1960

In October, several radio stations refuse to play Ray Peterson's "Tell Laura I Love Her," calling it the "Death Disk."

1962

New York Bishop Burke forbids Catholic school students from dancing to "The Twist." Burke considers R&B music, and its associated dances, to be lewd and un-Christian.

1963

The FBI begins collecting data on folk singers Phil Ochs. Ochs is one of several popular musicians to be tracked by the FBI during their careers (Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie).

Bob Dylan refuses to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show in February after producers tell him he cannot sing "Talking John Birch Paranoid Blues." Dylan is never invited to perform on the show again.

1964

Fear it contains obscene messages, Indiana Governor Matthew Welsh attempts to ban the Kingsmen hit "Louie, Louie." After review by the FCC, the agency determines that the song's lyrics are indecipherable.

1965

After splitting his pants while dancing wildly at a European concert, the boisterous P. J. Proby is uninvited to perform on ABC's music variety show Shingdig.

Cleveland Mayor Ralph Locher bans all rock concerts in the city following a Rolling Stones performance.

The Barry McGuire song "Eve of Destruction" is pulled from retail stores and radio stations across the country after some groups complain that it is nihilistic and could promote suicidal feelings amongst teens.

In June, radio stations across the country ban the Rolling Stones hit "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" because they believe the lyrics are too sexually suggestive.

Many radio stations ban The Who's single "Pictures of Lily" because the song contains a reference to masturbation.

MGM Records alters the Frank Zappa song "Money" because it contains a sexual reference.

1966

WLS radio commissions a local group to re-record the Them hit "Gloria" because they object to the lyrics. Station management feels that the lyric "she comes in my room" is too suggestive for broadcast. Instead, they contact a local band, the Shadows of Knight, to re-record the tune. The Shadows of Knight version becomes a national top ten hit; the original stalls at number 71 on the charts.

A statement by John Lennon in March, comparing the popularity of the Beatles to that of Jesus Christ, results in wide-spread Beatles record burnings and protests. Lennon's comments regarding what he perceives as a decrease in Christianity's popularity with teens are taken out of context. He says, "We're more popular than Jesus now."

After radio stations refuse to air the original, The Swinging Medallions are convinced by their record company to re-record their song "Double Shot (of My Baby's Love)" with more benign lyrics.

In June, Capitol Records recalls all copies of the Beatles' Yesterday And Today album following complaints over the album's gory cover art. The "butcher" cover depicts the four Beatles wearing white smocks and covered with decapitated baby dolls and raw meat.

Police attempt to shut down a James Brown concert, alleging the singer's dancing is obscene.

After enduring calls for censorship over the song "Rhapsody in the Rain," Lou Christie agrees to change the song's suggestive lyrics.

1967

The Rolling Stones agree to alter the lyrics to "Let's Spend The Night Together" for an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in January. Producers request that singer Mick Jagger alter the title phrase to "Let's spend some time together."

Against his wishes, Frank Zappa's record company removes eight bars of his song "Let's Make the Water Turn Black." This occurs when a well-intentioned executive from Verve Records hears the lyric, "And I still remember mama with her apron and her pad, feeding all the boys at Ed's café." The executive thinks the referred-to "pad" is a sanitary napkin.

Radio programmers pass on Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" because the lyrics reference premarital sex and teenage pregnancy. Morrison cuts an alternative version with more acceptable lyrics.

Producers of the Ed Sullivan Show request that Jim Morrison change the lyrics to "Light My Fire" for The Doors' September appearance on the program. Morrison initially agrees to alter the lyric "Girl we couldn't get much higher" to a more innocuous phrase. During the live performance, Morrison sings the original lyric. The band is not invited back on the program.

1968

An El Paso, Texas, radio station bans all songs performed by Bob Dylan because they cannot understand the folk singer's lyrics. The station continues to play recordings of Dylan songs performed by other artists with clearer diction.

The Doors' single "Unknown Soldier" is banned from airplay at many radio stations because of its anti-war theme.

Sponsors go into an uproar and threaten to pull support after a television program shows interracial "touching." During the taping of a duet between Petula Clark and Harry Belafonte, Clark lays her hand on Belafonte's arm (Clark is white and Belafonte is black).

Jim Morrison is arrested on stage in New Haven, Connecticut, for making lewd gestures and profane remarks during a concert. The arrest is one of several that occur during Doors concerts after Morrison is marked by the FBI and several police organizations as a troublemaker.

Fearing the Rolling Stones' song "Street Fightin' Man" will incite violence during the National Democratic Convention in September, Chicago radio stations refuse to play the song. During the ban, the single sets all-time sales records in the Chicago area.

After being invited by the Smothers Brothers to perform his anti-Vietnam anthem "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" on their TV show, Pete Seeger is edited out of the program by the censors at CBS television.

1969

In January, New York police seize 30,000 copies of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Two Virgins album.

Controversy over the cover of Blind Faith's debut album prompts their label to issue the record with two different covers. The original cover, released in February, features a photograph of a naked 11-year old girl, holding a metallic, rather phallic-looking model airplane. The airplane points toward her lower abdomen. Atco Records eventually drops the benign second cover because it doesn't sell as well as the original.

In September, the local Roman Catholic Diocese runs a two-page ad spread in the Seattle Post Intelligencer calling for the criminal prosecution of rock musicians and for bans against "rock festivals and their drug-sex-rock-squalor culture."

Record company officials delay the release of Volunteers by Jefferson Airplane over concerns with the album's lyrical themes.

In July, one-half of the country's Top 40 stations refuse to play "The Ballad of John and Yoko" because they feel that the lyrics are blasphemous. The song's lyrics contain references to Christ and crucifixion.

After Hudson's, a large department store chain, refuses to carry the debut record from MC5 when it is released in April, the group agrees to delete the expletive "motherfucker" from "Kick Out The Jams."

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