If you’ve been on any sort of website, checked social media, or watched any sort of TV, then you know that today is the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. And while there are tons of good remembrances of the people who died going on everywhere from The New York Times to CNN, it’s also worth remembering the knee-jerk reactions certain politicians and media outlets had after the attacks.
Take, for instance, this list of songs that Clear Channel sent to its stations following the attack, songs that the mega-conglomerate strongly suggested not playing due to lyrical content. (It’s worth noting that some Clear Channel stations ignored this request.) Though it’s been around for years, even meriting its own Wikipedia page, it’s making the rounds on the music subreddit today, in part because it’s a good reminder of both how dangerous instantaneous reactions can be and how absolutely horrible Clear Channel is and has been for years. The entire list is pasted below, and it’s mildly humorous not just because it existed at all, but because anyone at Clear Channel thought its stations might have the tactless balls to actually play Drowning Pool’s “Bodies” or Billy Joel’s “Only The Good Die Young” after almost 3,000 people died. Good lord.
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”
All Rage Against The Machine songs
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”
Foo Fighters “Learn to Fly”
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”
Nina “99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons”