Transcript
Alan Cross (0:00)
Hey, it's Alan and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing history of new music. Early and ad free on Amazon Music included with prime on WhatsApp. No one can see or hear your personal messages. Whether it's a voice call message or sending a password to WhatsApp, it's all just this. So whether you're sharing the streaming password in the family chat, trading those late night voice messages that could basically become a podcast, your personal messages stay between you, your friends and your family. No one else, not even us. WhatsApp message privately with everyone. This episode is brought to you by ebay. We all have that piece, the one that's so you. You've basically become known for it.
Jordan Bonaparte (0:46)
And if you don't yet, fashionistas, you'll.
Alan Cross (0:48)
Find it on ebay. That Miu Miu red leather bomber, the cousteau Barcelona cowboy top. Or that Patagonia fleece in the 2017 colorway. All these finds are all on ebay, along with millions of more main character pieces backed by authenticity guaranteed. Ebay is the place for pre loved and vintage fashion eBay, things people love. For the next couple of podcasts, we're going to go back into the ongoing history of new Music Vault. With over a thousand original radio episodes and several hundred of them as podcasts, there are some episodes that still haven't seen the light of day. For this one, it's the first of a two part look at censorship in music. Why do certain songs or bands or styles of music get censored? Who makes these decisions and why? And what can musicians do about it? Even though this show is from the earlier part of the ongoing history library, it's still very relevant. We thought you'd like to have a listen. This is Censorship in Music, Part one. Good evening. The following documentary is on the subject of censorship in music. Featured performers will include Marilyn Madison, Rob Z. And the Prodigy. Well, sorry about that. My mistake. Stay awake, will you? Because of the f ing graphic nature of this program, you may wish to usher young children out of the room. Alternatively, young people may want to turn the radio down slightly so the adults in the house don't hear them if they can't take it. Are we ready? Yep. Let's go. A let's roll. This is the ongoing History of New Music podcast with Alan Cross. Hello, I'm Alan Cross. This is a program that deals with musical censorship through the years. Naturally, there will be a special focus on the situation with new rock and alternative music. But first, though, a little Background. If we're going to do this right, we should go back to the very beginning. Almost 1700 years ago, somewhere around 350 A.D. the Young Christian church was faced with a crisis. A new corrupting force had appeared amongst the faithful. Today we call it the augmented fourth, a type of musical interval known as the tritone. To Church fathers, this chord was evil, diabolical, something so hideous that it sounded like something Satan himself may compose. Therefore, human musicians who used this chord were obviously in league with the Devil. Who else could inspire men to write music so warped? Therefore, the augmented fourth, the so called devil's interval, was banned by the Church, and thus humankind entered the age of musical censorship. Had those same bishops been around in the 60s, they would have no doubt been terrified to hear Jimi Hendrix play those dreaded chords. And had Blur been around in 350 AD Damon Albarn would have no doubt been burned at the stake for writing this song. All because of those few opening chords. More than 1700 years after the Church got into the business of censorship, people are still trying to ban certain types of music. Musical censorship has come in a variety of flavors. Banning certain types of music and specific songs has always been the passionate pursuit of many people over the years. In the early part of the 20th century, many radio stations prohibited the playing of records by black artists, calling this music subversive. Then the Nazis tried to wipe out jazz and R and b music. In 1938, they issued a document called Conditions Governing the Grant of Licenses for Dance Music. Listen to this. These people were freaks. The following regulations are intended to indicate the revival of the European spirit of music played in this country for dances and amusements by freeing the latter from the elements of that primitive Negroid music which may be justly regarded as being in flagrant conflict with the European concept of music. This document goes on to prohibit certain types of improvisation and certain types of bass lines. It even decreed how hard one could blow into a brass instrument. And all drum solos were banned. Okay, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Anyway. The first government band of a record in North America also seems to have occurred in 1938. This is when a band named the Top Hatters, led by a Russian emigre named John Savita, issued a song called wpa, which stood for Works Progress Administration. The US Government was concerned about Savitt's Communist ties and believed that the song was designed to incite American workers to strike. The song was therefore banned. Or how about this? In February 1954, Michigan Congresswoman Ruth Thompson introduced a bill that would make sending any pornographic recording through the mail punishable by a $5,000 fine and five years in jail. Speaking of governments, the BBC, as a public broadcaster and thus with close ties to the British Parliament, has a reputation of being quick to ban certain songs. The first time this happened might have been in 1950, when a George Gershwin song called oh, Please Do It Again was banned because they determined it to be too sexually explicit. We'll come back to the BBC later. One of the goofiest examples of attempted government censorship in rock and roll involved the 1963 single by a group from Portland, Oregon called the Kingsman. The Kingsman covered this song because it was easy to play. They recorded it for a grand total of 50 bucks and issued it on a 7 inch single. As soon as it was released, rumors started to fly. The song contained dirty lyrics. Parents who heard the song became convinced that the slurred vocals contained tales of filth and perversion. Although they admit they couldn't quite make out what the guy was saying. Various authorities became involved. The governor of Indiana declared the song pornographic and said his ears tingled the first time he heard it. The U.S. federal Communications Commission was asked to investigate. Even the U.S. congress got involved. They assigned the FBI's best code breakers to the case and they played the songs at different speeds, backwards and forwards and through filters and spectrum analyzers for six solid months. Their conclusion? The Kingsman's version of Louie Louie was undecipherable at any speed and therefore not pornographic. Case closed. By the way, there's a reason no one can make out the words in Louie Louie. It was recorded using a single overhead microphone and the singer had to tilt his head all the way back and sing more or less straight up. So try doing that while keeping your enunciation good. And to make it even more difficult, he was wearing a big clunky set of braces on his teeth. No wonder no one knew what he was singing. Alright, back to the BBC. They have a number of criteria under which a song may be banned from BBC programs. Songs with sexual connotations are in trouble immediately. Songs with certain political views are scrutinized very, very carefully. If a song is judged to be particularly morbid, it's out of there. If it contains swearing, it's up for review. And if a song contains the brand name of a consumer product in the lyrics, it might be yanked. Let's look at a couple of examples, starting with a song that was banned on the grounds that it was sexually explicit. In January 1984, the producer of a BBC radio program came home to find his kids watching and rewatching the video for Relax from Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Even though he had heard Relax several times, he suddenly clued into the song's homoerotic undertones. Well, the next day, this would be January 11, 1984, he went into work and told his boss, DJ Mike Reed, about what he had discovered. Reed suddenly saw the light too, and immediately went on the air, branding Relax as obscene and announced that he would never, ever, ever play the song again. The following day, a memo went out to all employees of the BBC affirming that Relax was not to be played again. So what happened? One week later, Relax was the number one song in the uk. Songs of a political nature make the BBC very nervous. Any song that refers to the Irish Republican army or the troubles in Northern Ireland are immediately banned. Songs that insult the position of the Prime Minister also stand an excellent chance of being banned. And if you ever insult the Royal family, you're definitely not going to get your song on the BBC. Of course, an official ban is often the best thing that can happen to you. Just ask the Sex Pistols. When they released God Save the Queen on the eve of Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee, they created quite the stir. The BBC banned it, most of the big record stores refused to carry it, and even the official charts wouldn't even print the name Sex Pistols. So what Happened? Single sold 150,000 copies in just five days, and the Sex Pistols became a legend. Thank you, BBC.