Music censorship through history

[Txai]

Hi, all.

Recently I've been reading a bit of classic music theory. At a certain point, it mentions the fifth between notes B and F were officially banned from use (for the monks of old who sang in fourths and fifths) due to its sinister sound.

Honestly, I thought it was hilarious. Do you know any other stories like that?

[harryupbabble]

Jim Morrison was arrested for overexposure. Made me laugh, at least.

[Numanoid]

You can't play your music as loud as you want in many places, that is censorship

The Criminal Justice (anti-repetitive beats) Act of '94 made Autechre release an EP with tailor made non-repetitive beats, it came with a sticker advicing DJ's to have a musicologist at hand if the police should raid their party, to prove that they didn't play repetitive beats.

[chk071]

This band was banned from even performing live, let alone distributions of their CD's, for quite some time in germany: https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/12477 ... bal-Corpse For having such harmless, and pacifistic song titles like "Entrails ripped from a virgin's c***", "I c** blood", "Necropedophile", "F***ed with a knife", and others. Look, now i even have to censor the song titles.

[Numanoid]

In March 1965, Frank Zappa was approached by a vice squad undercover officer, and accepted an offer of $100 to produce a suggestive audio tape for an alleged stag party. Zappa was charged with "conspiracy to commit pornography". He was sentenced to six months in jail on a misdemeanor (with all but ten days suspended)

[rp314]

Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Opus 43, between September 1935 and May 1936, after abandoning some preliminary sketch material. In January 1936, halfway through this period, Pravda—under direct orders from Joseph Stalin—published an editorial "Muddle Instead of Music" that denounced the composer and targeted his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Despite this attack, and despite the oppressive political climate of the time, Shostakovich completed the symphony and planned its premiere for December 1936 in Leningrad. At some point during rehearsals he changed his mind and withdrew the work. It was premiered on 30 December 1961 by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra led by Kirill Kondrashin.

[…]The publication of the Pravda editorials coincided with the composition of Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony. The work marked a great shift in style for the composer due to the substantial influence of Gustav Mahler and a number of Western-style elements. The symphony gave Shostakovich compositional trouble, as he attempted to reform his style into a new idiom. The composer was well into the work when the fatal articles appeared. Despite this, Shostakovich continued to compose the symphony and planned a premiere at the end of 1936. Rehearsals began that December, but after a number of rehearsals Shostakovich, for reasons still debated today, decided to withdraw the symphony from the public. A number of his friends and colleagues, such as Isaak Glikman, have suggested that it was in fact an official ban which Shostakovich was persuaded to present as a voluntary withdrawal. Whatever the case, it seems possible that this action saved the composer's life: during this time Shostakovich feared for himself and his family. Yet Shostakovich did not repudiate the work; it retained its designation as his Fourth Symphony. A piano reduction was published in 1946, and the work was finally premiered in 1961, well after Stalin's death.

Censorship takes on different forms. Here, however, it seems particularly bizarre, considering that unlike in the case of his Opera, the reaction is to music that doesn't contain lyrics, provocative scenes, or even some message in the title.

[Sparky77]

In March 1965, Frank Zappa was approached by a vice squad undercover officer, and accepted an offer of $100 to produce a suggestive audio tape for an alleged stag party. Zappa was charged with "conspiracy to commit pornography". He was sentenced to six months in jail on a misdemeanor (with all but ten days suspended)

Good ol Frank...

[incubus]

No surprise that Ice-T's "cop killer" was banned.

Anyways, coincidentally, I'm watching that Greenwich Village Doc (I know, who'd a thunk??? ) and was surprised about NYC banning a musical gathering place (Washington Square?) and got jailed/harassed/bullied for simply singing. That shocked me, and I'm kinda pissed I didn't know about it before.

[GeckoYamori]

Hi, all.

Recently I've been reading a bit of classic music theory. At a certain point, it mentions the fifth between notes B and F were officially banned from use (for the monks of old who sang in fourths and fifths) due to its sinister sound.

Honestly, I thought it was hilarious. Do you know any other stories like that?

Just play the Simpsons melody on top of it, and suddenly it doesn't sound so sinister any more.

[Txai]

In South Africa from the 70's, specific vinyl songs by Sixto Rodriguez would be scratched with sharp tools to make sure they never aired.

[woggle]

You can't play your music as loud as you want in many places, that is censorship

no it's a public health issue

[.jon]

Music censorship has failed mankind, Steely Dan, DJ Snake, Justin Bieber and that one chick trying to shake the anakonda out of her butt have all slipped through the filters and into public spaces.

[Googly Smythe]

Wasn't Sibelius' Finlandia banned by the Russians for being too patriotic? Or at least for the patriotic fervour it stirred up.

[.jon]

Wasn't Sibelius' Finlandia banned by the Russians for being too patriotic? Or at least for the patriotic fervour it stirred up.

Finlandia originates from a composition specifically celebrating nationalistic ideas and protesting the oppressive politics of Russia during those times, so they understandably weren't too excited about it.

[surreal]

In South Africa from the 70's, specific vinyl songs by Sixto Rodriguez would be scratched with sharp tools to make sure they never aired.

In South Africa.... Eddie Grant release a song called give me hope Johanna... this was a protest song aimed against the White Government of the Apartheid era and against white people... the government banned the song but went viral when white people in South Africa used this song as a BIG party opener.... the white people loved it and embraced it as a party anthem and still to this day it is played at every white party.... ironically.. the target audience to which the song was aimed at ie the black south african.. well they hate the song... epic censor failure!!!