List of singles banned by the BBC

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Censorship
Part of the series on

By Country
Algeria Australia Belarus Bhutan Burma Canada China Cuba East Germany France Germany India Indonesia Iran Ireland Israel Japan	Malaysia Pakistan Portugal Russia Samoa Saudi Arabia Singapore South Asia North Korea Soviet Union Sweden Taiwan Thailand Tunisia Turkey United Kingdom United States
See also: Freedom of speech by country
By media
Advertisements Anime Books Films	Re-edited films Internet Music Video games
By channel
BBC	MTV
By method
Book burning Bleep censor Broadcast delay Content-control software Expurgation Pixelization Postal censorship Prior restraint Self-censorship Whitewashing Gag order
By context
Corporate censorship Under fascist regimes Political censorship In religion This box: view • talk • edit

The BBC is the United Kingdom's public service broadcasting corporation and, as such, it has always felt some obligation to standards of taste and decency, to varying levels, at different times in its history. Its "auntie knows best" attitude earned it the nickname of "Auntie BBC" or "Auntie Beeb".

One consequence of this attitude has been the BBC's decision to ban particular records from being played on air. The justification for such bans has included the use of foul language in lyrics, explicit sexual content, supposed drug references (a particularly controversial issue during the late 1960s) and controversial political subject matter, as well as some much less common and unusual justifications. This policy has been seen as highly controversial and heavily criticised at times, sometimes within the BBC itself. While the ban on some of these songs has been officially lifted, other songs have never been officially cleared for airing on BBC radio, and their status is uncertain - in some cases, records which have been banned have since been played on BBC radio without any official announcement that the ban has ended (such as the Beatles' 'A Day in the Life'). The BBC has claimed in recent years that they no longer ban any records - however some songs, such as The Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up, are simply not played (or in some cases, not played before 9pm) without any official announcement of a ban.

This category contains information about records which have been banned by the BBC over the years. Some were banned for only a limited time, and have since received BBC airplay - others have never been played to this day and appear to be subject to an indefinite ban.