What is Freedom Fries Radio?
Freedom Fries Radio came into being after perusing the list of songs banned during the Gulf War, Gulf War II, and after 9/11.
Most of these songs and bands were banned by some authority or another.
The Big List of Censored Songs
All these recordings were banned during the gulf war in 1990:
- Jose Felicano & The Doors, “Light My Fire”
- Something Happens, “Parachute”
- The Cure, “Killing an Arab”
- Little angels, “Bone yard”
- Massive Attack had the word “attack” dropped during the gulf war
- Bomb the Bass also suffered during this period
“The Word” listed 64 songs on its February 1st program that BBC Radio have deemed ‘unsuitable’ to play during the first Gulf Crisis:
- Abba, “Waterloo”
- A-ha, “Hunting High And Low”
- Alarm, “68 Guns”
- Animals, “We Got To Get Out Of This Place”
- Arrival, “I Will Survive”
- Joan Baez, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”
- Bangles, “Walk Like An Egyptian”
- The Beatles, “Back In The USSR”
- Pat Benetar, “Love Is A Battlefield”
- Big Country, “Fields Of Fire”
- Blondie, “Atomic”
- Boomtown Rats, “Don’t Like Mondays”
- Brook Bros., “Warpaint”
- Arthur Brown, “Fire”
- Kate Bush, “Army Dreamers”
- Cher, “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)”
- Eric Clapton, “I Shot The Sheriff”
- Phil Collins, “In The Air Tonight”
- Cutting Crew, “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight”
- Skeeter Davies, “End Of The World”
- Desmond Dekker, “Israelites”
- Dire Straits, “Brothers In Arms”
- Duran Duran, “View To A Kill”
- Jose Feliciano, “Light My Fire”
- First Choice, “Armed And Extremely Dangerous”
- Roberta Flack, “Killing Me Softly”
- Frankie Goes To Hollywood, “Two Tribes”
- Eddie Grant, “Living On The Frontline”
- Eddie Grant, “Give Me Hope Joanna”
- Elton John, “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting”
- Johnny Hates Jazz, “I Don’t Want To Be A Hero”
- John Lennon, “Give Peace A Chance”
- John Lennon, “Imagine”
- Jona Louis, “Stop The Cavalry”
- Lulu Boom, “Bang A Bang”
- McGuinness Flint, “When I’m Dead And Gone”
- Bob Marley, “Buffalo Soldier”
- Maria Muldaur, “Midnight At The Oasis”
- M*A*S*H, “Suicide Is Painless”
- Mike And The Mechanics, “Silent Running”
- Rick Nelson, “Fools Rush In”
- Nicole, “A Little Peace”
- Billy Ocean, “When The Going Gets Tough”
- Donny Osmond, “Soldier Of Love”
- Paper Lace, “Billy Don’t Be A Hero”
- Queen, “Killer Queen”
- Queen, “Flash”
- Martha Reeves, “Forget Me Not”
- B.A. Robertson, “Bang Bang”
- Tom Robinson, “War Baby”
- Kenny Rogers, “Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love To Town)”
- Spandau Ballet, “I’ll Fly For You”
- Specials, “Ghost Town”
- Bruce Springsteen, “I’m On Fire”
- Edwin Starr, “War”
- Status Quo, “In The Army Now”
- Status Quo, “Burning Bridges”
- Cat Stevens, “I’m Gonna Get Me A Gun”
- Rod Stewart, “Sailing”
- Donna Summer, “State Of Independence”
- Tears For Fears, “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”
- Temptations, “Ball Of Confusion”
- 10 CC, “Rubber Bullets”
- Stevie Wonder, “Heaven Help Us All”
See http://www.rocklist.net/banned.html for other banned and “questionable” songs.
Here is the list of songs deemed “lyrically questionable” by Clear Channel after 9/11. Note that there’s no proof that Clear Channel actually prevented their affiliates from playing any songs (see the Snopes article for reference), but any time you say a song shouldn’t be played, you are opening the door to censorship (See ABC News for the article):
- Alice In Chains, “Rooster”
- Alice In Chains, “Sea of Sorrow”
- Alice In Chains, “Down in a Hole”
- Alice In Chains, “Them Bones”
- Beastie Boys, “Sure Shot”
- Beastie Boys, “Sure Shot”
- Beastie Boys, “Sabotage”
- The Cult, “Fire Woman”
- Everclear, “Santa Monica (Watch the World Die)”
- Filter, Hey Man, “Nice Shot”
- Foo Fighters, “Learn to Fly”
- Savage Garden, “Crash and Burn”
- Dave Matthews Band, “Crash Into Me”
- Bangles, “Walk Like an Egyptian”
- Pretenders, “My City Was Gone”
- Alanis Morissette, “Ironic”
- Barenaked Ladies, “Falling for the First Time”
- Fuel, “Bad Day”
- Korn, “Falling Away From Me”
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Aeroplane”
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Under the Bridge”
- Smashing Pumpkins, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”
- Peter Gabriel, “When You’re Falling”
- System Of A Down, “Chop Suey!”
- Lenny Kravitz, “Fly Away”
- Tom Petty, “Free Fallin'”
- Bruce Springsteen, “I’m On Fire”
- Bruce Springsteen, “Goin’ Down”
- Phil Collins, “In the Air Tonight”
- Limp Bizkit, “Break Stuff”
- Green Day, “Brain Stew”
- Temple Of The Dog, “Say Hello to Heaven”
- Sugar Ray, “Fly”
- Local H, “Bound for the Floor”
- Slipknot, “Left Behind, Wait and Bleed”
- Bush, “Speed Kills”
- 311, “Down”
- Stone Temple Pilots, “Dead and Bloated”
- Soundgarden, “Fell on Black Days”
- Soundgarden, “Black Hole Sun”
- Metallica, “Seek and Destroy”
- Metallica, “Harvester of Sorrow”
- Metallica, “Enter Sandman”
- Metallica, “Fade to Black”
- Nine Inch Nails, “Head Like a Hole”
- Godsmack, “Bad Religion”
- Tool, “Intolerance”
- Soundgarden, “Blow Up the Outside World”
- Nena, “99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons”
- AC/DC, “Shot Down in Flames”
- AC/DC, “Shoot to Thrill”
- AC/DC, “Dirty Deeds”
- AC/DC, “Highway to Hell”
- AC/DC, “Safe in New York City”
- AC/DC, “TNT”
- AC/DC, “Hell’s Bells”
- Black Sabbath, “War Pigs”
- Black Sabbath, “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”
- Black Sabbath, “Suicide Solution”
- Kansas, “Dust in the Wind”
- Led Zeppelin, “Stairway to Heaven”
- The Beatles, “A Day in the Life”
- The Beatles, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”
- The Beatles, “Ticket To Ride”
- The Beatles, “Obla Di, Obla Da”
- Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
- Arthur Brown, “Fire”
- Blue Oyster Cult, “Burnin’ For You”
- Paul McCartney & Wings, “Live and Let Die”
- Jimi Hendrix, “Hey Joe”
- Jackson Browne, “Doctor My Eyes”
- John Mellencamp, “Crumbling Down”
- John Mellencamp, “Paper In Fire”
- U2, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
- Boston, “Smokin”
- Billy Joel, “Only the Good Die Young”
- Dio, “Holy Diver”
- Steve Miller, “Jet Airliner”
- Van Halen, “Jump”
- Queen, “Another One Bites the Dust”
- Queen, “Killer Queen”
- Pat Benatar, “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”
- Pat Benatar, “Love is a Battlefield”
- Oingo Boingo, “Dead Man’s Party”
- REM, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”
- Talking Heads, “Burning Down the House”
- Judas Priest, “Some Heads Are Gonna Roll”
- Pink Floyd, “Run Like Hell”
- Pink Floyd, “Mother”
- John Parr, “St. Elmo’s Fire”
- Barry McGuire, “Eve of Destruction”
- Steam, “Na Na Na Na Hey Hey”
- Drifters, “On Broadway”
- Shelly Fabares, “Johnny Angel”
- Los Bravos, “Black is Black”
- Peter & Gordon, “I Go To Pieces”
- Peter & Gordon, “A World Without Love”
- Elvis Presley, “(You’re the) Devil in Disguise”
- Zombies, “She’s Not There”
- Elton John, “Bennie & The Jets”
- Elton John, “Daniel”
- Elton John, “Rocket Man”
- Jerry Lee Lewis, “Great Balls of Fire”
- Santana, “Evil Ways”
- Louis Armstrong, “What A Wonderful World”
- Youngbloods, “Get Together”
- Ad Libs, “The Boy from New York City”
- Peter Paul & Mary, “Blowin’ in the Wind”
- Peter Paul & Mary, “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane”
- Rolling Stones, “Ruby Tuesday”
- Simon & Garfunkel, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
- Happenings, “See You in Septemeber”
- Carole King, “I Feel the Earth Move”
- Zager & Evans, “In the Year 2525”
- Norman Greenbaum, “Spirit in the Sky”
- Brooklyn Bridge, “Worst That Could Happen”
- Three Degrees, “When Will I See You Again”
- Cat Stevens, “Peace Train”
- Cat Stevens, “Morning Has Broken”
- Jan & Dean, “Dead Man’s Curve”
- Martha & The Vandellas, “Nowhere to Run”
- Martha & The Vandellas/Van Halen, “Dancing in the Streets”
- Hollies, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”
- Sam Cooke/Herman’s Hermits, “Wonderful World”
- Petula Clark, “A Sign of the Times”
- Don Mclean, “American Pie”
- J. Frank Wilson/Pearl Jam, “Last Kiss”
- Buddy Holly & The Crickets, “That’ll Be the Day”
- John Lennon, “Imagine”
- Bobby Darin, “Mack the Knife”
- The Clash, “Rock the Casbah”
- Surfaris, “Wipeout”
- Blood Sweat & Tears, “And When I Die”
- Dave Clark Five, “Bits and Pieces”
- Tramps, “Disco Inferno”
- Paper Lace, “The Night Chicago Died”
- Frank Sinatra, “New York, New York”
- Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Travelin’ Band”
- The Gap Band, “You Dropped a Bomb On Me”
- Alien Ant Farm, “Smooth Criminal”
- 3 Doors Down, “Duck and Run”
- The Doors, “The End”
- Third Eye Blind, “Jumper”
- Neil Diamond, “America”
- Skeeter Davis, “End of the World”
- Ricky Nelson, “Travelin’ Man”
- Chi-Lites, “Have You Seen Her”
- Animals, “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”
- Fontella Bass, “Rescue Me”
- Mitch Ryder, “Devil with the Blue Dress”
- James Taylor, “Fire and Rain”
- Edwin Starr/Bruce Springsteen, “War”
- Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Tuesday’s Gone”
- Drowning Pool, “Bodies”
- Mudvayne, “Death Blooms”
- Megadeth, “Dread and the Fugitive”
- Megadeth, “Sweating Bullets”
- Saliva, “Click Click Boom”
- P.O.D., “Boom”