Now Reading: 5 Songs Banned By The BBC
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5 Songs Banned By The BBC
5 Songs Banned By The BBC
Unlike the US, with its decentralized government structures and independent TV and radio stations, the UK had the BBC, which ruled film and music with an iron fist.
An iron fist that was usually haphazard and a bit lazy with its implementation, to be honest. But once in a blue moon, the BBC would take a stand, by God.
So while “on the books” the UK was a lot stricter about what was and wasn’t allowed on the airwaves, the reality was that the US suffered far more censorship
But here are 5 examples of someone at the BBC having their Goebbel’s moment:
LOLA - The Kinks (1970)
In 1970, the Kinks released Lola, a song about a man meeting and falling in love with a transexual in a Soho club.
The BBC immediately banned it. But not because of the subject matter. It was because the song mentioned Coca Cola, and the BBC considered it advertising.
The ban wasn’t lifted until lead singer Ray Davis make a quick trip back to London (the Kinks were in the US at the time) to record a change in the lyrics from Coca Cola to cherry cola. It then went on to reach #2 in the UK charts.
In the US, some stations also banned it. Not because of the product placement, of course, but because Lola, “walks like a woman and talks like a man.” But it still reached #9 in the US charts.
LOVE TO LOVE YOU BABY - Donna Summer (1975)
I’m not, and never have been, the biggest fan of disco. But I can comfortably listen to the Bee Gees if they come on while I’m cleaning my flat.
I’m also not anti-Donna Summer. I bought the 45 of her State of Independence.
And, if you’ve read even a couple of my blog entries, you should know that I’m not a prude.
But I agree with the BBC banning it.
Not for their reason, but because it’s crap.
The reason they banned it was because somebody counted 23 instances of simulated orgasm (in the 16-minute version, not the one I’ve linked below). Probably counted by a man who had never given a woman 23 orgasms in all of his life.
But it reached #4 on the UK charts.
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN - The Sex Pistols (1977)
The Sex Pistols were to punk rock what Elvis was to rock and roll. They didn’t invent their genre, but they presented its defining image.
And God Save The Queen was their pièce de résistance that they just happened to release during the summer of 1977, the same time the country was celebrating the Queen’s 25th anniversary of her coronation.
So, of course, the BBC banned it. As did the department store Woolworths (although I doubt that aspiring punk rockers bought their 45s at “Woolies.”)
The song officially made it to #2 in the UK charts, although there was just a blank space where their name and song should have been. It was reportedly (not by the BBC) selling 150,000 copies per day at its peak. So it was almost certainly #1.
I was too young to buy the single, but I bought the album Never Mind The Bollocks at the PX on the American base many years later. 99 Cents in the bargain bin…
(WE DON'T NEED THAT) FASCIST GROOVE THANG - Heaven 17 (1981)
Not their best song, but I did buy it, in an attempt to impress Red Helen with my lefty credentials.
The single was banned in the UK because of the reference to Ronald Reagan as a “fascist god in motion.”
A prime example of the conservative party’s shameless arse-licking of American politicians.
If some California garage-punk band had come out with a song called Thatcher Is A Twat, the Americans wouldn’t have banned it.
Grow some balls…
RELAX - Frankie Goes To Hollywood (1983)
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FGTH released Relax in late 1983, and squeezed in a TOTP appearance in early 1984, when the song had reached #6.
Then Mike Read, a famous BBC DJ, stopped playing the song in medias res because he thought it was obscene. And not just garden-variety obscene, gay obscene!
The BBC followed suit, and banned Relax from TOTP and the airwaves.
So, of course, Relax went to #1 for 5 weeks and would go on to become the UK’s 2nd best-selling single of the 1980s (after Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas)
On a side note, Mike Read would go on to write a racist calypso for UKIP and his tombstone-toothed idol, Nigel Farage. At least he was consistent…
There are two morals to this story:
1. Conservatives should be banned from having anything to do with music or the arts.
2. If you want your single to be a hit, have the government ban it…
