Clear_Channel_memorandum

Clear Channel memorandum

Clear Channel memorandum

Memorandum listing songs discouraged from being played after the September 11 attacks

Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia), the largest owner of radio stations in the United States, circulated an internal memorandum containing a list of songs[1] that program directors felt were "lyrically questionable" to play in the aftermath of the attacks.[2]

During the time immediately after the attacks, many television and radio stations altered normal programming in response to the events, and the rumor spread that Clear Channel and its subsidiaries had established a list of songs with lyrics Clear Channel deemed "questionable."[3] The list was not an explicit demand not to play the songs listed, but rather a suggestion that they "might not want to play these songs." The list was made public by the independent radio industry newsletter Hits Daily Double, which was not affiliated with iHeartMedia.[4] Snopes.com did research on the subject and concluded that the list did exist as a suggestion for radio stations but noted that it was not an outright ban on the songs in question.[5] The compiled list was the subject of media attention around the time of its release.[5]

The list contains 165 suggestions, including a single suggestion for each song in Rage Against the Machine's entire catalogue at the time (49 songs) and covers of certain songs (such as Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and the cover by Guns N' Roses).[6] In some cases, only certain covers were included on the list: for example, the cover of "Smooth Criminal" by Alien Ant Farm is on the list while the original Michael Jackson recording is not; similarly, Martha and the Vandellas' original version of "Dancing in the Street" and Van Halen's cover are included, but David Bowie and Mick Jagger's cover is not.

Reasons for inclusions

The Clear Channel memorandum contains songs that, in their titles or lyrics, vaguely refer to open subjects intertwined with the September 11 attacks, such as airplanes, collisions, death, conflict, violence, explosions, the month of September, and New York City, as well as general concepts that could be connected to aspects of the attacks, such as the sky falling, and weapons. Also included under the ban were several happy and celebratory songs (famously including Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World"), as Clear Channel believed playing joyful music in the aftermath of the attacks was inappropriate.

WASH, a Clear Channel-owned station in Washington, D.C., reportedly played Kool & the Gang's "Celebration" while the memorandum was being circulated, "which brought a polite if reproachful call from one listener, who was assured by the station the song's broadcast was a mistake."[5]

List of songs

More information Artist, Song title ...
  1. [N 1]
    "When You're Falling" is listed as being by Peter Gabriel, but is actually by Afro Celt Sound System, with Gabriel as guest vocalist.
  2. [N 2]
    The original name of the song was "Speed Kills", but following the attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush renamed the song "The People That We Love".
  3. [N 3]
    "Suicide Solution" is listed as being by Black Sabbath, but is actually by Ozzy Osbourne, a lead singer of Black Sabbath.

While not listed in the memorandum, Cold's "Bleed" was similarly retitled (to "Thirteen") around this same time.[8]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "The fallout over Clear Channel's (possibly apocryphal) do-not-play list lasted well past 9/11". Washington Post. October 8, 2021. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  2. [2]
    Wishnia, Steven (October 24, 2001). "Bad Transmission: Clear Channel's Hit List". Reviews. LiP magazine. Archived from the original on April 16, 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2011.
  3. [3]
    Kaufman, Gil (September 9, 2021). "Filter's Richard Patrick, Don McLean, Drowning Pool, Saliva & More Talk Post-9/11 Clear Channel Radio Scrub". Billboard. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  4. [4]
    Dutton, Jeremy; Puchert, William. (October 10, 2001). "Music industry responds to terrorism". Zephyr. Archived from the original on June 20, 2008. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  5. [5]
    "Radio, Radio". Snopes.com. September 18, 2001. Archived from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  6. [6]
    Truitt, Eliza (September 17, 2001). "It's the End of the World as Clear Channel Knows It". Slate.com. Archived from the original on October 15, 2007. Retrieved September 14, 2007. Slate published what it claimed was a copy of the list.
  7. [7]
    Hatcher, Thurston (September 20, 2001). "Radio stations retool playlists after attacks". CNN. Archived from the original on August 23, 2021. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  8. [8]
    "World Radio History" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 31, 2023. Retrieved December 23, 2022.

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