10 controversial rock videos banned from MTV
Although musicians had been performing live on television for several decades before the inception of MTV, the concept of the stylised music video, almost like a short film, was not widespread. However, in 1981, MTV was launched, hoping to attract a large, pop-culture-oriented young audience.
The first music video to air on the channel was The Buggles’ ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’, a very apt title for their first broadcast. It didn’t take long for the network to become a huge sensation, allowing artists to reach a wider audience than ever before.
Writing for Rolling Stone in 1983, Parke Puterbaugh explained, “MTV has paved the way for a host of invaders from abroad: Def Leppard, Adam Ant, Madness, Eurythmics, the Fixx and Billy Idol, to name a few.” However, with the proliferation of music videos entering the mainstream, MTV was faced with certain moral decisions, often choosing to ban videos that contained graphic sexual, religious or violent imagery.
So, from Nine Inch Nail’s bizarre sexually-charged music video for ‘Closer’, to Neil Young’s Michael Jackson spoof ‘This Note’s For You’, here are ten rock and alternative music videos that faced an MTV ban.
10 rock music videos banned by MTV:
‘A Tout Le Monde’ – Megadeth
Heavy metal rockers Megadeth released ‘A Tout Le Monde’ in 1995, taken from their sixth album Youthanasia. The song was contentious from the get-go due to its lyrics, interpreted by many as pro-suicide. Dave Mustaine sings, “à tout le monde, à tous mes amis, je vous aime, je dois partir,” which translates to “to the whole world, to all my friends, I love you, I have to go.” It didn’t help that Mustaine can be seen digging a grave in the video – leading to its imminent ban.
In response to MTV’s ban, Mustaine explained (via the Arsenal of Megadeth DVD), “It’s not a suicide song. What it is, it’s, you, it’s when people have a loved one that dies, and they end on a bad note, you know, they wish that they could say something to them.”
‘Body Language’ – Queen
Queen’s ‘Body Language’ video was actually the first to receive a ban from MTV back in 1982. With lyrics such as “Just give me your body” and “Long legs, great thighs/You’ve got the cutest ass I’ve ever seen,” the video was appropriately sexual, much to the annoyance of MTV. Although the band members are clothed, and there is no explicit nudity from the extras, the amount of nude flesh and seductive imagery, such as biting and writhing around, was enough for the video to receive a ban.
The band also faced MTV’s wrath two years later when the video for ‘I Want To Break Free’ was also prohibited from the channel because of its supposed promotion of cross-dressing.
‘Closer’ – Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails released ‘Closer’ as the second single from their sophomore album, The Downward Spiral, in 1994. The seductive track remains one of their most popular hits, notable for its striking lyrics, such as “I wanna fuck you like an animal/ I wanna feel you from the inside.” Naturally, the provocative track needed an equally controversial music video, so Trent Reznor and his crew enlisted the help of Mark Romanek.
The result was an unsettling collection of images, including a beating human heart connected to a device, a frightened monkey tied to a crucifix, nudity and Reznor wearing BDSM attire. The video was significantly edited down to be played on MTV, with many “scene missing” intertitles appearing over the explicit imagery. The fully uncensored version is now available to watch on YouTube.
‘Girls Girls Girls’ – Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe’s ‘Girls Girls Girls’ is aggressively American, opening with the lines “Friday night and I need a fight/ My motorcycle and a switchblade knife/ Handful of grease in my hair feels right.” As Vince Neil sings about his love of women, the music video depicts the band at a strip club, watching half-naked girls dance for their enjoyment.
Director Wayne Isham sent an uncensored video version to MTV, including topless imagery. However, the network banned the video from the air due to its sexually explicit nature. Eventually, a heavily edited version was deemed suitable for showing on the channel. This updated version, featuring bikini-clad women, was, unsurprisingly, a hit.
‘Jesus Christ Pose’ – Soundgarden
MTV was not impressed with Soundgarden’s supposedly blasphemous use of religious imagery in the ‘Jesus Christ Pose’ video, which featured a woman nailed to a cross. The band released a press statement alongside the song’s release, which reassured, “‘Jesus Christ Pose,’ despite the song’s title, has no religious meaning. It doesn’t have anything to do with religion or my view on it.”
“It just has to do with people exploiting a symbol. I think it’s silly for other people to exploit it on the basis that it is sacred. Sometimes songs just beg for ideas like that or certain titles, and then they end up with them – which will probably never be understood because people will just see the title of the song and make a monster out of it.”
‘Killed By Death’ – Motörhead
Motörhead’s 1982 single ‘Killed By Death’ was accompanied by a video shot on a low budget, resulting in a rather funny series of images. The video opens with a conservative-looking couple sitting in their living room, telling their daughter she’s not going out dressed in such skimpy clothing. However, Lemmy bursts through the wall on his motorbike, whisking her away and sticking his middle finger up at the camera.
Soon enough, he’s gunned down by riot police and killed in an electric chair. However, at his funeral, he resurrects on the back of his bike and rides away with the girl from the start of the video. It was banned due to “excessive and senseless violence,” claimed MTV.
‘Low’ – Foo Fighters
Dave Grohl partnered up with his good friend Jack Black for a 2003 Foo Fighters music video, ‘Low’. The pair starred as hillbillies, quickly escalating their drunken fun by dressing up in wigs and lingerie. They trash the hotel, filming each other with a handheld camcorder, progressively acting more suggestively, at specific points jokingly appearing as though they’re engaging in sexual acts.
Despite the fun Grohl and Black seemed to be having, MTV ultimately banned the video for its provocative content. In an interview with NME, Foo Fighters’ guitarist Chris Shiflett explained, “It’s Dave and Jack Black being incredibly sketchy. It’s white-trash porn. Dave’s a big man to let the world see him in that way. It’s a side of Dave Grohl you’ve never seen before!”
‘Pagan Poetry’ – Björk
Icelandic legend Björk is known for her captivating videos, illuminating her innovative music even further. In 2001, she released her fourth album, Vespertine, which contained the stunning single ‘Pagan Poetry’. The album chronicles the process of falling in love, with this song acting as one of the album’s most intimate and sexually-charged moments. In the video, Björk appeared naked, wearing a dress by Alexander McQueen that features pearls sewn into the skin.
We see needles threading through people’s skin and even blurry images of Björk performing fellatio and having sex. Due to the graphic nature of the video, MTV banned it from airing. However, in a series about the most controversial music videos of all time, MTV2 showed the full video.
‘Prison Sex’ – Tool
After the video for Tool’s 1993 single ‘Prison Sex’ began airing on MTV, it was quickly pulled. It featured a stop-motion animation of a robotic doll who is abused by a dark figure, alluding to uncomfortable themes of child abuse. Tool’s Maynard James Keenan told the San Francisco Chronicle, “What got to me about the whole situation was, here you have these other videos where Steven Tyler’s daughter is stripping in front of old men, or where Janet Jackson is practically having oral sex.”
He added, “I kind of find that disturbing, yet it’s something that’s just thrown in people’s laps and they don’t think twice about it. So I guess anything that deals with that sort of subject matter [in ‘Prison Sex’] is going to end up hitting road blocks.”
‘This Note’s For You’ – Neil Young
Folk legend Neil Young has always been a figure of revolution, frequently penning protest songs that were a hit during the countercultural hippie movement. For his 1988 song ‘This Note’s For You’, Young employed Julien Temple to direct a music video that parodied popular music. A scene where a Michael Jackson impersonator’s hair catches fire resulted in the King of Pop threatening legal action, leading to its MTV ban.
However, once the song found success on MuchMusic, MTV decided to retire their decision and play the video. Still, Young was not impressed with the station, writing them an open letter which said, “What does the M in MTV stand for – music or money?” MTV ended up awarding ‘This Note’s For You’ ‘Best Video of the Year’ at the MTV Video Music Awards.
