This Spotify playlist has over 150 ‘offensive’ songs banned from radio after 9/11

The Beatles, Elton John and AC/DC are all heavily represented in the list (Picture: John Angelillo/UPI/REX/Shutterstock) This week marked 25 years since 9/11, when al-Qaeda hijackers flew two planes into the World Trade Center, another into the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back. The impact of the terrorist attack on culture was immediate: events and film releases were postponed, the World Trade Centre was edited out of scenes and the radio conglomerate Clear Channel issued a memorandum nixing a raft of songs from the airwaves. At the time, Clear Channel was the largest operator of radio stations in the US. The internal memo (later leaked) listed around 160 tracks which were deemed in poor taste for the 100million-plus weekly listeners to Clear Channel stations, now iHeartMedia. The intention of the list has varied in retellings over the years. Some have said it was guidance, others blatant censorship. If you glance at the tracks included, it’s clear that a degree of post-9/11 panic was involved in the compilation. Among the more baffling choices is the nixing of The Bangles’ Walk Like an Egyptian or every single song by Rage Against the Machine (all of them!). Every single song by Rage Against the Machine was nixed (Picture: Theo Wargo/Getty Images) Alanis Morissette was one of the few female artists listed (Picture: Guillaume Baptiste/AFP/Getty Images) You can see for yourself, because Far Out Magazine has amassed a Spotify playlist of every track deemed ‘too offensive’ here. In an accompanying article, they wrote: ‘While some may have justifiably been insensitive while the dust was still in the air, others were also slightly head-scratching.’ The Beatles, Elton John and AC/DC are all heavily represented, as are metal acts in general (Alice in Chains, Korn and Metallica). Tracks by women are few and far between, but Alanis Morissette and Carole King are among them. Songs with titles or lyrics referring to crashes, heaven or flying were omitted, as were tracks like Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World, deemed too joyous for the moment (so much for an uplifting listen in tough times). Ditto John Lennon’s Imagine. The list might have been a suggestion to DJs, but up-and-coming bands like Drowning Pool felt its effects, after their breakout hit Bodies was included (with the lyrics, ‘Let the bodies hit the floor’). Drowning Pool felt their lack of airplay hurt their trajectory as a band (Picture: Rmv/REX/Shutterstock) Drowning Pool bassist Stevie Benton told the Washington Post: ‘Not only did we feel attacked personally on 9/11 like all America did, we did feel a little singled out and attacked by that list, because although there were some active rock songs, some modern songs, a great deal of them were older songs. So we did wonder why we were specifically singled out. ‘[Our next single] did not do as well as we would have expected… We felt like our trajectory had been changed, and there was just, no matter how hard you grasp at it, there was no getting it back after that.’ Even a Clear Channel executive publicly admitted some song choices were questionable, when speaking a few days after 9/11. Jack Evans, a regional senior VP of programming at Clear Channel, told Slate: ‘After and during what was happening in New York and Washington and outside of Pittsburgh, some of our program directors began e-mailing each other about songs and questionable song titles. ‘I think there were certainly songs on the list that people were reading too much into.’ But he added: ‘There were a substantial amount of songs in question that I’m glad the [program directors] brought up so we didn’t air them at a very, very sad time.’ Arrow MORE: Bin Laden wanted to attack UK years before 9/11, top secret dossier reveals Arrow MORE: Airline’s 9/11 episode is a perfect snapshot of the day the world changed Arrow MORE: 9/11 widow blames prior governments ‘for not bringing Saudi Arabia to justice’ Switched On Get plugged into the week’s must-watch shows, unmissable moments, and expert reviews with Metro TV Editor Sabrina Barr.