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Clear Channel memorandum

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In the days following the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., many television and radio stations altered normal programming in response to the events. During this period, a list of "songs with questionable lyrics" purported to be from radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications to its subsidiaries began to circulate on the internet. The actual origin of the list within Clear Channel is not clear: some sources claim that a small list was initially generated by program directors at the Clear Channel central office, while others have described it as a "grass-roots" effort among the company's program directors who originated, shared and added to the list via e-mail exchanges. Similarly, the intent of the list is unclear: many versions of the list included text indicating that the songs had been "banned" from airplay, while Clear Channel representatives have consistently stated that the list was the result of informal communication between employees attempting to react appropriately to the situation and was never an official mandate from the corporation to its subsidiaries.

Whatever its origins, a list containing about 150 songs was soon circulating widely and became the subject of numerous news reports and commentaries. Online discussions and commentary focused on the criteria for choosing the songs, which were derided as unreasonable and inconsistent. A number of songs were apparently placed on the list just because they had specific words such as plane, fly, or falling in their titles. Many people found it particularly ludicrous that John Lennon's "Imagine" was one of the songs listed.

Many individual stations did play songs from the list; conversely many stations also refrained from playing songs not on the list, due to lyrical content or simply because the music's tone or style seemed inappropriate. As the list apparently had no official status within Clear Channel, it also had no expiration date or retraction, and stations gradually returned many songs to their playlists.

Many versions of the list were circulated; the most commonly-cited and extensive version is detailed below. The songs are listed alphabetically by artist.


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0-9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

  • Queen - "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Killer Queen"

R

S

T

U

  • U2 - "Sunday Bloody Sunday"

V

W

Y

Z

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See also

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