Clear Channel memorandum

In the days following the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., many television and radio stations altered normal programming in response to the events. During this period, Clear Channel Communications and its subsidiaries had established a list of "songs with questionable lyrics" that stations may not want to play after the attacks. This list was distributed by the independent newsletter Hits Daily Double. Rumor had it that this list was meant to be used to ban the songs on it from airplay, but this has been denied by Clear Channel. The company has claimed that "Clear Channel Radio has not banned any songs from any of its radio stations." John Hogan, president of Clear Channel, said that the list was only a suggestion, and "never a policy or a directive."

The list contains 164 songs, as well as "all songs" by Rage Against The Machine.

Many versions of the list were circulated on the internet. It is rumored that the company did distribute the list including the songs below, which is also the most commonly cited and extensive version found on sources below. The songs are listed alphabetically by artist. The compiled list had been the subject of much media attention around the time of its release.

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0–9

• 3 Doors Down – "Duck And Run"
• 311 – "Down"

A

• AC/DC – "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", "Hell's Bells", "Highway to Hell", "Safe In New York City", "Shoot to Thrill", "Shot Down In Flames" and "T.N.T."
• Ad Libs – "The Boy From New York City"
• Alice in Chains – "Down In A Hole", "Rooster", "Sea Of Sorrow" and "Them Bones"
• The Animals – "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place"
• Louis Armstrong – "What A Wonderful World"

B

• The Bangles – "Walk Like An Egyptian"
• Barenaked Ladies – "Falling For The First Time"
• Beastie Boys – "Sabotage" and "Sure Shot"
• The Beatles – "A Day In The Life", "Let It Be", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" and "Ticket To Ride"
• Pat Benatar – "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and "Love Is A Battlefield"
• Black Sabbath – "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", and "War Pigs"
• Blood, Sweat and Tears – "And When I Die"
• Blue Öyster Cult – "Burnin' For You"
• Boston – "Smokin"
• Arthur Brown – "Fire"
• Jackson Browne – "Doctor My Eyes"
• Buddy Holly and the Crickets – "That'll Be The Day"
• Bush – "Speed Kills" (the name of this song was changed after September 11 2001, to "The People That We Love")

C

• Chi-Lites – "Have You Seen Her"
• Petula Clark – "A Sign Of The Times"
• The Clash – "Rock The Casbah"
• Leonard Cohen – "First We Take Manhattan"
• Phil Collins – "In the Air Tonight"
• Sam Cooke/Herman's Hermits – "Wonderful World"
• Creedence Clearwater Revival – "Travelin' Band" (due to the opening line, "737 comin' out of the sky.")
• The Cult – "Fire Woman"

D

• Bobby Darin – "Mack The Knife"
• Dave Clark Five – "Bits And Pieces"
• Dave Matthews Band – "Crash Into Me"
• Skeeter Davis – "End Of The World"
• Neil Diamond – "America"
• Dio – "Holy Diver"
• The Doors – "The End"
• The Drifters – "On Broadway"
• Drowning Pool – "Bodies"
• Bob Dylan/Guns N' Roses/Cold Chisel – "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"

E

• Everclear – "Santa Monica"

F

• Shelley Fabares – "Johnny Angel"
• Filter – "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
• Fontella Bass – "Rescue Me"
• Foo Fighters – "Learn To Fly"
• Fuel – "Bad Day"

G

• Peter Gabriel – "When You're Falling"
• Gap Band – "You Dropped A Bomb On Me"
• Godsmack – "Bad Religion"
• Green Day – "Brain Stew"
• Norman Greenbaum – "Spirit In The Sky"

H

• Happenings – "See You In September"
• Jimi Hendrix – "Hey Joe"
• The Hollies – "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

J

• Michael Jackson – "Smooth Criminal"
• Jan and Dean – "Dead Man's Curve"
• Jimmy Eat World – "Bleed American"
• Billy Joel – "Only The Good Die Young"
• Elton John – "Bennie & the Jets", "Daniel" and "Rocket Man"
• Judas Priest – "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll"

K

• Kansas – "Dust In The Wind"
• Carole King – "I Feel the Earth Move"
• KoЯn – "Falling Away From Me"
• Lenny Kravitz – "Fly Away"

L

• Led Zeppelin – "Stairway To Heaven"
• John Lennon – "Imagine"
• Jerry Lee Lewis – "Great Balls Of Fire"
• Limp Bizkit – "Break Stuff"
• Local H – "Bound For The Floor"
• Los Bravos – "Black Is Black"
• Lynyrd Skynyrd – "Tuesday's Gone"

M

• Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge – "The Worst That Could Happen"
• Martha and the Vandellas – "Nowhere To Run"
• Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen – "Dancing In The Street"
• Paul McCartney and Wings – "Live And Let Die"
• Maureen McGovern – "We May Never Love Like This Again" from the movie The Towering Inferno
• Don McLean – "American Pie"
• Barry McGuire – "Eve of Destruction"
• Megadeth – "Dread And The Fugitive Mind" and "Sweating Bullets"
• John Mellencamp – "Crumbling Down" and "I'm On Fire"
• Metallica – "Enter Sandman", "Fade To Black", "Harvester Of Sorrow" and "Seek & Destroy"
• Steve Miller Band – "Jet Airliner"
• Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels – "Devil With A Blue Dress On"
• Alanis Morissette – "Ironic"
• Mudvayne – "Death Blooms"

N

• Ricky Nelson – "Travelin' Man"
• Nena – "99 Luftballons/99 Red Balloons"
• Nine Inch Nails – "Head Like a Hole"

O

• Oingo Boingo – "Dead Man's Party"
• Ozzy Osbourne – "Suicide Solution"

P

• Paper Lace – "The Night Chicago Died"
• John Parr – "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion) "
• Peter and Gordon – "I Go To Pieces" and "A World Without Love"
• Peter, Paul and Mary – "Blowin' In The Wind" and "Leavin' On A Jet Plane"
• Tom Petty – "Free Fallin'"
• Pink Floyd – "Mother" and "Run Like Hell"
• P.O.D. – "Boom"
• Elvis Presley – "(You're The) Devil In Disguise"
• The Pretenders – "My City Was Gone"

Q

• Queen – "Another One Bites The Dust" and "Killer Queen"

R

• Rage Against The Machine – all songs
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – "Aeroplane" and "Under The Bridge"
• R.E.M. – "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
• The Rolling Stones – "Ruby Tuesday"

S

• Saliva – "Click Click Boom"
• Santana – "Evil Ways"
• Savage Garden – "Crash And Burn"
• Simon And Garfunkel – "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
• Frank Sinatra – "New York, New York"
• Slipknot – "Left Behind" and "Wait And Bleed"
• The Smashing Pumpkins – "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
• Soundgarden – "Black Hole Sun", "Blow Up the Outside World" and "Fell on Black Days"
• Bruce Springsteen – "I'm Goin' Down" and "I'm On Fire"
• Edwin Starr/Bruce Springsteen – "War"
• Steam – "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye"
• Cat Stevens – "Morning Has Broken" and "Peace Train"
• Stone Temple Pilots – "Big Bang Baby" and "Dead And Bloated"
• The Surfaris – "Wipeout"
• Sugar Ray – "Fly" and "When It's Over"
• System of a Down – "Chop Suey!"

T

• Talking Heads - "Burning Down the House"
• James Taylor - "Fire And Rain"
• Temple of the Dog - "Say Hello 2 Heaven"
• Third Eye Blind - "Jumper"
• Three Degrees - "When Will I See You Again"
• Tool - "Intolerance"
• The Trammps - "Disco Inferno"

U

• U2 - "Sunday Bloody Sunday"

V

• Van Halen - "Jump"

W

• J. Frank Wilson - "Last Kiss"

Y

• The Youngbloods - "Get Together"

Z

• Zager and Evans - "In The Year 2525"
• The Zombies - "She's Not There"

External links

• A copy of the list from internalmemos.com (Google cache)
• The same list from Fucked Company