The Bands the BBC Banned
By Paul O’Connor

“We just don't ban records any more".
BBC spokesperson quoted in NME magazine on the lack of airplay for the Prodigy single - Smack My Bitch.

Our national broadcaster has a long history of restricting what we hear across our airwaves when sex is referred to. Perhaps Jane Birkins groans would have been ignored during ‘Je T’aime’ but Aunty wouldn’t cover her ears as Serge Gainsbourg joined in about the joys of going "entre tes reins" - between your kidneys - i.e. up your bum (allegedly). While BBC couldn’t have the Rolling Stones promoting promiscuity with ‘Lets spend the night together’ in 1967, the Corporation still hadn’t relaxed by the time Frankie goes to Hollywood hit the scene two decades later.

But it isn’t just wild sex that the national broadcaster is protecting us from. Radio 1 and Top of the Pops both banned ‘Invisible Sun’ by the Police and not because of the dangers of sunburn but because of references to the war in Northern Ireland. Back in 1977 the Monarchy never mentioned that they were upset by the Sex Pistol’s ‘God Save the Queen’, but the BBC still deemed it unsuitable to grace our airwaves.

Three years later Elaine Page and Julie Covington were crooning to ‘Don't Cry for Me, Argentina’ but since Britain was at War over the Falkland Islands, the song was pushed off the air. War has a bad habit of disrupting what we are allowed to hear. While the Vietnam War now has its own soundtrack thanks to movies such as Good Morning Vietnam and Apocalypse now, Djs were stopped from playing a host of songs including The Doors infamous song, Light My Fire during the first Gulf War. While Massive Attack even had their bands name halved as ‘attack’ was too controversial to be heard on the radio during the first War for Oil.

But of course the most obvious ban comes with the ‘F’ word. The Super furry animals were pushing the boundaries when they put 50 odd uses of the word in ‘The man don't give a fuck’. Perhaps influenced by Mick Jagger during their youth as the Stones chorused ‘starfucker’ dozens of time during ‘Star Star’. But bans really get out of hand when Irishman Richie Kavanagh had ‘Aon Focal Eile’ banned in Britain because ‘Focal, (the Gaelic for ‘word’) sounded too much like ‘F**k! But leave it to Fatboy Slim to push the boat out with his ‘Fucking in Heaven,’ controversially using the F word 108 times.

Despite all these recorded cases the BBC won’t officially admit to even having a banned list- but perhaps like all Corporations, the Broadcaster is living in denial. Last year the aspiring British band, Seize The Day felt that their chance to break into the mainstream had come when they won the BBC radio 3 world music awards. Their lively style of mixing humour with politics (current release is Evil people sends up the hysteria about the so called war on terror) was a hit with the public voters gaining twice as many votes as any other band. However as the BBC awards ceremony loomed, Seize the Day were unexpectedly disqualified and the award instead given to a little known band from Slovenia.
Lead singer Theo Simon believes that the BBC wouldn’t risk giving a showcase to musicians who sang about stopping war while the Government was dropping bombs on children in Baghdad. 'There's a belief in the music industry that protest music isn't popular and never will be again, but the reality is that there's a wider audience for it. The number of votes that we've received shows that', he declared.

Following in the footsteps of Bob Dylan, Billy Bragg, Chumbawamba, Public Enemy, Ani DiFranco and Miss Dynamite any band that mix politics into their music struggle at first to get heard above the blustering of the industry men currently controlling the airwaves. But Seize the Day got their own back by attending the BBC world music awards ceremony. Holding up signs declaring ‘BBC COVER UP’ the trio stood naked and proud in front of the BBC cameras, politicians, and top musicians. Despite a huge round of applause, they were quickly bundled off stage and out into the cold. Making up for the lack of televised coverage, a fourth band member secretly filmed the protest from a balcony to be screened around various festivals all year.

Blond guitarist Shannon Smy, sums up the bands commitment to justice saying 'we need to recognise that we're all in this together. None of the problems in the world are really about 'us' and 'them'. We need to find our common humanity and have compassion for each other.'

Seize The Days music is enhanced by compelling vocal arrangements and driven by passionate and powerful lyrics. Band members play a variety of instruments including: Tin-Whistle, Bouzouki, Saxophone, Mandolin, Mandola, Flute, Bass, Hand Drums, Percussion, Didgeridoo and Acoustic Guitars.
The feisty band from Somerset play in Swansea on November 19th as part of the BEYONDTV alternative video festival (featured in issue 8 of HadOne)

Tickets for the weekend festival are on sale in More Music, St Helens road, or Derricks or by phoning 01792 455900.

For details of the festival www.undercurrents.org/beyondtv
To enter the draw for Free Tickets to Seize the Day, complete the following sentence in 10 words or less.

I seize the day because………………………………………………………………….

Post your entries to Undercurrents, Old telephone exchange, Pier st Swansea SA1 1RY or email to  beyondtv@undercurrents.org
Closing date November 16th