CENSORSHIP IN ROCK AND ROLL

Here we are again with more useless knowledge about rock and roll. Sooner or later, this might be classified as just another look on rock culture. All joking aside, I just love researching and learning about my favorite genre of music. I originally decided to write about censorship in rock music because I was sick of having to sit through the "radio friendly" edits of classic songs, but as I continued to research, I thought it was kind of funny that people protest for the freedom of speech in newspapers and boycotts, but then are fine with censoring music. I was trying to express the hypocrisy of the situation in this article.
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            Since its birth in 1948, rock and roll has been censored. Radio stations or governments have been either changing lines or completely banning the playing of the song.

            The first rock musician to be censored was Hank Ballard in 1954. The Federal Communications Commission for its overtly sexual lyrics restricted his song “Work With Me, Annie”. The attention that Hank Ballard and his song received instantly boosted the song in sales and was on the top of the R&B charts for seven weeks.

            Another early example in the censorship of rock music was when Elvis Presley was going to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show. Sullivan’s producers decided to only film Presley from the waist up because they believed that his hip gyration was to suggestive for the show. They were worried that concerned and angry parents would boycott the show.

            Censorship in Rock and Roll is not just a thing of the past, though. After the 2001 terrorist attacks on the world trade center and the pentagon, a list of songs went out through all the Clear Channel Communication Radio Stations. Clear Channel Communications is the largest owner of radio stations in the United States of America. The list that was sent out was a compilation of classic rock music that should only be played after “serious consideration.” On the list were over two hundred classic songs including:

·      Led Zeppelin’s "Stairway to Heaven"

·      Queen’s Another "One Bites the Dust"

·      The Beatles’ "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"

·      Billy Joel’s "Only the Good Die Young"

·      Elton John’s "Rocket Man"

·      Don Mclean’s "American Pie"

·      Bruce Springsteen’s "I’m On Fire"

·      Rolling Stones "Ruby Tuesday"

·      Van Halen’s "Jump"

·      Bob Dylan’s "Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door"

Why are some songs that are now considered classics censored is the real question though. It was a combination of profane and vulgar language, sexual tones and innuendos, and drug related lyrics.

Rock and Roll is often blasted for promoting violence, non-abstinence, and having overly obscene lyrics. Many of the most famous classic rock bands of all time were on some kind of drug. Whether it was alcohol, marijuana, heroin, painkillers, or an extensive amount of other illegal substances. Some of these bands are:

·      The Rolling Stones- Cocaine, Alcohol, Heroin.

·      The Grateful Dead- LSD, Marijuana.

·      The Beatles- LSD, Cocaine, Heroin, Marijuana.

·      Aerosmith- Cocaine, Alcohol, Painkillers.

·      The Doors- Acid, Payote (Traditional Native American Drug), Alcohol.

Some of the most slammed rock bands are the most famous. Some include Guns N’ Roses, Nickelback, and Creed. Some people think that they shouldn’t just be censored or played on the radio, but shouldn’t even be considered music.

One of the most impressively moronic examples of censorship in rock and roll comes from the city of Santa Cruz, California. In 1956, people described rock and roll as “the devil’s music” and “morally corrosive.” The officials banned the airtime and playing any rock music for several days. They lifted their ban because of several protests and social backlashes. They later explained that it wasn’t the music that they didn’t like, it was what people did while listening to the music.

-Mitchell Duncan