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Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2001] Those of you in the Thought Police will find the following encouraging. Others of you might find it troubling:In response to Tuesday's terrorist attacks, Clear Channel, the world's largest radio network, has sent out a list of some 150 lyrically questionable songs by everyone from the Animals to the Zombies which it has banned its stations from playing. Some songs are overtly violent in their intent, but the majority simply contain metaphorical language or narrative aspects that connect uncomfortably with the tragedy.Clear Channel's List of Songs with Questionable Lyrics Drowning Pool BodiesMudvayne Death BloomsMegadeth Dread and the FugitiveMegadeth Sweating BulletsSaliva Click Click BoomP.O.D. BoomMetallica Seek and DestroyMetallica Harvester or SorrowMetallica Enter SandmanMetallica Fade to BlackAll Rage Against The Machine songsNine Inch Nails Head Like a HoleGodsmack Bad ReligionTool IntoleranceSoundgarden Blow Up the Outside WorldAC/DC Shot Down in FlamesAC/DC Shoot to ThrillAC/DC Dirty DeedsAC/DC Highway to HellAC/DC Safe in New York CityAC/DC TNTAC/DC Hell's BellsBlack Sabbath War PigsBlack Sabbath Sabbath Bloody SabbathBlack Sabbath Suicide SolutionDio Holy DiverSteve Miller Jet AirlinerVan Halen JumpQueen Another One Bites the DustQueen Killer QueenPat Benatar Hit Me with Your Best ShotPat Benatar Love is a BattlefieldOingo Boingo Dead Man's PartyREM It's the End of the World as We Know ItTalking Heads Burning Down the HouseJudas Priest Some Heads Are Gonna RollPink Floyd Run Like HellPink Floyd MotherSavage Garden Crash and BurnDave Matthews Band Crash Into MeBangles Walk Like an EgyptianPretenders My City Was GoneAlanis Morissette IronicBarenaked Ladies Falling for the First TimeFuel Bad DayJohn Parr St. Elmo's FirePeter Gabriel When You're FallingKansas Dust in the WindLed Zeppelin Stairway to HeavenThe Beatles A Day in the LifeThe Beatles Lucy in the Sky with DiamondsThe Beatles Ticket To RideThe Beatles Obla Di, Obla DaBob Dylan/Guns N Roses Knockin' on Heaven's DoorArthur Brown FireBlue Oyster Cult Burnin' For YouPaul McCartney and Wings Live and Let DieJimmy Hendrix Hey JoeJackson Brown Doctor My EyesJohn Mellencamp Crumbling DownJohn Mellencamp I'm On FireU2 Sunday Bloody SundayBoston SmokinBilly Joel Only the Good Die YoungBarry McGuire Eve of DestructionSteam Na Na Na Na Hey HeyDrifters On BroadwayShelly Fabares Johnny AngelLos Bravos Black is BlackPeter and Gordon I Go To PiecesPeter and Gordon A World Without LoveElvis (You're the) Devil in DisguiseZombies She's Not ThereElton John Benny & The JetsElton John DanielElton John Rocket ManJerry Lee Lewis Great Balls of FireSantana Evil WaysLouis Armstrong What A Wonderful WorldYoungbloods Get TogetherAd Libs The Boy from New York CityPeter Paul and Mary Blowin' in the WindPeter Paul and Mary Leavin' on a Jet PlaneRolling Stones Ruby TuesdaySimon And Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled WaterHappenings See You in SeptemeberCarole King I Feel the Earth MoveYager and Evans In the Year 2525Norman Greenbaum Spirit in the SkyBrooklyn Bridge Worst That Could HappenThree Degrees When Will I See You AgainCat Stevens Peace TrainCat Stevens Morning Has BrokenJan and Dean Dead Man's CurveMartha & the Vandellas Nowhere to RunMartha and the Vandellas/Van Halen Dancing in the StreetsHollies He Ain't Heavy, He's My BrotherSan Cooke Herman Hermits, Wonder WorldPetula Clark A Sign of the TimesDon McLean American PieJ. Frank Wilson Last KissBuddy Holly and the Crickets That'll Be the DayJohn Lennon ImagineBobby Darin Mack the KnifeThe Clash Rock the CasbahSurfaris WipeoutBlood Sweat and Tears And When I DieDave Clark Five Bits and PiecesTramps Disco InfernoPaper Lace The Night Chicago DiedFrank Sinatra New York, New YorkCreedence Clearwater Revival Travelin' BandThe Gap Band You Dropped a Bomb On MeAlien Ant Farm Smooth Criminal3 Doors Down Duck and RunThe Doors The EndThird Eye Blind JumperNeil Diamond AmericaLenny Kravitz Fly AwayTom Petty Free Fallin'Bruce Springsteen I'm On FireBruce Springsteen Goin' DownPhil Collins In the Air TonightAlice in Chains RoosterAlice in Chains Sea of SorrowAlice in Chains Down in a HoleAlice in Chains Them BoneBeastie Boys Sure ShotBeastie Boys SabotageThe Cult Fire WomanEverclear Santa MonicaFilter Hey Man, Nice ShotFoo Fighters Learn to FlyKorn Falling Away From MeRed Hot Chili Peppers AeroplaneRed Hot Chili Peppers Under the BridgeSmashing Pumpkins Bullet With Butterfly WingsSystem of a Down Chop Suey!Skeeter Davis End of the WorldRickey Nelson Travelin' ManChi-Lites Have You Seen HerAnimals We Gotta Get Out of This PlaceFontella Bass Rescue MeMitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels Devil with the Blue DressJames Taylor Fire and RainEdwin Starr/Bruce Springstein WarLynyrd Skynyrd Tuesday's GoneLimp Bizkit Break StuffGreen Day Brain StewTemple of the Dog Say Hello to HeavenSugar Ray FlyLocal H Bound for the FloorSlipknot Left Behind, Wait and BleedBush Speed Kills311 DownStone Temple Pilots Big Bang Baby, Dead and BloatedSoundgarden Fell on Black Days, Black Hole SunNina 99 Luft Balloons/99 Red BalloonsOrigins: It's not unusual in a time of sadness and mourning such as the one following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. that radio and television stations temporarily suspend the airing of material — programs, songs, advertisements — that might be considered insensitive or in bad taste. Just as an airline wouldn't show in-flight films featuring airplane crashes, especially after a particularly horrible airliner accident, so entertainment outlets generally opt to temporarily dispense with material dealing with death and disaster in the wake of terrible real-life events. So, many radio stations have recently invoked voluntary moratoriums on songs which refer to airplanes, crashes, violence, and death in their lyrics or titles. Accordingly, a program director at Clear Channel Communications (an organization which operates over 1,170 radio stations in the United States), after discussions with program directors at several of Clear Channel Radio's stations, compiled an advisory list of songs which stations might wish to avoid playing in the short term: After and during what was happening in New York and Washington and outside of Pittsburgh, some of our program directors began e-mailing each other about songs and questionable song titlesGiven the environment, a Clear Channel program director took it upon himself to identify a number of songs that certain markets or individuals may find insensitive today. This was not a mandate, nor was the list generated out of the corporate radio offices. It was a grassroots effort that was apparently circulated among program directors.Note that The New York Times posits a smaller, earlier version of the list did originate in Clear Channel's corporate offices: Others in the Clear Channel network . . . said that a smaller list of questionable songs was originally generated by the corporate office, but an overzealous regional executive began contributing suggestions and circulating the list via e-mail, where it continued to grow.Other than some rather questionable choices of songs, the only thing remarkable about this list is that so many sensation-hungry news outlets have attempted to spin it as an outrageous mandate by Clear Channel to ban certain songs from the airwaves. Clear Channel did not issue the list to their stations as a directive mandating that the listed songs not be played, as Robert Hilburn noted in the Los Angeles Times: The Clear Channel list is apparently not a flat prohibition against these songs by the nation's largest chain of radio stations. They are simply recordings whose appropriateness has been questioned by individual program directors.Radio personnel were still free to make their own programming decisions, and the list was merely intended as helpful advisory information. For example, a program director scanning a list of song titles might not immediately recall that the lyrics to James Taylor's Fire and Rain are widely perceived as referring to a plane crash which supposedly claimed the life of his girlfriend (they don't), but the title's appearance on the list might help call that to mind. Clearly (no pun intended), Clear Channel's stations were still making their own choices about what music to program, as The New York Times reported: The move by Clear Channel, whose collective broadcasts reach more than 110 million listeners in the nation weekly, was voluntary. Many stations, including some in the New York area, said they were disregarding the list, which was distributed internally . . .. . . compliance with the list varied from station to station. Angela Perelli, the vice president for operations at KYSR (98.7 FM) in Los Angeles, said the station was not playing any of the listed songs and had previously pulled a couple of the cited songs, Jumper by Third Eye Blind and Fly by Sugar Ray, on its own accord. On the other hand, Bob Buchmann, the program director and an on-air personality at WAXQ-FM (104.3) in Manhattan, said that some songs on the list (American Pie by Don McLean, Imagine and others) happened to be among the most-played songs on his station. In the meantime, the station decided not to broadcast some songs even though they did not make the list, such as When You're Falling, a collaboration between Peter Gabriel and Afro-Celt Sound System that had fictional lyrics too eerily similar to the truth.(Despite Slate's spin on the issue, Clear Channel did not deny that such a list existed. They maintained, correctly, that Clear Channel Radio has not banned any songs from any of its radio stations.) Although some of the entries on this list might make it appear a humorous parody at first glance, many stations are indeed forgoing even songs such as What a Wonderful World under the philosophy that upbeat music is inappropriate at this time: Top 40 Z104 (WWZZ), owned by Bonneville, was pulling certain songs from the air because of their titles, such as Dave Matthews's Crash Into Me. But General Manager Mark O'Brien said most songs that were yanked from the air were done so because of their happy-go-lucky, life is great tone. Anything up-tempo is still off the air today, he said yesterday.Giving a pass to songs such as Ticket to Ride or I Go to Pieces or Ruby Tuesday simply because of their titles might be a bit extreme, but there's no telling what an audience might find upsetting in the current climate, as the Washington Post reported: Despite the efforts, some songs deemed inappropriate slipped through the cracks. The reaction was swift in at least one case, suggesting that people's sensitivities are on high alert. Over the weekend, WASH played Kool & the Gang's Celebration, which brought a polite if reproachful call from one listener, who was assured by the station the song's broadcast was a mistake.
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