Top 10 Songs That Are BANNED in Most of the World

AC/DC
Some of the songs on our list today may surprise you with their inclusion. The rowdy Australian hard rockers’ love-hate letter to touring, though? Probably not a shocker. Written by Bon Scott, alongside Angus and Malcolm Young, this iconic barn-burner was intended to reflect the band’s experiences on the road, and the grueling nature of life as a traveling musician. However, “Highway to Hell” and its album of the same title were met with instant controversy in the United States over the song’s supposed implementation of secret Satanic messages. Years later, Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia) added “Highway to Hell” to a list of songs discouraged from being played on U.S. radio stations.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood
This British synth-pop/new wave outfit garnered massive backlash in the early 1980s as a direct result of their out-and-proud focus on LGBTQ+ themes and issues in their music. Their debut single and signature song, “Relax” was a shock to the system to the BBC — and the British public as a whole. The song’s suggestive marketing didn’t do poor Frankie any favors, and in January 1984, Radio 1 DJ Mike Reed personally banned “Relax” from BBC airwaves, a decision echoed and supported by BBC management. Despite its lack of UK radio airplay, “Relax” stayed in the country’s Top 40 chart for 37 straight weeks.

Loretta Lynn
Speaking up about touchy social issues in one’s art is almost never going to be a massively popular cause. Just ask country legend Loretta Lynn, whose bold 1975 single “The Pill” espoused the benefits of birth control pills for women. Although such contraceptive methods had been legal in the United States long before the song’s release, the then-recently established women’s liberation movement brought this and other women’s issues to the forefront of the cultural conversation. Although a number of American country radio stations refused to play “The Pill”, its surrounding controversy brought Lynn a great deal of attention — and the admiration of rural physicians, who thanked the singer-songwriter for demonstrating the positive effects of contraceptives.

The Beach Boys
Remember a little earlier, when we said that you may be surprised by some of our inclusions on this list? Yeah, this is one of them. For our 21st-century ears, it may be hard to fathom how one of the purest love songs ever recorded could arouse the ire of censors. Well, it’s all due to one simple word: “God”. At the time of the song’s release in 1966, the word was still considered generally untouchable, and record labels knew better than to challenge the public with potential blasphemy. Similarly to “The Pill”, radio stations in the American South reportedly banned “God Only Knows” over its lyrical content.

Pink Floyd
This song and its accompanying album, “The Wall”, have been acclaimed as some of the greatest of their respective kinds in rock history. Taking the baton passed to them by the Beatles in terms of opening up the studio to new possibilities, Pink Floyd also used “The Wall” as a way to emphasize their sociopolitical leanings. “Another Brick in the Wall”, in particular, serves as a searing indictment of corporal punishment and oppressive institutions. So pointed and powerful were its lyrics that the song was banned in South Africa. According to a 1980 New York Times article, demonstrators against the country’s apartheid regime “adopted [it] as their marching song during outbursts of political unrest that have swept South Africa.”

Billie Holiday
Holiday’s biggest-selling recording, the banning of “Strange Fruit” by southern radio stations is yet another case of politically-minded censorship. An anti-lynching protest song that decried the horrific hate crimes at the turn of the 20th century, “Strange Fruit” was shocking, unsparing, and most of all, deeply important. Said Liz Fields for PBS’ “American Masters”, Holiday’s revolutionary song “irked the conservative US government at a time when it was starting to crack down on suspected communists in the entertainment industry and beyond.” In fact, Federal Bureau of Narcotics Commissioner Harry Anslinger framed Holiday for purchasing heroin after she refused to stop performing the legendary civil rights anthem. “Strange Fruit” remains Holiday’s signature song, and an anti-racism hymn for the ages.

Sex Pistols
Yet another song that may not entirely surprise you by its inclusion here, “God Save the Queen” isn’t exactly the pro-monarchy anthem its title may suggest. For the uninitiated, the Sex Pistols were the undisputed godfathers of punk rock, their music a rally cry to a generation of disillusioned British youth. “God Save the Queen” followed suit with the Pistols’ ethos, comparing Queen Elizabeth to a “fascist regime”. Almost immediately, the BBC and British radio stations banned the song for its perceived distasteful nature. The Pistols ultimately won out, and “God Save the Queen” hit #1 on the UK’s NME charts.

Rage Against the Machine
Rap-rock provocateurs Rage were never exactly known for keeping a low profile. The first single off of their self-titled debut album, “Killing in the Name” finds the band raging against police brutality. The topic was particularly spotlighted in the wake of the brutal 1992 Los Angeles riots, a result of the videotaped beating of unarmed Black man Rodney King. In no uncertain terms, the band puts the Los Angeles Police Department and military-industrial complex on blast, even comparing the LAPD to the Ku Klux Klan. Due to the song’s explicit lyrics and heavy political content, “Killing in the Name” was banned by American radio — and its video by the American arm of MTV.

Black Sabbath
Another victim of the post-9/11 Clear Channel memorandum, the British metal icons’ classic anti-war tune is a darkly ironic choice for censorship. The song chastises the titular “war pigs” — or, members of the ruling class who send the poor to fight their battles. Said bassist Geezer Butler, “[War Pigs] wasn't about politics or government or anything. It was Evil itself. So I was saying 'generals gathered in the masses / just like witches at black masses' to make an analog.” As such, it was considered too disturbing for radio play in the aftermath of September 11 — ironic because of its tragic relevance to the then-upcoming War on Terror.

John Lennon
This is one that’s going to take a bit of explaining. After all, what could possibly be so objectionable about a song that calls for world peace, and an end to war? As it turns out… quite a lot, actually. “Imagine” upset religious groups who took issue with its calls to conceive of a world without organized religion. Said Lennon, “Anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic, but because it is sugarcoated it is accepted.” For the reasons listed above, it was included in the aforementioned Clear Channel memorandum. While the list was not an outright ban, but rather a list of discouraging suggestions, the inclusion of “Imagine” only serves to highlight how ridiculous and selective the memorandum’s reasoning was.

Which of these songs are your favorite? Are there any banned songs we missed? Be sure to let us know in the comments!