A Lynyrd Skynyrd Song – And 164 Others – Were Banned From The Radio After 9/11

Hard to believe it’s already been 24 years.

Like pretty much everybody else who was around at the time, I can remember exactly where I was on September 11, 2001. I was in science class with one of my favorite teachers (RIP Mr. Smith) when he came in to tell us that there had been an attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

I was only in 8th grade, so I was still a little too young to understand exactly how big the moment was, but once I got home and saw the video of the planes flying into the towers and the people running for their lives, I had a pretty good idea just how much the world would change.

The days and weeks after 9/11 still feel like a blur because I was glued to my TV pretty much every chance I had, my little 13-year old brain trying to learn everything I could about terrorism and global politics and just what this horrific attack would mean for the world.

In the immediate aftermath there was obviously a groundswell of patriotism and love of America unlike anything I had ever seen. In fact, it feels like that may have been the last time we were truly united as a country, especially today when it feels like we’re as divided as we’ve been in my lifetime.

The country music community, especially, released many songs trying to come to terms with what happened, from Alan Jackson’s “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning” to Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.”

But at the same time, radio stations also had to be careful what they played in the days and weeks following the attack.

In fact, one of the largest radio station operators in the country even sent out a list of songs that should be avoided after the attacks.

Clear Channel Communications, now known as iHeartMedia, is the largest owner of radio stations in the country with over 850 stations currently under their ownership. And after 9/11, the company sent out a memo with some suggestions for songs that shouldn’t be played in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

Now, these songs weren’t outright “banned” from the radio stations, but the Clear Channel memo contained songs that referred to a wide range of subjects, from airplanes to death and violence to New York City…and even songs that mentioned “Tuesday,” the day of the week the attack happened.

That’s how Lynyrd Skynyrd ended up on the list with their famous song “Tuesday’s Gone.” Despite the song having nothing to do with New York, or planes, or violence, because it referenced “Tuesday,” it was included in the Clear Channel memo as a song that should potentially be avoided by radio stations.

It sounds a little ridiculous now, but that’s not even the strangest song that made the list. Remember the famous ’80s song “Walk Like An Egyptian” from The Bangles? Well that song was on the list as well, because one of the hijackers was originally from Egypt. And so was “What A Wonderful World,” the Louis Armstrong classic, because the company didn’t believe it was appropriate to be playing such a joyful song like that in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Overall, a lot of the songs make sense, while some of them are head-scratchers. And it’s not really known how many stations actually followed the guidance. But now, 24 years later, the list provides an interesting look at the mindset of our country in the aftermath of the worst terrorist attack on United States soil.

List Of Songs Included In The Clear Channel Memorandum

Drowning Pool “Bodies”
Mudvayne “Death Blooms”
Megadeth “Dread and the Fugitive”
Megadeth “Sweating Bullets”
Saliva “Click Click Boom”
P.O.D. “Boom”
Metallica “Seek and Destroy”
Metallica “Harvester or Sorrow”
Metallica “Enter Sandman”
Metallica “Fade to Black”
Rage Against the Machine (Entire Catalog)
Nine Inch Nails “Head Like a Hole”
Godsmack “Bad Religion”
Tool “Intolerance”
Soundgarden “Blow Up the Outside World”
AC/DC “Shot Down in Flames”
AC/DC “Shoot to Thrill”
AC/DC “Dirty Deeds”
AC/DC “Highway to Hell”
AC/DC “Safe in New York City”
AC/DC “TNT”
AC/DC “Hell’s Bells”
Black Sabbath “War Pigs”
Black Sabbath “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”
Black Sabbath “Suicide Solution”
Dio “Holy Diver”
Steve Miller “Jet Airliner”
Van Halen “Jump”
Queen “Another One Bites the Dust”
Queen “Killer Queen”
Pat Benatar “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”
Pat Benatar “Love is a Battlefield”
Oingo Boingo “Dead Man’s Party”
REM “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”
Talking Heads “Burning Down the House”
Judas Priest “Some Heads Are Gonna Roll”
Pink Floyd “Run Like Hell”
Pink Floyd “Mother”
Savage Garden “Crash and Burn”
Dave Matthews Band “Crash Into Me”
Bangles “Walk Like an Egyptian”
Pretenders “My City Was Gone”
Alanis Morissette “Ironic”
Barenaked Ladies “Falling for the First Time”
Fuel “Bad Day”
John Parr “St. Elmo’s Fire”
Peter Gabriel “When You’re Falling”
Kansas “Dust in the Wind”
Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven”
The Beatles “A Day in the Life”
The Beatles “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”
The Beatles “Ticket To Ride”
The Beatles “Obla Di, Obla Da”
Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
Arthur Brown “Fire”
Blue Oyster Cult “Burnin’ For You”
Paul McCartney and Wings “Live and Let Die”
Jimmy Hendrix “Hey Joe”
Jackson Brown “Doctor My Eyes”
John Mellencamp “Crumbling Down”
John Mellencamp “I’m On Fire”
U2 “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
Boston “Smokin”
Billy Joel “Only the Good Die Young”
Barry McGuire “Eve of Destruction”
Steam “Na Na Na Na Hey Hey”
Drifters “On Broadway”
Shelly Fabares “Johnny Angel”
Los Bravos “Black is Black”
Peter and Gordon “I Go To Pieces”
Peter and Gordon “A World Without Love”
Elvis “(You’re the) Devil in Disguise”
Zombies “She’s Not There”
Elton John “Benny & The Jets”
Elton John “Daniel”
Elton John “Rocket Man”
Jerry Lee Lewis “Great Balls of Fire”
Santana “Evil Ways”
Louis Armstrong “What A Wonderful World”
Youngbloods “Get Together”
Ad Libs “The Boy from New York City”
Peter Paul and Mary “Blowin’ in the Wind”
Peter Paul and Mary “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane”
Rolling Stones “Ruby Tuesday”
Simon And Garfunkel “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
Happenings “See You in Septemeber”
Carole King “I Feel the Earth Move”
Yager and Evans “In the Year 2525”
Norman Greenbaum “Spirit in the Sky”
Brooklyn Bridge “Worst That Could Happen”
Three Degrees “When Will I See You Again”
Cat Stevens “Peace Train”
Cat Stevens “Morning Has Broken”
Jan and Dean “Dead Man’s Curve”
Martha & the Vandellas “Nowhere to Run”
Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen “Dancing in the Streets”
Hollies “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”
San Cooke Herman Hermits, “Wonder World”
Petula Clark “A Sign of the Times”
Don McLean “American Pie”
J. Frank Wilson “Last Kiss”
Buddy Holly and the Crickets “That’ll Be the Day”
John Lennon “Imagine”
Bobby Darin “Mack the Knife”
The Clash “Rock the Casbah”
Surfaris “Wipeout”
Blood Sweat and Tears “And When I Die”
Dave Clark Five “Bits and Pieces”
Tramps “Disco Inferno”
Paper Lace “The Night Chicago Died”
Frank Sinatra “New York, New York”
Creedence Clearwater Revival “Travelin’ Band”
The Gap Band “You Dropped a Bomb On Me”
Alien Ant Farm “Smooth Criminal”
3 Doors Down “Duck and Run”
The Doors “The End”
Third Eye Blind “Jumper”
Neil Diamond “America”
Lenny Kravitz “Fly Away”
Tom Petty “Free Fallin'”
Bruce Springsteen “I’m On Fire”
Bruce Springsteen “Goin’ Down”
Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight”
Alice in Chains “Rooster”
Alice in Chains “Sea of Sorrow”
Alice in Chains “Down in a Hole”
Alice in Chains “Them Bone”
Beastie Boys “Sure Shot”
Beastie Boys “Sabotage”
The Cult “Fire Woman”
Everclear “Santa Monica”
Filter “Hey Man, Nice Shot”
Korn “Falling Away From Me”
Red Hot Chili Peppers “Aeroplane”
Red Hot Chili Peppers “Under the Bridge”
Smashing Pumpkins “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”
System of a Down “Chop Suey!”
Skeeter Davis “End of the World”
Rickey Nelson “Travelin’ Man”
Chi-Lites “Have You Seen Her”
Animals “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”
Fontella Bass “Rescue Me”
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels “Devil with the Blue Dress”
James Taylor “Fire and Rain”
Edwin Starr/Bruce Springstein “War”
Lynyrd Skynyrd “Tuesday’s Gone”
Limp Bizkit “Break Stuff”
Green Day “Brain Stew”
Temple of the Dog “Say Hello to Heaven”
Sugar Ray “Fly”
Local H “Bound for the Floor”
Slipknot “Left Behind, Wait and Bleed”
Bush “Speed Kills”
311 “Down”
Stone Temple Pilots “Big Bang Baby,” Dead and Bloated”
Soundgarden “Fell on Black Days,” Black Hole Sun”
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