10 Legendary Rock Songs That Were Insanely Controversial
Causing a Stir.
When you’re trying to get your foot in the door of the music industry, getting a hit song on the radio feels almost impossible. There are no rules as to what succeeds and what doesn’t, and you have to really do some soul searching before you find something that’s good enough to put on the radio for everyone to hear. Writing songs can be a deeply personal thing, but it also can be perceived as dangerous by some higher ups as well.
For all of the buzz that these songs may have generated during their time, there were a whole host of concerned parents thinking that these songs were going to lead people astray when they heard them. Although not all of these songs advocate violence or tell you to throw your life away by any stretch of the imagination, these are not necessarily for the faint of heart either, being looks into the dark psyche of some of your favorite artists or telling the stories of some of the more terrifying parts of the rock and roll community.
While some of these were able to squeak by, more than a few items on this list ended up getting banned as well, with some fans being too appalled to play them in public. Having a pen in your hand can give you a certain power as a songwriter, but you have to remember the responsibility that comes with it as well.
10. One More Light - Linkin Park
With a few years of hindsight, it's time that metalheads stop giving Linkin Park so much bile for what happened on One More Light. This was far from the kind of aggro rock band that we got to know back in the '00s, but not everything can be Hybrid Theory either, and this was an honest attempt for the band to blend their sound into the world of pop. A lot of it may seem generic or even cynical in some spots, but the title song seemed to take on a whole different meaning just a few months after its release.
Originally written as a tribute to one of their friends at their record label who had passed away, One More Light is a very thoughtful look at someone struggling with their own demons, taking the opposite perspective and seeing the kind of pain that comes with seeing your friend go through pain with nothing to do about it. There's a good heart at the center of this song, but it got all too real when Chester Bennington was found dead by suicide in between legs of the tour, making this seem like a premature goodbye to the fans.
While it's still questionable how much creative input Chester had in the writing of this song, what he brings to the performance is what's more important. This was a man who had an endless amount of empathy for those around him, but it was only a matter of weeks before that one more light got snuffed out.