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Top Comments: 9/11, Lyrically Questionable Music Edition [1]

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Date: 2023-09-11  

I’ve been the author of record for four previous September 11th Top Comments diaries. 2013 doesn’t truly count because we had an unexpected hole in the schedule and I didn’t write about anything topical. In 2011 I reflected on the civility and politeness I noticed the afternoon of 9/11/2001, while in 2010 many Top Commenteers contributed to a collaborative diary on our thoughts at ten years, and I encourage you to read it again. 2018 was a more difficult diary, focusing on my thoughts of coming together as one country while an utter disgrace sat in the Oval Office.

It’s a rough day for many, many people. I was fortunate not to know any of the almost 3000 people who lost their lives to this horrific terrorist attack; in fact, I was deep in grief at the loss one month earlier of my mother. However, this was a generational event like Pearl Harbor, the assassination of JFK or the the Challenger explosion. It will be personally, viscerally traumatic for as long as there are people alive who remember it firsthand. And yet, our national response to this attack shaped our politics, our hypersensitized nationalistic attitude, heightened our xenophobia, and left divisive scars that today are magnified in ways we literally could not have imagined in the twentieth century.

As I considered what to write tonight about this complicated topic, my thoughts (as always) turned to music. While chatting with a musician friend of mine this morning, he reminded me of how in the aftermath of the attacks Clear Channel (now iHeart Media), the largest owner of radio stations in the US, circulated a list of songs deemed “lyrically questionable” to play on their stations. They were not explicitly banned, but anyone who’s ever gotten a ‘recommendation’ from corporate about something knows when “might not want to use these” is actually “do not use these”. Some of the reasons songs were listed include:

Mentioning airplanes, collisions, death, conflict, violence, explosions, the month of September or New York City itself. Mentioning general themes like the sky falling, or weapons. Songs deemed ‘too happy’ or celebratory.

There are quite a few I can at least sort of understand, but some truly mystified me then and continue to do so now. So, 22 years later let’s look at some of the 160+ songs Clear Channel recommended not be played:

Do you remember this? If so did you agree with it? Is this news to you? Thoughts? Peruse the tops then share your thoughts on this or any other topic in the comments!

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