Banned in the USA

Interesting piece, good to read Serj's point of view. I remember NZ band Shihad changed their name to Pacifier for a few years because their label thought Shihad sounded too much like 'Jihad'

 

Drowning Pool had the worst timing with this. I'm sure all these songs were banned by the same people who were against violent video games.

 

Didn't read it the article yet but it's in my Instapaper queue.

Not for banning music or art but I don't necessarily disagree with during an event like this possibly steering away from somethings that could be seen as in bad taste.

Good example of this would be when the Chicagi Cubs played 'Smacked my Bitch Up'. For the uniformed he was involved in a domestic violence incident with his wife during the off season.

 

I remember "Learn to Fly" being banned because Clear Channel thought people wouldn't like to listen to a song with a video centered around people being goofy in the sky. So dumb.

 

Yeah the Prodigy song was completely blatant and the guy should've been removed from doing the music. Depending on the tragedy, there should be an unspoken timetable of songs. If it's still fresh on everyone's mind, I'd hold off until the hurting dies down a little. I'm a NY Red Bulls (soccer) season ticket holder. One of the first games Orlando played was away against NY. The Red Bulls fanbase had moments of silence throughout the game and the supporter section had rainbow flags. Completely respectful. Then in the 2nd half, they started the infamous "Take em All" chant with the line "Put em up against a wall and shoot em". I looked at my friend and just went, "Well, I'm glad this fanbase could be classy for at least 45 minutes". There's no malicious intent and the supporters sing it every game but just the fact they couldn't skip it for one game made me uncomfortable.

 

After living in Germany for 4 years I find some American censorship ridiculous. I turned on the radio and heard the cover, "Boyz-n-the-hood" by Dynamite Hack.
The lyrics that stand out the most are "Then I played my own *bleep* and it went somethin' like this, Cruisin down the street in my six-fo, jockin the bitches, slappin the hoes".

So it's okay to talk about bitches and slapping "hoes" however you can't say the word "shit". Violence is okay, cussing isn't.

 

I think the worst is CNN/MSNBC/Fox News teasing a bit about a murder caught on tape, giving users a warning, and then playing it! It's the same warning when someone curses in an interview. I don't have any children right now but if I do, I'd rather have them hear the word shit instead of letting them watch someone get killed.

 

Yeah sometimes it makes sense like the Kesha song Die Young after Sandy Hook

 

Didn't JEW have to change Bleed America to salt sweat sugar because it was coming out around the same time?

 

I know the album name became self titled but the song as far as I know was still 'Bleed American'. That's how it read on my cd copy. No idea for radio.

 

Yeah, they changed it then I think slowly merged the two. I remember seeing the sticker on the CD saying it had the song "Bleed American (Salt Sweat Sugar)"

 

I bought my copy shortly after 9/11 so I'm pretty sure the song was never hanged.

 

Ah ok. Looks like they might have changed the single title in the UK, since it was released there after 9/11.

 

Makes sense.