Well the stock market is back up. And the flags are back at full-staff. Morale is getting a little better too. But our civil liberties are going down the gutter.
Last week Clear Channel Communications released a list of 150 “lyrically questionable” songs. Although it’s not a mandate, the Texas-based company is urging their 1,170 stations to avoid playing these songs because of the September 11, tragedy. If you’re a song that mentions New York, fire, hell, airplanes or the ideal world, you’re gone.
While it is a nice gesture to prevent certain, provoking songs from reaching the airwaves and potentially offending listeners, this list has gone too far.
To put it bluntly, Clear Channel has too much power. They reach 110 million listeners on a daily basis in all 50 states. They own one out of every ten radio stations. Thanks to FCC regulations, Clear Channel avoids monopoly break-ups because they spread their power evenly throughout the country. Locally, they exert quite a bit of control over the St. Louis airwaves: KSLZ-FM 107.7, KLOU-FM 103.3, KATZ-FM 100.3, KMJM-FM 104.9, and KSD-FM 93.7.
Wonder why you haven’t heard Alanis Morrisset’s “Ironic” or Louis Armstrong’s “It’s A Wonderful World” lately? Well now you know. Clear Channel decided to ban these from the airwaves because the first mentions a plane crash and the second can be seen as sadly ironic.
This wasn’t just some middle-aged honcho sitting in his office, hands behind his head, sushi on his desk, issuing his credence from on high. This was a collective effort, a “grass roots” campaign, as explained by Clear Channel’s website (www.clearchannel.com). They said the list circulated around many stations before being released nationwide.
What’s so disturbing about this banning is not that we can’t listen to Nena’s “99 Luft Balloons” or the Bangles “Walk Like An Egytpian.” It’s that they’re taking away our choice.
By adhering to a banned list, we’re taking away our own civil liberties. That’s what the terrorists want. We’ve acknowledged their presence and are in a way letting them win. We’re changing our daily habits, changing the fact that we can’t belt out Don McClean’s “American Pie” at the top of our lungs right now.
Luckily these albums haven’t been taken out of the stores yet. At least the terrorists aren’t limiting our purchasing power.
But this just doesn’t make sense. They’re taking this way too literally. How could they ban John Lennon’s “Imagine” when he was for peace? Neil Young sang that on the “Tribute To Heros” last week, which raised $150 million. Oops. And Paul Simon sang “Like A Bridge Over Troubled Water” which ended up being banned too. Double oops.
There are lots of songs on here that make sense, like AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” and Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust.”
Other ones are such a reach. You can’t help but laugh at how paranoid America has become. I’m not trying to be insensitive. I’m just taking this with a grain of salt. I hope you do too.
We were shocked and slightly amused at the following songs. Read the list. Make your own judgements. We don’t want to ban anyone from free thought.
Sugar Ray “Fly”
Peter, Paul, & Mary “Blowin’ In the Wind.”
Beastie Boys “Sabotage”
Foo Fighters “Learn To Fly”
Neil Diamond “America”
Frank Sinatra “New York, New York”
Oingo Boingo “Dead Man’s Party”
Drifters “On Broadway”
Chi-Lites “Have You Seen Her”
Filter “Hey Man, Nice Shot”
Beatles “Obla Di, Obla Da”
Brooklyn Bridge “Worst That Could Happen”
Savage Garden “Crash and Burn”
Barenaked Ladies “Falling For The First Time”
The Clash “Rock The Casbah”
Bobby Darin “Mack the Knife”
Doors “The End”
Billy Joel “Only The Good Die Young”
J. Frank Wilson “Last Kiss”
Sufaris “Wipeout”
James Taylor “Fire and Rain”
Yager & Evans “In The Year 2525”
Tramps “Disco Inferno”
Van Halen “Jump”
And we’ve noticed that they ought to have banned Notorious BIG’s “Juicy.” Just check out the lyrics. Time to get paid, blow up like the World Trade.”
Just to cover all their bases, they might want to check out other, seemingly less-offensive songs, backwards. I’ve always suspected REM”s “Shiny Happy People” to contain some sinister views, when played in reverse. I mean, we all just can’t be that happy, can we?
Well, maybe not. After all, they banned Louis Armstrong’s “It’s A Beautiful World.’