2001 Clear Channel memorandum

You gotta spin it to win it Media

Stop the presses!

Image manipulation National Post Penultimate paragraph syndrome Moral panic Academy Awards Lesbian gang epidemic Clickbait Liberal bias Barrett Brown

We want pictures of Spider-Man!

Journalism Newspapers All articles

Extra! Extra!

WIGO World v - t - e

“”Catharsis was exactly the opposite of what corporate radio was promoting. There was no room for songs of peace or hate, loss or exorcism, anger or despair. What we got was bland and mildly upbeat, the Chevy-commercial sentiments of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" and the cliched uplift of inspirational ballads like "Wind Beneath My Wings," surely one of the most annoying genres of music ever invented.

—Steven Wishnia

On September 13, 2001, two days after the 9/11 attacks, the top brass at Clear Channel sent an email to over 1,000 US radio stations "an updated and expanded list of songs with 'questionable lyrics' that they should avoid playing." Clear Channel denied the claim, but it received considerable media coverage at the time. Though many reports claimed that the list was meant to prohibit radio stations from playing songs listed on it, the list was circulated as guidance. Many stations, including some in the New York area, ignored the list.

Some of the songs making this list deal with fire or planes. In a perverse attempt to sterilize media in light of the terrorist attack, the memo recommends dropping songs like Fire and Rain by James Taylor, Smokin' by Boston, Burnin' for You by Blue Öyster Cult, Jump by Van Halen, and Bennie and the Jets by Elton John from rotation, in case a listener might be triggered by the mere mention of a word.

The question was not that there would be kinds of music that would be inappropriate in the aftermath of the attacks, but the specific songs Clear Channel ultimately chose. It seemed more like an 1960s-style social conservative attack on popular rock music than an understandable suggestions list.

Many found the list baffling, and considered it a misguided attempt to ensure the nation's mental health. As such, it was roundly criticized as censorship and an ominous side effect of President George W. Bush's War on Terror.

The list

“”…every single Rage Against the Machine song was notably poo-pooed by Clear Channel, as the Founding Fathers absolutely hated guitars that sound like turntables. Ditto goes for "I'm on Fire"… because nobody understands that the song was just Bruce Springsteen surreptitiously confessing that he's the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four.

—The 6 Most Hilarious Failures in Music Censorship History

Artist	Song	Notes
3 Doors Down	Duck and Run
311	Down
AC/DC	Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
AC/DC	Hells Bells
AC/DC	Highway to Hell
AC/DC	Safe in New York City
AC/DC	Shoot to Thrill
AC/DC	Shot Down in Flames
AC/DC	T.N.T.
The Ad Libs	The Boy from New York City
Afro Celt Sound System	When You're Falling
Alice in Chains	Down in a Hole
Alice in Chains	Rooster
Alice in Chains	Sea of Sorrow
Alice in Chains	Them Bones
Alien Ant Farm	Smooth Criminal
The Animals	We Gotta Get Out of This Place
Louis Armstrong	What a Wonderful World	This wonderful song's inclusion on the list exposed the callousness and hypocrisy of media executives in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
The Bangles	Walk Like an Egyptian	Only one of the perpetrators was Egyptian, ringleader Mohamed Atta
Barenaked Ladies	Falling for the First Time
Fontella Bass	Rescue Me
Beastie Boys	Sabotage
Beastie Boys	Sure Shot
The Beatles	A Day in the Life	A reflection on life, death, and war, inspired by LSD. Perhaps the reference to war, i.e., "The English Army had just won the war" triggered inclusion on the list? Who knows.
The Beatles	Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds	Maybe they thought a mention of the sky would trigger someone?
The Beatles	Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da	Life goes on, and Clear Channel thought it would be too much for anyone to realize this.
The Beatles	Ticket to Ride
Pat Benatar	Hit Me with Your Best Shot
Pat Benatar	Love Is a Battlefield
Black Sabbath	Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Black Sabbath	War Pigs
Blood, Sweat and Tears	And When I Die
Blue Öyster Cult	Burnin' for You
Boston	Smokin'
Los Bravos	Black Is Black
Jackson Browne	Doctor My Eyes
Buddy Holly and the Crickets	That'll Be the Day
Bush	Speed Kills
The Chi-Lites	Have You Seen Her
Petula Clark	A Sign of the Times
The Clash	Rock the Casbah
Phil Collins	In the Air Tonight
Sam Cooke	Wonderful World
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown	Fire
Creedence Clearwater Revival	Travelin' Band
The Cult	Fire Woman
Bobby Darin	Mack the Knife
The Dave Clark Five	Bits and Pieces
Skeeter Davis	The End of the World
Neil Diamond	America
Dio	Holy Diver
The Doors	The End
The Drifters	On Broadway
Drowning Pool	Bodies
Bob Dylan	Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Everclear	Santa Monica
Shelley Fabares	Johnny Angel
Filter	Hey Man, Nice Shot	Maybe too close to home, as the song is about the suicide of Budd Dwyer
Foo Fighters	Learn to Fly
Fuel	Bad Day	It's not the one Andy Bernard sang when he was firing Pete in "The Office".
The Gap Band	You Dropped a Bomb on Me
Godsmack	Bad Religion
Green Day	Brain Stew	But not "Welcome to Paradise", weirdly enough.
Norman Greenbaum	Spirit in the Sky
Guns N' Roses	Knockin' on Heaven's Door
The Happenings	See You in September
The Jimi Hendrix Experience	Hey Joe	"Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun in your hand?"
Herman's Hermits	Wonderful World
The Hollies	He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
Jan and Dean	Dead Man's Curve
Billy Joel	Only the Good Die Young
Elton John	Bennie and the Jets
Elton John	Daniel	"Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane…"
Elton John	Rocket Man
Judas Priest	Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
Kansas	Dust in the Wind
Carole King	I Feel the Earth Move
Korn	Falling Away from Me
Lenny Kravitz	Fly Away
Led Zeppelin	Stairway to Heaven
John Lennon	Imagine
Jerry Lee Lewis	Great Balls of Fire
Limp Bizkit	Break Stuff
Local H	Bound for the Floor
Lynyrd Skynyrd	Tuesday's Gone
Johnny Maestro & the Brooklyn Bridge	The Worst That Could Happen
Martha and the Vandellas	Dancing in the Street
Martha and the Vandellas	Nowhere to Run
Dave Matthews Band	Crash into Me
Paul McCartney & Wings	Live and Let Die
Barry McGuire	Eve of Destruction
Don McLean	American Pie	Due to its references of "the day the music died", where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Vallens, and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash.
Megadeth	Dread and the Fugitive Mind
Megadeth	Sweating Bullets
John Mellencamp	Crumblin' Down
John Mellencamp	Paper in Fire
Metallica	Enter Sandman
Metallica	Fade to Black
Metallica	Harvester of Sorrow
Metallica	Seek & Destroy
Steve Miller Band	Jet Airliner
Alanis Morissette	Ironic
Mudvayne	Death Blooms
Ricky Nelson	Travelin' Man
Nena	99 Luftballons/99 Red Balloons	Noted peace anthem about an accidental nuclear war
Nine Inch Nails	Head Like a Hole	"God money's not one to choose. Head like a hole, black as your soul, I'd rather die than give you control!"
Oingo Boingo	Dead Man's Party
Ozzy Osbourne	Suicide Solution
Paper Lace	The Night Chicago Died
John Parr	St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)	"I can feel radio censorship burning in me"
Peter and Gordon	I Go to Pieces
Peter and Gordon	A World Without Love
Peter, Paul and Mary	Blowin' in the Wind
Peter, Paul and Mary	Leaving on a Jet Plane	Written by John Denver who coincidentally died in a light aircraft accident in 1997
Tom Petty	Free Fallin'
Pink Floyd	Mother	"Mother, do you think they'll drop the bomb?"
Pink Floyd	Run Like Hell
P.O.D.	Boom
Elvis Presley	(You're the) Devil in Disguise
The Pretenders	My City Was Gone
Queen	Another One Bites the Dust
Queen	Killer Queen
Rage Against the Machine	All songs	"Lights out, Guerrilla Radio! Turn that sh*t off!"
Red Hot Chili Peppers	Aeroplane
Red Hot Chili Peppers	Under the Bridge
R.E.M.	It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
The Rolling Stones	Ruby Tuesday	"Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday"
Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels	Devil with a Blue Dress On
Saliva	Click Click Boom
Santana	Evil Ways
Savage Garden	Crash and Burn
Simon & Garfunkel	Bridge over Troubled Water	An odd choice: traditionally considered a very fitting song for sad times, and a perennial at funerals
Frank Sinatra	New York, New York	aka "Theme from New York, New York"; widely seen as a celebration of the city, and Liza Minnelli actually performed it at the first pro sports game in the New York metro after 9/11
Slipknot	Left Behind
Slipknot	Wait and Bleed
The Smashing Pumpkins	Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Soundgarden	Black Hole Sun
Soundgarden	Blow Up the Outside World
Soundgarden	Fell on Black Days
Bruce Springsteen	I'm Goin' Down
Bruce Springsteen	I'm on Fire
Bruce Springsteen	War
Edwin Starr	War
Steam	Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
Cat Stevens	Morning Has Broken
Cat Stevens	Peace Train	It's unclear why 2 Stevens songs were on the list, aside from the fact that he's a Muslim and Clear Channel didn't want them on radio
Stone Temple Pilots	Big Bang Baby
Stone Temple Pilots	Dead and Bloated
Sugar Ray	Fly
The Surfaris	Wipe Out
System of a Down	Chop Suey!
Talking Heads	Burning Down the House
James Taylor	Fire and Rain
Temple of the Dog	Say Hello 2 Heaven
Third Eye Blind	Jumper
The Three Degrees	When Will I See You Again
Tool	Intolerance
The Trammps	Disco Inferno
U2	Sunday Bloody Sunday	The attack was on a Tuesday, although the song is peripherally about terrorism and primarily about the killing of innocent civilians by the British army
Van Halen	Jump
Van Halen	Dancing in the Street
J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers	Last Kiss
The Youngbloods	Get Together
Zager and Evans	In the Year 2525	"In the year 2525, if man is still alive"
The Zombies	She's Not There	Lyrically about an untrustworthy woman, not obviously connected with 9/11