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Rock songs that were banned
ROCK AND ROLL was everything the suburban 1950s were not. While parents of the decade were listening to FRANK SINATRA, PERRY COMO, and BIG BANDS, their children were moving to a new beat.
In fact, to the horror of the older generation, their children were twisting, thrusting, bumping, and grinding to the sounds of rock and roll.Rock and roll sent shockwaves across America. A generation of young teenagers collectively rebelled against the music their parents loved. In general, the older generation loathed rock and roll. Appalled by the new styles of dance the movement evoked, churches proclaimed it Satan’s music.
Rock and roll records were banned from many radio stations and hundreds of schools.
Rock and roll is the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression — lewd, sly, in plain fact, dirty — a rancid-smelling aphrodisiac and the martial music of every side-burned delinquent on the face of the earth. – Frank Sinatra (1957)
Who were the greatest Rock and Roll perpetrators that would defy the suburban 1950s older generation?
Jerry Lee Lewis: Great Balls of Fire. Claimed to be immoral.
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49 Replies
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Chuck Berry: Maybelline, banned by the BBC for reference to infidelity
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Elvis Presley: Hard Headed Woman. Presley’s song, with its lyrics referencing biblical themes (Adam and Eve, Samson and Delilah) could only be played by special permission.
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Beatles: A Day in the Life, initially banned by the BBC for reference to suicide.
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Beach Boys: God Only Knows. Their song “God Only Knows”, released in 1966, is the first single to ever use the word “God” in the title in a non-religious context. That was also the very reason why the single was banned from the radio for “blasphemy”
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The Who: My Generation. The Who‘s single “My Generation” was banned for having a certain offensive “F” word in the lyrics – “Fade”. Yup, it wasn’t what you might’ve thought. The corporation worried that Roger Daltrey’s stutter – “Why don’t you all f-fade away” – might offend people afflicted with the condition. (It eventually backed down.)
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Rolling Stones: Let’s Spend the Night Together. The lyrics to “Let’s Spend The Night Together” suggests a straight up sexual tone between an unmarried male and female, or so that was what the morally conservative media in the late 60’s assumed.
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Kinks: Lola. “Lola” is one of the most controversial songs of the 1970’s. The lyrics tells a story about a person named Lola who “walked like a woman and talked like a man”, allegedly referencing to an encounter between the narrator in the song and a possible transvestite in a West London club. But that’s NOT the reason why the song was banned in the U.K.
The song was banned until the original reference to Coca-Cola was changed to “cherry cola”.
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Jimi Hendricks: Hey Joe. “Hey Joe” is one of the earliest singles of The Jimi Hendrix Experience and it involves a sort of glorification of negative themes such as murder and violence.
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Bob Dylan: Let Me Follow You Down. “God-almighty world” was the offending phrase in Dylan’s folk hit.
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What’s a Rock-n-Roll song without heartbreak & cheating ?
For that matter what’s a country song without heartbreak & cheating ?
I think it was that hip-shaking thing. Especially Elvis and Chuck Berry.
Have you noticed how fake the Jerry Lee Lewis video is ?
There are several glyssandos on the piano in the 1st half of the song when that’s not what
he is playing. The 2nd half looks pretty accurate.
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This one is banned from many music stores (good thing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” isn’t banned)
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Tom I see what you mean. LOL, Jerry on the piano does not match the music, he is missing some sweeping piano runs. I think it was really in the 60s with the Beatles, British Invasion bands and a few artists like Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Beach Boys etc who were real musicians, wrote their own music, could sing and were a self contained creative musical unit.
Rock and Roll is really about passion and emotions, and it allowed people to freely express themselves in music, free from the polite correct music of Frank Sinatra and the like, and sometimes that means singing about whatever the heart desires like heartbreak, cheating, joy, rage etc… everything that is human!
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Lynn, have you seen the 90’s TV show called Northern Exposure with Rob Morrow and Janine Turner? I got all 100+ episodes on DVD. Anyway, there is this one episode where the town radio DJ plays a song “Pencil Neck Geek”, that causes a listener who was depressed to commit suicide and writes a note for the DJ telling him that song said every thing about him. The DJ goes through a period of guilt and decides he will no longer play any music that could be offensive or negative. Pretty soon the town that has only that one radio station for hundreds of miles radius in Alaska has a little revolt because the music the DJ is playing is sapless and boring. He has a realization people need music that expresses what they feel. So he puts on Jimi Hendrix, “Hey Joe”, and everyone is happy again. Banning songs like Stairway to Heaven or A Day In The Life would be like killing everything that is good about music. That Northern Exposure episode was my inspiration for this post.
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