Showing posts with label Rage Against The Machine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rage Against The Machine. Show all posts

Sunday, 3 August 2025

Snapshots #407: Fifteen Banned Records

Hello! Thank you for joining me. 

This weekend, we had a list of records that were banned from the radio... for one reason or another...


15. Hello In There old lady.

In the John Prine song Hello In There, the old lady is called Loretta.

Loretta Lynn - The Pill

Banned by a lot of US radio stations because it promoted promiscuity (!)

14. Person Wanted: apply within.

Person Wanted

Not quite sure why this one was banned...

NWA - Fuck Da Police

13. Clio: Papa?

Remember the Renault Clio adverts with Papa and Nicole?

Nicole - A Little Peace

One of many, many songs banned by the BBC during The Gulf War because... well, we wouldn't want anyone singing about peace, now would we? 

12. Six topless fools. (What do you mean there's only four?)

"Six topless" was an anagram.

Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen

Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK

By banning these two records, the BBC forced John Lydon into a life of poverty that he was only able to claw his way out of by selling butter.

11. Cyclone, Oblivion, Steel Vengeance.

Three famous roller... coasters.

The Coasters - Charlie Brown

Banned in 1959 because it might encourage little kids to throw "spitballs". 

Setting fire to the auditorium was fine though.

10. Former egg yob goes straight.

"Former egg yob" was an anagram for this famous jockey / singer...

George Formby - With My Little Ukulele In My Hand

George Formby - With My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock

Both banned because he was clearly using a euphemism for his penis. 

George Formby - When I'm Cleaning Windows

Also banned, because of some of the things he sees while doing his job.

Naughty, naughty, George - very naughty. To quote another banned record

9. "Right! Well, don't say I haven't warned you! I've laid it on the line for you time and time again! Right! So, this is it! I'm gonna give you a damn good thrashing!"

That, of course, was Basil Fawlty taking his frustrations out on his Austin 1100 Countryman.

Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name

Banned by the BBC because of the repeated line "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me". Bruno Brookes then "accidentally" played the whole thing on the chart show. And in November 2008, it was "accidentally" played to shoppers in an Asda supermarket in Preston. Asda apologised.

8. Hooligan deflowers Tokyo... that's very disturbed!

"Hooligan deflowers Tokyo" was an anagram.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax

Banned by the BBC for its "overtly sexual" lyrics, this became the third biggest selling single of 1984.

7. Quartz has an annoying Paddy.

Paddy is an annoying McGuinness. Flint is a type of quartz.

McGuinness Flint - Let The People Go

Like Paul McCartney's infamous "Give Ireland Back to the Irish", this was banned in 1972 because it referred to the Ulster Crisis in Northern Ireland.

6. Everybody's favourites.

First Choice – Armed and Extremely Dangerous

Another song banned during The Gulf War, along with Sailing by Rod Stewart and In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins. Add your own witty comment here.

5. Atticus's client.

In To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus is defending Tom Robinson.

Tom Robinson – Glad To Be Gay

What's more shocking, that Tom felt the need to write this protest song in 1978... or that the BBC refused to play it?

4. Bond musician meets Sugartime Sisters.

The Bond composer is John Barry. Sugartime was a hit for The McGuire Sisters.

Barry McGuire - Eve Of Destruction

Another song banned for daring to point out that war is bad, m'kay?

3. Don't wink, Leila... keep it inside!

Twinkle - Terry

Banned because she had an affair and drove her boyfriend to suicide (possibly) in the lyrics.

2. Boots beauty products - made for angels!

Heaven 17 – (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang

Banned because fascists don't like being called fascists.

1. Whiz kids.


Nope, I'm stumped again.

The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up


Don't worry, you have not been banned from playing Snapshots. You are free to join us again next Saturday.

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

My Top Ten Jukebox Songs




Ten songs celebrating the best way to get rid of your loose change on a Saturday night.


Special mention to Jukebox The Ghost... and Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox (check out their cover of All About That Bass... so much nicer than the original.)



10. Glenn Miller - Jukebox Saturday Night

Knocks The Rubettes - Jukebox Jive out of the Top Ten, largely because of the trumpet of Harry James... and the fact that my dad is a huge Glenn Miller fan.

9. Young Marble Giants - Wurlitzer Jukebox

Taken from their only album, 1980's off-kilter classic Colossal Youth; this sounds like nothing else around... then or now.

8. Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers - If I Can’t Trust You With A Quarter (How Can I Trust You With My Heart?)

There were plenty of country songs to choose from this week, but this one wins because it has the best title... and also kind of retells the story of our Number One song, with a less successful outcome.

You can call me stubborn
You can call me a snob
You can even call me downright mean...
But I’ve got the finest record collection
That you’ve ever seen


If you prefer your country a little more old style yee-haw, can I point you towards the splendidly monikered Dick Curless and his dynamic duo: Jukebox Man and Drop Some Silver In The Jukebox.

7. Saint Etienne - Haunted Jukebox

Bob Stanley's evocative lyrics + Sarah Cracknell's breathy vocals = pure bliss.

I was just 15
In November '82
When I would meet you after school
And there was bonfires on Halloween
Frosty little windows
All the songs we used to listen to each time...


6. The Beautiful South - Hidden Jukebox

Paul Heaton's doing pretty well around these parts lately, hardly a week goes by that he doesn't crop up in one form or another. Here he is railing against both bigots and the establishment (and the bigoted establishment) and proposing some interesting trade agreements via his hidden jukebox...

5. Rage Against The Machine - Hadda Be Playing On The Jukebox

I don't claim to be the world's biggest RATM fan, but here they nick an old Allen Ginsberg poem and do amazing things with it. If you're gonna call yourself Rage Against The Machine, you need to live up to that name!

4. Foreigner - Jukebox Hero

Could be the best thing Somerset's Mick Jones and New York's Lou Gramm ever did together. Though they're far more well known for wanting to know what love is, this one rocks the jukebox just like it should. Used to great effect in the musical / movie Rock of Ages too...

3. Trembling Blue Stars - Abba on the Jukebox

One for John Peel fans, evoking memories of a holiday romance through snapshot lyrics. The least rock 'n' roll record on this list, but it works beautifully.

A lighthouse sending its light
Out across Thurso bay at night
To Blakeney Point and back again
Walking in the ruins
Of Binham Priory
Abba on the jukebox at Par Sands
A two way trip on the Bodinnick ferry


2. The Jam - Pretty Green

I picked up a pristine copy of Sound Affects (the album this comes from) for just £1 from the local charity shop a couple of weeks back. Bargain - even though I already owned most of the songs on various compilations. Weller's "pretty green" is outdated now as pound notes are no longer in existence... but even when they were, he wouldn't have been able to put them in his jukebox and play all the records in the hit parade, since jukeboxes only take coins. Or am I taking that a bit too literally?

1. Joan Jett - I Love Rock 'n' Roll

If you don't believe this should be Number One, I suggest you watch the video and then reassess your rear ass from your elbow. Not only does red-leather clad Joan know she's met her teenage heartthrob (cradle snatcher!) just because of the song he picks, she also manages to reference that other popular term for a jukebox - a "record machine". Hell, it rhymes with more things that jukebox, which is why Chuck Berry, Van Halen and even Glenn Miller shoehorned it into to their lyrics too. Maybe I'll do a Top Ten Record Machine Songs some other time so I can play Joan again.

The video manages to be both terrifically wild and incredibly tame (by today's standards), and to paraphrase Kris Kristofferson... if you don't love Joan Jett, then you can kiss my arse...





Which one would you spend your last pound coin to hear again?
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