10 Bizarre Reasons Songs Were Banned From The Radio
No sense behind the censoring.
As irritating as it may be, censorship in the music industry is something of a necessary evil if artists want to have their work broadcast to a wider range of listeners.
Radio station executives don't normally take kindly to bad language or controversial themes, and if they can't find a way to edit out whatever may offend them, then that song will likely be banned from airplay altogether. Whilst some of the reasons as to why certain songs were banned can be justified, some songs that made their way on to blacklists have far less logic behind them.
Whether it be new context, different interpretations or simple misunderstanding, some songs have been unusually restricted from broadcast, leaving others baffled as to how some seemingly wholesome track has been forbidden from airplay. In most of these instances, it seems if a few individuals have wildly misheard the song and restricted it based on an incorrect viewpoint, regardless of the artist's original intentions.
Although the songs on this list were only temporarily banned for a brief period of time, it is hard to overlook the strange knee jerk reactions that some censors seemed to have had.
10. For Being "Too Gruesome" - The Monster Mash
It's hard to go through a Halloween season without hearing the Monster Mash at least once. The song has become a staple of the holiday, with every radio station seemingly playing at least once a day throughout October as if it were mandated by law. However, this wasn't always the case...
Upon it's original release in 1962, Bobby Pickett's novelty number was banned by the BBC for being "too vulgar" and inappropriate for a wider listening audience. This, of course, led to an outcry of one word, how? The song itself is an enjoyable track aimed at younger children that attempted to make fun of the abundance of dance crazes that popped up during the late '50s and early '60s. Saying that The Monster Mash is vulgar or gruesome is just wrong.
In a further feat of confusion, the BBC did't lift their ban for 11 years, finally giving it airtime in 1973. Maybe somebody at the BBC really didn't like the Universal monster movies?