885 Most Memorable Musical Moments
07 Oct

541: Clear Channel bans songs post-9/11

Following the 9/11 attacks, many television and radio stations altered normal programming in response to the tragedy. During this period of hysteria, a rumor circulated that Clear Channel and its subsidiaries had created a banned song list – songs with questionable lyrics that stations absolutely could not play in the wake of the attacks. Research was done on the subject and while a list did circulate via e-mail between employees over material that should be avoided, it was not an explicit ban. Songs ranged from the semi-reasonable (AC/DC’s “Safe in New York City” and Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind”) to patently ridiculous (The Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian”) to patriotic (Neil Diamond’s “America” and Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York”) to gentle calls for peace (”Imagine” by John Lennon). The output of Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) and as well as the entire discography of Rage Against the Machine were also allegedly on the list.

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Slate.com: It’s the End of the World as Clear Channel Knows It
Snopes.com: Radio Radio

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