Banned In The USA: Songs They Wouldn't Play Quiz

Answer: The Rolling Stones

In June of 1965 "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" was banned because of of its "sexually suggestive" theme. The song still became the Stones' first US number one hit. By August of 2008, they had seven more. The Beatles had 20 number one hits on the Billboard charts. In 1967, the Stones changed a line in "Let's Spend The Night Together" to "Let's Spend Some Time Together" for an appearance on 'The Ed Sullivan Show'.
Sources for all questions: 'Music Censorship in the USA' on the John Mark Ministries website, www.jmm.aaa.net.au and 'A Brief History of Banned Music in the United States' by Eric Nuzum, www.ericnuzum.com

Answer: The Roman Catholic church

'Danny Boy' and other secular songs were banned by the Diocese of Providence for use during funeral masses. Set to the melody 'The Londonderry Air', the words were written by an English lyricist, but you'll find it in the jukebox in just about any Irish pub anywhere.
In 1962, meanwhile, one New York Bishop forbade Catholic school students from dancing to 'The Twist',

Answer: Mambo Italiano

In 1954, the ABC network said it did not meet their "standards of good taste". 'Mambo Italiano' was a traditional Italian song that had been around for generations before Bob Merrill arranged it in the 1950s for the modern age. 'Half As Much' and 'Hey There' were both Billboard number 1 hits for Clooney, in 1952 and 1954 respectively.

Answer: Pete Seeger

Seeger had been invited by the Smothers Brothers to appear on their TV show and sang 'Waist Deep In The Big Muddy'. CBS edited the performance from the show on its first run, but allowed it on a repeat. Years before, Seeger had found it practically impossible to get air time on any TV show after he was 'blacklisted' by the McCarthy commission.

In 1963, the FBI began to collect information on a number of songwriters, including Seeger, Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison and Woody Guthrie.

Answer: Dean Martin

"(Wham bam thank you ma'am I hope you're satisfied)
I never knew what love would do 'til I saw your smile
And when I did I flipped my lid and almost went plum wild
But now I know I'll never show my love to anyone
'cause wham bam you broke my heart and I hope that you had fun"
The stations viewed the lyrics as "suggestive". Dottie O'Brien's 'Four Or Five Times' was banned for similar reasons

Answer: Because of her anti-meat beliefs

The station didn't play too many k.d.lang song before the ban, so it didn't make a lot of difference to her airplay in the Cornhusker State. Kathryn Dawn Lang was born in Alberta, Canada in November 1961 and dropped the capital letters in her name as a tribute to the poet e.e. cummings. An avowed vegetarian, her "Meat Stinks' campaign was not popular in cattle-raising localities - such as her native province.

Answer: True

I wonder what these executives would have made of John Prine's 'Blow Up Your TV'? In 1965, meanwhile, Barry McGuire's 'Eve of Destruction' was banned from some music stores and radio stations after complaints that it could promote suicidal feelings among teenagers.

Answer: It was thought to be promoting drugs

"In the Colorado Rocky Mountain high
I've seen it rain and fire in the sky..."
Radio stations across the USA believed that the 'high' was a drugs reference.
Co-written by Mike Taylor, 'RMH' is one of Colorado's two official state songs. It reached number 9 in the Billboard charts in 1973.

Answer: The New York Fraternal Order of Police

The police organisation placed Springsteen on its boycott list and called for his performances in the city to be cancelled. The song was about the February 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old immigrant from Guinea who was killed by four plain-clothes cops. He was unarmed at the time. The officers were cleared by a jury of any wrongdoing.

Answer: Love For Sale

"Love for sale
Appetizing young love for sale
Love that's fresh and still unspoiled
Love that's only slightly soiled
Love for sale..."
In 1956, ABC banned the Cole Porter song (written in 1930) because of its theme about prostitution. An instrumental version was allowed. Two years earlier, the line "I get no kick from Cocaine" was changed to "I get perfume from Spain" so that Porter's 'I Get A Kick Out Of You' could receive radio plays.

Answer: Bob Dylan

Or maybe it's not so hard to believe. The ban was in 1968, though the station in El Paso allowed covers of other Dylan songs by artists "with clearer diction." Five years earlier, Dylan walked off the 'Ed Sullivan Show' because he was forbidden to sing 'Talking John Birch Paranoid Blues'. He was never asked back.

Answer: The Ballad of John and Yoko

It happened in July 1969 and around half of the USA's Top 40 stations took part in the ban. The main objection was to the line "Christ, you know it ain't easy, you know how hard it can be; The way things are going - they're gonna crucify me".
There was also a huge protest when John Lennon said in 1966 "We're bigger than Jesus now". Protests included the mass burning of Beatles records.

Answer: Cat Stevens

Radio stations also removed Cat Stevens records from their play lists after the singer, who preferred to be known at that stage in his career as Yusev Islam, made remarks that were deemed to be supporting the fatwa (death penalty) imposed on the author Salman Rushdie. Tom Leykis, the Los Angeles talk show host, was the man who delivered the crushing critique of Stevens's records. Leykis was never himself far from controversy during much of his career.

Answer: Wal-Mart

The album 'Sheryl Crow' was removed in 1996 by Wal-Mart because in one song, "Love Is A Good Thing," she had criticised the company's gun sales policy. Crow was also vociferously critical of the US decision to go to war with Iraq in 2003.

Answer: The Thunder Rolls

CMTV and its parent company, The Nashville Network, claimed the video graphically depicted domestic violence. To see for yourself, go to www.videocure.com and search for Garth Brooks. The song was a Billboard Hot Country number one single in June 1991 and won the 'Music Video of the Year' title at the 1991 CMA Awards.