In France, we do not censor the masses. The proof, Florent Pagny was able to sing My freedom of thought without any constraint. Yes, that was the best example I had on hand. But in the world, the freedom to broadcast songs is not always guaranteed. And in some countries, we have simply decided to ban titles. Over there, the government is a bit like the guy on the passenger side in the car: he’s the one who decides what we’re allowed to listen to, and he’s the one who puts his veto on the songs he doesn’t like.
1. Beatles songs have been banned in the Philippines
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You could imagine a whole bunch of political reasons the Beatles were banned in the Philippines, but none would be as dumb as the reality. The real reason is that Ferdinand Marcos, President of the country between 1965 and 1986 (and President of Bad Taste, by the way) didn’t like them because they had snubbed his wife Imelda Marcos. The first lady had sent them an invitation to lunch which they had to refuse because they had already made a commitment, and that really pissed off little Ferdinand. The guy got angry and decided that we would no longer listen to the Beatles in his country. The ban did not last very long, but long enough to understand that Ferdinand Marcos was a kid.
2. “Nini to salite” by MPR is banned in the Democratic Republic of Congo
In November 2021, the DRC banned several songs that criticized the government. Proof, if necessary, that the term “Democratic” present in its name is not really justified. Among these songs, we find Nini to salite, a song by the group MPR (Popular Music of the Revolution) which has passed the million views in a few days on YouTube. The title speaks of the suffering of the Congolese people and directly calls into question the power in place. Suddenly, we can understand that a country with an authoritarian government puts it directly on its blacklist.
3. “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young has been banned in the state of Ohio
On May 4, 1970, a shooting took place at Kent State University in Ohio. The Ohio National Guard fired at students demonstrating peacefully against the Vietnam War, killing 4 among them. A month later, Neil Young and his pals Crosby, Stills and Nash were singing Ohio, a title that tells about this event. The lyrics explain that the “Nixon’s little soldiers” did “Four dead in Ohio”, which obviously did not please the government. The song was banned from most major radio stations and in the state of Ohio, but many independent radio stations continued to broadcast the track in support of musicians and protesters, which propelled it to 14th place in the world. charts. A Streisand effect as we like them.
4. “I Don’t Want to Get Well” by Arthur Fields has been banned by the United States
In 1918, in the midst of World War I, this song came out about a wounded soldier who doesn’t want to get better and return to the front lines because he fell in love with his nurse. The theme is rather funny, but the joke did not make the United States War Department smile so much, which preferred to ban the title for fear that the real soldiers would follow the example of the guy in the song. Not very fun guys.
5. “It’s Wrong (Apartheid)” and Stevie Wonder’s Other Songs Banned in South Africa
In 1985, Apartheid, the segregated regime in South Africa, was still in place. So when Stevie Wonder released It’s Wrong, a song that explains how bad apartheid is, it went badly at the government level. But what really decided the South African Broadcasting Corporation to ban Stevie Wonder’s songs from its radio stations was when the singer received an Oscar the same year and dedicated it to Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner since. 1962. They really didn’t like that.
6. BTS’s “Go Go” banned from showing in South Korea
Surprising as it sounds, several songs by BTS – the world’s most exporting South Korean group – are banned from the airwaves in the land of K-pop. This is the case with the song Go Go, whose words are neither political nor violent. The only reason South Korea has banned it from being broadcast on the radio is that the lyrics contain slang expressions like “Yolo Yolo”. We must believe that the Korean authorities are worth our French Academicians in the category “Big boomers”.
7. A lot of songs are banned in karaoke in China
Well, already, China is one of the biggest countries in terms of censorship, so a lot of songs are banned there, but one news in particular made us laugh in 2021. Indeed, China has decided to ban songs. songs IN KARAOKE because they could “threaten national security”. I don’t know if they’ve been to karaoke guys before, but it rarely kicks off revolutions. Among the forbidden songs, we find At the will of the people, taken from the musical Les Misérables and became a hymn for protesters in Hong Kong. We hope that they will leave them For you to love me again Celine Dion otherwise there will really be no good reason to live in China.