The most controversial songs of the ’70s: Do you agree?
Every decade produces songs that make the guardians of public decency reach for the off switch. The ’70s had a particular talent for it. Rock was still pushing against the rules when the decade opened, punk had decided rules were not worth pushing against by the time it closed, and disco brought its own provocations to the mainstream in between.
Radio bans were still powerful weapons, and the BBC, the Independent Broadcasting Authority, and American stations all drew lines. Some artists were trying to shock. Others were genuinely surprised. All of them ended up with songs that people remember precisely because someone tried to stop them. The ’70s could have supplied fifty more. These are five of the best.
Image Credit: NBC / Wikimedia Commons.
“My ding-a-ling” by Chuck Berry (1972)
Of all the songs that ever drew the wrath of a morality campaigner, few made a more absurd target than “My Ding-a-Ling”. British broadcaster Mary Whitehouse campaigned to have it banned from the BBC, writing to the Director General that children were singing it with entirely indecent interpretations. She was not wrong about the interpretations. Chuck Berry himself described it as a fourth-grade ditty, a live recording captured at the Lanchester Arts Festival in Coventry in 1972. The song became Berry’s only number 1 hit in a career that produced Johnny B. Goode, Roll Over Beethoven, and Maybellene. Some radio stations refused to play it even while it sat at the top of the chart.
Image Credit: Lou Reed by Brett Jordan/Wikipedia
“Walk on the wild side” by Lou Reed (1972)
The song slipped past the BBC censors almost entirely because they did not understand the slang. Produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, the song referenced transgender people, oral sex, male prostitution, and drugs while riding one of the smoothest bass lines in rock history. RCA supplied radio stations with an edited version, but most played the original. The BBC reportedly realized what it had aired only after the fact. The song is now in the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Image Credit: Photograph By Francesco Scavullo. Distributed By Casablanca Records / Wikimedia Commons.
“Love to love you baby” by Donna Summer (1975)
According to a tally in Time magazine, Donna Summer could be heard simulating approximately 22 orgasms across the extended version of the track. The BBC banned it. Reverend Jesse Jackson and Operation PUSH campaigned against it, citing the influence on teen pregnancy rates. Summer later said she would not have chosen this song to open her career. It reached number 2 on the Hot 100.
Image Credit: Billedbladet NÅ/Arne S. Nielsen / Wikimedia Commons.
“God save the queen” by Sex Pistols (1977)
The Sex Pistols released the single to coincide with Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. The BBC and the IBA refused to air it. Major retailers, including Boots and Woolworths, refused to stock it. The song reportedly reached number 1 in Britain, though the official charts listed it at number 2. Singer John Lydon described it as an expression of love for the English working class. The band’s attempt to perform it from a boat on the Thames ended with 11 arrests.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
“Short people” by Randy Newman (1977)
“Short People” was written as a satire of small-minded bigotry, with a narrator clearly meant to be understood as unhinged. The listening public largely disagreed. Radio stations pulled it, protests were organized, and a bill was introduced in the Maryland legislature to ban it from airplay. It still reached number 2 on the Hot 100. Newman has said songs reach people who are not looking for irony, and a satirical point loses its context the moment it enters a car radio.
Image credit: Tatsiana Volkava / iStock
Wrap up
The ’70s gave broadcasters, politicians, and community groups plenty to argue about. Whether the target was racism, sexuality, punk nihilism, or misunderstood satire, the decade’s most controversial songs shared one quality. They are still being talked about. Which of these five do you think caused the most trouble for the guardians of good taste?
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