Radio Vox Populi

Some people deliberately set out to shock but sometimes radio stations can be way to jittery! There’s plenty of music that’s memorable for not being played at all.

Hip-hop and rock artists are usual victims of music censorship when certain words are bleeped or blanked out so as not to offend anyone. Basically any album that has an advisory or warning sticker on the outside will be edited in some way to receive any airplay. But as you can see, radio censorship is not a new occurrence…

1940s

Incredibly enough, the banning of particular records on the radio was happening from the very early days of the medium too. Some of the early banned material was quite amusing though, such as George Formby’s single “When I’m Cleaning Windows”. The lyrics in part of the song were thought to be smutty, but you’d see birthday cards today that are smuttier than the song was back then.

George Formby “When I’m Cleaning Windows”

The blushing bride she looks divine
The bridegroom he is doing fine
I’d rather have his job than mine
When I’m cleaning windows

1970s

The release of the Sex Pistols “God Save The Queen” coincided with her majesty’s Silver Jubilee. Its lyrics and cover artwork were highly controversial at the time, leading both the BBC and Independent Broadcasting Authority to ban the song from their airwaves.

Sex Pistols “God Save The Queen”

God save the queen!
The fascist regime

Nevertheless the track reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart. There’s also been widespread accusations that the singles chart was fixed to prevent the song from reaching #1.

1980s

“Relax” was released by Frankie Goes to Hollywood back in 1983. It didn’t do that well initially but once the band had appeared on the British TV program Top of the Pops and it was banned from the BBC, the record enjoyed a huge surge in popularity. Such is the nature of controversy. The record is played now from time to time without anyone batting an eyelid.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood “Relax”

Relax don’t do it
When you want to come

1990s

Rage Against the Machine are routinely banned or censored for their leftist politics and anti-authoritarian lyrics. The even moreso controversial 2001 Clear Channel memorandum indicated “all songs” by RATM to be “lyrically questionable”, suggesting  that its more than 1,200 might now want to play in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. RATM’s most infamous and most popular song “Killing in the Name” ends with an intensifying refrain that’s repeated 17 times of:

F*ck you, I won’t do what you tell me!
Mother*cker!

Rage Against the Machine “Killing in the Name”

In December 2009, a Facebook group was launched encouraging people to buy the single in order to prevent The X Factor winner from achieving the Christmas #1 on the U.K. Singles Chart for the fifth straight year. In a “wonderful dose of anarchy”, the campaign struck a chord with the public, and “Killing in the Name” gained the number one spot selling more than 500,000 copies. The proceeds were donated to charity and the band traveled to London in June 2010 and played a free thank-you gig for 40,000 fans.

2000s

Image via Wikipedia

Nowadays, artists know they hav to contend with censorship on the radio. Most even record or release a ‘radio edit’ of their songs in anticipation. But that just means that artists are becoming a little bit savvier in trying to get around it….

Take the Britney Spears track “If You Seek Amy”. Now say the title 3 times fast – does it resemble an “F-U-C-K Me”? The chorus’ double entendre made some U.S. radio stations uneasy and renamed it as “If You See Amy”, while some other countries didn’t spot the potential faux pas at all!

Britney Spears “If You Seek Amy”

Love me, hate me, say what you want about me
But all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek Amy

Other recent tracks to be censored include Cee-Lo’s “F*ck You”, which was renamed on radio as “Forget You”, and The Black Eyed Peas “Let’s Get Retarded” to “Let’s Get It Started”.

Other songs have been renamed – even when there were no cuss words involved at all! The Black Eyed Peas single “Don’t Phunk with My Heart” was reedited “Don’t Mess with My Heart”, just in case sensitive listeners misheard the lyrics and took offense.

Different radio stations in different parts of the country, and even may be deemed unplayable in one county or country could be fine to play in another. In Malaysia, the word “cigarette” is banned from Lady Gaga’s song “Alejandro”. Excessive or appropriate?

The history of radio is a long and illustrious one. In today’s modern world, where we have television and the internet, you’d be forgiven for thinking that radio could have died out somewhere along the way. But it’s still alive and kicking, and playing an essential role in the lives of many.

The biggest moment in the history of radio would arguably be the invention of radio itself, but this is notoriously hard to pin down. If you look back at history you can see the precursors to the invention of radio as far back as the 1820s, along with names like Michael Faraday and Heinrich Rudolf Hertz.

It wasn’t until Nikola Tesla made a breakthrough in the latter years of the 19th century that radio as we know it today came to fruition. The first radio patent for was granted in 1896, and from then on things started moving quickly. Wireless telegraphy began to be used from 1899 onwards.

Tesla demonstrating wireless transmissions during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891. Tesla later presented the fundamentals of radio in 1893.

It would be a few more years before the first broadcasts were made over the radio on a regular basis. This took place in 1916 and even then they were limited to Morse Code. It would be another three years before people would hear a voice over the radio, marking another major event in the history of the radio itself.

News reports were broadcast over the radio from around 1920 onwards, just a couple of years after the First World War ended. In truth radio didn’t really hit the airwaves properly until the 1920s, when more and more people had radios in their homes.  There were also more radio channels being organized and broadcast.

Another major problem was soon discovered as more and more stations were started and broadcast by more people. Eventually interference started to degrade the signals you could hear, and that was the point when regulation came in. It was a necessary evil and meant that after some rules were laid down, everyone could enjoy better and clearer radio signals.

Perhaps the next major turning point in the history of radio was the Second World War. Since the First World War was over by the time radio really kicked into action, this was the first big opportunity for the radio to become an essential source of news.

But soon after this when television really made its grand entrance, radio was very nearly doomed altogether.

It’s understandable that radio should be neglected for a while as television took over. This was more than just sound – it had moving images which only increased in quality. But radio hung on and soon stabilized once again.

Throughout its history, radio has really come of age and gone into the 21st century now. With so much to offer and so much history behind it, it’s certain that radio will still be here for a long time to come .