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Eight Famous Songs That Were Banned On Radio
This is done from a British perspective, but the motive behind banning a number of songs on the BBC and elsewhere seems pretty outrageous by today's standards.
‘Why don’t you all f-fade away’: 8 famous songs that were banned from the radio
I love the reason for banning The Who's "My Generation" - and it wasn't because of the obvious faux swearing reference. And the reason for putting a temporary halt to David Bowie's "Space Odyssey" is positively surreal.
As for "Je T'aime," that also caused controversy right here in Toronto. 
They don't mention "Lola" by the Kinks, which was banned because of a BBC rule that real products could not be mentioned. (Which is why Ray Davies was forced to leave a tour, fly back to England at great expense and change "Coca Cola" to "Cherry Cola" in the space of two days.)
And then there was the novelty record "They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha Haaa" by Napoleon XIV, when it was flagged for making fun of people with mental health issues. It reached the top 10, which tells you a lot, before it disappeared from the airwaves. I doubt it ever gets played today. 
- Radiowiz
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Re: Eight Famous Songs That Were Banned On Radio
Don't forget the follow up song, which I gather never got any radio play...
Last edited by Radiowiz (April 14, 2022 10:05 am)
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
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Re: Eight Famous Songs That Were Banned On Radio
That's the last cut on the album that's pictured in the post above. Oddly, the front cover doesn't show it. Instead, it lists the infamous B-side of the single - They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha Haaa played backwards. Only the track list on the back has the sequel.
In reality (if that's the right word to use about this "song"), the fact they have Josephine (the real Napoleon's supposed girlfriend) doing this answer record makes no sense. Jerry Samuels, who wrote and performed the thing, has said that the song is actually about a guy who goes insane when his dog leaves him. Hence, the reference to "remember when you ran away" in the first verse and "you mangy mutt" in the last. So there wouldn't have been a lady friend to reply to the original.
Wow. I know way too much about this stupid tune. I'll shut up now before they come and take me away.
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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Re: Eight Famous Songs That Were Banned On Radio
OK, one more story about that stupid song that I've told here before, but it involves me as a little kid and a Toronto radio station. As noted, the flip side of the original "They're Coming To Take Me Away" is the song played backwards, from end to beginning.
When I was small, I fell in love with the song, and one day, while turning the AM dial, I stopped short on, of all places, CJBC. I couldn't believe what I heard - they were playing Napoleon XIV's hit record in French! I listened in rapt attention, wondering what the words meant.
It wasn't until I actually bought the 45 that I realized what I'd heard wasn't a foreign language version of the song at all - it was them playing the flip side of the thing backwards! But in my early lack of knowledge of dual languages, I thought it was "Ils viennent m'emmener, Ha, Haaa," which according to Google Translate, is how it would be said in Quebec City.
That was decades and decades ago, but for some reason I've never forgotten it. It was probably also the last time I spent even a second listening to CJBC!
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Thread Starter- Paul Jeffries
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Re: Eight Famous Songs That Were Banned On Radio
Speaking of songs that don't get too much airplay nowadays...I remember one time hearing Genesis' "Illegal Alien" on CJBC some time before it gained traction on the mainstream Top 40 stations.
Sounded kind of weird hearing Phil Collins singing in a faux-Mexican accent and then having the French-speaking announcer coming on afterwards to backsell the record.
PJ
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