I love finding random cool articles on Wikipedia…
The 2001 Clear Channel memorandum is a document distributed by Clear Channel Communications to the over 1,200 radio stations they owned, shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, containing a list of a large number of what the memo termed “lyrically questionable” songs.[1]
During the time immediately after the attacks, many television and radio stations altered normal programming in response to the events, and the rumor spread that Clear Channel and its subsidiaries had established a list of “songs with questionable lyrics” that stations might not want to play after the attacks. The list was made public by the independent newsletter Hits Daily Double, which is not affiliated with Clear Channel.[2] Snopes did research on the subject and concluded that the list did exist as a suggestion for radio stations but noted that it was not an outright ban on the songs in question.[3]
The list contains 166 songs, including “all songs” by Rage Against the Machine and songs recorded by multiple artists (for example “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” by Bob Dylan and the same song by Guns N’ Roses). In some cases, only certain versions of songs were included on the list—for example, the cover of “Smooth Criminal” by Alien Ant Farm is on the list despite the fact that the original version, sung by Michael Jackson, is not, while J. Frank Wilson’s version of “Last Kiss” is included but Pearl Jam‘s cover is not.[4]
Clear Channel denied the existence of such a list in a press release to a radio industry trade publication, Radio Ink, although they had already admitted to distributing it.[5]
The compiled list was the subject of much media attention around the time of its release.[3]
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