Eek!

US radio bans U2 and Beatles songs


The tragic events in America have led to some of the best loved tracks in
rock and pop being banned from radio playlists because they are
considered 'lyrically questionable.'

America's largest radio network, industry leader Clear Channel, has
generated a list of approximately 150 songs that it considers inappropriate
to air in light of last week's terrorist attacks. Classic tracks by The Beatles
including Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, A Day In The Life and Ticket To
Ride as well as John Lennon's anthem for peace, Imagine, are among
those banned from the airwaves.

Rock and metal acts were prominent on the list. Metallica and Alice In
Chains had four songs listed each, AC/DC seven songs and the Beastie
Boys two. However, no one group was singled out like Rage Against The
Machine. 'All songs' of the hard line political band were deemed
unsuitable to play.

The music editor at Rolling Stone, Joe Levy, stated he was concerned
America's largest radio network had overstepped the boundaries. 'When
does the action of a corporation slip over the line into censorship?' he
asked. 'To ask that all Rage Against The Machine Songs be taken off the
air is disturbing.'

However, a spokeswoman for Clear Channel replied that the list was not
meant as a corporate mandate. It was instead merely a 'grass roots kind
of effort' by an employee seeking to give statsions a list of songs that
could cause distress in light of the tragedies. 'It's clearly up to the local
programmer to take the pulse of their own market,' she said.

Other songs on the list include U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday, Red Hot Chili
Pepper's Aeroplane and Under The Bridge, Green Day's Brain Stew, Guns N
Roses' Knockin' On Heaven's Door and The Bangles' Walk Like An Egyptian.

(18 September, 2001)