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Good morning, everyone.
In a recent article, Stephen Dowling of the BBC wrote:
Over its near 100-year history, the BBC has taken its role as gatekeeper of the nation's moral standards seriously. And never has that been more obvious than in the songs that have been deemed unsuitable for its audience’s ears.
The range of reasons why songs have been censored reveals how controversies surrounding youth culture have changed markedly over the decades. So here for your pleasure is a list of songs deemed ‘too dangerous’ by the BBC and completely cleared from its airwaves. Among the unlikely names to have met its wrath include Bing Crosby, a band of dancing monsters, and the Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz.
Bing? Monster Mash?? Munchkins???
The first six of Mr. Dowling’s twelve examples of banned songs are included below, and the other six will be posted in tomorrow’s Morning Open Thread. Please click thru to the article for his explanation of BBC’s reasoning for the bannings.
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1 — Deep In The Heart Of Texas, Bing Crosby — Reason: Too jaunty
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2 — Hold My Hand, Don Cornell — Reason: Religious references
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3 — Monster Mash, Bobby Pickett — Reason: Too morbid
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4 — Leader Of The Pack, The Shangri Las — Reason: Death references
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5 — Lola, The Kinks — Reason: Advertising
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6 — Give Ireland Back To The Irish, Wings — Reason: Political content
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Grab your cup and pull up a chair.
What is on your mind this morning?