think about posting, don't.
...dave

Re:640WGST in Atlanta was making fun of the list..

[CodeMonky]

I don't think this will be a permanent ban as some of the songs on the list are quite popular.

I also don't think they are saying music makes terrorists, I think they are simply saying that out of respect for people who lost loved ones they aren';t going to play a song with a chorus containing the phrase "Let the bodies hit the floor".

You'll notice that Arnolds new terrorist movie's premier has been postponed. That doesn't mean its not coming out.

Re:er, sorry man, but IMAGINE???

[Anonymous Coward]

I cannot possibly see what is objectionable about John Lennon's "Imagine," except that it is anti-war. "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds?" It's a drug song; has nothing to do with sparing the feelings of families of the victims. Apparently they're also using this as an excuse to drop songs that they've always been criticized for playing.

Odd thing is, they didn't censor The Byrds, "Eight Miles High." I guess they mustn't have heard of it. Which tells you something about their knowledge of music (as does referring to "When You're Falling" as a Peter Gabriel song).

entirely messed up

[ragnar]

I find it ironic that radio stations are bastardizing songs with tacky media recorded overlays, yet they come up with a "do not play" list. How is it somehow sensitive and polite to take Enya's "Only Time" and overlay it with sounds of crashing, crying and voices of fear, yet it would be unsettling to play Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World". I'm not making this up, and I've also heard tacky heart-tugs with Bette Middler's "From a Distance" song. Sick, just plain sick.

These people have no foot to stand on to tell us about respect and decency in my opinion.

Re:640WGST in Atlanta was making fun of the list..

[rm-r]

There are a lot of generally anti-war songs on the list though. Surely this is the time when they are most relevant and deserve the most airplay?

Since when...

[isorox]

Were dongs like "Bridge over troubled water", "Mack the knife" and "Tikka to ride" anything to do with 9/11? Is there anyone in the world that doesnt like at least one song on there? They've got everything from the 30's onwards, from heavy goth to light ballards.

OK, there are some songs on there it would have been insensitive to play on the day of the tradgedy, or shortly after, however I'd hope that radio DJ's can judge this for themselves. Fresh DJ's with only a couple of weeks under their belts at our uni radio station can.

This conglomerate is worse then the BBC in the UK. At least they dont ahve a guarenteed income and have to answer to their listeners (unlike the BBC who's anti america, anti UK, anti Europe view scares me). I hope that listeners write in and complain to TPTB. It's not the DJ's fault, they get the sack if they play them.

Still, there are other stations (I guess, I know very little about american radio)

Re:Since when...

[Yorrike]

I actually find the BBC (BBC World), to be the best of the news channels I have access to.

On the day of the tradegy and onwards they were the only channel I encountered (apart from the ABC coverage I saw) that was reserved and sensitive enough NOT to show people jumping from 100 story windows. I commend the BBC for their lack of sensationalism.

Furthermore, the BBC's John Simpson has insight to the Middle East like no other western journelist I have ever experienced. He's the best reference in this situation, he has understanding of the many cultures and history of the area with a Westernised view point.

not much left

[mach-5]

I hope our local rock station isn't owned by clear channel...there won't be much left for them to play.

Corp Slaves Revolt at WMAD

[bmasel]

I fed the Story to WTDY, a locally owned talk station here in Madison, WI, they've been teasing the Competition all morning. Now WMAD, a Clear Channel station, is defying Corporate HQ, and playing banned songs too.

Re:Corp Slaves Revolt at WMAD

[Anonymous Coward]

You = Idiot.

This is a troll.

You and your bandwagon buddies have been duped, AGAIN.

AHAHAHAAHAHA

Something is wrong: parent=2313938 dups=1 discussion=21725

Heh

[Zarniwoop]

I'm just glad not to hear Dave Matthew's "Crash" anymore.

9/11 and Big Media's Reaction

[Thomas M Hughes]

This is something I've found rather interesting in the wake of the events of 9/11. There has been a big push to pull elements directed at children that spread the wrong ideals, or so it would seem. While this is an understandable reaction (one would think), this doesn't always imply pulling "violent" messages. Quite the contrary.

As mentioned in this story, they pulled the anti-war song "99 Red Balloons." As mentioned a few days ago, Cartoon Network pulled a cartoon called "Mobile Suit Gundam", which often times treats war as something that greedy leaders start and average soldiers have to fight, even though its meaningless.

To me, pulling shows like this implies that Big Media is going the patriotic route, and not the critical route if and when a war starts. They clearly don't want the young men who are going to the war to have "anti-war" sentiments, as that might discourage enlistment for our upcoming battle. This disturbs me more than the pulling of entertainment with violent messages.

As an odd side note, Cartoon Network still plays "Dragonball Z", where fighting and combat is seen as something enjoyable, fun and looked forward to. In fact, it now runs for two hours instead of one, in wake of recent events.

Someone needs to remain critical, if for nothing else, to play Devil's Advocate. I don't like when all I have is one description of how its going to be.

Re:9/11 and Big Media's Reaction

[Genom]

Probably the reason Gundam was pulled is because it pushes a VERY strong anti-war message. It often takes the track of showing just how devestating and horrible war can be -- the big robots are juyst a means to an end. Overall, the series' have a VERY pacifistic message, for the most part. Wouldn't want the kiddies picking up on the "war is bad" rhetoric, would we? Besides, it often shows the military in a bad light, and we know we can't be teaching that either, can we? ;P

Dragonball/Dragonball z, on the other hand, aren't dealing with war at all - they mostly deal with superpowered martial artists who do completely impossible things - in short, it's complete fantasy. Not that Gundam isn't - but it's at least closer to being possible than Dragonball.

I don't agree with pulling it - and I don't agree with the propaganda-inspired imagery the media is, as a whole, trying to push. Last week's attacks were a tragedy - yes. They were horrible, and those responsible need to be brought to justice. But I'm quickly becoming convinced that the Justice we're seeking is merely a witch-hunt, and is being used as an excuse to push other agendas...

Re:THE BEATLES!?!?!

[TheMidget]

They surely objected to "Ob-la-di Ob-la-da life goes on bra"

What are you listening to

[ian_po]

First of all I can't stand radio advertisements. This is the reason I installed a CD player in my car. I could listen to the radio but why should I waste time losing my hearing to crappy music.

At home I listen to NPR mainly for the news. The real bonus, no ads. And the BBC has a good world perspective.

If I am bored enough and I'm listening to crappy radio, I feel sickened when I find out that I have been listening to a clear channel station because you don't even know what state it was produced in.

I agree, this is a case of censorship because some censor at CC chose to blacklist the songs, but who cares if nobody is listening.

ian c,
not listening since 1999.

Re:640WGST in Atlanta was making fun of the list..

[rm-r]

I thought it was a unisex name in any English-speaking country, it certainly is here in England and isn't Kim Stanley Robinson a bloke?

Request this song

[tkrabec]

"Never be rude to an Arab" by Monte Python

-- Tim

Your country can listen to whatever they want...

[Walles]

... just not from Clearchannel. They haven't "decided that the country (USA) shouldn't be listening" to anything, they have opted not to play it to their listeners.

You do have more than one radio station, haven't you? If lots of people think Clearchannel are behaving like idiots, rest assured that they will change this decision fast.

Cheers //Johan

Songs they've forgotten

[Jeppe Salvesen]

If they think they've got ALL subversive, pacifist hippie music on the list, they've got another thing coming! They OBSVIOUSLY missed "the wall" by pink floyd. Jefferson Airplane, Frank Zappa. The list goes on. Ruby Tuesday by the Stones? What about "Sympathy for the Devil"? That must be much worse for the victims.

This sounds more like a jippo than a real concern, though I resent them for banning peaceloving music. Oh. And there is almost NO teen-bop in the list. I guess that's what the classic rock stations will have to play, now that all relevant music is boycotted.

FUCKEDCOMPANY!

[JimPooley]

FuckedCompany!

FuckedCompany!

FuckedCompany!!!

How the FUCK can you complain about censorship when you yourselves are putting fucking asterisks in the name Fuckedcompany!

Pure FUCKING hypocrisy!

Re:FUCKEDCOMPANY!

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck you, ya ass fucking sonofa fuck faced fucking fuck fucker.

Cheers fuckface!

Re:FUCKEDCOMPANY!

[Anonymous Coward]

If I say you're an idiot, instead of cursing at you, I have censored myself. Can we see how this is different than censoring what the listeners of the ~1200 radio stations will hear, by censoring what those ~1200 stations may play?

Yeah, thought so. Troll somewhere else.

tk

How about some "Cure"?

[JWhitlock]

I didn't see the Cure's "Killing an Arab" on that list...

Re:How about some "Cure"?

[Salsaman]

Hehe, I noticed that too :-)

Re:How about some "Cure"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Or "Never be rude to an Arab" > Monty Python :~)

What else did they miss?

They seem very concerned about remindnig anyone about

1. about the events of Tuesday

1. New York City

1. The war has innocent victums, on both sides

but not songs that might cause hate crimes.

And the "reason"' for banning some of the songs is unclear, to say the lest.

Have they reported how long this ban is in effect for?

Don't let our Freedom be the Next Victim

Gnutella download list

[MxTxL]

Not that I believe this list is true, which I don't, but if it were, this list would make excellent input to your favorite Gnutella client, don't rest until you've downloaded all of them.

If you're interested in a little geektavisim, you could then burn all the MP3s to CD audio and distribute them for free at all Clear Channel(TM) events with some propaganda stating how evil they are and how they've banned these (whichever 13 or so are on the CD) and other songs, include the list if you like.

Re:Gnutella download list

[Fjord]

And then get arrested for distributing copyrighted matierial.

Re:Gnutella download list

[MxTxL]

Haha, that's true. Wouldn't THAT be a slap in the face? Well, at least you would be a martyr for The Cause(tm).

If you wanted to be really tricky, and again only if the list were true, you could argue that you were practicing your first ammendment rights in taking a stand against the evil corporate censorship. I bet you could get a judge to buy it. Besides, you weren't charging money for them.

Re:Gnutella download list

[ScottDB]

Yeah - I don't think it's true either. Why just yesterday morning I heard a ClearChannel station here in DFW playing John Lennon's "Imagine", and another ClearChannel station here has been playing a "tribute version" of Metallica's "Seek and Destroy" for at least the last two days. (This tribute song has some of Bush's comments about going to war and such dubbed in.)

Re:Gnutella download list

[tswinzig]

If you're interested in a little geektavisim, you could then burn all the MP3s to CD audio and distribute them for free at all Clear Channel(TM) events with some propaganda stating how evil they are and how they've banned these (whichever 13 or so are on the CD) and other songs, include the list if you like.

Or you could do something that really matters.

Re:Gnutella download list

[MxTxL]

Oops, sorry, I forgot to put the ever cool source tags on my post. It should read:

<sarcasm>

Text of post

</sarcasm>

I keep forgetting that people around here need to see that stuff to tell.

Re:Gnutella download list

[tswinzig]

I keep forgetting that people around here need to see that stuff to tell.

Well let's see. I can't see your face or hear the inflection in your voice, and your ideas were typical of shit I've seen posted by serious people on slashdot in the past.

So, yes, in that case you would need to indicate that you're joking somehow. I find liberal use of CAPITALIZED WORDS and exclamation points help A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re:THE BEATLES!?!?!

[poemofatic]

Maybe they thought "Obla-di" would be confused with an Arabic name...

IMAGINE!

[Judas96']

John Lennon's song Imagine is on the list. Isn't that song meant to promote peace? I can see why you wouldn't want people thinking about that... It would just be wrong.
I must have missed the subliminal messages within the song that can only be heard by a Radio Executive.

Re:IMAGINE!

[Luminous]

If the President is promoting war, anyone who is promoting peace is 'anti-American', at least in Dubya's point-of-view.

Re:IMAGINE!

[operagost]

I really doubt that is the case, and in fact the great majority of us support military action against the perpetrators in every poll I've heard. I'm pretty sure all of them weren't taken in Lower Manhattan.

Re:IMAGINE!

[Anonymous Coward]

I was gonna log in and compose a thoughtful response about how what you said has no basis in fact, blah blah blah, but there's no point. So here's my abbreviated response:

You're a fucking idiot.

Thank you

Re:IMAGINE!

[xinit]

They've been looking for an excuse to ban "Imagine" for years. "Imagine there's no heaven," I mean the NERVE of those pagans.

Re:IMAGINE!

[libre lover]

They've been looking for an excuse to ban "Imagine" for years. "Imagine there's no heaven," I mean the NERVE of those pagans.

Come to think of it who would want to kill themselves in an act of terrorism if there wasn't a heaven to go to afterward?

Re:IMAGINE!

[WNight]

Heh, your responses would seem to indicate that you're right.

It does look like Bush wants a war, for various reasons, and the people are happy giving it to him.

I doubt there's a conspiracy in the music industry, but if these people are where they are because of business savy, I bet they're fairly good at reading the political climate and avoiding sensitive issues.

Re:IMAGINE!

[FrankNputer]

I must have missed the subliminal messages within the song that can only be heard by a Radio Executive.

Everything sounds different with your head up your arse...

JLL: Obvious Terrorist Lyrics!

[JCMay]

It's obvious from the lyrics that Jerry Lee Lewis, the Killer himself, was trying to warn us of the impending attacks. Why, just look at the first line of his song, "Great Balls of Fire:"

You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain
Too much love drives a man insane

Furthermore, the connection between material wealth and attractiveness to the opposite sex is well documented. It doesn't take much to see the connection between "too much love" and an abundance of money, and what symbolizes money more dramatically than the World Trade Center?

You broke my will, but what a thrill
Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire

JLL now admits that he, and by extension we, have become slaves to our own persuit of wealth, and concludes that in can only end badly.
The rest of the song is similarly prophetic.

I laughed at love 'cause I thought it was funny
You came along and moved me honey
I've changed my mind, your love is fine
Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire

Kiss me baby, woo feels good
Hold me baby, wellllll I want to love you like a lover should

Your fine, so kind
I want to tell the world that your mine mine mine mine

I chew my nails and I twiddle my thumbs
I'm real nervous, but it sure is fun
Come on baby, drive my crazy
Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!!

Someone did not get the memo

[stinkydog]

I am listening to my local coperate alt rock station (WXEG Clear Channel Dayton Ohio). In the last hour I have heard:

Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Head Like a Hole
Speed Kills

Here in Ohio we don't have to worry about the list.

Re:Someone did not get the memo

[lightPhoenix]

Cool. I used to live in Dayton and I was wondering if this way real. I really am suspecting that its fake now... I mean O bla di??

Radio-Shmadio

[caldroun]

Who cares, the radio sucks anyway.
Thanks Slashdot, now I know who is responsible for shitty music programming.

List of songs

[Anonymous Coward]

For anyone behind a firewall that blocks the word fsck with a u:

Drowning Pool "Bodies" Mudvayne "Death Blooms"
Megadeth "Dread and the Fugitive" Megadeth "Sweating Bullets"
Saliva "Click Click Boom" P.O.D. "Boom" Metallica "Seek and Destroy"
Metallica "Harvester or Sorrow" Metallica "Enter Sandman"
Metallica "Fade to Black" All Rage Against The Machine songs
Nine Inch Nails "Head Like a Hole" Godsmack "Bad Religion" Tool "Intolerance"
Soundgarden "Blow Up the Outside World" AC/DC "Shot Down in Flames"
AC/DC "Shoot to Thrill" AC/DC "Dirty Deeds" AC/DC "Highway to Hell"
AC/DC "Safe in New York City" AC/DC "TNT" AC/DC "Hell's Bells"
Black Sabbath "War Pigs" Black Sabbath "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
Black Sabbath "Suicide Solution" Dio "Holy Diver" Steve Miller "Jet Airliner"
Van Halen "Jump" Queen "Another One Bites the Dust" Queen "Killer Queen"
Pat Benatar "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" Pat Benatar "Love is a Battlefield"
Oingo Boingo "Dead Man's Party" REM "It's the End of the World as We Know It"
Talking Heads "Burning Down the House" Judas Priest "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll"
Pink Floyd "Run Like Hell" Pink Floyd "Mother" Savage Garden "Crash and Burn"
Dave Matthews Band "Crash Into Me" Bangles "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Pretenders "My City Was Gone" Alanis Morissette "Ironic"
Barenaked Ladies "Falling for the First Time" Fuel "Bad Day"
John Parr "St. Elmo's Fire" Peter Gabriel "When You're Falling"
Kansas "Dust in the Wind" Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
The Beatles "A Day in the Life" The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
The Beatles "Ticket To Ride" The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da"
Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" Arthur Brown "Fire"
Blue Oyster Cult "Burnin' For You" Paul McCartney and Wings "Live and Let Die"
Jimmy Hendrix "Hey Joe" Jackson Brown "Doctor My Eyes"
John Mellencamp "Crumbling Down" John Mellencamp "I'm On Fire"
U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday" Boston "Smokin" Billy Joel "Only the Good Die Young"
Barry McGuire "Eve of Destruction" Steam "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey"
Drifters "On Broadway" Shelly Fabares "Johnny Angel"
Los Bravos "Black is Black" Peter and Gordon "I Go To Pieces"
Peter and Gordon "A World Without Love" Elvis "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
Zombies "She's Not There" Elton John "Benny & The Jets" Elton John "Daniel"
Elton John "Rocket Man" Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire"
Santana "Evil Ways" Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World"
Youngbloods "Get Together" Ad Libs "The Boy from New York City"
Peter Paul and Mary "Blowin' in the Wind"
Peter Paul and Mary "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" Rolling Stones "Ruby Tuesday"
Simon And Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Happenings "See You in Septemeber" Carole King "I Feel the Earth Move"
Yager and Evans "In the Year 2525" Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky"
Brooklyn Bridge "Worst That Could Happen"
Three Degrees "When Will I See You Again" Cat Stevens "Peace Train"
Cat Stevens "Morning Has Broken" Jan and Dean "Dead Man's Curve"
Martha & the Vandellas "Nowhere to Run"
Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen "Dancing in the Streets"
Hollies "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"
San Cooke Herman Hermits, "Wonder World" Petula Clark "A Sign of the Times"
Don McLean "American Pie" J. Frank Wilson "Last Kiss"
Buddy Holly and the Crickets "That'll Be the Day" John Lennon "Imagine"
Bobby Darin "Mack the Knife" The Clash "Rock the Casbah" Surfaris "Wipeout"
Blood Sweat and Tears "And When I Die" Dave Clark Five "Bits and Pieces"
Tramps "Disco Inferno" Paper Lace "The Night Chicago Died"
Frank Sinatra "New York, New York"
Creedence Clearwater Revival "Travelin' Band"
The Gap Band "You Dropped a Bomb On Me" Alien Ant Farm "Smooth Criminal"
3 Doors Down "Duck and Run" The Doors "The End" Third Eye Blind "Jumper"
Neil Diamond "America" Lenny Kravitz "Fly Away" Tom Petty "Free Fallin'"
Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire" Bruce Springsteen "Goin' Down"
Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight" Alice in Chains "Rooster"
Alice in Chains "Sea of Sorrow" Alice in Chains "Down in a Hole"
Alice in Chains "Them Bone" Beastie Boys "Sure Shot" Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
The Cult "Fire Woman" Everclear "Santa Monica" Filter "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly" Korn "Falling Away From Me"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Aeroplane" Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge"
Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" System of a Down "Chop Suey!"
Skeeter Davis "End of the World" Rickey Nelson "Travelin' Man"
Chi-Lites "Have You Seen Her" Animals "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"
Fontella Bass "Rescue Me"
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels "Devil with the Blue Dress"
James Taylor "Fire and Rain" Edwin Starr/Bruce Springstein "War"
Lynyrd Skynyrd "Tuesday's Gone" Limp Bizkit "Break Stuff"
Green Day "Brain Stew" Temple of the Dog "Say Hello to Heaven" Sugar Ray "Fly"
Local H "Bound for the Floor" Slipknot "Left Behind, Wait and Bleed"
Bush "Speed Kills" 311 "Down"
Stone Temple Pilots "Big Bang Baby," Dead and Bloated"
Soundgarden "Fell on Black Days," Black Hole Sun"
Nina "99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons"

(posted anonymously to avoid accusitions of karma whoring)

Ridiculous

[atathert]

American Pie from Don McLean? You have got to be kidding. This is utterly ridiculous, especially considering all the stuff that didn't make the list. (Danzig and Henry Rollins come to mind)

Also, New York, New York, by Frank Sinatra? Sometimes people go too far in the knee jerk reactions. Hopefully they will get a clue (or be given one) and realize how crazy this is.

It's a PLANE CRASH SONG.

[hatless]

"American Pie" is a song about a plane crash. I think I can go a few weeks without songs about plane crashes unless maybe someone writes or unearths a fitting one relevant to this that makes life more bearable.

Re:It's a PLANE CRASH SONG.

[frog51]

I've enjoyed it for years and never once did it occur to me that it was about a plane crash. It just is a good uplifting bouncy song with a serious feelgood factor.

Same as most of the other songs on the list

Re:It's a PLANE CRASH SONG.

[someone247356]

Huh?

Back in high school (many, many, years ago) We spent several weeks going over the symbolism in "America Pie" (In U.S. History class). I have never heard that it was about a "plane crash". There is a plane crash somewhere near the end of the song (third verse maybe, dealing with Vietnam I think). It's a song chronicling the loss of American innocence starting with the assassination of Kennedy in the first verse.

Seeing the magnitude of the "loss of innocence" after the WTC tragedy, I would think this would be a very appropriate song.

*Sigh*

This ostrich attitude is what gets us into trouble. We need to face what happens, grieve, deal, go on.

While most of the world is busy killing each other over race, religion, etc. we haven't been. Why? Because unlike other countries, we have the right (in theory anyway) to TALK about things. You don't like Jews or Catholics, you can yell it to your hearts content. You think Blacks and Hispanics are "mud people", homosexuals are deranged child molesters, write pamphlets hold rallies. It's much better to talk bout these things, argue, try to convince each other than to kill each other over it.

That's where this new thin skin political correctness is back firing. It becomes "bad" and "wrong" to say certain things. People go to jail for things that they say. All that does is push the hate and misconceptions underground where they can't be challenged or recognized. Instead of knowing that Jane Doe hates group x, y and z, society acts all amazed when she goes on a killing spree. We get to hear the news stations report, "Gee no one ever though Jane had it in her", "We can't understand why Jane blew up that mosque."

Well, perhaps if it wasn't illegal for her to say "I think all Arabs are Muslims and all Muslims want to destroy America, therefore I must destroy every mosque around." People might have been able to talk to her and tried to explain that Muslims, like Christians and Jews are basically peace loving people.

If you kill, steal, maim, rape. Those are and should be crimes. If you say, "I think group X should die", "Group Y is defective.", "Group Z should be removed from this country." That should not be.

Criminalizing speech is wrong. Censorship, even well meaning (and I'm not sure how well meaning this is) self censorship is wrong. Someone, whom I can't recall at the moment once said (and I'm probably paraphrasing badly),

"The response to bad speech isn't censorship, but more speech"

Just my $0.02 (Canadian, before taxes)

Re:It's a PLANE CRASH SONG.

[Naysayer]

I hate to say this, but you went to a crappy high school.

American Pie is about the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper.

-N.

Re:It's a PLANE CRASH SONG.

[Watts Martin]

As others have pointed out, "American Pie" isn't as much a 'plane crash song' as it is about changing times and worldviews. Don McLean wrote about "the day the music died" as a focal point, an event after which the way everyone related to their country and their world changed. This change could only be marked (to McLean) with a melancholy, a recognition that beyond the tangible, clear losses, something intangible--but just as irreplaceable--had also been lost.

How Clear Channel sees it is their business (literally), but it seems to me those thoughts are more timely at this moment than they've been in decades.

Have I been owned today?

[GweeDo]

If you want to know if there is a Clear Channel station in your area head over to Clear Channel's Radio Page and use their slightly working search utility. It appears my area (Kansas City) doesn't have any stations owned by them. How about you?

Ironic....

[plastickiwi]

... that Alanis Morrisette made the list, but Was (Not Was)'s "I Blew Up the United States" didn't?

Dontcha think?

Yager and Evans "In the Year 2525"

[derrickh]

Is this the theme music to my favorite cancelled show, Cleopatra 2525?

In the yeaaaaaaar 2525, she has the will to surviiiive

D

Re:Yager and Evans "In the Year 2525"

[jandrese]

Not quite. Cleopatra 2525 used the same music, but changed the lyrics.

The song is about (IIRC) war, nuclear apocalypse, and the tenacity of the human spirit.

Re:Yager and Evans "In the Year 2525"

[john@iastate.edu]

The song is about (IIRC) war, nuclear apocalypse, and the tenacity of the human spirit.

Hardly! It's about the more technology advances, the more people become worthless lumps.

PS, It's Zager and Evans.

Adding to the list

[CaseStudy]

(I don't think this is censorship--it's not like these songs can't be played or sold elsewhere. I do find it sad that they don't trust their DJ's to not play offensive material, but better safe than sorry.)

Anyhow, songs that I can't see belonging there:
Simon and Garfunkel, "Bridge over Troubled Water"
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, "Devil with the Blue Dress"

Songs that people could complain about, but I think are generally positive:
The Beatles, "A Day in the Life"
The Beatles, "Obla Di, Obla Da"
John Lennon, "Imagine"
Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Under the Bridge"
Frank Sinatra, "New York, New York"
Nena, "99 Luftbaloons"
Neil Diamond, "America"

Songs that probably do belong there:
REM/Cry Cry Cry, "Fall on Me"
Tom Petty, "Learning to Fly"
U2, "Until the End of the World"

Songs that would belong there if anyone ever played them:
Bad Religion, "Skyscraper"
Cowboy Junkies, "Angel Mine"
Cowboy Junkies, "Common Disaster"
Cowboy Junkies, "Miles From Our Home"
Cowboy Junkies, "Misguided Angel"
Dar Williams, "Alleluia"
Dar Williams, "Are You Out There?"
Eddie From Ohio, "Gravity"
Eddie From Ohio, "Stupid American"
Leonard Cohen/REM, "First We Take Manhattan"
Midnight Oil, "Beds are Burning"
Moxy Fruvous, "Fly"
Psychedelic Furs, "Ghost In You"
Renaissance, "The Vultures Fly High"
The Smiths, "Every Day is Like Sunday"
Toad the Wet Sprocket, "Fall Down"
Toad the Wet Sprocket, "Fly From Heaven"

Not True?

[Anonymous Coward]

According to th Washington Post, "Despite yesterday's Internet rumors, Clear Channel has no official list of songs that must be pulled off the air."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4 71 68-2001Sep17.html

4 They Missed

[bmasel]

"I Don't Wanna Get Drafted" (Frank Zappa)
"Alice's Restaurant" (Arlo Guthrie)
"Working for the Clampdown" (Clash)
"Ain't Gonna Work on Maggie's Farm No More" (Dylan)

which their DJs should play as they empty their desks.

Re:4 They Missed

[bigdavex]

"I Don't Wanna Get Drafted" (Frank Zappa)
"Alice's Restaurant" (Arlo Guthrie)
"Working for the Clampdown" (Clash)
"Ain't Gonna Work on Maggie's Farm No More" (Dylan)

which their DJs should play as they empty their desks.

I bet these songs weren't on an approved playlist to begin with.

Euh ... no hope for a peaceful world ???

[dago]

... as imagine (from john lennon) is on the list !

... nothing to kill or die for ...
Imagine all the people living life in peace

What a dangerous song !!! It should be banned from the whole earth

Permanent Ban? or Temporary.

[DiS[EnDeR]]

The question is wether or not ClearChannel is issueing a permanent Ban or a temporary Ban. ClearChannel may be trying to "let America Recover" and then in a week / month allow these songs to be aired again.

I hope ClearChannel makes a statement with its motives clearly defined cause dammit there are some good songs on here. Louis Armstring "What a Wonderful World", how the hell can you sensor that song?? and I cant believe that Alien Ant Farms version of "Smooth Criminal" speaks more to the WTC tragedy than Michael Jacksons , which didnt make the list.

Re:Vendetta against Rage? pink floyd & skinner

[disc-chord]

I agree, it should be "All but 2 Rage Against the Machine songs" ... as all but 2 are anti-america, and decidedly not appropriate for time of war.

At the same time we've got:
The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (LSD song)
Pink Floyd "Mother" (a song about an overbearing mother)
Godsmack "Bad Religion" (christian hypocrisy in america)
Filter "Hey Man, Nice Shot" (politician commiting suicide due to a scandal he had nothing to do with, if anything this should become Condit's theme song)
Tramps "Disco Inferno" (WTF!? Disco Lives!)

Taking a look at that, I have no idea what criteria they're using for this list.

Don't get me wrong though, I think this black listing is really counter productive. Corporate Blacklisting goes WAY beyond censorship, as far as I'm concerned.

What about Public Enemy?

[derrickh]

'911 is a Joke'... But it's not as if any stations ever played it anyway.

D

Re:640WGST in Atlanta was making fun of the list..

[Anonymous Coward]

The BBC has an emergency banned list, which they start when a tragedy happens. On the current list: "It's raining men" by Geri Halliwell. I shit you not.

Wait a second...

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

104.3 in Baltimore is a Clearchannel station and they played 'Imagine' (it's on the list) this morning at exactly 9:45, the time of the first crash, immediatly after a short moment of silence.

Re:Wait a second...

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

sorry, 8:45

But the list is incomplete...

[OldCrasher]

Just to prove what a bunch of gibbons these censoring cretins are, they forgot to include America's all time favorite TV show theme tune...

The theme to M*A*S*H: "Suicide is Painless"

Re:But the list is incomplete...

[Luminous]

Or more appropriately to a ClearChannel's playlist, Marilyn Manson's remake of Suicide is Painless.

I know why they banned The Beatles...

[Boomer3000]

Isn't it clear?
OBLadi OBLada...
OBL... Osama Bin Laden!
This demonstrate three things:

1) The Beatles were the Antichrist
2) Political Correctness is crap
3) Either the guys who did that never listened to those songs, or they have very convoluted minds.

Killing an arab ?

[Anonymous Coward]

During the Gulf war our British lads over there were listening to the Cure's "Killing an arab" all the time. People are just sick sometimes.

Point? I know I'm going to regret this...

[iainl]

OK, other than you liking some of the songs on the list, and that you believe that they are overestimating how sensitive people are about this, I agree, I appear to have missed your point. What is it, exactly?

Only from this side of the pond we are being given the impression by our news media that this is a very serious incident that has shocked and affected quite a large number of Americans. Certainly, even the 500 estimated Britons killed in the attack makes it our largest loss of life in a single terrorist act and our broadcasters have been quite sensitive about this; even the traditional Last Night Of The Proms was changed to a playlist that reflected the mood of the country.

Complaining that there are worse songs

[CaseStudy]

I'm sure this list was culled from ClearChannel's playlist. Just because you can think of some bit of indie rock or deathmetal that's in questionable taste doesn't mean it belongs on a list; the radio stations probably don't even have a copy of the song.

Imagine

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, they banned imagine. thats completely insane, don't you think we need to hear songs promoting world peace at a time like this? I suppose its the anti-religious sentiment of the song that offends, well if you ask me thats not a bad thing. People have been skirting the issue this past week but we have to face facts: Religion created the weapons that caused this. I am not saying outright that religion was the cause it self, but religion is a dangerous tool and it has come and bit us on the ass. And if your thinking that its only the Islamic religion I ask you to do one of two things, either actually read the Koran (which although I not a muslim I have) or think back to the last time Fundamentalist Christian Terrorists shot a doctor because he preformed a procedure they didnt think was moral, or maybe when they bombed a clinic because it may have discussed the procedre with patients as an option. Christians may feel differently, they may say "well while I don't agree with murder they were at least attacking the people responsible for the immorality, while these islamic terrorists killed innocents" I say HOGWASH! Both groups are kin, both groups kill people to reach goals, whether it be the destruction of percieved US imperialism, or the closing of a Planned Parenthood clinic, they are both terrorists, and they are both trained, motivated and given the courage by religion.

Do you think anyone would crash a plane, ending their own life, if they thought there was no heaven? On the other hand if they thought that thier God approved and would reward them in some after life (and no I won't say "allah" as that is simply a word for "God" and is used to clarify differences between Chritians and Muslims I believe) they would be much more inclined.

It is time to face facts, civilization has outgrown religion and mythology, and these attacks are simply the signs. I for one will raised my children to know that most people follow foolish beliefs that aren't real, and I also know that my children will never grow up to cause someone pain for some completely irrational reason

Let's get this right...

[jd]

"Bridge over Troubled Water" and "Stairway to Heaven" are somehow monsterous evils that must be eradicated.

At the same time, how much Death Metal got on the list? I don't recall seeing "South of Heaven" or "Blood for the Blood God" on there.

What this is REALLY about - and you'll see more and more of it, as time goes on - is hostility towards people on the fringes of society. Being "different" is to be an "enemy of the State". We've seen it before. We'll no doubt see it again.

THAT is why "extremist" music is just fine, but anti-hate music is being burned at the stake.

Sure, the radio stations have the "right" to play what they like. That's part of living in a free country. On the other hand, selective discrimination on grounds other than appropriateness for the channel and the time-slot is censorship. Self-censorship, sure, but censorship none-the-less.

What is FAR more disturbing than the censorship, though, is the subliminal message this puts across - that of "Pro-hate" and "Pro-war". If you want a sure-fire way of turning America into a hot-bed of sectarian violence, this is the perfect recipe.

Re:Let's get this right...

[slashBastard]

At the same time, how much Death Metal got on the list? I don't recall seeing "South of Heaven" or "Blood for the Blood God" on there.

How much Death Metal get's played on mainstream radio? they didn't need to ban it because it doesn't get played (much).

As for the list itself...I'm just waiting for someone to announce it's a hoax...some of those songs selected would be funny if it wasn't generated by such a sickening turn of events.

The problem's not censorship, it's monopoly

[homunq]

OK, well obviously ClearChannel doesn't have a monopoly, you can easily tune to a non-clearchannel station. But the point is that as more and more media get owned by fewer and fewer bigger companies, not only do everyone's choices diminish (duh) but even within those diminished choices you still have will be fundamentally _less_ open to pesky unprofitables such as journalistic or DJ ethics. These guys are in it for the bucks - not selling music to listeners, but selling listeners to the even-more-lovable music publishing industry.

The solution is therefore not to squawk at ClearChannel but to push for anti-monopoly measures such as real antitrust and community low-power radio. In other words, hee hee, ITS MICROSOFT'S FAULT.

What exactly are they banning?

[Ms.Taken]

Ok, a lot of the songs have lyrics mentioning war violence, fire, planes, NYC or death, but there are probably thousands of songs that fit those categories which didn't make the list.

How does "What A Wonderful World" fit in? A song about finding beauty in simple everyday things? How could that be anything but comforting? Ditto, "Morning Has Broken".

What about "Obla Di, Obla Da"? I can't think of a single 'triggering' word in that song. How could it be more disturbing than "Hapiness is a Warm Gun", "Run For Your Life" or "Helter Skelter" (none of which made the list)?

Re:What exactly are they banning?

[sunking2]

Because it's not as simple as just banning songs that the public might listen to. Have you ever listened to Howard Stern? There are groups of disc jockeys out there will use any means possible to try to get a laugh. This usually involves the use of sound clips from songs, titles, etc. These shock jocks are the real targets of all of this. All it takes is one idiot disc jockey out there to do something inappropriate and the entire company will be boycotted.

Please report to the ministry of truth

[gaj]

There are no such words as "amazing" or "shocking". Pretending that there are is double-plus ungood.

In other news, we would like to stress that we never were at war with Oceana, that black is white, night is day and, most importantly, that it is unpatriotic to think.

Thank you.

Yeah no kidding...

[FatSean]

But ClearChannel is a corporation, so they're automatically evil. Doesn't matter to me, the clearchannel station near me plays the same 25 shitty songs over and over again anyway.

Slight oversight

[Edd]

They have not banned "Never be rude to an Arab" by Monty Python :)

Here's a thought...

[Millennium]

We need to get people downloading these MP3's. Create a bunch of Net radio stations that play [i]only [/i]these songs, as "freedom stations" or something like that. Anyone else have input to the idea?

Re:Here's a thought...

[chipperdog]

Better yet, let's all put our part 15 FM transmitters on the air where ever we are at and create a nationwide "freedom station".

Re:Your country can listen to whatever they want..

[binford2k]

You missed the point that because they own so many stations, some people don't have that option.

mother

[arakis]

This really is sad, I sent them email. My own mother used to sing me Peter Paul and Mary Leaving on a Jetplane/Puff the Magic Dragon when I couldn't sleep or was ill. So sad to see that in the name of such a tradgedy we feel justified to commit insanity.

BBC Radio banned multiple songs during the attack

[Jon Chatow]

... including It's Raining Men. Which, though somewhat sick, I found obscurely amusing.

Alleged BBC Radio ban

[Anonymous Coward]

I heard that BBC Radio had banned its DJs from playing "It's Raining Men" (I think one of the Spice Girls released a cover of it recently). I've not heard it on the station lately but maybe its dropping out of the charts now.

[posting anonymously in case anyone thinks I'm just being gratuitously tasteless. Am not]

No... It's not a ban, just a suggestion!

[linuxrunner]

I sent an e-mail to my local clear channel radio station after reading this and this is the response:


no. its just a list of songs that may be inappropriate (and thats left to the broadcasters discretion) when
coming out of a news report....

you know, a news story about the world trade center into "Bodies" by Drowning Pool....would not sound right.
Its just a guide...

No banning. At least not that anyone's told me..

g


I hope this shed's some light on the issue!

Linuxrunner

A conspiracy theory? (Was: Eh?)

[vkt-tje]

That might be true. And to protect themselves from this accusition they have included Alien Ant Farm "Smooth Criminal" (they only recent song if I'm correct).
Continuing on that same song: why isn't Jackson's version banned? (like they did in the line Edwin Starr/Bruce Springstein "War")

Re:A conspiracy theory? (Was: Eh?)

[gorgon]

"Smooth Criminal" is far from the only recent song on the list. Drowning Pool's "Bodies", Mudvayne's "Death Blooms", and Bush's "Speed Kills" are a few that I recongnize as only having been released in the last several months. I'm sure there are plenty more.

Re:BBC Radio banned multiple songs during the atta

[MxTxL]

Yes, that is sick, tasteless and very insensitive, and I'm ashamed of it, but I think it's the funniest thing I've heard all week.

I see the rationale

[Hangtime]

The songs are not going to be banned for all-time they are just being put up for awhile. If will not affect anyone's lives that they can't get their fix of Megadeth or Metallica. However, I do see the rationale of postponing the playlist at this juncture. The last thing I would want is to have a member of a survivor's family turn on the radio and hear "Stairway to Heaven" and breakdown in tears because they had a family member in the WTC. I don't believe its censorship, I do believe its a conscious decision to think about possible listeners. If you like the songs then go buy/download them and play them to your heart's content. We sometimes forget that its not about just our rights but about the rights of others as well.

HT

Re:I see the rationale

[Jonathunder]

Last year, several months after my grandfather died, my mother was outwardly composed, even happy, as we went shopping. And then the song "Blue Christmas" came on the store's music system, and my mother started openly weeping. I hugged her--that's all ZI could do.

To those who have suffered such a terrible loss as happened a week ago, there will be many innocuous things, songs included, that will trigger grief. There is no way to avoid that, I am sad to say.

A little common sense about what to play on the radio is in order, but a list of what might make listeners sad, when we are all in mourning, is impossible.

Re:640WGST in Atlanta was making fun of the list..

[CodeMonky]

True.
Maybe they are trying to stay somewhat neutral as far as their stance on what the US's response should be.

The Cure

[duvel]

I would have expected to see The Cure's 'Killing an Arab' in the list.

The song starts of:

Standing at the beach with a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea, staring at the sand.
Whatever I choose it amounts to the same
Absolutely nothing
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm a stranger
Killing an Arab

Probably just an oversight from ClearChannel.

Re:The Cure

[Peyna]

They wouldn't ban a song from play on their stations if it wasn't in any of the playlists....

Re:The Cure

[pyrotic]

They played this quite a bit during the 91 Gulf War in London for some reason. Read Albert Camus "L'etranger" if you really want to know what the words are about.

Vendetta against rock and roll

[mickeyreznor]

Did anyone else no that there was NOT A SINGLE HIP-HOP SONG! Also there were VERY FEW pop songs. Call me paranoid, but I think this a direct attack on rock and roll. Does anyone else think we're slipping into the 50's, where rock and roll is now the scapegoat for anything that goes wrong in america?

Re:Vendetta against rock and roll

[quantum bit]

Probably because if they were to ban every hip-hop song that is offensive there would be nothing left to play...

It's already hard enough on the radio stations having to play songs where the lyrics sound like, "...and then I ---- to her ---- and ---- the old ---- of ---- ---- ---- mother ----!!!"

Re:Vendetta against rock and roll

[cvanaver]

I think it's more of a result of the kind of programming that is prevalent on Clear Channel stations. Clear Channel owns 10% of the total national radio market and 60% of rock and roll market. Since most of what they play is rock and roll, the list makes sense from this perspective.

Re:Vendetta against rock and roll

[Redhawk]

Or maybe, just maybe, it's because ClearChannel doesn't OWN any hip-hop/rap/what-have-you stations?

Sheesh. Read the Salon article. Urban Radio's a whole 'nother ball of wax.

Redhawk

Re:Vendetta against rock and roll

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, they do. clearchannel.com lets you search for stations, and in the Boston area they own WJMN - Jam'n 94.5 (whose tagline is "Today's hottest hip-hop" or something). All hip-hop/rap, all the time. Strangely and fortunately, they don't own the two best rock stations here (WBCN and WAAF for those in NE area).

So now this kind of begs the question - what about rap/hip-hop songs? Or are they still working on that list?

Complete insanity-- where will it end?

[phillymjs]

When I get home from work tonight, Clear Channel will be getting a very angry email from me.

In light of what happened last week, I can certainly see some aspects of the entertainment industry being affected (like that CD cover art from The Coup being pulled), but some of these knee-jerk overreactions are just going too fucking far.

As soon as I heard Microsoft was pulling the WTC out of the landscape in Flight Simulator 2002, I ordered FS 2000. I want to remember that those buildings were there. Everyone else seems to want to chuck them down some sort of memory hole.

I can't stop wondering where this insanity will end. Will TBS stop showing Trading Places all the time, because toward the end Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy are shown walking into, horror of horrors, the intact World Trade Center? Perhaps they'll just edit out the "offensive" parts, and we'll jump right from Dan & Eddie getting on a train to NYC from Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, to the scene at the very end, where they are on the beach of a tropical island-- with no explanation of how they got there.

IMHO, trying to erase the "disturbing" images of the towers as they once stood from all media is an affront to the memory of those who died there last week.

~Philly

Re:Complete insanity-- where will it end?

[Anonymous Coward]

idiot.

this story is a JOKE.

get a life and go do something useful, like killing yourself and donating your organs.

Re:Complete insanity-- where will it end?

[tb3]

Worse, you'll never again see the 1976 re-make of King Kong with the climatic battle atop the World Trade Center instead of the Empire State Building.

Oh, wait. That's a good thing. The movie sucked :)

Re:Complete insanity-- where will it end?

[Nf1nk]

Perhaps M$ is right in removing the buildings from its flight simulator. not to be crass but the buildings are not there any more, and including them in future editions of the simulator would be inaccurate, but we should not remove all old referances to the great buildings.

also not on the list...

[ideonode]

This following courtesy of kbrownecon over at plastic:

They forgot Harry Belafonte's Banana Boat song, you know, the one that goes

"Come Mister Taliban, carry me banana"

Some of these songs should be PLAYED, not BANNED

[Anonymous Coward]

To those of you who can't tell the difference between censorship and taste- grow up, or even better- go to downtown NYC and play these songs on a boombox.

If that's the criteria - go to downtown NYC and do ANYTHING to disrupt the rescue/cleanup efforts. Regardless of what you're doing/saying/playing, if you're interrupting things rather than helping you won't be met with open arms - you'll be escorted out of the area.

Some of these songs are probably more helpful to people in times of tragedy because they can remind us about the good parts of humanity. "Imagine all the people, living life in peace" (IIRC) is a pretty good thing for people to think about right now. Perhaps some people in downtown NYC might get agitated, but ClearChannel is a national network - I'm sure many people in Detroit, LA, Miami and other places would prefer to have some songs of unity, peace and love played on their radio instead of BANNED. "What's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding?"

*Satchmo* is on the list

[LittleGuy]

"What a Wonderful World", by Louis Armstrong.

On a banned list.

*shakes head*

And *I* think to myself, "what a fucked-up world."

This is not the government

[Scratch-O-Matic]

The anti government sentiment on Slashdot has gotten my blood boiling in the last few days, but we must realize that this is not the work of the federal government, nor do these actions in any way enhance our security.

I have defended, and will continue to defend, the propriety of the FBI and other agencies having increased latitude in this new world. But the actions of this private company are simply not related to those other efforts. These restrictions are misguided and un-American.

You say, perhaps for dramatic effect, "Rather than wait for the government assault..." Well, I'm confident that we will not see this type of assault from the government. Banning songs is not a security measure, nor is it a warfighting tactic. Until the government actually DOES something like this (and they won't,) don't attribute this type of idiocy to them.

To everybody that tried to correct me...

[scott1853]

Fuck you idiots. I don't care if he's Canadian, or if it wasn't intended to be an American song. The writers origins are irrelavent. This is a great song and should be sung even during this tragedy, maybe even more so. Singing about sadness isn't the end of the world, neither is remembering what happened just last week.

Re:To everybody that tried to correct me...

[iainl]

'Fuck you idiots' or no 'Fuck you idiots', you might be correct that McClean's intentions are irrelevant but you still haven't explained away the fact that this song is (at least initially) about someone who died in a plane crash.

Re:To everybody that tried to correct me...

[scott1853]

Good. It's about someone dying in a plane crash. Isn't that what's happened? Since when has run and hide been the "American way"? Personally I'd like to hear songs related to what's happened, it puts everything in perspective. Did anybody ban "Ohio"? It was written directly about a tragedy. Musicians are going to write songs about this event, should we pre-emptively ban them from doing so?

Re:To everybody that tried to correct me...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Since when has run and hide been the "American way"?" Right around the closing weeks of Vietnam...

Re:congratulations you completely missed the point

[carlos_benj]

if you're that out of control of your own emotions that you a) can't control your reaction to a song

You mean the way you couldn't control your reaction to the post? As far as those who have lost loved-ones in this tragedy, many of them may very well be unable to get a handle on their emotions right now. The fact that the radio stations didn't have the songs banned prior to this but have done so now sounds more like discretion than censorship.

ATTENTION Por Favor:

[Anonymous Coward]

This 'story' is fake.

Get a grip idiots.

Look at the sources of this 'story';

SlashDot (hahahahaha)

FuckedCOmpany.com (A known purveyor of lies and innuendo)

Only SA ( www.somethingawful.com ) could have done this better!

So Manowar's Battle Hymns si OK then ?

[cheekymonkey_68]

Hmm none of the songs from Manowar's 80's 'Battle Hyms' album are on the banned list and thats easy listening compared to some of the stuff out there....

Its strange that the all the 90's death / trash metal bands aren't on the list either.

I guess the censors can only ban what they understand and ironically death/trash metal is just too noisy for the radio censors to bother listening too.....

Well its not like they'd play it on the radio anayway.....its all steps and britney these days hows a teenager supposed to be rebellious anyway when their dad probably listens to Marilyn Manson, its a strange ole world.

McCarthy Rides Again

[NoNeeeed]

What disturbes me here is the definition of "questionable content".

I can entirely understand the removal of songs that were distastful, much in the same way games and film companies are removing references to, or images of the twin towers. That is simply a matter of taste. But banning anti-war or pro-peace songs is far more worrying. It's saying that "The US is going to war, and if you disagree then you are wrong".

The McCarthy witchhunts were ostensibly (sic) about protecting the US from the Communist Threat. The irony was that in doing so, they sacrificed the very thing they claimed to be protecting, namely freedom; to think and say what you want, and not be persecuted for it.

During the Vietnam war, people who disagreed with the policy were regarded as anti-american. The whole point of democracy is that everyones opinion, no matter how vial it may seem to others, is equally valid.


I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it.
Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

We are seeing the whole Nam/McCarthy thing happening again. With the stated aim of protecting freedom, we are having it systematically removed.

Americans are now only allowed to think what they are told to think by their government and the media (which generally goes along the same lines).

In trying to destroy this evil, you are becomming what you despise.

The terrorists have done far more damage than I think they could have hoped for, and I do not think America will realise this until it is too late.

A sympathetic, and very concerned Brit.

Re:McCarthy Rides Again

[Tackhead]

> But banning anti-war or pro-peace songs is far more worrying. It's saying that "The US is going to war, and if you disagree then you are wrong".

I would point out, however, that there are relatively few "pro-war" songs. Artists tend not to be a very militant lot, you know.

Side note - for those who saw my reference to KMFDM but are unfamiliar with the group, they're notorious for being tongue-in-cheek about themselves and their musical genre. Most obvious example - in-joke references to half their discography in KMFDM Sucks. Their "serious" lyrics may use violent imagery, but advocate a position of nonviolence.

Back on topic again:

My guess is that CC, (as evil as their other business practices may be), isn't trying to "gird the nation for war" by "censoring" peaceful songs - they're just trying to create market share by providing a space as free as possible from anything that might remind people of the WTC attack.

For people who want news and updates, there's plenty on talk radio and the AM dial. For people who want to escape from all of that, there's CC's 50-75% of the FM dial.

(But I confess I'm still boggled by pulling "Walk Like an Egyptian". Sheesh!)

Sense and sensability

[SilentChris]

One thing free speech advocates don't seem to consider is the relative proximity of the events to the measures being taken. There's something inherent in freedom: you have to know how to use it. Yes, I'm free to say what I feel like. Others are free to kill people down their street. It's when YOUR freedom impedes on ANOTHER'S freedom do you get these thorny issues.

Personally, I don't think anyone who was in the immediate area (I live in NJ) would even come close to arguing that we can take a break from the violent images in the media. We have been inundated lately -- a virtual information overload of the sights and sounds of the WTC -- and I for one look to turn the media off at the end of the day. I DON'T think it's unreasonable at all to take a break for a week or two from this stuff. We are NOT losing our civil liberties, NO ONE has proposed this as a permanent "solution". It's a matter of being respectful to those who have too much pain to deal with already.

I mean, hell, I even changed the "blood" setting in Perfect Dark to "paintball" the last few days playing it. Do I really need to see more blood?

Someone stop the remixes

[Kengineer]

Someone, please, stop the WTC remixes they are playing on the radio now. The Jewel song "Hands" with cuts of screaming and reporters yelling in it... with bush in the middle reading off a teleprompter.. it's too awful. That song sucked to begin with, now it's just a huge misery-fest.

They also have a WTC mix of Creed's "With Arms Wide Open" which is even worse. PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE SOMEBODY STOP DJ WTC BEFORE HE MIXES AGAIN!!!!!

- Kengineer

not to mention the opening line..

[sm4k]

"Look mommy, its an airplane"

Censorship

[Cranx]

It's not censorship. It's called a period of being sensitive. The songs will be played again, they're just trying to not play inappropriate music.

Jesus, can we get more paranoid?

How does this garbage get on /.?

Re:Censorship

[sqlrob]

If it was "being sensitive" this list would be much less than half the size it is now. Go read the list

Re:Censorship

[anichan]

I know! Look at how offensive and inappropriate "American Pie", "Jump" and "Only the Good Die Young" are, in light of these events. *rolls eyes*

On second thought, a brilliant move.

[Scratch-O-Matic]

The more I think about it, the more I see the brilliance in this move. None of these songs are on the current playlist, which has 17 songs on it. It's a win-win situation for ClearChannel--they get to fight terrorism, and they don't have to rotate their 17-song playlist at the end of the fiscal quarter, which they would have had to do at the end of this month.

Already Censored

[trongey]

Two thirds of the channels in my area never play any of these songs. Damn censors!
So what if they're country and Christian stations? They don't have any right to be excluding these songs all the time.

Chilling effect

[websensei]

This is not particularly suprising.
The ramifications of the tragedy -- the full implications of the impact it's had on our collective psyche -- will be impossible to gauge for months yet. But it is clear that in addition to paving the way for violations of civil liberties by the federal government, the attack has had quite an effect on corporate america, including the music industry. I refer not to its financial impact, rather the changes it is wreaking in the political climate of these large organizations. They are steering well clear of ANYthing that might be construed as controversial or sympathetic in any way to those responsible for the attack. The irony, of course, is that in excercising their typically befuddled judgement they self-censor the most pro-American, anti-terrorist, community-strengthening and potentially healing songs in their archives. This is a time when we need these songs most, but they are so afraid to misstep in this time of crisis that they do us all the worst disservice they could, giving the terrorists one more of countless small victories in their struggle to destroy our way of life.

Re:Further

[Anonymous Coward]

a)No one asked you weather you liked the list you ass pony.

b) Yeah, it is censorship. This is our "main" outlet for music. Some asshole thinks it may hurt our feelings, and chooses to spare us from getting our feelings hurt. He chooses for us, therefore, it is censorship.

Re:640WGST in Atlanta was making fun of the list..

[rm-r]

Staying neutral though is not changing what they were playing though surely? If the listeners wanted 'Imagine' last week they'll probably want it this week too- maybe more so- if nothing else it is a great song

Lyrics..

[kannen]

REM "It's the End of the World as We Know It" - Why does everyone always pick on this song without listening to what they are really saying. Everyopne always stops after reading the first six words of the title.

First verse:
That's great, it starts with an earthquake
Birds and snakes an aeroplane
And Lenny Bruce is not afraid
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn
World serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs
Feed it off an aux, speak grunt no strength
The ladder starts to clatter with fear fight down height
Wire in a fire representing seven games
A government for hire and a combat site
Left of west and coming in a hurry
With the furies breathing down - your - neck
Team by team reporters baffled trumped tethered cropped
Look at that low plane, fine, then
Uh oh overflow population common food
But it'll do save yourself serve yourself
World serves its own needs listen to your heart bleed
Dummy with the rapture and the reverend and the right, right
You vitriolic patriotic slam fight bright light feeling pretty psyched

2nd verse:
Six o'clock TV hour, don't get caught in foreign towers
Slash and burn return listen to yourself churn
Locking in uniforming book-burning blood-letting
Every motive escalate, automotive 'cinerate
Light a candle light a votive
Step down, step down watch your heel crush crushed
Uh oh this means no fear cavalier renegade steer clear
A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline

So, it's pretty heavily anti-war, plus it alludes to some terrorist activity. I can understand why it was pulled, and I don't mind going without right now, but, I do certainly hope it returns to the music lineups in a few months.

Songs they missed

[HHaygood]

How about...

• Crash into Me, Dave Matthews
  
• Crush, Dave Matthews (they were actually playing this on VH1 over the weekend -- someone's got a sick sense of humour :)
  
• Tumbling Down, John Mellencamp
  

Re:Songs they missed

[Anonymous Coward]

read the list asshole.

Re:Songs they missed

[tb3]

"Crash into Me" is actually "Crash' which is on the list. But you've figured out their mind-set.

Re:er, sorry man, but DISCO INFERNO???

[uucp]

I mean, fuck! Talk about bad taste???

Banning Disco Inferno because of the WTC disaster is vomituous. They are actually drawing a comparison between the destruction of the WTC towers and people dancing in a burning building. It boggles the mind how these ClearChannel scumbags could be so despicably insensitive, not to mention suppressively anti-American.

Pallex's fundamental misunderstanding

[Erasmus Darwin]

"Yes. Thats exactly it. Otherwise another company/individual can do it."

No. Your repeated postings seem to indicate an inability to differentiate between "censorship of the American public as a whole" (for example, the FCC declaring that you can't show bare breasts on broadcast television) and "censorship by a corporate entity of its own content" (for example, Fox Family channel voluntarily censoring the word "damn" as part of the more family friendly programming they want to produce).

Now, just because something isn't government censorship doesn't mean it's not censorship. However, just because something isn't government censorship doesn't mean it's a good thing. It also doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Each case must be examined on its own merits. Also, it being a bad thing is not synonymous with illegal. For example, if a given publisher chose to stop carrying stories on Linux, that wouldn't be illegal (as far as I know), but it would certainly be a bad thing. They would receive certainly criticism (rightfully so, IMO) for their non-illegal censorship.

Of course all that being said, things get a little more interesting. Clear Channel isn't on equal footing with other companies. Like Microsoft, they enjoy a rather large market share. Furthermore, they've been granted the right to use a limited, public resource (part of the radio spectrum) by the government. This places there actions under much greater scrutiny. Unlike, say, the widget manufacturing industry, a new-comer can't decide to pop into the radio market and start playing the songs in question. As such, their situation is closer to government censorship. However, regardless, their overall actions are still censorship and should be scrutinized by consumers.

Re:Pallex's fundamental misunderstanding

[pallex]

I was talking about censorship in the harsh, final definition - its banned and therefore very hard/impossible to access.

I`m sure there are lots of `real world` working definitions, including the poster mentioning his mother `censoring` his tv viewing.

But in this case, ClearChannel (who i`ve never heard of before now) seem to be censoring themselves.

Theres a magazine called `spotlight on censorship` which has highlighted censorship around the world. I`d be surprised if this issue ever got mentioned in it (if indeed its still being published) - except, perhaps, because of some of the ridiculous choices on the list!

Re:Pallex's fundamental misunderstanding

[Erasmus Darwin]

"I was talking about censorship in the harsh, final definition - its banned and therefore very hard/impossible to access."

Well, in that sense, you're correct. It's not something that abridges free speech. However, I still feel that it's an important issue, and the term 'censorship' is still accurate.

"But in this case, ClearChannel (who i`ve never heard of before now) seem to be censoring themselves."

The own a lot of radio stations. According to this Salon article from April, they owned 1,200 stations, and they've got representation in 247 of the 250 largest markets. In my local market, I'm aware of at least 4 Clear Channel stations (2 of them talk radio where "Clear Channel" was mentioned regularly, 1 of them I discovered only recently when they mentioned using news coverage from one of their "Clear Channel sister stations", and 1 I discovered just now from the Salon article), and I suspect there are more as it's not always obvious that it's a Clear Channel station.

So, as a result, they're censorsing a non-trivial portion of American airwaves. It may be self-imposed censorship, but it's not immune to scrutiny, especially by people who listen to the stations in question.

intolerance bad, prison sex good

[TypoDaemon]

tool?!? intolerance? it's about not trusting someone who has betrayed you lots. maybe they're just reacting to the name.

they should be banning prison sex, though (a song by tool, not the act). but no, anal rape is good, and intolerance is horrid.

it's a fine line we walk, when we determine what we should and shouldn't sing about.

Ummm.....

[jrwillis]

Could someone explain to me why "Mack the Knife" and "What a Wonderful World" are on the list. I don't get it.

Censorship or not?

[lowieken]

This is not censorship. Nobody seems to force them to do what they're doing.
BUT...

What makes music valuable? Only the music itself, and the words that come to it?

There are certain pieces of music that are part of collective memory. A community of people that can share similar feelings and thoughts around the same piece of music. "Imagine", by John Lennon, for example, unites many around a dream of world peace.

Self-censorship like on these radio stations kills off at least part of a collective memory. This kills an important part of the value behind music.
If only half of the people I talk to know John Lennon's song, instead of many more, something beautiful is clearly lost.

Self-censorship like this is stealing the background of a broad collective memory.

What's so surprising?

[mmarcos]

I don't see what's so surprising about this. ClearChannel is a commercial interest which means they choose what to put on and thus, to many, discriminate against such alternatives as independent labels and other forms of communication. They're a private company and they do whatever it takes to follow the yellow brick road. There has been little enough concern about the airwaves for a long time (think about what happened with low power FM). Radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, films, are for the most part commercial interests and are run as such. If you want something different, speak up to your reps so there's more choice. And, in any case, listen to your local college radio or one of the good public radio stations.

It is disheartening that they include anti-war songs.

I would like to request the following songs...

[pukeAndCry]

Frank Zappa, Sex
Frank Zappa, Bobby Brown Goes Down
Ween, Piss Up A Rope
Ween, Mister Richard Smoker
HUM, Suicide Machine
Guided By Voices, Tractor Rape Chain
The Magnetic Fields, Take Ecstacy With Me
Dinosaur Jr., Severed Lips
Dinosaur Jr., Puke And Cry
Tool, Prison Sex
Tool, Aeniema
Pixies, Wave of Mutilation
Pixies, There Goes My Gun
Pixies, Gouge Away
Pixies, I Bleed
Pixies, Debaser
Juliana Hatfield, Choose Drugs

After those are played, I have some more requests...

JiM

Blowin' In The WInd

[ishmalius]

The children's choir at the Vatican sang this song
during the weekly services on Sunday. I guess they
were not aware of Clear Channel's higher moral
authority.

Clear Choice Plays It Safe

[xsbellx]

A few points:

1) I do believe Clear Choice has the right to decide what gets played where and when. As an owner of a business, I exercise the prerogative to provide whatever services I deem reasonable within the bounds of current legislation. Should the market place deem may services to be inappropriate, the market place will cease purchasing my services.

2) The ownership of several providers of a service in an area is NOT an indication of intellectual or moral superiority. It simply demonstrates the ability to out perform others in business matters. I think the actual list speaks volumes about the ability of the people running Clear Choice to deal with matters other than profit and loss.

Although I do not profess to familiar with all of the songs on the list, it would seem virtually any song that has mentioned death, destruction, airplanes, New York City or anything else even remotely linked to the tragedy of September 11th is banned. There appears to be a wholesale disregard for the context of the lyrics.

So in summary, Clear Choice, as an American entity, you have the unalienable right to be asinine and you have exercised that right to the fullest.

Day after day

[rasjani]

... its more clearer that U.S. as "land of the free" is more a joke than a truth. But hey, atleast you can still have arms.

Once when i was kid, i idolized usa as really cool thing, now all i can do is to laugh. I feel sorry for you guys. Even sorries for those who sees this "list" and all such bullshit as good thing.

Voice of sanity has spoken.

Re:Day after day

[Anonymous Coward]

Day after day, our love turns gray
Like the skin on a dying man
And night after night, we pretend it's all right
But I have grown older, and you have grown colder
And nothing is very much fun, anymore
And I can feel one of all my turns coming on
I feel
Cold as a razor blade
Tight as a tourniquet
Dry as a funeral drum

Run to the bedroom
In the suitcase on the left
You'll find my favorite axe
Don't look so frightened
This is just a passing phase
One of my bad days
Would you like to watch TV
Or get between the sheets
Or contemplate the silent freeway
Would you like something to eat
Would you like to learn to fly, would ya
Would you like to see me try, ohh-oh, no

Would you like to call the cops
Do you think it's time I stopped
Why are you running away

Re:640WGST in Atlanta was making fun of the list..

[Anonymous Coward]

So is your ass.

P.S. What the fuck is up with GiZ

-- chdz

ClearChannel TALK Radio is the problem

[Lovejoy]

I never listen to music radio, but I do listen to talk radio occasionally - at least until a week ago. My suggestions to the ClearChannel call screeners: Hang up when you hear:
1. Bomb them back to the stone age.
2. ... and let God sort them out
3. Afghanistan ... (How many of these ignoramuses even knew where Afghanistan was before this attack?)
4. collateral damage

Re:ClearChannel TALK Radio is the problem

[MxTxL]

I totally agree, talk radio hosts used to amuse me somewhat, but when you put those same radio "personalities" in front of a serious topic like this, they turn into some real frigging morons! It's like they've never HEARD of any events before the attack.

"What they bombed our embassies in africa?"

"I think i heard that there was a marine base somewhere that they blew up too."

"Apparently Clinton is going to... wait, no, he isn't president anymore, who's the new guy?"

I mean it's really that bad, some hosts are pretty good, but for the most part, I've been hearing some damn stupid people trying to act damn serious. They can't hack it.

FLA Mindphaser

[TheSync]

They forgot Front Line Assembly Mindphaser:

"The kill is swift
It makes no sound
Aggression take its toll
Rhythm of violence
Cuts through the air
There's no more control
The sky turns brighter, a evil red
Missiles fly through the air
Shattered dreams
Shattered hopes
There's bodies everywhere"

Oh wait, no radio stations play FLA anyway. Damn! I want my XM Radio!

Re:FLA Mindphaser

[Tackhead]

>They forgot Front Line Assembly Mindphaser:

As an FLA fan, I can't resist two obvious one-liners here:

1) "Yeah, where's a big robotic killing machine when you need one?" ;-)

2) "But apart from that one track, did any of FLA's lyrics ever make sense?"

And as long as we're on the subject - I live enough to a large US city that I hope I get to play Front 242's Circling Overland -- often enough that someday I no longer have to worry about waking up to Quite Unusual. (Shouting out maddest props to the pilots who gave us air cover last week. We civilians saw you flying, and I, for one, thank you, as do many others.)

Back to the /. thread. If you oppose what Clear Channel is doing - turn 'em off. Find music that helps you deal with it. Share it with friends who may have similar tastes. And to hell with mainstream radio.

confirmation?

[medina]

hey,

sorry to question the validity of everything I read on slashdot, but can someone get some independent verification on this? like an actual news source? again, very sorry, but i'd not like to get myself all worked up unless it's confirmed to be true. perhaps a statement on the clearchannel site?

Help me believe the worst, people. Some good music there...

No joke, asshole

[Anonymous Coward]

I heard this being discussed on a radio station yesterday, and it is real. They read the list of songs.

Hendrix - Hey Joe

[boysimple]

Just a couple of days ago a station in the area was playing a mix of Hendrix's "Hey Joe" intercut with various sound bites - It was very powerful. It did a good job of putting things in a format that made it almost easier to deal with and understand - if only for a moment.

Music can help you deal with the problem - just avoiding it does not work. If the head of Clear Channel gets dumped by his wife/girlfriend are they then going to ban all sad lonely love songs? Sonn all we'll be left with is endless looping of "Shin Happy People"

But then again, knowing Clear channel, they probably have vendettas against some of these aretists and are using this as an excuse to not play thier music.

*sigh

For once

[WildBeast]

For once, I'm happy to be Canadian :)

Re:For once

[Anonymous Coward]

"Enough is enough and it's time for a change" - Owen Hart

Hey, hook me up this wire harness! It'll be fine, ya big babies!

MOD PARENT UP !

[Anonymous Coward]

100% retard to ***-out the "uck" in FUCKEDCOMPANY.COM !

Long live the fuck and the uck !
Free speech for everyone !

Re:MOD PARENT UP !

[charon_on_acheron]

An AC wrote:
"100% retard to ***-out the "uck" in FUCKEDCOMPANY.COM !

Long live the fuck and the uck !
Free speech for everyone ! "

You would be a lot more convincing if you weren't posting anonymously. (Shit, I had to look below to spell that word.) And if you looked at the link in the status bar, it points to F---kedCompany.com so it's doubly censored, eh.

Re:U2 troll

[StrawberryFrog]

Sunday, Bloody Sunday" was written when U2 was visiting Libya and they saw the US bomb ... It's not anti-terrorism, it's anti-United States

Oh really, I always thought that it refered to an event in Northern Ireland's history in 1972 that, unlike the bombing of Libya, is still refered to as "Bloody sunday", and that it was a call to end sectarian violence. See http://larkspirit.com/bloodysunday/ for a clue. U2 are an irish band, and not everything revolves around the US.

This is just a company trying to be sensitive to people who have had their lives shattered by hate-filled people, and playing songs about plane crashes, death, strife, et. al

That does seem to be the aim - otherwise why would they ban Talking Head's dada-psychobable funk track "burning down the house" which isn't about violence, it isn't anything coherent at all. Some idiot thought the title might remind someone. Having coped with loss a while back I can tell you that this is a pointless excercise. You get reminded of the loss by the oddest stuff, and there is no way around this but through the grief.

But it's an ill-chosen, dumb, arbitrary, partisan list - that elvis track, and Loius Armstrong singing "wonderfull world" are out - WTF??

Request BNL "When I Fall" instead

[Atomizer]

Request BNL "When I Fall" instead of "Falling for the First Time". It's older, and more about suicide than then their newest single. The only reason they're choosing not to play it is because it's got "Falling" in the title.

I hope I don't trip and "fall" down. Hey, I looked outside and I saw some leaves "falling". Must be "fall". Bomb, bomb, bomb, bombardier!

THIS LIST IS FAKE

[NecroFelix]

I mailed this list to Rock 103 where I live in Memphis TN. They are a Clear Channel station. They went off on about a 30 minute rant on it then started to play some of the songs just to prove it wrong. So just to leave everyone know. ITS FAKE!

Re:THIS LIST IS FAKE

[omega9]

It's got to be fake, or they are seriously not paying attention. Some of the listed songs are not even remotely about "evil". Not to mention they forgot the most obvious song of all: "Killing an Arab" - The Cure.

Re:THIS LIST IS FAKE

[puck71]

From what I understand, it's real, but it's not the "law" it's just a suggestion so they can still play them if they want to.

You're not being forced to listen...

[Pope Slackman]

One way or another, their songs aren't the best material for right now - the nation does NOT need to be kicked while it's down.

America.
The country that still hasn't figured out the "tuner knob" or the "power button".

Not like any of this is a big loss tho, Rear Channel has sucked donkey nuts for years.

C-X C-S

In Houston...

[rhadamanthus]

Clearchannel owns almost all the stations here and I don't really care if they ban (quietly remove) songs. They already play the worst songs over and over and over again, bombarding you with every shred of "pop" you can take. I doubt you would ever hear "walk like an egyptian" or "99 red balloons" anyway as they are not in the current top 40. My point? If you listen to radio still on a regular basis, you are already a victim of censorship on a scale that makes this list look so small as to be completely insignificant. Get an Aiwa MP3 deck in your car and never turn on KKFM-"ALL POP ALL DAY EVERY DAY" again.

Fuck radio.

------------------rhad

Orwellian Memory Hole

[SenshiNeko]

Okay people, there's just a bit of overreaction going on here, don't you think?

1. Best Buy is removing copies of the Die Hard series of movies from their stores because the first one featured terrorists blowing up a skyscraper, the second featured terrorists hijacking and crashing airliners, and the third had the subway under the World Trade Center exploding.

2. FOX has permanently pulled the Simpsons episode 'The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson' from syndication because a snippet includes the WTC.

3. Retailers are taking copies of the computer game Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 off the shelves because the game includes a NYC battle scene and fighting over various landmarks; and future copies of the popular computer game Metal Gear Solid 2 are reportedly being modified to take out references to NYC and the WTC.

4. The Baltimore Museum of Art removed a painting from display on Friday because it included the word 'terrorist'.

5. And now this action by Clear Channel...

This is in addition to the already announced changes and edits to upcoming movies and television shows with scenes or references to NYC, and Microsoft's decision to remove the WTC from the NYC part of Flight Simulator. Media and cultural references to the World Trade Center (previous to last Tuesday) are going down the Orwellian Memory Hole, apparently.

Re:Orwellian Memory Hole

[Anonymous Coward]

Please refrain from posting rumors and innuendo.

If you have a story, LINK it, don't be like CrapDot and just say things to get peoples attention.

Has it not occured to you morons that these people MAKE MONEY OFF OF THESE PRODUCTS?

Whay would they BAN the display/usage of these products that feed their families?

Fucking morons.

Re:Orwellian Memory Hole

[robhancock]

I don't get why people would make a big deal out of MS taking the World Trade Center out of Flight Simulator. It's supposed to be a realistic simulation. The World Trade Center no longer exists. Why would they keep it in there?

Let their advertisers know

[WizardChild]

...that products advertised on these stations will be boycotted.

Reminds me of the Hollywood blacklists of the 50s.

It seems like the negative effects of last week's events are inevitably going to permute across all facits of American society. The knee-jerk reactions/decisions of many (obviously less than insightful) policy makers achieves results well beyond what the attackers could have ever hoped for.

Sadly, this all seems rather typical and doesn't surprise me in the least.

Interesting omission

[Speed Racer]

Anybody else notice that "Killing an Arab" by the Cure was conspicuously absent from the list?

I see 3 categories of song here.

[Popoi]

1. Songs about killing, blowing stuff up, etc.
Stuff that is indeed at least in bad taste, if not downright offensive.
ex. Drowning Pool "Bodies", Mudvayne "Death Blooms"

2. Songs whose titles contain words somehow relating to the tragedy.
Stuff that isn't in itself offensive, but may be a good idea to hold off on for now.
ex. Surfaris "Wipeout", Beastie Boys "Sabotage", Savage Garden "Crash and Burn", Dave Matthews Band "Crash Into Me"

3. WTF? Songs that reaffirm my belief that Clear Channel has a gas leak somewhere in their corporate HQ.
ex. The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da", 311 "Down"
, Alanis Morissette "Ironic"

Even though some of these songs might be considered offensive, and most of them are ripe for any dope who wants to get both a reputation as a shock DJ and fired in the same day, I don't see the point behind censoring them. It seems like a better idea to leave it to the discretion of each station, and let them exercise a little judgement. But of course, why exercise your own judgement when you've got Big Brother to think for you?

Launch.com News Article on Clear Channel Action

[SenshiNeko]

The online music site Launch.com has a news article on this action by Clear Channel (with a comment by a Clear Channel spokeswoman):

From AC/DC To Zombies, Songs Listed As Unsuitable For Radio

The world's largest radio network has generated for its radio stations a staggering list of rock songs and pop songs with words presumably inappropriate for the airwaves in light of last week's terrorist attacks, including such near-standards as John Lennon's "Imagine," Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven," and Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World."

The list, from industry leader Clear Channel, amasses approximately 150 songs considered "lyrically inappropriate," LAUNCH has confirmed; and it includes everything from Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" and Elvis Presley's "(You're The) Devil In Disguise" to current hits such as "Chop Suey!," the single from System Of A Down, currently the number-one selling band in the country.

However, a spokeswoman for Clear Channel tells LAUNCH that the list was not meant as a corporate mandate, it was merely a "grass roots kind of effort" by an employee looking to give stations a reference list of song potentially disconcerting in light of last Tuesday's (September 11) tragedies. "It's clearly up to the local programmer to take the pulse of their own market," she said.

Hard rock acts were prominent on the list--AC/DC has seven songs on the list, Metallica and Alice In Chains four, and Black Sabbath and Soundgarden three. However, no group was singled out like Rage Against The Machine--"all songs" from the aggressive, overtly political group made the list.

Go troll somewhere else...

[Anonymous Coward]

By you starting off calling someone retarted and others sad, just shows exactly where your post is coming from. Obviously this sort of act has little effect on your life, which is ok, even if you can't show a little sympathy for the people involved. Maybe some of the songs are a little out there, but why don't you go to NY and start spewing that and see what they have to say. Your freedom of speech will last until you piss someone off telling them they can't control their emotions and they pull your teeth through your ear. The last time I checked, other people don't get to decide how sensitive you are or what bothers you. Maybe we should just all be a bunch of jerks and tell these people to grow up and stop whining about it while we're at it too... screw being sensitive to how it affects our country. Hell with that...I need my freedom of speech so I can listen to music that "I" want to listen too.... Go buy the CD... Thats your freedom, listen to what you want. It was never stated that these bands had to stop playing this music. Why don't we hear Slayer on the radio? Because no one wants to hear it. Why are some words banned from the radio? Because no one wants to hear it. (why aren't you taking issue with that btw? that's a freedom isn't it?) Until you sort things out, why don't you go put your head back under a rock until the next discussion comes by so you can spew worthless banter that doesn't concern you. (you don't listen to the radio anyway...correct?)

"Help me, Help me help myself, or shut the fuck up..."

No, it's marketing

[DJerman]

The radio stations get paid by the eardrum. Anything that makes the audience turn the channel or turn off the radio is bad (by their lights). This is just the pablum-ization of the airwaves to prevent loss of market share. Clearly they don't care about the tastefulness or message of the music, only the likelihood that someone, somewhere, will find a reason to stop listening to the commercials.

Of course, that should tell you something about the quality of programming on the network...

Clarification from an informed source

[Leghorn]

I work for CC. I got the memo. This is totally out of context.

All our music is stored digitally on Novell (I know...) servers. The files are shared across our network by all the radio stations.

Because of the perverse file naming/numbering system we use, which has nothing to do with artist, title, or anything else that makes sense, it's hard to find stuff on these servers.

The memo was sent last Tuesday shortly after the attack in NYC. It was done so those program directors who wanted to remove the songs from rotation for the duration of the event would be able to find them in the database easily.

There was no directive that anyone remove the songs from the air. It was nothing more than a list for reference.

I am sick of this conservative wave sweeping in.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is really starting to get to me now, I am so damn sick of this huge conservative wave sweeping through America.

Geez, we can't watch that movie, and we can't release that video game, and we can't listen to this or that... hell, why don't we all just huddle together and sing Koombya until this is all over!

This is getting absurd, I've been playing tons of the Wolfenstein multiplayer test, and I enjoy killing and maiming every bit as much now as I did two weeks ago.

We can all choose what we see, hear, and do... if you don't want to deal with it, then go find a group of like minded people and fret and worry and dwell all you want... I, for one, am picking up and moving on.

What a piss poor way to show our "freedom" - lets censor EVERYTHING!

Re:640WGST in Atlanta was making fun of the list..

[eWulf]

Yes, and the Kim in Rudyard Kipling's book 'Kim'. You can't get more English than Rudyard Kipling.

Free to play what they want

[mc6809e]

Freedom means being able to play whatever the hell you want
on your radio station. If they have some songs they dont want to play, they are free not to.

There seem to be plenty of people here living under the motto

"Free for me but not for thee"

The List appears to be Bogus

[davonshire]

I was listening to WEGR in Memphis, which is a ClearChannel Affiliate. And they commented specifically on this list. That it's bogus and they'll be playing from this list of songs for the rest of the show.
Go Figure. Course there weren't alot of specifics as to how this list was verified and by who. So don't get your shorts in a bind. We all hate PC'ism as much as we hate Terrorism.
Course if you really liked these songs, this is a heck of a way to get them played on alot of stations. :)
Have a better day.

Re:The List appears to be Bogus

[puck71]

It's not "bogus" it's just not required for them to abide by it. It's a little suggestion memo type thing. Not words from above.

Obla Di, Obla Da censored???

[haggar]

Come on now, you can't censor Obla Di, Obla Da, what the heck!??

DJ Quit?

[Ratbert42]

I'm not sure if it is related, but apparently 98 Rock (Tampa) DJ Bubba the Love Sponge walked out during his morning show. He quits about every two months though.

Re:DJ Quit?

[Ratbert42]

Of course, not 3 minutes after I post that, the station starts playing Metallica's Fade to Black. Right after a Clear Channel annoucement that they were donating the $100,000 from their latest amateur pornstar contest to a relief fund.

Big Ol' Hoax

[Scratch-O-Matic]

OK, I've looked around, and I believe we've been taken in by a hoax. This isn't being reported anywhere else, it's based on an email that says "I checked with them and they confirmed it," and anyone who has looked at the list can see that it is just sheer lunacy. I'm embarassed that I bought it for a while.

Organize, call and request these songs over &

[Anonymous Coward]

Lets organize, or hell even un-organized. Check for one of these commie stations in your neighborhood, then call and request your favorite banned song over and over and over again.

Don't stop until youre on the news and freedom has been restored to the airwaves.

Liberty at all COSTS.

Pioneer-Press Article on Clear Channel List

[SenshiNeko]

News article from this morning's St. Paul (MN) Pioneer-Press on the Clear Channel List:

Clear Channel suggests 150 songs for stations to avoid

Movies and TV aren't alone in reviewing the content of their entertainment in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks. Clear Channel Inc., which owns over 1,200 stations including seven in the Twin Cities, is circulating a list of 150 songs its local programmers might consider avoiding for the time being.

Clear Channel managers here say the list is merely a "memo from the main office," not something they must adhere to.

Many of the songs on the list are heavy-metal warhorses like "Sweating Bullets" by Megadeth, "Seek and Destroy" by Metallica and a half-dozen cuts from AC/DC including "Safe in New York City," "Highway to Hell," "TNT" and "Shot Down in Flames."

Some of the 150 song titles "suggested" by Clear Channel are baffling. John Lennon's "Imagine" and The Youngbloods' "Get Together" would seem to be precisely the sort of message people might like to hear in difficult times. Likewise, who could possibly object to Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World"? Several Beatles songs -- "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "Obla Di Obla Da" and "Ticket to Ride" -- are also on the list.

"You know what this is?" says KEEY-FM's operations manager Gregg Swedberg. "It's a bunch of people sitting in a room saying, "Think of anything, anything, anywhere that might possibly be a little too much, that people might be sensitive to.' This is just another idea we get. Something for us to 'consider.' Nothing more than that."

Swedberg adds that K102, a country-music format, returned Garth Brooks' early '90s tune, "We Shall Be Free," to its rotation in reaction to the crisis. Rob Morris, program director for Clear Channel-owned KDWB-FM, said he expected few if any changes to his station's playlist. ABC-owned KXXR-FM, aka 93X, did not respond to several calls asking what changes they might be making to their playlist.

emailed a D.J. here is the response

[StevenYelton]

It was not a list of songs that we could not play, it was a list of song
that either had lyrics or title (even though some were a real reach) that
some might find offensive, or inappropriate because of the tragedy of last
week. It was never meant to be a banned song list as some are reporting.
Hopefully this answers you question.

*local DJ*

>I just have to ask.....I saw a purported list of
>songs clear channel 'banned'. Is this true?
>PLEASE tell me this is a joke.
*me*

This can't be real... List is FUD

[kikta]

Read the list. There is no way in hell this is real. This has got to be a joke. Tom Petty "Free Fallin"? Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge"? Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"? Steve Miller "Jet Airliner"? Metallica "Enter Sandman"?

My ass. This list is obviouly BS. While I could see some of the songs on the list being banned someone who's over-reacting, a good read through it makes it look like crap. ./ editors jumped the gun on this one, it think. Even if ClearChannel has lost it's mind, these are some of the most popular songs of all time and have NOTHING to do with what tragicly happened in NYC. It looks like someone did a word search, made up some crap, and started distributing this FUD to mess with people. I'll probably get emailed this crap along with a few chain letters from my little sister later today. *sigh*

Re:This can't be real... List is FUD

[CmdrPinkTaco]

The banned Paul McCartney's version of Live and Let Die, but the GnR version didn't make the list.

Aside from that the stations that they have here in Vegas:
101.9 - KFMS - top forty / hip hop / whatever Carson Daly thinks is cool
93.1 - KQOL - oldies - what Carson Daly's parents used to think was cool
106.5 - KSNE - the "sunny" station - every city has one and every city's sucks
95.5 - KWNR - [s]hit kicking country

I can't imagine a single song that they would play on any of these stations. Most of the banned songs were of the metal / hard rock genre and there isn't a station here in town that plays that format. Looks like they played it pretty safe as far as the vegas market is concerned.

Re:This can't be real... List is FUD

[rmhartman]

Hell, even if this is real, radio stations have always made their own playlists. Is this really any different from a station manager that hates
Bob Dylan and never plays any of his songs? What are you going to do, pass "equal time" legislation so that every song must be played once before you can ever repeat one?

I think this falls under the category of "overreacting".

Heck, just judging just from the titles that kikta posted, I'd say this _is_ a case of a network manager (one step up from station manager) just making his own personal preferences into policy.

If you don't like his preferences, tune in to another radio station. It ain't censorship as long as there are alternatives (which is why we can't let the government pull this stuff off) -- it's just free expression on the part of the corporate wonk in charge of playlists.

-rmh

Re:This can't be real... List is FUD

[Spamuel]

I'm not sure is the whole list is true or not but it's partially correct. My local Rock station, CFOX, has banned some of those songs (a lot of them would never be played on the station in the first place). They will not play the Drowning Pool, Saliva, System of A Down, and Dave Matthews Band singles listed on that list.

Here's the link to prove it.

Re:This can't be real... List is FUD

[ddkilzer]

My cousin is program director at a ClearChannel station in the midwest and said this report is false.

Don't believe the lie.

Re:This can't be real... List is FUD

[kikta]

My point wasn't that I or anyone else could dictate what they play and I appreciate you pointing out how stupid that would be. My point was that 1)These are a lot of "bread & butter" songs for modern rock & classic rock stations (ClearChannel owns one of each in Louisville) and more imporatantly 2)These songs have no relation to the tradgedy & it would take a stretch to get them there - therefore I think the list is fake or some idiot's musings. If the posts below are true, it's the former. If the update is true, it's the latter. Thanks.

P.S. Banning some of these songs would be worse than banning my sig because it talks about killing. Of course, I'm a Marine, so guess who I'd be killing...

Re:This can't be real... List is FUD

[susano_otter]

One of the ClearChannel stations in my area announced on Tuesday an uninterrupted hour of music that would "give a voice to the things we are all feeling" or some such crap. Immediately after making this announcement, they played "Dem Bones" by Alice In Chains and "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd, back to back.

I'm not kidding.

Re:This can't be real... List is FUD

[Rykard]

Lemme see.. Listening to ClearChannel stations yesterday, I heard (from the banned list):

Drowning Pool "Bodies"
Megadeth "Sweating Bullets"
AC/DC "Highway to Hell"
Kansas "Dust in the Wind"
Guns N Roses "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Alien Ant Farm "Smooth Criminal"
3 Doors Down "Duck and Run"
Alice in Chains "Rooster"
The Cult "Fire Woman"
Filter "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
Temple of the Dog "Say Hello to Heaven"
Bush "Speed Kills"

All on the "banned" list, all played on CC stations in the last 24 hours... You make the call

Re:This can't be real... List is FUD

[Anonymous Coward]

NPR reported that Clearchannel program directors did in fact make this list and it was given to an executive vice president who decided to send it to all stations.
They claim they confirmed this with Clear Channel.

Benny and the Jets.

[Anonymous Coward]

VERY Subversive. Thank God that the people at Clear Cahnnel are lloking out for my intrests. I always blindly follow the music of middle aged homosexual men.
Good thing that the only own the shitty radio staions in Boston (Hip-Hop and Spanish.)

Let people choose what to listen to

[Anonymous Coward]

Huh? You truly are an ass. Taste is subjective. Since when did ClearChannel become the nation's babysitter deciding what would hurt our feelings? Most of the songs on the list are only on it because they have the word "fire" or "jet" in the title or lyrics.

James Taylor "Fire and Rain"
Creedence Clearwater Revival "Travelin' Band"
Elton John "Benny & The Jets"

These songs will "re-open wounds"!? What next, ban the use of the words "world trade center"? Grow-up yourself

Re:Mirror? - here ya go

[Anonymous Coward]

Drowning Pool "Bodies"
Mudvayne "Death Blooms"
Megadeth "Dread and the Fugitive"
Megadeth "Sweating Bullets"
Saliva "Click Click Boom"
P.O.D. "Boom"
Metallica "Seek and Destroy"
Metallica "Harvester or Sorrow"
Metallica "Enter Sandman"
Metallica "Fade to Black"
All Rage Against The Machine songs
Nine Inch Nails "Head Like a Hole"
Godsmack "Bad Religion"
Tool "Intolerance"
Soundgarden "Blow Up the Outside World"
AC/DC "Shot Down in Flames"
AC/DC "Shoot to Thrill"
AC/DC "Dirty Deeds"
AC/DC "Highway to Hell"
AC/DC "Safe in New York City"
AC/DC "TNT"
AC/DC "Hell's Bells"
Black Sabbath "War Pigs"
Black Sabbath "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
Black Sabbath "Suicide Solution"
Dio "Holy Diver"
Steve Miller "Jet Airliner"
Van Halen "Jump"
Queen "Another One Bites the Dust"
Queen "Killer Queen"
Pat Benatar "Hit Me with Your Best Shot"
Pat Benatar "Love is a Battlefield"
Oingo Boingo "Dead Man's Party"
REM "It's the End of the World as We Know It"
Talking Heads "Burning Down the House"
Judas Priest "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll"
Pink Floyd "Run Like Hell"
Pink Floyd "Mother"
Savage Garden "Crash and Burn"
Dave Matthews Band "Crash Into Me"
Bangles "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Pretenders "My City Was Gone"
Alanis Morissette "Ironic"
Barenaked Ladies "Falling for the First Time"
Fuel "Bad Day"
John Parr "St. Elmo's Fire"
Peter Gabriel "When You're Falling"
Kansas "Dust in the Wind"
Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
The Beatles "A Day in the Life"
The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
The Beatles "Ticket To Ride"
The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da"
Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Arthur Brown "Fire"
Blue Oyster Cult "Burnin' For You"
Paul McCartney and Wings "Live and Let Die"
Jimmy Hendrix "Hey Joe"
Jackson Brown "Doctor My Eyes"
John Mellencamp "Crumbling Down"
John Mellencamp "I'm On Fire"
U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Boston "Smokin"
Billy Joel "Only the Good Die Young"
Barry McGuire "Eve of Destruction"
Steam "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey"
Drifters "On Broadway"
Shelly Fabares "Johnny Angel"
Los Bravos "Black is Black"
Peter and Gordon "I Go To Pieces"
Peter and Gordon "A World Without Love"
Elvis "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
Zombies "She's Not There"
Elton John "Benny & The Jets"
Elton John "Daniel"
Elton John "Rocket Man"
Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire"
Santana "Evil Ways"
Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World"
Youngbloods "Get Together"
Ad Libs "The Boy from New York City"
Peter Paul and Mary "Blowin' in the Wind"
Peter Paul and Mary "Leavin' on a Jet Plane"
Rolling Stones "Ruby Tuesday"
Simon And Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Happenings "See You in Septemeber"
Carole King "I Feel the Earth Move"
Yager and Evans "In the Year 2525"
Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky"
Brooklyn Bridge "Worst That Could Happen"
Three Degrees "When Will I See You Again"
Cat Stevens "Peace Train"
Cat Stevens "Morning Has Broken"
Jan and Dean "Dead Man's Curve"
Martha & the Vandellas "Nowhere to Run"
Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen "Dancing in the Streets"
Hollies "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"
San Cooke Herman Hermits, "Wonder World"
Petula Clark "A Sign of the Times"
Don McLean "American Pie"
J. Frank Wilson "Last Kiss"
Buddy Holly and the Crickets "That'll Be the Day"
John Lennon "Imagine"
Bobby Darin "Mack the Knife"
The Clash "Rock the Casbah"
Surfaris "Wipeout"
Blood Sweat and Tears "And When I Die"
Dave Clark Five "Bits and Pieces"
Tramps "Disco Inferno"
Paper Lace "The Night Chicago Died"
Frank Sinatra "New York, New York"
Creedence Clearwater Revival "Travelin' Band"
The Gap Band "You Dropped a Bomb On Me"
Alien Ant Farm "Smooth Criminal"
3 Doors Down "Duck and Run"
The Doors "The End"
Third Eye Blind "Jumper"
Neil Diamond "America"
Lenny Kravitz "Fly Away"
Tom Petty "Free Fallin'"
Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire"
Bruce Springsteen "Goin' Down"
Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight"
Alice in Chains "Rooster"
Alice in Chains "Sea of Sorrow"
Alice in Chains "Down in a Hole"
Alice in Chains "Them Bone"
Beastie Boys "Sure Shot"
Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
The Cult "Fire Woman"
Everclear "Santa Monica"
Filter "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"
Korn "Falling Away From Me"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Aeroplane"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge"
Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
System of a Down "Chop Suey!"
Skeeter Davis "End of the World"
Rickey Nelson "Travelin' Man"
Chi-Lites "Have You Seen Her"
Animals "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"
Fontella Bass "Rescue Me"
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels "Devil with the Blue Dress"
James Taylor "Fire and Rain"
Edwin Starr/Bruce Springstein "War"
Lynyrd Skynyrd "Tuesday's Gone"
Limp Bizkit "Break Stuff"
Green Day "Brain Stew"
Temple of the Dog "Say Hello to Heaven"
Sugar Ray "Fly"
Local H "Bound for the Floor"
Slipknot "Left Behind, Wait and Bleed"
Bush "Speed Kills"
311 "Down"
Stone Temple Pilots "Big Bang Baby," Dead and Bloated"
Soundgarden "Fell on Black Days," Black Hole Sun"
Nina "99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons"

99 Red Balloons - Translations

[eutychus]

http://www.inthe80s.com/redger3.shtml

The Cure

[MysticBoer]

Here's another while they'r at it:
Killing an Arab by The Cure

This was not a government motivated response

[TCM_VA]

ClearChannel is just using this as an excuse. The US Gov., as far as I know, isn't planning to censor anything. I think I heard they are SUGGESTING that movies take on a non-violent otne for the time being, but I didn't hear that it was illegal to have an explosion in a movie or to use the word "hijacker" anything like that.

As far as I can tell, the only group actively trying to take away rights is the American Civil Liberties Union, who is trying to take away your right to pray. Or, I guess, if they get their way, your right to believe in a God.

Re:I am sick of this conservative wave sweeping in

[Scratch-O-Matic]

Geez, we can't watch that movie, and we can't release that video game, and we can't listen to this or that.

What you describe is not the work of conservatives. If anything, this ban list (which I believe is a hoax) is the work of those types of people who think nobody should ever run the risk of being offended...definitely not a conservative philosophy.

By the way, which movies have you not been able to watch? Are you 17?

NO!

[Drath]

Not DIO! Ronnie James will be crushed.

Stations Website

[scott1853]

One of their stations websites nerve951.com has a link to Shoot Osama right from their main page. Unfortunately, ClearChannel owns them so they'll be complying with the ban.

radio off...

[Anonymous Coward]

Not that I needed much more persuasion, but my radio is now off for good. That's one of the dumbest fucking thing I think I've ever seen.

I'm might still try to catch some NPR, but I can get that on the web anyway.

What was the logic behind the list?

[pi_rules]

I'm beginning to doubt the authenticity of the list too. ClearChannel owns a country station in my are and I highly doubt that it's the only one they own... yet I don't see any country on the list (maybe I missed a few). It's mostly top-40 stuff, with some classic rock thrown in there that's still popular for stations that do a mix of things from the 70's to the current day.

If they -are- banning these songs from their stations I can only presume that they're looking to filter out stations which have the targe age range of 12 years old and up. I was listening to a ClearChannel owned country station last night which was playing songs that dealt with the bombing issues -soley- for the entire day. They were taking requests and dedications to loved ones all night long. This has to be targted just to the "teenie-bop" stations if it even exist.

Live goes on bra...

[Anonymous Coward]

And life cannot go on like that. First we must start and win the war, only then can life go on.

ANYTHING makes a slashdot story

[XO]

This goes to prove that ANYTHING can make a slashdot story, if someone can throw a censorist spin into it.

Unless this list were to become a permanent list of songs that CANNOT BE PLAYED on the air, by any station in that network, they aren't even coming CLOSE to censorship. AND since they are a private corporation, they can do whatever the hell they want! They could just convert all their stations over to Classical format, and then they'd never have to worry about playing those songs again.

Think about this. CENSORSHIP is not at all involved in CHOOSING NOT TO DO SOMETHING. CENSORSHIP is involved in FORCING SOMEONE ELSE TO DO/NOT DO SOMETHING. And I don't mean "a network forcing the people that work for them to play only certain media". The people that work for them are their representatives.

I mean, come on. Throw together the choruses of most of those songs, and you'd have a great way to be really fucking insensitive and highly offensive to people about this whole deal.

(though on the "wtc disaster jokes" that were posted yesterday on a message here, there was one that was actually kinda funny.. Ya know, the ticket sellers should've realised that something was amiss when those people asked if they had anything cheaper than a one-way ticket...)

Is Tom Clancy going to banned too?

[kikta]

In related news, all Tom Clancy books were pulled from Wal-Mart's shelves today. They mention a plane being deliberatly crashed into the Capitol Buliding (Debt of Honor & Executive Orders).

Will that be posted as well if Michael gets emailed that shit from his AOL buddies, too? C'mon!

What about...

[owenferguson]

What about:
"A-hab the A-rab"
"Messiahs die Young" = Men Without Hats
"The Final Cut" and other songs from that album, - Pink Floyd.
"I'm a stranger here" - 5 man electrical band
"WAR - what is it good for"

Re:Your country can listen to whatever they want..

[Christopher Bibbs]

When they own four out of the five stations you can pick up in your area, it becomes a bit harder to just turn the dial.

WRZX Indianapolis ignored this stupidity

[WyrmEye]

They made fun of the whole idea on their morning show today. Legitimate list or not, it's being ignored. The comment that stuck with me this morning on X103 was, "We can't get a raise because there's some expensive jerkoff in a suit with nothing else to do but come up with this nonsense".

Re:WRZX Indianapolis ignored this stupidity

[solaris_system]

i wish x103 would listen to the ban...then they might play something other than the six songs they have in rotation...

What? No Miami 2017

[Anonymous Coward]

Seen the lights go out Broadway
I saw the Empire State laid low
And life went on beyond the Palisades
They all bought Cadillacs
And left there long ago

They held a concert out in Brooklyn
To watch the island bridges blow
They turned our power down
And drove us underground
But we went right on with the show

I've seen the lights go out on Broadway
I saw the ruins at my feet
You know we almost didn't notice it
We'd seen it all the time on Forty second street

They burned the churches down in Harlem
Like in that Spanish civil war
The flames were everywhere
But no one really cared
It always burned up there before

I've seen the lights go out on Broadway
I saw the mighty skyline fall
The boats were waiting at the battery
The union went on strike
They never sailed at all

They sent a carrier out from Norfolk
And picked the Yankees up for free
They said that Queens could stay
And blew the Bronx away
And sank Manhattan out at sea

You know those lights were bright on Broadway
That was so many years ago
Before we all lived here in Florida
Before the Mafia took over Mexico
There are not many who remember
They say a handful still survive
To tell the world about
The way the lights went out
And keep the memory alive

Those BASTARDS!

[Mtgman]

Standing between the record companies and the radio stations is a legendary team of industry players called independent record promoters, or "indies."

The indies are the shadowy middlemen record companies will pay hundreds of millions of dollars to this year to get songs played on the radio. Indies align themselves with certain radio stations by promising the stations "promotional payments" in the six figures. Then, every time the radio station adds a Shaggy or Madonna or Janet Jackson song to its playlist, the indie gets paid by the record label.
...
The indie promoter was once a tireless hustler, the lobbyist who worked the phones on behalf of record companies, cajoling station jocks and program directors, or P.D.s, to add a new song to their playlists. Sure, once in a while the indies showed their appreciation by sending some cocaine or hookers to station employees, but the colorful crew of fix-it men were basically providing a service: forging relationships with the gatekeepers in the complex world of radio, and turning that service into a deceptively simple and lucrative business. If record companies wanted access to radio, they had to pay.


Damn it! I was a DJ for nearly three years! At a 100,000 watt station(the most powerful broadcast allowed by law)! I got to play pretty much whatever I wanted to play. Our station had a HUGE(over 2,500 songs) playlist. Hell, there were some segments of our day when we would play jazz or classical or even bluegrass! But I tell you, that would all have changed and I would have spun Britney Spears like she was goin' out of style if I had known I could get some cocaine and hookers out of it! Damn sorry sonsobitches.

Steven

the LCD?

[Perianwyr Stormcrow]

No one ever went broke underestimating the taste and emotional capacity of America.

Clear Channel is intimately familiar with this concept.

Aeroplane

[secolactico]

The banned RHCP "Aeroplane"???

Is it April 1st already?

Interesting Tribute

[pbur]

Here in Dallas on 97.1 FM The Eagle ( A ClearChannel Station) they have a "Tribute" song set to Metallica's "Seek and Destroy" that ends with Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell", both songs are on the list. And I know I heard Drowning Pool's "Bodies" Song. They play the hell out of it. But The Eagle is known around Dallas to not give a crap about what the bosses say anyway.

Sometimes It's Just Too Easy....

[virg_mattes]

OK, once more: RADIO stations don't generally broadcast VIDEO signals.

Got it now? 8)

I do, however, agree with your idea. It's a hoot to listen to some phone schmuck at the station trying to tell you your request isn't allowed.

Virg

Re:Also

[Anonymous Coward]

Only their stuff before ~1993. Anything after that is shit.

Station list for Salt Lake City, UT

[jermz]

Here is a list of Clear Channel stations to avoid in Salt Lake City, UT. Remember, these guys depend on listenership for $$$. If we don't listen, and encourage others not to, we might send a message. List follows:

KALL-AM - 910
KISN-FM - 97.1
KKAT-FM - 101.9
KNRS-AM - 570
KODJ-FM - 94.1
KURR-FM - 99.5
KWLW-AM - 700
KZHT-FM - 94.9

Also, post a list for your city! We need this information spread!

What the list actually says

[mrfantasy]

This is an intriguing list--mostly because of what it leaves out. There's tons of songs out there far more offensive than these in any situation, and especially in the current climate, but Clear Channel doesn't even bother mentioning them because they're not already part of their mass-produced, homogenized playlists that (despite thoughts of independent program directors at Clear Channel stations) are part of what this company is doing so well--which is reducing the cost of producing radio by centralizing the control and decision making process, realizing that the large majority of people will continue to listen, thus retaining their advertising market. Not that I agree with it, but it is a very well-calculated position. It's also why you hear the same mediocre dreck on commercial radio anywhere in this country.

Having said that, please notice there's a lot of incorrectly titled and attributed songs. "When You're Falling" is by Afro Celt Sound System, not Peter Gabriel (yes, he sings on it, but it's not his song.) If you're going to ban Peter Gabriel, you should consider "Ovo", with such tracks as "The Tower That Ate People" and lyrics that kept giving me chills while listening to it yesterday ( from "Downside-Up": "I looked up at the tallest building/felt it falling down/I could feel my balance shifting./Everything was moving around./These streets so fixed and solid./Ah shimmering haze/And everything that I relied on disappeared.")

There's about half a dozen Marillion songs I can think of that would be disturbing right now, and hey, even Yes' "The Gates Of Delerium" might be a bit too much. I'm sure you all can think of examples from your own record collection.

If I had a radio show now, I'd be playing all sorts of songs. Not offensive ones, but surely touching, poignant ones, some of which are on the list. Clear Channel even is staying away from those, because they're afraid someone will change the station.

I know this is rather late in the discussion - but

[Hitch]

The Clear Channel people in my area told their DJ's that it's an FCC ban.

In this case, it doesn't matter

[marcus]

At least I doubt it will.

I imagine that most songs with such degrading or insulting content will be rather unpopular for quite some time anyway. No one will want to listen to them, why bother playing them.

Re:Your country can listen to whatever they want..

[vondo]

Notice I said "shouldn't," not "can't."

My problems with this are two-fold:

1) This is a HUGE company that controls an enourmous amount of the listening public. Many others have commented on this. Any action like this should be made very carefully, given the amount of influence/power they have.

2) The list is assine. Fine, some of this might incite violence and Clearchannel is probably within its duty to suggest its stations think twice about airing this, but "American Pie?"

Clear Channel - Home of Limbaugh and Dr. Laura?

[JeffFurry]

I went over to the Clear Channel site, and the first things I noticed were pictures of the above two 'paragons of liberty', so (self-)censorship seems par for their course. I also noticed that they own SFX Entertainment, a major concert-venue owner and promoter. The corporate beast that is Clear Channel is as big as NBC.

After my stomach settled from the nausea, I reviewed some of the Salon articles on that corporation, and CC's self-censorship just *reeks* of hypocrisy! Their leader, Randy Michaels, is a one-time shock jock, and the offensiveness of RL and Dr. Laura just goes without saying. On the bright side, most of the banned songs mentioned here probably don't get played by CC anyway (too old, too independent, or not on the payola list).

Finally, I also looked at the CC stations in my area, and wasn't all that surprised to find that none of the five stations they own in town are among those I *ever* listen to. I personally find their content to be anywhere from inane to offensive to simply lame. (Truth be told, I'd happily listen to Radio Paradise if I could get it in my car. :-)

jeffk 18 sept 2001 -> Insert obligatory disclaimers, YMMV, etc. -
"I may make you feel, but I can't make you think." - J. Tull

so what?

[devleopard]

I think it's panic by Clear Channel Comm., but it is their station(s). The play what they choose. Just as great a panic is associating radio station adjusting their play lists with "assaults on civil liberties"

Re: Dance bands during the Gulf War

[ErikJson]

I have both. Where do I collect my points? =)

This is more about stupid DJs than anything.

[sunking2]

The vast majority of people do not understand the real reason for this list. It is not so much to keep the listeners from hearing it, it is more because there exists a certain number of DJs who are willing to do anything for a laugh. Most of the songs in question as a whole are fine, however, take a few lines, or simply the title of the song out of context, insert them into a sound bite in the background, and viola, you have alot of insulted listeners. Sure, there are probably a few songs on there that they don't want listeners to be requesting, listening to. But for the most part its an attempt to keep DJs from doing something stupid.

Of course, the DJs will never admit this, they will just talk being censored, not about the small portion of their peers who lack the maturity to restrain themselves.

NPR.ORG!

[BrynM]

Yet one more reason to support NPR. It's all I listen to now.

buyout

[Anonymous Coward]

sounds like a company ready to be bought up by AOL or Microsoft....

Yeah, I Called and They Told Me The Same Thing

[vodoolady]

I called one of my local Clear Channel stations, and the lady told me she hadn't seen a list. And yeah, songs that mention jets and explosions might be a little innapropriate right now.

Rage != Rage Against the Machine

[Sloppy]

Please do not refer to "Rage Against the Machine" as just "Rage."

There is a real (and rather well-known in some circles) band named Rage that plays true heavy metal (not that rapcore shit). And not only is Rage a real metal band, they are also very good. Peavy Wagner has approximately one and a half billion times as much musical talent in his pickin' hand, than everyone in "Rage Against the Machine" combined. Except that Peavy can also write damned good songs, arrange the music, and sing it too.

Mixing Peavy's band's name up with RATM is just plain sick. This kind of defamation-by-name-confusion is exactly the reason that trademark law was invented.

Re:Rage != Rage Against the Machine

[Anonymous Coward]

Mixing Peavy's band's name up with RATM is just plain sick

You need to:

1)relax a little bit

2)ask your Mom if she approves of you listening to that music (i bet she doesn't ;) )

3)Ask your nurse to loosen the straps on your straight jacket so you can breathe a little bit.

we have just witnessed the worst violence our young country has ever experienced in its borders and you're bitching about some shithole german band?

i hope you gain some respect and some perspective when you graduate high school.

Re:Rage != Rage Against the Machine

[Anonymous Coward]

i hope you gain some respect and some perspective when you graduate high school.

Just because you yourself haven't graduated, doesn't mean noone else has ;)

Re:Rage != Rage Against the Machine

[Sloppy]

You need to:
(...noise clipped...)
3)Ask your nurse to loosen the straps on your straight jacket so you can breathe a little bit.

There's no way she's going to fall for that trick again.

I'm not really bent outta shape about it; the Rage/RATM thing is just a longstanding pet peeve of mine. (Or should I say a pet Peavy?) Anytime someone flubs it, it's fair game for flamage.

we have just witnessed the worst violence our young country has ever experienced in its borders and you're bitching about some shithole german band?

Oh great, another one of those people who thinks it's wrong to do anything other than act solemn after a Bad Thing happens. You probably disapprove of joking about the WTC thing too.

Q: Who are the fastest readers in the world?
A: New Yorkers. Some of them can go through 110 stories in just a few seconds.

Q: Why didn't Superman save the WTC?
A: Because he's a quadroplegic.

Nothing is sacred, jokes are never inappropriate, and bitching about RATM when someone mixes 'em up with Rage, is never out of line.

Wonderful Idea

[niekze]

I'm glad they won't play

Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World"

or

John Lennon's "Imagine"

They would undoubtably encourage violence and mock the tradgedy of last week.

Now, I wonder why the Cure's "Killing an Arab" didn't make the list......

Re:Wonderful Idea

[metachimp]

I don't know how you get "Imagine" as an inspiration to violence, but whatever.

"Killing an Arab" has gotten criticized a lot as being anti-Arab, but if anyone bothered to read the lyrics, it's pretty obvious that it's a reference to "The Stranger" by Albert Camus. The Cure was heavily into existentialist stuff, and they use literary references all the time.

Re:Wonderful Idea

[niekze]

I called Louis Armstrong's "What a wonderful world" as something that would incite violence. Perhaps I should have explicitly stated that I was being sarcastic. I know the Cure song doesn't advocate violence towards arabs, (didn't know the Camus reference though) but If you look at the list, some just have words that don't 100% look kosher. At face value, "Killing an Arab" looks worse than "All Rage Against the Machine songs"

Re:Wonderful Idea

[SomeGuyFromCA]

If you look at the list, some just have words that don't 100% look kosher.

Like Sugar Ray - Fly, or Bangles - Walk Like an Egyptian, or Savage Garden - Crash and Burn.

"what a wonderful world"??

[ngnm]

what on earth is "what a wonderful world" doing on that list?? or "imagine"..?

that's a seriously screwed up society you've got there...

Among my late mother's 78s...

[alumshubby]

...I've got an (I think) original-cast recording of the musical Manhattan Towers.

Not that Clear Channel would touch that kind of nostalgia programming, but if they did, it's dollars to doughnuts that MT would be on the deprecated list.

Re: Dance bands during the Gulf War

[iainl]

You've already got them :-)

The QSound track on 'Love So True' is pretty darned good, and 'Unfinished Sympathy' is probably my favourite Massive Attack track. If I wasn't at work I'd drag them out and play them now, actually.

Not sure how accurate

[bribecka]

This story may be not 100% accurate. FM104.3 in Baltimore is a ClearChannel station, and they played "Imagine" directly after the moment of silence at 8:48 this morning. "Imagine" is on the banned list.

As a side note, the playing of the song was very very moving--I always thought of it as only a song of hope...but there is now a very sad overtone in it.

Getting your voices heart

[Anonymous Coward]

Clearchannel seems to utilize the first.last@clearchannel.com for their executive's email.

I've just finished my non-offensive disagreement for their tactics and shot around half their executive team an email.

Not a flame, just an opinion. I want them to know how I feel, but I don't want to yell it.

I swear this list was based on titles...

[angelo]

and not on the lyrics. For example, "head like a hole" versus a song about money and greed as a religion.

Or take "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas, which while a song about mortality, is one I'd be proud to have played at my funeral.

The other half are love songs with questionable titles.

Neil Diamond's on the list?

[erik_fredricks]

I noticed that Neil Diamond's "America" is on the list. You know the words: "They come to America." Repeat 644 times. I find this tremendously ironic, not just because it's an odd choice, but because my sister teaches English as a second language at a school where most of the enrolled students are Arabic or Persian, and she was playing that song for them just yesterday.

Re:Vendetta against Rage? pink floyd & skinner

[eWulf]

...and decidedly not appropriate for time of war.

What!!!!! So free speech is ok except when it has a chance to actually change things? I thought we were supposed to be fighting for "freedom" but you think it's ok to ban stuff when you decide it is. Here in the civilised world people are allowed to question society's values and that includes the decision whether or not to go to war.

I find this more offensive itself.

[Kasreyn]

By blocking these songs out of stupidity, I feel insulted by them. I find this to be a slap in the face to the freedoms the U.S. once stood for. I find it to be disrespectful in the EXTREME both to those slain in the attacks, as well as to adults everywhere.

I've never liked someone who's got about a 10th of my intelligence treating me like a child for my "own good" which is actually THEIR good. Oh wait, I'm supposed to call that "censorship".

-Kasreyn

even Jet Airliner by Steve Miller??

[sacrilicious]

I scanned the list til about twenty entries in I found Jet Airliner, by the Steve Miller band. Hello? Lyrics can be found here:

http://www.gangster-of-love.com/songhits.html

I have to say, inclusion of this song would be just foolish. Why not include The Joker as well, because of the word "gangster" in the phrase "gangster of love"? Well, I suppose f*ckedcompany isn't an authenticated news source, maybe this is just alleged stupidity.

actual information? mod parent up.

[Anonymous Coward]

kthx bibuy

bad analogy

[betsywetsy]

Libraries aren't a great analogy because they're not a push medium. While objectionable material on the radio is mostly avoidable, you have to really seek it out in a library.

Re:bad analogy

[Sinistar2k]

I actually thought about that a few minutes after making my post, and it's a completely valid statement. But you have to seek out radio stations, too, though finding a radio station requires far less effort than finding a book.

But both are scenarios wherein a provider of content (sometimes the sole provider in a community... ClearChannel owns all the major stations in Pittsburgh, their closest major market to my location) is arbitrarily deciding that said content is not suitable under current conditions and pulling that content.

So while the delivery medium is different (push vs. seek), the removal of works is the same.

THIS ISN'T CENSORSHIP, IT'S A BUSINESS DECISION

[Anonymous Coward]

The last time I checked, Clear Channel was big, but it wasn't THAT big. Until they are a governement unto themselves, they are not capable of censorship. Only governments can do that.

Haven't you got anything better to worry about?

[dazed-n-confused]

ClearChannel has created a list of banned songs with "questionable content" in light of the recent tragedies.

Now, call me an establishment stooge, but it seems to me this is because they don't want to inadvertently inflict any further suffering on people who are already undergoing bereavement, tragedy, loss, etc. by broadcasting music that might -- yes, just might -- cause offence.

Yes, it's been done kinda ineptly (sure, they should have had ready-made lists for every imaginable national tragedy). Yes, I'm sure we can all crawl over the lists and criticise inclusions and omissions, ever-so-cleverly, and even raise spooky spectres (ALL these songs will be banned FOREVER! Solemn military music on all channels!). Yes, we can hitch this to our favourite RIAA or DMCA or DECSS protests.

But, seriously, kiddies: haven't you got anything more important to be worrying about today? Can you really not see that innocent victims of these atrocities could maybe do with a little bit of sympathy and understanding right about now?

This isn't censorship -- it's a (ham-fisted, but well-meaning) attempt to do the decent thing by a lot of suffering people. Kinda like pulling "The Towering Inferno" or "Air Force One" from the TV schedules would be.

OK, mod me down. I'm through.

Ah... the voice of the CIA.

[dave-fu]

Or weren't you aware that CNN and NPR both had (ex?) members of the PsyOps team working for them? Sort of interesting.

Re:Ah... the voice of the CIA.

[BrynM]

So the raw BBC broadcast the other day was faked! I should have known!

z100 was playing New York

[puigirl]

Are you really sure that this list is for real? I've been listening to z100.3 all week and they have played Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" many times. z100.3 is a ClearChannel station.

Total lie

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate clear channel first off. They own all the local statiomns and I am totally sick of them advertising how each one plays more music than the other when its all one company. Second of all, GET A CLUE. This is totally a lie, I have heard many of these songs the last few days on Clear Channel stations. As for those who are ranting about them only playing TOp 40 you are clueless. They own pretty much every format out there from hard rock (all Metallica shit most of the time unfortunately) to country and classic rock. This story is false.

Ban Another!

[Anonymous Coward]

What about The Star-Spangled Banner?

It's a hoax

[Saffamer]

At least according to The Washington Post's Frank Ahren. The Radio Listener says: Despite yesterday's Internet rumors, Clear Channel has no official list of songs that must be pulled off the air.

Fire & Rain

[cthlptlk]

I'm really more of a punk rock kinda guy, but when I realized that a friend I hadn't seen in a while might have been in one of the towers, I immediately thought of James Taylor's "Fire & Rain" and went out and found it on the 'net. It was pretty shocking to hear in the 3rd verse (which I had forgotten, if I ever knew it):

...sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground

P.S. For bona fide prophesy (or maybe repetition of history, or just good advice) check out W.H. Auden's September 1, 1939

They won't play Satchmo?

[Minwee]

...The colours of the rainbow / So pretty in the sky
Are there on the faces / Of people going by
I see friends shakin' hands / Saying "How do you do?"
They're really sayin' / "I love you"...

<SARCASM>Thank ${DEITY} that Clearchannel is there to protect us from this subversive propaganda!</SARCASM>

-D

What about "It's Raining Men?"

[Anonymous Coward]

What about "It's Raining Men?"

Sorry.

One of those banned songs in full...

[JimPooley]

I see trees of green........ red roses too
I watch 'em bloom..... for me and for you
And I think to myself.... what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue..... clouds of white
Bright blessed days....warm sacred nights
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world.

The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the sky
Are there on the faces.....of people ..going by
I see friends shaking hands.....sayin'.. how do you do
They're really sayin'......I love you.

I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow
They'll learn much more.....than I'll never know
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world

(instrumental break)

The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the sky
Are there on the faces.....of people ..going by
I see friends shaking hands.....sayin'.. how do you do
They're really sayin'...*SPOKEN*(I ....LOVE....YOU).

I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow
*SPOKEN*(You know they're gonna learn
a whole lot more than I'll never know)
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself .......what a wonderful world.

Oh yes. That is just soooooo offensive!

Can someone PLEASE tell me what those corporate fucks were thinking of when they banned this one?

Not sure it is for real.

[Laith]

Two thoughts on this.

1) I am in a ClearChannel market, in fact my main radio station driving to and from work is a ClearChannel station, and I have heard a couple songs from that list withing the last 24 hours so unless it is a brand new change the list is a fake.

2) If you look at the list there are a number of songs that there is no way to justify them as having "questionable content".

So my personal take is that F***edCompany got a bad report.

Re:Not sure it is for real.

[DouglasA]

I haven't seen anyone mention this yet - the list is a *suggestion* to local markets, something of a red flag list for stations to review what they're playing. There's NO BANNING going on here people - a simple scan of some factual news sites would have settled this. Why Slashdot is running unverified reports coming off of FuckedCompany.com, I can't imagine.

Here's a link with better info for the curious.

It's not censorship, just bad Radio

[Mr. Foogle]

When the Government tells you what you can listen to, that is censorship.

When a private company does the same thing, it's time to listen to another station.

Clear Channel is a huge mega corp that, from listening to their radio in Dallas, doesn't give a rat's ass about Quality, or good radio.

Visit their web site, check out WHAT stations in your town belong to them and decline to listen.

Is it REALLY censorship?

[Fizzlewhiff]

I always thought censorship was something done when the government silences something. This is simply a choice made by a company not to play songs. Not censorship but a self imposed choice. No one has taken away freedom of speech and no one will.

L'etranger

[King Of Chat]

Yup - when the track was first out, it was picked up by a few dickhead racist groups in the UK. I wouldn't expect them to read Camus anyway (dig La Chute).

The book is superb but, even though I'm a big fan of The Cure (Disintegration rules!) I don't think they did a top job on those lyrics. I'd stick with Charlotte Sometimes ... unless you'll be traumatised because you just broke up with a girl called Charlotte who let you have a go at her fish-mitten - sometimes. You could always sue the radio station.

BTW I've never heard a commercial radio station play anything (uncensored) by RATM anyway.

Local Clearchannel...

[Xibby]

Hmmm...you know...there's like no country music on that list? I know ClearChannel owns one of the local Country stations. OK, not my main point.

One of the other ClearChannel stations has the ad for their morning show right next to the WTC news:
"Here's what's happened today!" in bright cheery yellow. Smooth people.(Cities 97

Radio in the twin cities sucks. ClearChannel or Infinity, or public radio. Joy.

Slashdot has it right

[Iffy Bonzoolie]

You don't go banning stuff because it's in bad taste... even terrible taste. They need moderation on the radio, so people can choose to listen to songs with bad taste if they want. I, for one, always read Slashdot with my threshhold at -1, but that's my choice.

On the other hand, I guess it's not a) the government banning anything or b) stores banning anything (though walmart already puts up quite a filter). As a radio station, they are choosing not to play certain content, so they aren't really banning anything, they are just choosing not to play those songs. As long as people who want to access the content can readily and legally do so, I wouldn't call it banned. It sucks, I don't agree with it, but it's their perogative, I guess.

-DG

Hello?

[Anonymous Coward]

That story was a joke...
None of the censorship is happening 'cause the story was made-up. I can't believe Slashdot posts fiction like this...

Re:Hello? This is fake. - nope

[Anonymous Coward]

This article has comments from Clear Channel execs.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0%2C1284%2C469 25 %2C00.html

Sorry man it has been said
"it ain't paranoia if they are really after you"

Throw off your chains of righteous indignation

[andy@petdance.com]

A few points, kids:

1. A large corporation has told its business units how to conduct business. It is no different than if McDonald's told its franchise stores how to interact with the customer. Is it censorship for Joe Polyester to have to say "Would you like a hot apple pie with that?", and not say "Bummer about all those dead folks, ma'am"?
2. Nobody is banning anything. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that because someone doesn't play a song that the song has been "banned". If I come to your house and find that you don't have any Slim Whitman in your CD collection, does that mean that you've "banned" Slim Whitman songs? And is that a problem?
3. Remember that mass media is, whether we like it or not, business. It's not your personal source for Rage Against The Machine songs. If you're concerned about not being able to hear "Guerilla Radio", then go "The Battle Of Los Angeles". (Which you should do anyway, 'cause it's a damn fine album)

A more appropriate response to the list is laughter, not righteous indignation at supposed suppression of your rights. If you're going to lament anything, lament the bland and safe state of mass media.

Re:Hello? This is fake. - nope

[Anonymous Coward]

that's odd. i see the same info on salon that i see here.
not a mention or acknowledgement at all.

it's fake.

Clear spokesperson: "LIST IS FAKE"

[roj3]

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave, Pat & Angie [mailto:RyanShow@kdwb.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 9:48 AM
To: Rob Davis
Subject: RE: Regarding Patriotism..

Hi,

That list is a myth. Not true at all!

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Rob
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 9:20 AM
To: 'ryanshow@kdwb.com'
Subject: Regarding Patriotism..

Dave & crew,
What you guys did today w/ the flag was awesome. However, adhering to a
"banned songs" list is very unAmerican. I'd strongly urge you to resolve
this w/ ClearChannel before word spreads further.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/09/18/1228 21 0&mode=thread

Rob
Minneapolis
Huge morning show fan

Clear spokesperson: "LIST IS FAKE"

[roj3]

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave, Pat & Angie [mailto:RyanShow@kdwb.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 9:48 AM
To: Rob Davis
Subject: RE: Regarding Patriotism..

Hi,

That list is a myth. Not true at all!

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Rob
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 9:20 AM
To: 'ryanshow@kdwb.com'
Subject: Regarding Patriotism..

Dave & crew,
What you guys did today w/ the flag was awesome. However, adhering to a
"banned songs" list is very unAmerican. I'd strongly urge you to resolve
this w/ ClearChannel before word spreads further.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/09/18/1228 21 0&mode=thread

Rob
Minneapolis
morning show fan

high school

[Pope]

In my Massachusettes high school (late 80s), the DJ at the dances was not allowed to play "Sunday Bloody Sunday" but was allowed to play Eric Clapton's "Cocaine."

No, there's no making sense of any of it.

Song list is hoax...

[H0NGK0NGPH00EY]

According to TVGuide, the list of songs rumor is untrue: "It's not true. No one has told us what we can or cannot play from a corporate level," says Tom Poleman, senior vice president of programming for Clear Channel Communications in New York. You decide who to believe. I'm not making any statement about whether it's true or not, but you should see that there is some doubt.

I wouldn't call this censorship

[tthomas148]

I wouldn't call this censorship. I would call it political agenda. After all 99 luftballoons is a song that is anti-warmongering world leaders. Not that I know of anyone who fits that description. Wonder if he has some cronies at clear channel.

-War what is it good for? Makin' lots of money.

Re:choice does not = censorship??

[fugue]

It's only censorship if someone is telling you not to say something. Usually that's the government, but it could be your employer, your girlfriend, or anyone else with power over you.

Choosing not to say something is not censorship.

Radio stations here disobeying the orders

[Arcturax]

I live in Cincinnati and ther Clearchannel stations here who play those songs are protesting or outright disobeying the ban list. Foremost is WEBN who is playing every song on the list, just heard Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight" a minute ago in fact.

Another station 97.3 (not sure of the call letters) seems to be playing arbitrarily long segments of pure silence from time to time. My guess is they are protesting this by simply not playing anything but dead silence in the spots those songs should have been in.

Anyone got any other stations to add to the list of those cool enough to stand up to Clearchannel?

Re:Vendetta against Rage? pink floyd & skinner

[disc-chord]

Nice try troll, almost got me to bite :)

"My City Was Gone"

[b1t r0t]

Interesting that this is on their list. Why? Because Rush Limbaugh uses that tune (the instrumental bits only) as his semi-official theme song. Clear Channel now owns Premiere Networks, which is the syndicator of Rush Limbaugh, and they make every effort to keep it exclusively on Clear Channel stations whenever possible. I mean, I know the lyrics (and title) are why this is on the list, but isn't it ironic (oops, another song from the list!) that Clear Channel stations everywhere are broadcasting part of one of these songs five days a week?

"American Pie"

[ddkilzer]

I consider banning Don McLean's "American Pie" to be un-American. I mean, c'mon, if you're going to ban that song, at least ban Madonna's remake of it!

BTW, I would call this action "extreme political correctness" rather than "censorship".

Banned: Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World" ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone who can tell me, why they banned Louis Armstrongs "What A Wonderful World" ?! This is simply ridiculous .

Here are the lyrics, just to to be sure:

I see trees of green........ red roses too
I watch 'em bloom..... for me and for you
And I think to myself.... what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue..... clouds of white
Bright blessed days....warm sacred nights
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world.

The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the sky
Are there on the faces.....of people ..going by
I see friends shaking hands.....sayin'.. how do you do
They're really sayin'......I love you.

I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow
They'll learn much more.....than I'll never know
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world

(instrumental break)

The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the sky
Are there on the faces.....of people ..going by
I see friends shaking hands.....sayin'.. how do you do
They're really sayin'...*SPOKEN*(I ....LOVE....YOU).

I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow
*SPOKEN*(You know their gonna learn
a whole lot more than I'll never know)
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself .......what a wonderful world.

What? No S.O.D. on the list?

[oneiros27]

Well, as they're not on the list, I guess it's okay to request 'Speak English or Die' or 'Fuck the Middle East'. (Both of which came out during Dessert Storm)

S.O.D. just isn't getting any respect for their work. Not even managing to get on the banned list with 'Kill Yourself' (yeah, it was anti-suicide, I know), 'We all Bleed Red', or even 'Kill the Assholes'

It's just a shame that no one listens to speed metal anymore.

[For those not familiar with S.O.D, it's Scott Ian and Charlie Benante from Anthrax, with Billy Milano from Method of Destruction, and Dan Lilker from Nuclear Assault.... mostly satirical/cynical lyrics with hardcore/thrash/speed metal style music]

Damn...

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like my band's new single "Let's Crash a Couple of Planes Into The World Trade Center, and The Pentagon Too, While We're At It" isn't going to be making the rotations anytime soon...

Sunday Bloody Sunday

[ocie]

I can't believe the news today
I can't close my eyes and make it go away

This whole sensorship thing puzzles me. No songs mentioning airplanes, fire, or tickets, but some proposed Michael Jackson tribute song will be OK. No images showing the WTC still standing, but a strong desire to rebuild them. No "On broadway", but let's return Manhattan to business.

There may be lines in these songs that may strike a chord with what happened last week, but that is no reason to stop playing them outright.

Hey, they forgot to include 'Clawfinger - Nigger'

[eddy]

Oh, that song wasn't even included on the american version of their album Deaf Dumb Blind. I forget.

Check the lyrics out though (link above)

Another song of theirs is pretty relevant now, as ever, and that is Two sides (from the 1997 self-titled album). I think that's the only song where after hearing it I thought... "where do I sign?"

Scientific Method

[voiceofthewhirlwind]

Look up some clear channel stations near you, call them, and request one of those songs- and then repeat until satisfied- then report back here.

Until then, it sounds like a nasty rumor.

Here we go again.

[aggressivepedestrian]

So some guy posted a list of songs on f--ckedcompany.com, and that makes it true? Has anyone seen proof of this? How about posting, say, a scan of the memo that went out banning these songs.

Grab metallica�

[kiwipeso]

I've got all of the black album, some other shit.
I'll upload them to one of the myplay.com lockers i have.
Will put a link to them from my website.

@_@

[Anonymous Coward]

Ooh, faggotry! Beware the big companies! Run!

Re:Song list is hoax...- Someone mod this up!

[The Breeze]

I called two clear channel stations and they said they had no list, either. They could be lying, but other than the Underground article (I forget the URL) and the FC article, there seems to be no other confirmation of this.

Check the dictionary

[Anonymous Coward]

Censorship = Being forbidden to play certain songs or say certain things.

Discretion = Choosing not to play certain songs or say certain things for reasons that are your own.

Clear Channel owns the stations. They are theirs to do with as they please. They please not to play certain songs or say certain things for reasons that are their own.

Unless you want DJ's to start making fun of you for dressing funny or publicly second-guessing the decisions you make about that which is your property, you might try learning the difference.

Opie and Anthony...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yesterday O&A on 102.7 WNEW were just beating the hell out of this list.

RadioInk.com Reports It's A Hoax.

[dse]

Radio industry news web site Radio Ink reported this morning that the banned song list was a hoax.

http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=6028 7&pt=Ink+Headlines
This link should still work even though /. puts a space in the text.

Don't just stop there...

[petepac]

I'm surprised that didn't do an outright ban on Cat Stevens since he's a Muslim now. Come on Clear Channel, you can do even more damage to the Bill of Rights! Go for it!

My son heard that they did an full ban on the group "Rage Against the Machine".

Right on!

[Anonymous Coward]

Its about time we started seeing things like this. Sounds like a lot of the people here don't have any sense of reality. They would probably change their attitudes real quick if the terrorists blew up one of their loved ones. Oh and one more thing just stir their little minds up even more:

God Bless America!

Agreed, this is horrible, BUT. . .

[An Onerous Coward]

I think it's safe to say that this is a temporary measure. If it lasts more than a month, I'd be very surprised.

This is a bit like a situation my employer ran into. Prior to September 11, they sent out some promotional materials, which had a picture of an NHL goalie standing godzilla-like between two skyscrapers. We got a notice soon after the accident that we were supposed to apologize to anyone who called in to complain.
The point (if there was indeed a point to that anecdote) is that the bombing is still in recent memory, and Clear Channel probably just doesn't want to alienate its customers. Once things settle down, the ban will be lifted, and Kansas will again sing "Dust in the Wind." Nevertheless, I think it's a pointless and self-defeating gesture, and the fools^H^H^H^H^H corporate types who came up with it should be punished by hang^H^H^H^H a boycott for the duration.

Re:Vendetta against Rage? pink floyd & skinner

[eWulf]

Not trolling. I feel that just because G W Bush has decided that we are at "war" doesn't make it so. As far as I am concerned, when you are at "War" you are at war with a country. What we are doing at the moment is "policing".

Fucking idiots

[Anonymous Coward]

DO YOU THINK THIS WAS A SINGLE EVENT? If we forget about this I GUARANTEE YOU YOU WILL WATCH YOUR MOTHER MELT when they start blowing nuclear power plants. What do you think is going to happen the second Americans take one step on Afghan soil? Dont you assholes get it? That was a pretty clear statement saying "We dont even need your stinking weapons to kill you." Dammit, the real americans are the ones who are trying to keep this from ever happening again, not the people who "just wanna ignore it and hope it goes away".

buddy holly.

[Anonymous Coward]

the song is about when buddy holly died in a plane
crash. the day the music died.

They can't even censor right!

[Anonymous Coward]

I find it funny that they banned BLack Sabbath's War Pigs. I've been listening to that song constantly since everything that happened last week, and it's actually made me feel better.

Also interesting is that they listed Suicide Solution as a Black Sabbath song, when it is in fact an Ozzy song. They're in such a hurry to ban something that might be offensive (a song that warns against the dangers of drinking yourself to death is offensive?) that they can't evne get the artist right.

And the most interesting thing of all is that they banned Stairway to Heaven. I've never really cared for that song myself, but a "classic rock" station that can't play Stairway?!? That's just...unamerican.

I work for Clear Channel...

[Newer Guy]

1. Yes the list is legit. It came out last Thursday. 2. They did not ban the songs. They suggested that individual program directors exercise judgement in playing these songs because of the recent terrorist bombing. 3. Originally the list was much smaller. It was added to by the program directors and others at the individual stations. 4. The list was supposed to be internal and confidential. It went out over our private WAN email system. 5. From what I can see, Clear Channel has 'stepped up to the plate' with regard to the terrorism. They're giving a lot of $$ to the Red Cross and others. They have a link on their web page. They're allowing employees to contribute via a deduction in their paychecks. For days after the hijackings they ran information and talk programming about the disaster on practically every station totally commercial free. Though I don't agree with all of CC policies (trust me on this!), I feel that criticizing them fhr the job they've done for the public the past week is ludicrous!

Re:I work for Clear Channel...

[Anonymous Coward]

"...They're giving a lot of $$ to the Red Cross and others..."

Yeah, right, $100,000 donated by the corporate office. That's chump change to CC, they waste more money than that in a day on useless crap like salespersons for radio stations that rank lower than 15th in their market.

Re:I work for Clear Channel...

[Halloween Jack]

1. Yes the list is legit. It came out last Thursday. 2. They did not ban the songs. They suggested that individual program directors exercise judgement in playing these songs because of the recent terrorist bombing. 3. Originally the list was much smaller. It was added to by the program directors and others at the individual stations.

So, in other words, they had a little contest to find any and every popular song of the last hundred years or so that could possibly fall within six degrees of separation (lyrically) from the WTC/Pentagon attack. I appreciate the fact that your company has (briefly) put people ahead of profits--really, I do--but, after all, you do have a public mandate, of sorts, and you have to accept that your list may have caused more pain than even the most egregiously tasteless song on the airwaves might have.

OK.

[twitter]

So we ought to be railing against the really stupid laws that got us here. The usual fodder for Slashdot: stupid copyright laws and stupid new laws about airwave allocation and allowing media cosolidation. Pointing out the consequences of those stupid laws, after predicting them and illustrating how it happens is the way to fight it.

Now let me make clear one of those consequences. Where I live, I now have about zero chance of hearing any of these boring comercial songs that have been played millions of times before:

Elvis "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
Zombies "She's Not There"
Elton John "Benny & The Jets"
Elton John "Daniel"
Elton John "Rocket Man"
Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire"
Kansas "Dust in the Wind"
Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
The Beatles "A Day in the Life"
The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
The Beatles "Ticket To Ride"
The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da"
Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky"
Brooklyn Bridge "Worst That Could Happen"
Three Degrees "When Will I See You Again"
Cat Stevens "Peace Train"
Cat Stevens "Morning Has Broken"
Don McLean "American Pie"
Nina "99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons"

They were cut because their content was somehow offensive to Clear Channel's management. They censored their playlist.

Accusing ClearChannel of censorship is like accusing a colon of being full of shit.

Clever. To pharaphrase a movie that lots of people enjoyed, "Ever thought about why everything sounds like shit? How would a machine know how things are supposed to sound? So that's what they have been feeding us."

Uh, wow.

[hatless]

The song is directly, and utterly without metaphor, about the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and J.P. Richardson (the Big Bopper), and how the narrator's world hadn't been the same since, socially, politically, musically and personally.

McLean's point--and it's a pretty simple one; he isn't exactly James Joyce--is that that plane crash marked the end of the sheltered certainties of the 1950s and the start of what for him were the far more confusing and tumultuous 1960s (Dylan to cute Beatles to scary Beatles to the Summer of Love to Vietnam to Janis Joplin to more, scarier Vietnam).

"American Pie" isn't a deep song or a complex one, nor is it one open to terribly flexible interpretation. Which doesn't mean it isn't heartfelt or affecting or a good starting point for high school students to look at the 1960s from the perspective of someone whose world changed on February 3, 1959, when a plane crash killed three rock'n'roll singers. Period. It's not a "secret". It's not a "wacky interpretation". It's not a "hidden meaning". It's what the song's about. Sort of like how, say, John Lennon's "Oh, Yoko" is about Yoko and not about, say, the Iranain revolution or basketball.

Ask your parents. Or read any of the thousands of tedious interviews poor Don McLean has had to slog through in the decades since.

Get a grip people.

[Anonymous Coward]

You doom sayers are starting to make me sick. Though we do have to "Clean House" in this country the majority are still good people. Dont get mad just because they had a stupid idea, they are just trying to help.

A note

[notcarlos]

This probably won't get heard, but oh well.
The deal here isn't one of censorship, it's one of logic. What sense does it make to summarily ban any works that mention flying, planes, blowing things up, fire, new york, or america? Submitted for your perusal:

• Bangles "Walk Like an Egyptian"
  • Do what? Someone explain this one to me.
• Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World"
• Three Degrees "When Will I See You Again"
• The Doors "The End"
  • Seems these would help folks heal.

On the other hand, there's a few (Disco Inferno, etc.) that /should/ have been banned a long time ago.

Clear Channel Sucks

[Servo]

I've stopped listening to Clear Channel stations recently anyway, because of the way they run their stations. Is it just me, or do they seem to only hire dumb stoners for their afternoon DJ's?

Re:Also

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, no. Try anything prior to 1989. Everything after that sucked balls. Cliff really was the entire fucking band.

ON radio stations and mass markets.

[mindstrm]

Well.. if stations decide not to play stuff, it's because they stand to lose marketshare if they do. It makes sound business sense.

And that's why huge corporations with huge marketshares will *always* cater to the majority of their customers. Governments are not much different.

A different kind of "Pay for Play"

[superflippy]

Those Salon articles are interesting and a little disheartening. This past weekend, however, my local classic rock radio station turned "Pay for Play" on its head: for a minimum donation of $10.23, they would play any two songs of your choice. Several songs from Clear Channel's no-no list were played, including "Stairway to Heaven," and the radio station raised over $10,000 for the Red Cross. And no, Fox 102 isn't owned by Clear Channel.

Goldfinger

[rakerman]

If I can't listen to Nena's 99 Red Ballons,
can I still listen to the cover by Goldfinger?

Not True

[_pi-away]

This is simply not true. These songs were not banned, CC *requested* that it's stations not play them, but every station could make it's own choice. I've heard at least two of these songs on CC stations yesterday and today.

This doesn't sond like Clear Channel

[cvanaver]

After reading the salon.com articles, this doesn't seem the behavior of a company like Clear Channel. It seems like their whole corporate culture is founded around greed and tastlessness. This is the same company who has tortured and/or killed live animals on a number of their morning talk shows. Companies like this aren't normally into censorship, because it limits their ability to profit. Censorship usually comes from a misguided ethical or moral sense, or an urge to protect/cover up something.

I can't even understand their rationale for putting _any_ songs on the list, much less the specific songs that they did.

If ClearChannel's actions offend you...

[tkiehne]

...the choice is clear -- support your local, non-corporate, public/college radio stations.

What? You don't have any in your area, you say? Better get to work in taking back your airwaves!

t_kiehne

ClearChannel asking for money

[dgp]

What about their 'pledge drive' for money? Clearchannel's advertisements to give money to them run throughout the day here in Portland Oregon on Z100. They make no effort to explain who Clearchannel communications is. They make no statement about just where any money is going, saying only that donated money will 'make a difference.' Then they give excruciating detail as to how many credit cards they take and where you can mail payment. It has all the signs of an infomercial or simply a scam.

Now that I understand a little more about who they are, I can see why my radio station is constantly playing this tacky ad. I would still not give them any money and donate to the red cross directly instead.

Add this song to list!

[llzackll]

They are playing "Smokin in the boys room" by motley crue on the radio right now. I am deeply appaled by this song right now, as I was in the boys room takin a dump, when i heard a big explosion and I ran out with my pants down. It was the most embarrassing moment in my life and now that I hear this song I think im gonna kill myself.

Dave Matthews

[SirHalcyon]

Crash into me, hehehe

reprinted with kind permission

[Anonymous Coward]

of course, once the MPAA, CCC and Congress get wind of the fact that people are posting the lyrics to songs, all lyrics will be banned. (excepting 'god bless america' and 'star-spangled banner' and 'america the beautiful'.)

jingoism; because it would be a shame not to wave a national flag when thousands are dead, and thousands more are mourning.

ClearChannel has inspired me

[dirtboy]

As soon as I get home I'm gonna set up a live365 station composed entirely of banned songs. I'm also gonna toss the stack of porn in my bathroom and replace it with banned books.

Re:Banned: Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World

[dgp]

My guess is the reason is not any particular word or phrase, its the mood of the song. What if you were driving down the road on Tuesday, after getting a full dose of WTC news on the radio, and you're shocked and feeling blue, and the radio comes on with 'what a wonderful world'. Or say you have the TV and the radio on and you're looking at ground zero and people are running for their lives, and Louie is saying "I see friends shaking hands.....sayin'.. how do you do". The song would seem out of place and radio station would seem heartless.

There's this one line...

[CdotZinger]

"On the sidewalk, sunny morning, lies a body oozin' life" (IIRC)

I'd guess that's it, but I have a hard time putting the censorious/"sensitive" cap on and thinking like that, so who knows. It's probably because a German wrote it. Or "Old Lucy Brown" is Osama Bin Laden. Or something.

Idiots rule.

These are, after all, DJs.

[Zach Baker]

This looks like a good idea to me for a business, to save DJs from their own bad taste. And these kind of DJs tend to have pretty horrible taste. I don't think I need to hear these guys slip in a smirkingly irreverent song on the playlist in this case. Typical that you'd have to tell people this in such specific terms, though -- "don't be a jerk" doesn't get you too far with people who are normally jerks anyway.

99 Dead Baboons

[Geek In Training]

Well, they may have censored out 99 Red Balloons, but I've always been more a fan of the filk version (by Tim Cavanaugh-- *NOT* Weird Al... and there are plenty more decent filk artists out there).

99 Dead Baboons - by Tim Cavanaugh:

Hello Bobby my old friend.
It's good to see you once again.
How's your mother, how's your aunt?
How's your father's skin diving suit?
(That's one of the lines I'm not real sure about, but it goes something like
this.)

I've got something you should see
Back at my place; come with me.
I've got some brand new furnishings,
Plus 99 dead baboons

99 dead baboons
Sitting in my living room.
Not too functional it seems,
But quite a conversation piece.
This one's Jake, that one's Dinah,
There's big Ned in my recliner.
No it's not a lazy boy.
Can't you see it's a dead baboon?

Dead baboons, dead baboons.
Dead baboons, dead baboons.

How they got here I'm not sure;
Woke up one day, there they were.
Luckily I've got a lease
Allowing pets if they're deceased.
I'm just thankful they're not apes,
'Cuz apes would clash with the drapes.
No more napkins at my parties -
Wipe your hands on a dead baboon.

Dead baboons, dead baboons.
Dead baboons, dead baboons.

Dead baboons are lots of fun;
Playin' water balloons I've always won.
You can keep your dead giraffes and swine,
I'll take dead baboons every time.
There's just one problem I have found:
It's finding Purina Dead Baboon Chow.
But what a happy snorkelling device...
(That's another line I'm not real sure about, but it's somethin' like that)
With 99 dead baboons.

Dead baboons, dead baboons.
Dead baboons, dead baboons.

How about letting the people decide?

[AsylumWraith]

You know, I recently had a bad experience with a girl. Being very musically oriented, I associated quite a bit of music with this girl (even went so far as to compile two CDs worth of music that made me think about her for her birthday.)

I don't talk to her very much now, and hearing some of that same music is, to me, now unbearable. In particular, the local station here plays "Drops of Jupiter" by Train, which I associate with her, a lot. You know what I do? I don't demand that the station stop playing the song, I just turn the volume on my radio down until the song is over.

Now, I have no problem with being sensitive to the people who've been vicitmized by this tragedy, but I don't think any of them are really worrying about what's being played on the radio right now. And they surely haven't lost their ability to turn their volume down.

Also, who told these guys at ClearChannel what songs would offend the victims of 9/11/01? "Imagine"? "What A Wonderful World"? "New York, New York"? "Sunday Bloody Sunday"? "Tuesday's Gone"? Hell, I've listened to some of those songs in the past week, along with others on the list that I've failed to mention. None of them have made me overtly think about the tragedy (it's been at the back of my head the entire time.) And some of them were genuinely uplifting.

How about letting the victims decide what they want to hear, instead of telling them "No, we think this song will be bad for you, so we're not going to let you listen to it."? ClearChannel could actually be making it worse for some people who listen to music for a sort of emotional release.

I speak German.

[kiwipeso]

Goto http://babelfish.altavista.com and then enter in a url to translate it.

Clear Channel Warmongers

[__aapbgd5977]

The list is so overbroad, it just defies sense. I mean Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Travelin' Band" starts with the line "737 coming out of the sky", but that's so out of context. Very few of these songs have anything to do with the events of Sept. 11, at all, even in lyrical parallels like CCR's song above. I mean, come on, what does Boston's "Smokin'" have to do with ANYTHING? It's about getting stoned!

I was more unnerved by the ANTI-war songs pulled. Cat Stevens' "Peace Train" (warning: annoying popups) has no possible references to the bombing, nor does Edwin Starr's "War". They're PEACE songs. I think Clear Channel might want the US to do a little bombing.

Crazy conclusion? Maybe. But my Clear Channel station here in Phoenix was playing a version of 3 Doors Down's "Duck and Run" with a bunch of TV talking head pro-bombing-them-into-the-stone-age comments clipped from CNN and other networks. The DJs playing it got it down off Napster (I still wonder how they get license to use and rebroadcast Napstered songs, and I don't) and may not have been aware that "Duck and Run" was on the banned song list.

Or maybe the pansy pacifist (original) version of "Duck and Run" is. Personally, I think it's got some damn good lyrics for this situation.

And pity poor Neil Diamond's "America" for getting on the banned song list. I hear that song every 4th of July during fireworks. I guess the Tired and Poor aren't welcome in Clear Channel's America any more.

Old Songs and Peter Gabriel

[bjb]

Some of the songs on the list are simply absurd. Sure, it isn't a bad idea to stop playing some of the songs that are "questionable", but to see people like Peter Gabriel on the list? Why don't they just put Genesis's Harold The Barrel on the list? It's about someone jumping off of a building...

Honestly, I think they're just trying to make a name for themselves in bad times. Some of the songs on there are fairly "slow and pop-music-ish", but then there is stuff like Metallica's Seek and Destroy and Sabbath's War Pigs. C'mon.. you're telling me that you play Sinead O'Connor and then segue into Master Of Puppets?

(turn off rant machine)

It is censorship.

[Snaller]

Censorship is the institution, system, or practice of censoring

and Censoring is to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable

Wether or not the law allows them to do so is not relevant.

Re:Damn censorship....Songs of peace

[axolotl_farmer]

What scares me about this list of banned songs is that they have banned songs about peace as well:

Nina "99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons" (Nena, really)
John Lennon "Imagine"
Simon And Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World"

I'm sure you can find other examples

I know...

[aetherspoon]

... and I happen to love Imagine myself, so it gets me angrier...

Oh well, yet another reason why I don't listen to conventional radio anymore anyways.

Request Rage Against the Machine songs

[Anonymous Coward]

Request Rage Against the Machine songs and bitch like mad when they refuse.

ClearChannel's stations in your area

[bee]

Here's a url [clearchannel.com] off their website that lets you find out which stations in your area are owned by them, so you know who to complain to/not listen to.

Not all Clear Channel stations following the ban

[jroysdon]

I just called my local Clear Channel station, B93.1, and they said they know about the ban, but they aren't affected by it (yet). The DJ said they've even got two of the banned songs I rattled off, "Bad Day" and "Ironic," coming up in the playlist already.

Pink Floyd Hits, Misses

[__aapbgd5977]

Clear Channel banned Pink Floyd's "Mother" and "Run Like Hell", both from the landmark album "The Wall". They missed one PF song that still gets airplay, though...

I have a lot of Floyd thrown into my mp3 and CD collections - the one that the random button spit out on Wednesday creeped me out even more than the two banned ones, and has much more painful imagery associated with it. The explanation of the song sits heavily on my mind, after the images from last Tuesday.

Goodbye Blue Sky

[ Sound of an airplane approaching ]
[ Look, Mummy. There's an airplane up in the sky. ]

Did you, did you see the frightened ones?
Did you, did you hear the falling bombs?
Did you ever wonder why we had to run for shelter,
When the promise of a brave new world,
Unfurled beneath a clear blue sky?

Did you, did you see the frightened ones?
Did you, did you hear the falling bombs?
The flames are all long gone,
But the pain lingers on.
Goodbye, blue sky.
Goodbye, blue sky.
Goodbye.
Goodbye.

Update (Response from ClearChannel)

[scott1853]

I e-mailed my local ClearChannel station (nerve951.com) and somebody responded with a ClearChannel.com e-mail address. They said it was a false rumor, and that list was only songs to be sensitive to and that there was no banning of the songs. Here's the exact messages:

"Scott,
the clear channel deal is a false rumor...I hear list was never a mandatory
thing...
just songs to be sensitive to last Tuesday...
people have never been told not to play these songs...
I'm sorry to other people using a sorrowful time like this to use as a basis
to a trivial radio war...We all should be united as Americans at this time..
shame on the company that is lying

From the grammar it doesn't sound as though it's an exec. I e-mailed the person back and asked what there position at ClearChannel was.

Re:Your country can listen to whatever they want..

[Keith Russell]

S'truth. Clear Channel and Infinity 0wnz Pittsburgh. KDKA-AM (Infinity) can do whatever they want because, well, they're KDKA, dammit! But everyone else is run by some faceless corporate suitshell in a cubicle in another city. Unless I'm in my car and specifically looking for news, football, or hockey, I listen to CDs. I have lost all hope that radio in this town will ever rise to mediocrity again.

(A notable exception is WRCT, Carnegie Mellon's radio station, but I can't pick them up from home.)

Re:Vendetta against Rage? pink floyd & skinner

[alienmole]

As far as I am concerned, when you are at "War" you are at war with a country. What we are doing at the moment is "policing".

I was thinking about this the other day. The enemies we're dealing with, in theory, could be rounded up and put in handcuffs, no differently than any other criminals. The whole point of "war" is that large armies fight against other large armies - or even large armies fight against other small armies - but not that large armies fight against small groups of people scattered around the world. The fact that these particular criminals/terrorists are hard to locate and infiltrate can hardly be mitigated by throwing thousands of troops at the problem. I suppose you could argue it's a complex form of psychological warfare against groups like the Taliban. Or perhaps it's just about making "the average American" feel better.

I'll close with one of the "banned" songs, which is probably pretty appropriate - Pink Floyd's "Mother", from The Wall (interesting to note that the song "Another Brick in the Wall" was banned by the apartheid government of South Africa during rioting there in the '70s - great how America models itself after these shining role models):

Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb
Mother do you think they'll like this song
Mother do you think they'll try to break my balls
Oooh, Mother should I build a wall

Mother should I run for president
Mother should I trust the government
Mother will they put me in the firing line
Oooh, Is it just a waste of time

Hush now baby, baby don't you cry
Mama's gonna make all of your nightmares come true
Mama's gonna put all of her fears into you
Mama's gonna keep you right here under her wing
She won't let you fly but she might let you sing
Mama will keep baby cozy and warm
Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe
Of course mam'll help build the wall

Mother do you think she's good enough
For me
Mother do you think she's dangerous
To me
Mother will she tear your little boy apart
Oooh, Mother will she break my heart

Hush now baby, baby don't you cry
Mama's gonna check out all your girlfriends for you
Mama won't let anyone dirty get through
Mama's gonna wait up till you come in
Mama will always find out where you've been
Mama's gonna keep baby healthy and clean
Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe
You'll always be a baby to me

Mother, did it need to be so high.

Eagles'/Don Henely's New York Minute seems...

[Rhys]

a lot better canidate than things like PP&M's Blowing in the Wind which I think I heard bars of from the candlelight vigil services.

Re:Eagles'/Don Henely's New York Minute seems...

[phillymjs]

On Friday I heard a remix of New York Minute, interspersed with some of the more shudder-worthy clips from the news reports, etc. It was God-awful.

~Philly

Re:Not all Clear Channel stations following the ba

[jroysdon]

I like my local DJs, as they usually respond to email within an hour or so (even if they don't use a spell-checker *g*):

Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 10:27:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jack Paper
To: jason@MUNGE
Cc: Maxmiller@MUNGE-clearchannel.com
Subject: Re: Clear Channel "bans" songs

Jason:
Here's the story, ClearChannel hasn't 'banned' songs, they have suggested to all of their stations (including B93.1 & Rock 96-7) that some songs may be offensive to people at this point in our American Trajedy [sic]. They aren't dictating us to not play songs, I think they are actually being really cool and sensitive to the situation. The decision to play or not play is being left up to the individual programmers. ClearChannel who has already helped raiser over a million and half dollars is just trying to be sensitive to everything that is going on. I hope that clears some things up for you. Thanks for writig [sic].

Jack Paper

Got Help America

[Anonymous Coward]

I thing the qoute should be God Help America and not God Bless America

destroy dictionaries...

[cockroach2]

why don't we destroy all dictionaries? they contain a lot of bad words, too...

Assuming this is for real...

[yoel]

Can anyone explain how "Ob La Di, Ob La Da" can possibly have made it onto this list? That's like the least offensive song ever! It's so twee it's unbearable!

Wow

[Mister Transistor]

I noticed with interest that Cat Stevens' Morning Has Broken is on the list - I can't see any jet/building/bomb/terror/death references in it at all...

In fact, it was a HYMN I SANG IN MY CHURCH CHOIR!

WTF?!?!?!?

not "ban", stop using that word.

[mickeyreznor]

this isn't a ban. never once in any statements from clear channel have they said "you may not play these songs", they have just stated that they feel these songs are "inappropriate". However, the idiocy is what songs they've decided to include on their list. Some of these songs i can understand, but including anti-war songs and stuff like 'black hole sun' or 'under the bridge'? Whoever made this list was definitely in looneyville at the time he was making it. I just finished watching an MTV news bit and one of the guys who compiled the list says he including all rage against the machines songs because their songs are about "death and destuction". There's nothing wrong about being a little sensitive after a tragedy, but these guys have a few screws loose.

Pink Floyd - Mother

[TheMidget]

Just listening to Mother, and I think I've found the line that actually annoyed "The Man" the most. No, it's not "Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb?". And it's not "Mom is gonna make all your nightmares come true.". And not even: "She wont let you fly,". And not "Mother, did it need to be so high?", either.

No, the right answer is of course: "Of course Mom is gonna help build the wall"...

ClearChannel Plays It Safe

[kminogue]

My initial reaction was "damn them, how could they ban such a wide range of music?". I did not find anything to confirm this anywhere else on the web, so I emailed one of our (many) clear channel stations and asked if this was a joke or for real. The reply was prompt, this is not a list of banned songs. Rather it was a list of songs that had titles or lyrics which could be deemed inappropriate due to last week's tragic events. The program director assured me that these songs were never banned and in his opinion the list was a "stretch" for the most part.

So let's get back to real life! ;-)

Actually, it's a guilt trip

[leonbrooks]

Listen to 99 Red Balloons and tell me if you, at the helm of a military juggernaut, would not feel uneasy as you the story in it unfolded.

• You and I in a little toy shop
  
• Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got
  
• Set them free at the break of dawn
  
• Til one by one, they were gone
  
• Back at base bugs in the software
  
• Flash the message, something's out there
  
• Floating in the summer sky
  
• 99 red balloons go by
  
• 99 red balloons
  
• Floating in the summer sky
  
• Panic bells it's red alert
  
• There's something here from somewhere else
  
• The war machine springs to life
  
• Opens up one eager eye
  
• Focusing it on the sky
  
• Where 99 red balloons go by
  
• 99 Decision street
  
• 99 ministers meet
  
• To worry, worry, super scurry
  
• Call the troops out in a hurry
  
• This is what we've waited for
  
• This is it boys, this is war
  
• The president is on the line
  
• As 99 red balloons go by
  
• 99 knights of the air
  
• Ride super high tech jet fighters
  
• Everyone's a super hero Everyone's a Captain Kirk
  
• With orders to identify
  
• To clarify, and classify
  
• Scramble in the summer sky
  
• 99 red balloons go by
  
• 99 dreams I have had
  
• In every one a red balloon
  
• It's all over and I'm standing pretty
  
• In this dust that was a city
  
• If I could find a souvenir
  
• Just to prove the world was here
  
• And here is a red balloon
  
• I think of you, and let it go

Apparently, the German original has even better imagery as well as better scansion. This is one time I really miss being a polyglot.

Clear Channel can burn in hell.

[J.C.B.]

They the only music station that they own in my area is the sickeningly sweet pop station, they own none of the good ones.

But I do support some of their choices, Rage Against the Machine is not what a lot of people want to hear right now, but come on, why are they banning Tuesday's Gone? I can't think of a more appropriate song for these times!

But, anyway, I don't think this is some evil censorship spree, ClearChannel probably doesn't want to get thousands of angry phonecalls whenever one of there stations plays a song that's in bad taste.

Re:Banned: Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World

[metachimp]

Perhaps it's because of the meant to be ironic scene from "Good Morning Vietnam", where the song plays as fighters lay napalm....

no cure?

[macsox]

where is the cure classic, "kiling an arab"? i guess g. w. bush okayed that one.

I can't believe this...

[Anonymous Coward]

This attitude doesn't prevent terrorists...It CREATES them. Many killers were born because they repressed their feelings (or were repressed) and they just couldn't take it anymore.

Really, I don't know if I should laugh or start breaking stuff just to prove the point that they can't censor primitive feelings (doesn't mean I'm going to do it, ok Carnivore?)

I guess the problem is in politics. We are NOT all equal! We are all different and marvellous in our own way, but we can't follow generic laws that most of the time don't apply to everybody... Giving power to the majority is dangerous (remember Atenas); giving power to a single person is dangerous also (remember corruption). Probably, a kind of flexible politics, that changes through time, is the best (avoiding many revolutions). Probably, the most popular person shouldn't be elected, but yes the one that was proved to be the most capable (no more George W. Bush). Hell, there are so many know errors in so many politics...

And Dolby's Ride on Joey's Camel

[leonbrooks]

Mind you, I'm surprised that Airhead survived this long without being beaten to death by outraged wimmin.

``My friends all think; she's a dumb blonde; but they don't know she dyes her hair...''

Wow, it's Radio Prozac!

[Anonymous Coward]

Take away all the depressing music and people won't be sad about the loss of some 5000 persons now, eh?

Oooh yes, Fuel's "Bad Day" and Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" are just so incredibly depressing and questioning we just must keep them off the air.

Thankfully, the only Clear Channel station in Phoenix I'm aware of is a light rock station I can't stand anyway.

Re:Wow, it's Radio Prozac!

[Anonymous Coward]

And looking further, you find that while Alient Ant Farm's cover of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" is on the banned list, Jackson's original is not.

Have to stop that damn rock music those damn kids listen to, I suppose.

Only Temporary (confirmed)

[Mark Bainter]

I emailed a local DJ at a clear channel station and asked him about it. He confirmed that it was true, but that it was only temporary, and that he thought the company was basically taking a better-safe-than-sorry approach. All of the songs will eventually be returned to regular play.

So is ``My Boomerang Won't Come Back''

[leonbrooks]

Jojo Fitzblack brings down the flying doctor with his first successful throw, but I don't see that one on the list. Yet.

change stations?

[quonsar]

it's pretty damn hard to change stations when clear channel and citadel own every major outlet in this market (grand rapids, mi.) and citadel has it's own list, according to dj's at citadel-owned WLAV-FM.

They expect people to forget that NYC exists?

[leonbrooks]

Frank Sinatra "New York, New York"

Yeah, right. And a city of - how many? - million people is just going to hide for a while until everyone's happy again... y'know perhaps it would help after all, if the news services stopped replaying the damned thing day and night in case anyone's been living in a cave for the past week and nobody taped it for them.

Re:Mirror? here you go

[Anonymous Coward]

How could a direct reply to a question/request be redundant?? The guy could not get to the site though his company firewall.

YAMM (Yet Another Mindless Moderator)

There is some validity to it

[Anonymous Coward]

I spoke with the Marketing Director of my local station just now. He confirmed that the a list was emailed internally to member stations of Clear Channel, but emphasized that the list was *suggested* and not *mandatory*.

He did mention that since his format was top 40 that it wouldn't affect them much but that there were "maybe 10 songs" that they were unlikely to play (including Dave Matthew's band "Crash Into Me").

As much as I dislike Clear Channel, most of the hysteria seems to be unwarranted.

Re:Vendetta against Rage? pink floyd & skinner

[BravoXL]

I agree completely. People have to start making the distinction between the government and the country. Rage wrote many anti government songs but they were able to do it all in America, meaning that there has to be some underline love for the country. I quote Mark Twain "Loyal to the country always, loyal to the government when it deserves it."

Also Pink Floyd, REM, Led Zeppelin that just hurts.

On the up shot I was very pleased to see Pat Benatars songs on the list, I hate that woman.

Who needs Government Censorship?

[fredistheking]

When a company that own's a majority of the Radio stations around the Country will do it instead. Also, this way, it's much harder to try to argue 1st amendment rights.

Re:seattle is Clear Channel free

[Anonymous Coward]

47 out of 50 major markets. Seattle must be one of the 3 un-clear markets.

but clear channel owns like 10-15 radio stations in eastern washington. go figure, heh.

Re:This must be a joke... 106.1 RDU Plays Sandman

[ChrisLynx]

Just to see, I looked up the nearest ClearChannel station from http://www.clearchannel.com . 106.1 RDU Raleigh-Durham is the nearest for me. Turned on the radio during a commercial break. The first song played when the commercials ended was Metallica's "Enter Sandman" Metallica-bashing aside, they obviously aren't too stringent.

So? It doesn't affect me...

[Kwantus]

... I don't listen to such `music' in the first place. Now, if they started banning good stuff like `Everyone Must Die', BWV 643, I'd be upset...

H'm. It's curiously absent from the Classical Archives. Unless it's on another page...

If you'd like to contact their executives....

[AugstWest]

Just follow this link.

I tried posting the mailto: here, but /. filters wouldn't allow it.

Please let these people know that if they are this willing to ccensor our music, they are not worthy of the stewardship of such a large percentage of American radio outlets.

Re:If you'd like to contact their executives....

[AugstWest]

Why can I not post a link to my site at earthlink?

It's http://home.earthlink.net/~sunnycat1

Re:Your country can listen to whatever they want..

[wik]

Don't forget WQED (classical music, public radio), which has managed to survive so far and still bring good programming. I also listen to WDUQ (Duquesne's jazz station/NPR feed).

A while back, Philadelphia had a public classical station, too. Someone bought it (possibly Clear Channel) and turned it into pop, then R&B or something and now it has turned back into top 40's. Temple's Jazz station picked up the classical during day hours, but they really don't understand classical music (they used to be much better at jazz, too).

quiz for you

[Anonymous Coward]

about me: I am against government censorship. Period. However, this is a question for you...

Are you against government censorship? Why?

Are you for government 'anti-censorship' laws? (forces companies and individuals to display and air content they do not want to for whatever reason) Why?

Also, it helps when answering 'why?' to phrase it in more general terms that will not be contradicted (especially by something you yourself enact or support as a 'solution') Example follows:

If I state I am 'against racism and discrimination because it is bad' then I cannot be for Affirmative Action. If however I am a justifier (not a logical reasoner) and emotionally wish to keep Affirmative Action, then I must change my statement to read, "I am against racism BY whites against any others, because only that racism is bad". See how this works? That is what humanity has achieved in the past millenia... that is PROGRESS. Logic, reason and consistency backed by true empathy and compassion. Action that is trully helpful not just wrapped up in pretty sounding rhetoric but that hurts those things we claim to fight for and cherish. Otherwise, we would be nothing but talking monkeys with fancy toys. That is NOT civilization.

What are these guys smokin', can I have some

[Anonymous Coward]

They also missed

Jennifer Paige - Crush
Johnny hates jazz - Shattered dreams
INXS - Devil inside
Britney Spears - Oops! ...I did it again
Ace of Base - Cruel summer
Fats Domino - Aint that a shame
Ray Peterson - Tell Laura I love her
Turtles - It ain't me babe

Seriously, if you really try you can find something potentially offensive in any song.

What if they play a very happy upbeat song that remaids someone of a loved one who died in this disaster... better not play anythig at all

What a great playlist!

[vaxer]

I'm grabbing a copy of each of these songs on Gnutella. I'll burn it to CD-R and call it the "September 11 Collection".

Yet more evidence that censorship always backfires...

It's not censorship

[fluxsmith]

When the management of a company makes decisions about what products it will offer, that's not censorship. I'm so tired of liberals calling private discretion censorship.

Re:Clearchannel: something everyone should know ab

[libre lover]

What's interesting is that on the same album as "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is another song called "The Only Living Boy In New York". Popularity is obviously a factor here.

NOT a formal list

[Amalica]

I just spoke with a representative of clear channel and they said that there IS a list out there, however, that list was compiled independently by a number of program directors at stations throughout the country that are all not necessarily clear channel stations. At this time, there has been no formal mandate of songs that are not to be played.

Find ClearChannel stations in your area...

[HarryCucumber]

HERE is a link. Type in your city and it will give you a list of stations controlled by clearchannel.

That list cracks me up.

[mad_clown]

I wonder just who decided on some of those songs... I mean really... "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel?? Just what is the "questionable content" in that song? And how come Cannibal Corpse didn't make the list? Something tells me that "Meathook Sodomy" might have more "questionable content" in it in light of recent events than say.... "Imagine" by John Lennon, which somehow got on the list.

One can easily understand the rationalle behind banning such musical abortions as "Obladi-Oblada" and "What a Wonderful World" for being morally offensive in this time of crisis for our nation, but banning "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey" by Steam is a travesty.

Tasteless as it may be, I think it's funny they banned "Disco Inferno," "Crash Into Me," "Ticket to Ride," "Burning Down the House," and "Walk Like an Egyptian." On the plus side, they've also banned popular songs by Alanis Morissette and Korn, so I guess some good came out of this after all.

Re:Vendetta against Rage? pink floyd & skinner

[ethereal]

Maybe I'm confused, but I always thought "Hey Man, Nice Shot" was a homage to Kurt Cobain. What politician is it supposed to be about?

Maybe they should ban all the bad NEWS too

[KegDude]

Umm, the terrorist attack is all over the news. Watch CNN or any other newscast, and you're very likely to see video of planes crashing, buildings tumbling down, and even people falling to their death.

And ClearChannel thinks we're going to be somehow terribly affected if we hear Don McLean's "American Pie"?!?

I'm sure that at every radio newsbreak, they are discussing the tragedy, the latest body counts, and broadcasting tearful interviews with those who have lost family members.

But they don't think it's "safe" to play Steve Miller's "Jet Airliner"?

It's all over the news, ClearChannel!

Maybe they should suggest to their member stations that all news coverage talk about only good stuff, no bad news at all..

Re:Vendetta against Rage? pink floyd & skinner

[Anonymous Coward]

Bud Dwyer. Google is your friend.

MP3

[csbruce]

Are they distributing this list in .pls format?...

Re:Vendetta against Rage? pink floyd & skinner

[ethereal]

Well, I'll be damned. Thanks for the info. Google only helps once I know I'm wrong :)

Not the same

[Wonko42]

There's a big difference between censorship and politeness. Many, many people lost friends or family members in the attacks, and most people who didn't lose someone know someone who did. For these people, even the most innocent lyrics in the most innocent song on the radio could very well trigger painful memories.

This was not an act of censorship, it was an act of sensitivity toward the victims of this tragedy. Grow up, guys...not everything is a conspiracy to strip you of your freedoms. You can still buy all these songs in stores or download them online.

Treasonous sentiments?

[Trickster Coyote]

Hmmm....

The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da"..."life goes on..." Yeah, we would want to think of life getting back to normal in any way.

Youngbloods "Get Together"
"Come on people now,
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together,
Try to love one another right now."
At a time when the government is pumping up the rhetoric to whip up people's shock and anger into support for what they admit will be a long and drawn out war, such peaceful urgings may seem treasonous.

Likewise with "Blowin' in the Wind" Those kind of anti-war folk songs caused enough trouble in the sixties, we wouldn't want them to provoke the population at a time of crises like this.

Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World" Oh, come on! At times like this we need something to remind us about the good things in life.

On a slightly different muscical note, on the weekend one of the Canadian TV networks showed a montage of the events and aftermath of last Tuesday. The song (by Don Henley?) they used as background was chillingly true:

"In a New York minute,
Everything can change
In a New York minute
Everything is strange..."

Trickster Coyote
Reality is as reality does."

You are all idiots

[Anonymous Coward]

How funny would it be to have Saturday Night Live do a parody bit showing a bunch of Arabs toss minature 757's into a twin tower matchsticks building. They then pour gasoline on the building and light it on fire while Burning Down the House plays on the stereo? Do ya think someone at NBC might say "Hey - nows not the time for that bit?" Is that censorship? Do you think if they aired the bit people would bitch? Hell yeah!!! That's whats going on here folks only its with a few songs. It may not be the right time to play these songs in New York on the radio. Duh!

Re:You are all idiots

[tromble]

You're right. Instead, they should keep playing Born in the USA thousands of times each day, because it doesn't matter what the song really says, only the part of the song that everyone remembers. And clearly any song with a mention of jets or flying is evil. While we're at it we'll have to ban all Jefferson Airplane songs because the name of the band is just plain insensitive.

Re:You are all idiots

[dietcrack]

Not to mention Bon Jovi's "Blaze of Glory", which, oddly enough, isn't on the list - maybe I need to email ClearChannel and inform them of their accidental omission.

Peace Train??

[Noexit]

Peace Train made the list? Whether it's official policy, censorship or just a direction for good tast, how could Peace Train make the list? Unless it's just some anti-Muslim sentiment being expressed. Maybe they could play the 10,000 Maniacs version instead. No, wait...bad name that too, I suppose.

Censoring the exposures of censorship

[Zero__Kelvin]

It gets better. When I try to follow the link my companies proxy server informs me that I have attempted to visit a site that is considered inappropriate to view using [companies] resources. I think maybe the next time I'm thinking of doing a bit of work at home, I'll deam it to be an innappropriate use of my personal resources 8^}

Cheers!

Awful

[Anonymous Coward]

I listen to the radio only when in a vehicle. I believe several of the stations are owned by ClearChannel. Time to pull that minijack->magtape hack out of the basement. The banned list is simply outrageous.

I'm most upset that they've banned "Stairway to Heaven", a siginifcant fraction of The Wall, and a whole suite of innocent Beatles songs. What is so offensive about "Get Together"? Or "It's the end of the world as we know it"? Darn, this is true censorship. Did I mention that playing ANY Rage Against The Machine song on a ClearChannel radio station is now prohibuted? "Brain Stew" is a song about insomnia. And American Pie is a cryptic song with many hidden meanings, most of them documented at http://members.es.tripod.de/Evilio/buddy/american_ pie.html. The most offensive part that I can see is references to Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash. Please, is it illegal to mention planes now? That's what you would think after learning that "Jet Airliner", "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" are banned.

Truly the most offensive aspect of this censorship is that "War" and "Imagine" are both banned. They are protest songs calling for peace.

No kidding!

[DreamingReal]

Some idiot thought the title might remind someone. Having coped with loss a while back I can tell you that this is a pointless excercise. You get reminded of the loss by the oddest stuff...

Right on brother. I mean, who would have thought that the networks' 24/7/365 coverage of every single eye-witness testimony, worthless pundit opinion, and Duh-bya's every single move would have reminded me that three planes destroyed three major U.S. landmarks a week ago? It's a good thing they banned those songs b/c we all know that the best way to deal with grief is to never acknowledge it.

Sweet Bird of Truth - The The

[Morbid Curiosity]

I don't know what's wrong or right
I'm just a regular guy with bottled up insides
I ain't never been to church or believed in Jesus Christ
But I'm praying that God's with you when you die

This is your captain calling - with an urgent warning
We're above the Gulf of Arabia - altitude is falling
And I can't hold her up - there's no time for thinking
All hands on deck - this bird is sinking

I seem to remember hearing that this song, and The Cure's "Killing an Arab", were banned from play by U.S. forces in the Gulf at one time or another.

"Cue the music, fade to black; no such thing as no payback - take this line, know where it ends - no return, no make amends - is this the future of is this how it will end?" - PWEI, "Everyting's Cool"

Quitcherbitchin!

[Octagon Most]

Enough with the censorship crap. Those of you that own radio stations can make your own playlist from the "banned" songs if it upsets you that much.

Here, set yourself up and go for it. http://www.irational.org/radio/radio_guide/

Choosing not to play something for fear of offending listeners is not censorship. You still have every right to listen to, and even purchase (you know who you are) your own music. No one is trampling on your rights.

This weekend I heard "You dropped a bomb on me" on a Raleigh, NC radio station and thought it distasteful. This despite the fact that I was not in one of the cities directly affected, bombs were not used, and none were dropped on me. If I was a radio station program manager I would not have played that song. (Of course I wouldn't really make my own decisions, being the whore of the major record labels and all.)

So stop highlighting of one particular song to show the ridiculousness of it all ("'Obla Di, Obla Da' fer Chrissakes!"). Clear Channel owns half the radio stations in the world and can do whatever it wants with it's air time.

Who listens to ClearChannel anyway?

[SiriusBlack]

Clear channel is deeply in bed with the RIAA, and theirs stations ALL operate off of narrow play lists, which means anybody with any taste or any preference for variety wasn't listening to them anyway.

Heaven knows I was already boycotting them, but it would still be nice to see a definitive list of thier stations, so I be sure not to listen to them!

Good Bye Blue Sky

[SiriusBlack]

Why not ban Pink Floyd's Good Bye Blue Sky while they're at it?

[ Look, Mummy... There's an airplane up in the sky!]

Did you, did you see the frightened ones?
Did you, did you hear the falling bombs?
Did you ever wonder why we had to run for shelter,
When the promise of a brave new world,
Unfurled beneath a clear blue sky?

Did you, did you see the frightened ones?
Did you, did you hear the falling bombs?
The flames are all long gone,
But the pain lingers on.
Goodbye, blue sky.
Goodbye, blue sky.
Goodbye.
Goodbye.

Clearchannel killed the radio star

[Anonymous Coward]

Enough said!

Story not true, straight from CC

[Anonymous Coward]

A DJ from my favorite local radio station forwarded me an email sent out by thier boss to all the DJ's in the Denver area. Read below:

Subject: Clear Channel Banned List


To: Denver FM Porgrammers, Promotions, and Personalities
From: Mike O'Connor

I have taken several phone calls from members of the press who've latched onto a story about Clear Channel banning records from the radio as the result of the recent terrorist attack. Since this will be in the papers tomorrow, I wanted to address it with you first. The notion of a banned list is of course, false. The mandate has and always will be to use your best judgement with regard to the content on the radio stations.

The "banned" list is, in fact, a spread sheet containing the contributions of hundreds of programmers in the company who've been sensitive about questionable lyrics and song titles. It's a resource for you to use and not a mandate. You are free to edit and reinstate songs as you see fit provided your decisions are in close keeping with the mood of your audience and community. On Channel 93-3, for example, we removed the song "It's the end of the world" from REM. It will be back, but it doesn't hurt to give songs like that a rest while we make sense of last Tuesday's terrible events. Ultimately, it's your call. The mandate: preserve your station's good will with listeners.

Of course, our group in Colorado is well aware of community sensititivities in times of tragedy. We all went through it with Columbine. It's too bad the press is trying to twist an act of sensitivity on our part into another example of devious corporate programming dictation on the part of Clear Channel. It's simply not true.

Mike O'Connor
Clear Channel Programming
4695 South Monoco Dr.
Denver, CO 80237
(303) 713 - 8743 (fax)
(303) 713 - 8240 (phone)
MikeOConnor@ClearChannel.com

I'm surprised...

[Anonymous Coward]

...that they didn't ban the Star Spangled Banner.

Come on, who doesn't find "Rocket's Red Glare" threatening?

some of the songs

[SomeGuyFromCA]

Anyone notice that some of the bannings seem designed to keep us from stopping and thinking?

Examples:
99 Red Balloons
Obla-Di Obla-Da (life goes on)
Blowing in the Wind
Jumper
War

And I'm still wondering how they caught Talking Heads' Burning Down the House, but missed Life During Wartime...

Re:er, sorry man, but IMAGINE???

[Anonymous Coward]

" 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds?' It's a drug song; has nothing to do with sparing the feelings of families of the victims."

CHRIST, how many times does this have to be said?!? The song was John L's musical interpretation of his son Julian's pictures from school - refrigerator pictures.

The reason is because some DJs are tasteless.

[Anonymous Coward]

One of that radio stations here owned by clearChannel produced public apoligies for one of their DJs playing "The end of the world as we know it" in response to the terrorist attack. I actually called up the DJ when it was playing to ask him "what the hell is wrong with you?", but the line was busy. I suspect everyone else in the area was doing the same. ClearChannel, i suspect, is just setting this up temporarily because of a few DJs out there that don't understand when certain types of jokes are inappropriate.

ClearChannel is *NOT* against the musicians that made those songs WAY before the terrorist attack, they simply want to stop thier low-paid moron DJs from playing them for a while. Granted AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds" could easily be played in an appropriate manner, but some stupid DJ gets the idea that he'll make some smart ass comments about terrorists and then play the song.

ClearChannel doesn't want to fire all thier DJs, so they do this instead. fair enough!

The Clash in Desert Storm

[vgm4]

Even if this is a hoax, who out there remembers that amongst the very first sounds broadcast over military radio during the Gulf War was The Clash's Rock The Casbah? If this Clear Channel business were true, it would be hypocricy stretched to the max- "Drop your bombs between the minarets down the Casbah way"

Neil Diamond's "America"

[rfc1394]

One of the songs on the Clear Channel's "banned" list is Neil Diamond's America
This makes no sense at all. If anything, this song is probably one of the greatest ones to speak of this country. I would honestly say it is an extremely patriotic song. Excluding this song doesn't make any sense. Unless Clear Channel wants to exclude any reference at all to anyone riding a plane or coming to this country. In any case, if anything, excluding this song is counterproductive.

You know it's fake because My City Was Gone

[mutt lynch]

The song by the Pretenders is the opening theme to Rush Limbaugh's radio talk show which is syndicated through Clear Channel's Premier Networks. They wouldn't screw themselves by taking their most popular talk show off the air.

respect for the dead/grieving == no more Louis?

[dietcrack]

Refusing to play "What A Wonderful World" on the radio seems like kind of an odd way to pay your respects, don't ya think?

WTC haiku:

We'll not tolerate
These acts of terrorism
Quick, who do we bomb?

Re:respect for the dead/grieving == no more Louis?

[Derkec]

Banning that song is just idiotic. I'll give you that, it's one of my favorites. But it isn't really censorship. I still hold that they are trying to be polite. You might not want to tell a whole bunch of very sad people that the world is great, it could piss them off. However, that song just makes me happy.

Restraint my ass.

[dietcrack]

Yes, God forbid they lose all self-restraint and play James Taylor's "Fire and Rain"
.....um, wtf?

WTC haiku:

Hit by terrorists?
Eenie meenie miney BOMB
Yeah, that'll teach 'em.

I'm off to a book burning...

[batwingTM]

It's this sort of thinking that makes me glad that I don't live in America.

I, like most of the world, was deeply saddened by the events of Tuesday last week but I am at a loss to why the leaders of the world have reacted in such a potentialy violent way. Dubya says that this is a war of Good vs Evil. Now if I remember correctly Nazi Germany also stuck out against the evil that suppressed their development and growth after WW1. Good and Evil are mearly perceptions and now there will be a war based purly on these perceptions.

I agree that terrorism must be stopped, but not at all cost, for that would make both sides as bad as each other, surly threatening war against Afganastan unless they surrender Omassa Bin Laden equates to the use of violence and terror against someone to achieve your own ends, and isn't that terrorism in itself?

Americia had a chance here to really show the world how to deal with terrorism, instead they reacted in exactly they way the terrorists would have planned. If anything this will make the United States much more hated by a much larger populace which, in turn, will only increase the frequency of terrorists attacks and justify to a larger population the actions of the terrorists.

Wasn't it said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Where was the part about revenge and war?

Anyway, if the citizens of Americia feel more comfortable burning books and waging war then so be it, I just hope that sombody in power realises what the consequences of those actions might be and tries to protect the future, not destroy it.

Trav

Snopes Speaks: The List is not a 'banned list'

[Derleth]

Snopes (Urban Legends Reference Pages) Tells All

Summary: Clear Channel Communications has not just banned songs. It has released a memo listing songs stations might want to think about not playing. It's a suggestion, not a policy.

Just to clear that all up.

What about Ahab the Arab?

[brocktune]

Of course I'm talking about the Ray Stevens Classic...

Re:What about Ahab the Arab?

[snatchitup]

Funny, I downloaded this from gnutella, along with "The Streak."

They don't play...

[Associate]

It would be nice if the local ClearChannel station would actaully play some of these songs. Most of the songs on the list seem to have been banned a long time ago because they don't fit the Brittany Spears, shake my ass in the camera, genre. Hoax or not there is a list.

An obvious one they missed

[Michael Woodhams]

Show me the country where the bombs had to fall
Show me the ruins of the buildings once so tall
And I'll show you a young land with so many reasons why
There but for fortune go you or I.

Re:The end of the world!

[Anonymous Coward]

I can do you one better:

( Read More... | 911 comments )

I can't believe they forgot...

[Anonymous Coward]

Pat Benetar. ("Hit me with your best shot.")

The REAL story!!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm posting this as an anon. because I work for Clear Channel radio. What I see here is a molehill spread into a Mountain!!

So, here's the deal......

Clear Channel has a WAN for emails, budgeting, etc. On this WAN are listservs. I for example am on several CC listserves and can post to most all of them I choose to. With me so far?

ANYWAY...Wednesday afternoon one of the (local)Program Directors posts to a listserv with an Excel spreadsheet listing songs that he believed might have a bad effect to/on listeners. Before long the spreadsheet had grown to about 150 songs
due to the addition of songs by other (local) program directors. That's it! No big conspiracy.
Just a spreadsheet that one P.D. started and sent to all concerning his concerns.
NO Ban list! NO censorship! Just a list of song titles that a bunch of PD's (personally) thought might offend.
This is why it's in spreadsheet form (easy to update). FYI..I personally used the list to get download titles from it that I didn't have.

It was on the list but got removed actually...

[Anonymous Coward]

;-)

Harmless lyrics

[nwetters]

German and English lyrics. I have no idea what is so controversial:

Hast Du etwas Zeit fuer mich
Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer Dich
Von 99 Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Denkst Du vielleicht grad' an mich
Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer Dich
Von 99 Luftballons
Und dass sowas von sowas kommt

You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got.
Set them free at the break of dawn
'Til one by one, they were gone.
Back at base, bugs in the software
Flash the message, Something's out there.
Floating in the summer sky.
99 red balloons go by.

99 Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Hielt man fuer UFOs aus dem All
Darum schickte ein General
Eine Fliegerstaffel hinterher
Alarm zu geben, wenn es so war
Dabei war da am Horizont
Nur 99 Luftballons

99 red balloons.
floating in the summer sky.
Panic bells, it's red alert.
There's something here from somewhere else.
The war machine springs to life.
Opens up one eager eye.
Focusing it on the sky.
Where 99 red balloons go by.

99 Duesenjaeger
Jeder war ein grosser Krieger
Hielten sich fuer Captain Kirk
Das gab ein grosses Feuerwerk
Die Nachbarn haben nichts gerafft
Und fuehlten sich gleich angemacht
Dabei schoss man am Horizont
Auf 99 Luftballons

99 Decision Street.
99 ministers meet.
To worry, worry, super-scurry.
Call the troops out in a hurry.
This is what we've waited for.
This is it boys, this is war.
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by.

99 Kriegsminister
Streichholz und Benzinkanister
Hielten sich fuer schlaue Leute
Witterten schon fette Beute
Riefen: Krieg und wollten Macht
Mann, wer haette das gedacht
Dass es einmal soweit kommt
Wegen 99 Luftballons

99 Knights of the air
Ride super-high-tech jet fighters
Everyone's a superhero.
Everyone's a Captain Kirk.
With orders to identify.
To clarify and classify.
Scramble in the summer sky.
As 99 red balloons go by.

99 Jahre Krieg
Liessen keinen Platz fuer Sieger
Kriegsminister gibt es nicht mehr
Und auch keine Duesenflieger
Heute zieh ich meine Runden
Seh die Welt in Truemmern liegen
Hab' nen Luftballon gefunden
Denk' an Dich und lass' ihn fliegen

99 dreams I have had.
In every one a red balloon.
It's all over and I'm standing pretty.
In this dust that was a city.
If I could find a souvenier.
Just to prove the world was here.
And here is a red balloon
I think of you and let it go.

Re:U2 troll

[Spagornasm]

I sincerely apologize - I was thinking of "Bullet the Blue Sky" and got the two confused. You're totally right, of course.

For the rest of it, ClearChannel obviously thought people would freak out if they heard "What a Wonderful World" inbetween body counts and reports about more buildings collapsing. Think just a bit here.

Re:U2

[StrawberryFrog]

OK, seems I cried 'troll' too soon.