What was the first song banned for being too erotic?
Every generation has had its fair share of sleaze. But as a mid-1990s baby, my childhood ran through perhaps one of music’s most overt eras, where the sort of pop trash that played at my school discos was littered with not-so-subtle innuendoes. With an open collared flame shirt on and a fruit shoot clutched firmly in my hand, I brazenly sang about my milkshake bringing all the boys to the yard.
But it doesn’t matter really, because sexuality in music is ultimately unavoidable. If love is the most common subject in music, then sex will only be close behind. Whether it is underhandedly presented through confectionery or boldly described as being on fire, it’s always going to be in the popular charts and on the tip of everyone’s tongue, no matter the age.
The general consensus is that society has liberalised with time. Widely speaking, art is supposedly reflective of that movement, with fashion, cinema and music all celebrating a stronger sense of liberal sexuality with each moving year. Well, that’s definitely the case for the two former mentioned art forms but music, well sex has always been at the forefront.
The Rolling Stones regularly exercised their animalistic demons in music, with ‘Brown Sugar’ in particular, testing the boundaries of what was deemed acceptable in popular music. Even though the lyrics most definitely weren’t acceptable, it somehow managed to escape any citation from broadcasting powers and remained on the airwaves. But their equally as sexual, but far less derogatory track ‘Let’s Spend The Night Together’ was, in fact, banned in China for its overt messaging.
The Rolling Stones marketed themselves as societal outlaws, and so the banning was merely water off a duck’s back. If anything, it boosted the PR of their anti-establishment leanings, which won the hearts of young fans. The same goes for Serge Gainsbourg, whose track with Jane Birkin, ‘Je t’aime… moi non plus’, was similarly banned for its unapologetic sexuality.
But Olivia Newton-John was more of a commercial darling, and so broadcasting powers were aghast when she released ‘Physical’, a clearly obvious song about sex wrapped up in what she hoped would be a palatable exercise metaphor.
The banning of all these songs over other, more offensive examples suggests that the requirements for banning simply hinge on the song’s potential to be a commercial hit. With that considered, it comes as no surprise that the first song to be banned for being too erotic wasn’t exactly sonic pornography.
Donna Summer’s sultry disco hit ‘Love to Love You Baby’ went on to enjoy massive commercial success, but not thanks to the radio stations, which decided to make their debut with the song due to its simulated sex noises.
What’s the strangest instance of a song being banned?
It’s not just sexuality that prevents music from hitting the airwaves. Anything from violence, drug use, or overt politicism can get songs taken down, and in history, there have been some truly bizarre circumstances whereby those guidelines have been misinterpreted. After all, art is a lucid concept, and it’s truly hard to pin any expression down to one explicit meaning. In doing so, broadcasters have historically got themselves in some awkward situations.
For instance, Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ was banned simply for being too depressing, while Abba’s feel-good dancefloor hit ‘Waterloo’ was taken off the airwaves for the simple fear of it inciting violence given its references to a historic battle. Yes, I’m being serious.
But perhaps the saddest of them all was Queen’s ‘I Want To Break Free’. What should have been perceived as an earnest take on Mercury trying to liberate his own sexuality and identity was instead turned into the culture’s worst example of homophobia. The famous music video that celebrates the band in feminine clothing was taken down for merely being “too homosexual”. Not only was it a move that harmed the wider fight for sexual equality, but it was a wild oversight of the song’s lyrical content, compounding the very sentiment that Mercury addresses.
