For many Americans, the September 11 attacks are the most important cultural turning point in history. The tragedy — in which radical Islamic terrorist group al-Quaeda flew passenger planes into both of the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon — was the deadliest terrorist attack in world history, and sparked both rampant patriotism throughout the U.S. and jingoistic anti-Muslim sentiment across much of the world. It also had a dramatic effect on the arts, inspiring many musicians and artists to confront darker themes that fans were suddenly dealing with, whether they liked it or not.



Right after the attacks, though, many media companies began censoring art deemed insensitive or anti-American, for fear of offending or upsetting the traumatized nation. One such entity was media corporation Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia), who, three days after the attack, sent a memo to its 1,100+ radio stations with a list of songs that they deemed “lyrically questionable” and insensitive to play following the 9/11 attacks.

The reasons for Clear Channel putting some of these songs on their memorandum are pretty obvious — the entire Rage Against The Machine catalog, for example, was most likely banned because their music was overly critical of America. However, some of the motives behind certain songs’ inclusion now seem ridiculous. The Bangles’ Walk Like An Egyptian, for example, was added for having references to the Middle East. It should be noted, too, that some DJs chose to play these songs, but that they were adamantly urged not to do so.

Here are all of the songs Clear Channel wanted skipped over, as provided by the AV Club.

Everyone at Kerrang! sends their heart out to all those who suffered, or whose loved ones suffered, from the September 11 attacks.

