Banned by the Beeb

10 reasons the BBC has banned hit songs, according to mentalfloss.com

PROSTITUTION In 1930 Cole Porter's ballad about a happy hooker, 'Love for Sale', was banned for its ambiguity about prostitution. DRUGS In 1993, obvious references to drugs got The Shamen's ‘Ebeneezer Goode’ banned - the refrain went ‘eeeezer Goode, eeeezer Goode’. Get it? ‘Es are good’? VIOLENCE Louis Armstrong's ‘Mack the Knife’ was banned in 1959 because of worries that its jazzy tune might incite gang violence. SEX In 1984, Frankie Goes To Hollywood's ‘Relax’ was deemed too explicitly sexual. Radio 1 DJ Mike Read called the lyrics ‘disgusting’ and yanked the record off the turntable live on air. POLITICS In 1972 Paul McCartney's ‘Give Ireland Back to the Irish’ was banned for its anti-British message. In 1977, the Sex Pistols’ ‘God Save The Queen’ was banned for its antiestablishment message. SAPPY LYRICS Bing Crosby's ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas’ wasn't allowed on BBC airwaves in World War II because controllers felt that the lyrics might lower morale in troops overseas. TEEN DEATH In 1960, the BBC banned Ricky Valance's version of ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’, a song about a boy called Tommy who dies in a car crash during a drag race. SPOOKINESS Bobby Pickett's ‘Monster Mash’ was banned from the airwaves in 1962 on the grounds that it was ‘too morbid’. IRRELIGIOUS REFERENCES TO HEAVEN In 1954, Don Cornell's ‘Hold My Hand’ was banned because it compares his relationship to heaven. AWESOME DRUM BEATS? Phil Collins's ‘In The Air Tonight’ was banned during the Gulf War, because... of its dark, atmospheric drumming? The Beeb also banned The Cure's ‘Killing an Arab’, for obvious reasons, and John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, for not so obvious reasons, during the Gulf War.