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Music has a long history of testing the limits of what broadcasters are willing to put on air. Sometimes it’s a lyric, sometimes it’s a political jab, and sometimes a song just gets caught in the wrong cultural moment. What follows is a look back at eight tracks that ran into trouble with radio programmers, government officials, or entire broadcasting corporations, and in nearly every case, the controversy only made the song more famous.
God Save the Queen by Sex Pistols
Released in May 1977 to coincide, deliberately or not, with Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee, this Sex Pistols track was pulled from BBC airwaves almost immediately. On May 31, 1977, the song earned a total ban on radio airplay from the BBC, though the ban proved a powerful endorsement for the punk group. The Independent Broadcasting Authority followed suit, meaning commercial stations couldn’t touch it either.
The lyrics, which called the monarchy a “fascist regime,” were labeled by a BBC controller as an example of gross bad taste. The song was banned by the BBC and multiple radio stations after BBC Radio 2 controller Charles McLelland labelled it as bad taste. Despite the blanket ban, or maybe because of it, the single climbed to number two on the UK charts, kept from the top spot by Rod Stewart, a result many punk fans still view with suspicion.
Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
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Author : Matthias Binder
Publish date : 2026-07-30 08:32:00
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