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The song “Greased Lightning” from the musical and 1978 film Grease features some fairly crude content. The line, “it ain’t no shit” is usually cut from radio airplay. But ironically, when the character Rizzo used the Italian curse word “fongool” in the song “Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” it was not censored.
‘Fongool’ is shortened from an Italian phrase that used to mean "go do it in the arse" but generally interpreted to mean "fuck you. –
Just keep your cool
Now you're starting to drool
Fongool!
I'm Sandra Dee!
~ Rizzo in Grease
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“Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison (1967) was originally called “Brown Skinned Girl” and is about an interracial relationship. Morrison changed the title because he believed it would make it more radio-friendly. Some stations banned the song anyway for the line, “making love in the green grass.” However, an edited version was released later on, changing it to “laughin’ and a-runnin’, hey, hey.”
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“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” by The Shirelles (1960) is a song about the day following a sexual encounter with a man. It made history by becoming the first #1 hit by a black female group. The song was banned by radio stations for its mild sexual content, but it still sold over a million copies
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“My Generation” by The Who (1965) was banned from the radio for a reason unrelated to its lyrics. The song featured vocals that resembled stuttering; afraid to offend people with actual stuttering problems, the BBC prohibited the song from receiving airplay. Later, when the song proved to be a huge hit, they allowed it.
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“Love to Love You Baby” by Donna Summer (1975) is a sexually charged disco anthem and was Donna Summer’s first hit. It became popular worldwide, but broadcasters including BBC banned it due to its blatant sexual content. These included sounds of orgasms and crude lyrics. Summer said that she did in fact understand the bans and regrets that this was her first popular single, which subsequently shaped her image as an artist.
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“Rolling in the Deep” by Adele (2010) Many radio stations censored part of the song’s first verse due to ambiguity between whether Adele used the word “ship” or “shit” in one line. “Go ahead and sell me out and I’ll lay your shit bare.” Online lyrics stated that the word was “ship” while Adele’s handwritten lyrics featured the expletive instead, also suggesting that the intended word was in fact “shit”. Adele replaced the word in question with “stuff” during a televised performance of the song. The line “reaching the fever pitch” has been mistaken as “reaching the fever bitch,” and was censored by some radio stations as well.
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“Lola” by The Kinks (1970) contained the word “Coca-Cola” in the lyrics of the original studio recording, violating BBC Radio’s policy against product placement. The songwriter, Ray Davies, was forced to interrupt the Kinks’ American tour so he could change the lyric to “cherry cola” for the single’s release. He made a 6,000 mile round trip flight from New York to London and back just for this purpose.
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“If U Seek Amy” by Britney Spears (2009) has a chorus and title that sounds like “F-U-C-K me” when sung, resulting in it being censored in the U.S. and the UK. Initially unsure on whether the double entendre was in fact censorship material, U.S. radio stations changed the title to “If U See Amy” and BBC radio simply changed it to “Amy.” This was after the Parents Television Council (PTC) threatened to file complaints against the FCC if the track was played. These threats were extended to cable music channels, but they were not taken seriously.
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“Louie, Louie” by the Kingsmen (1963) faced bans on U.S. radio due to obscene lyrics. The band attempted to cover up the sexual content by slurring the lyrics, beginning a 31-month FBI investigation of the song. The investigation was inconclusive as they were unable to interpret the true lyrics– but the Kingsmen’s drummer, Lynn Easton, later confessed to yelling “fuck” during the song’s recording after dropping a drumstick. Controversy over the song resurfaced in Benton Harbor, Michigan in 2005 when a school superintendent prohibited a marching band’s rendition of the song during a parade.
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“Walk Like an Egyptian” by The Bangles (1986) was banned by both BBC in 1991 and Clear Channel Communications in 2001m, the purpose being avoid offending those who would relate this song and its references to Egypt to the conflicts in the Middle East.
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“Light My Fire” by The Doors (1967) - The Doors were blacklisted from The Ed Sullivan Show after failing to change the line “Girl, we couldn’t get much higher”– which seemed to be referencing drug use – to “Girl, we couldn’t get much better.” Lead singer Jim Morrison had initially agreed to self-censor during his performance, but he could not resist presenting his work in its true form. BBC also banned this song 24 years later, this time because of the word “fire.” This was done to avoid upsetting radio listeners during by the Persian Gulf War.
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“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones (1965) - In 1965, during a performance of this song ABC’s music variety show, Shindig!, the song’s line “trying to make some girl” was censored. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” had faced much criticism for its sexual innuendo and critical statements about commercialism. However, when the Rolling Stones performed the song again 40 years later during the February 2006 Super Bowl XL halftime show, this was the only song that wasn’t censored.
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“Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” by The Beatles (1967) - The Beatles’ eighth studio album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, sparked a great deal of controversy upon its release due to its numerous perceived drug references. Over half of the songs were commonly believed to contain drug-related themes, specifically “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” which many believed to be a crafty acronym for the drug LSD. This resulted in the BBC banning the song from British radio, along with other popular tracks on the album such as “A Day in the Life.”
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“Brown Sugar” by the Rolling Stones (1971) has provocative lyrics which explore a number of controversial subjects, including slavery, interracial sex, cunnilingus, and drug use. The BBC failed to spot the risky areas and instead banned fhe B side – “Bitch”.
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And an Honourable Mention to:
“Fuck You Very Much” by Eric Idle (2004) –
"FCC Song" is a deliberately controversial and explicit song by British-born Monty Python comic Eric Idle. Idle, who later became a resident of the U.S. state of California, wrote and recorded the song in early 2004 in reaction to a fine by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for Idle saying "fuck" on a radio station.
The song is also known by its refrain "fuck you very much". Despite being nominally aimed at the FCC, the lyrics primarily target well-known figures associated with the George W. Bush administration, including Dick Cheney and John Ashcroft among others.
Lyrics:
Spoken:
Here's a little number I wrote the other day while out duck hunting with a judge
Fuck you very much the FCC
Fuck you very much for fining me
Five thousand bucks a fuck
So I'm really out of luck
That's more than Heidi Fleiss was charging me
So fuck you very much the FCC
For proving that free speech just isn't free
Clear Channel's a dear channel
So Howard Stern must go
Attorney General Ashcroft doesn't like strong words and so
He's charging twice as much as all the drugs for Rush Limbaugh
So fuck you all so very much
So fuck you very much dear Mr. Bush
For heroically sitting on your tush
For Halliburton and Enron, all the companies who fail
Let's send them a clear signal and stick Martha straight in jail
She's an uppity rich bitch, and at least she isn't male
So fuck you all so very much
So fuck you dickhead Mr. Cheney too
Fuck you and fuck everything you do
Your pacemaker must be a fake
You haven't got a heart
As far as I'm concerned you're just a pasty-faced old fart
And as for Condoleezza, she's an intellectual tart
So fuck you all so very much
Hear it by clicking on:
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