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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."
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.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
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??
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.
//Wegge
I notice The Cure's "Killing an arab" made it thru...
Warning: May contain nuts
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?
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...
J-aims
--
Yo, whatever happened to peas? Join T( H)GS
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.
-dwd-
You've heard the English version of the lyrics, right?
Of course, personally, in this time of warrior rhetoric, I think the song is more apt than ever.
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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.
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.
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.
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...
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
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.
I would be a paid subscriber if Taco and Hemos weren't such cunts
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
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.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
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.
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
Rykard
Breaking the Internet one standard at a time, since 1999