Dans les moments difficiles, les Américains peuvent parfois passer pour des débiles légers. Traumatisés, ils se déguisent en véritables outils de propagande en se peignant des drapeaux sur le visage et en répétant des millions de fois «God Bless America» (ne faudrait-il pas justement laisser la religion de côté si on veut éviter le pire?).
Alors que le prédicateur Jerry Falwell y allait de son plus bel élan de stupidité en expliquant que l'Amérique s'était attirée des bosses en tolérant les homosexuels, l'avortement et bien d'autres horreurs inqualifiables, le groupe Clear Channel suggérait de bannir pour quelque temps des ondes radiophoniques plus de 300 chansons jugées «inappropriées pour la période sombre que (l'Amérique) traverse».
Parmi ces chansons «controversées», on retrouve Walk Like an Egyptian, un vieux succès du groupe pop The Bangles, Imagine, de John Lennon, Jump, de Van Halen et Love Is a Battlefield, de Pat Benatar. Et pas une seule chanson de Marilyn Manson ou d'Eminem! Personne n'en a profité pour bannir à tout jamais N Sync et les Backstreet Boys! À quoi servent les comités de censure quand on en a besoin?
Voici la liste des chansons bannies jusqu'à nouvel ordre :
AC/DC, "Dirty Deeds"
AC/DC, "Hell's Bells"
AC/DC, "Highway to Hell"
AC/DC, "Safe in New York City"
AC/DC, "Shoot to Thrill"
AC/DC, "Shot Down in Flames"
AC/DC, "TNT"
Ad Libs, "The Boy from New York City"
Alanis Morissette, "Ironic"
Alice In Chains, "Down in a Hole"
Alice In Chains, "Rooster"
Alice In Chains, "Sea of Sorrow"
Alice In Chains, "Them Bones"
Alien Ant Farm, "Smooth Criminal"
Animals, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"
Louis Armstrong, "What A Wonderful World"
Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Barenaked Ladies, "Falling for the First Time"
Beastie Boys, "Sabotage"
Beastie Boys, "Sure Shot"
The Beatles, "A Day in the Life"
The Beatles, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
The Beatles, "Obla Di, Obla Da"
The Beatles, "Ticket To Ride"
Pat Benatar, "Hit Me with Your Best Shot"
Pat Benatar, "Love is a Battlefield"
Black Sabbath, "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
Black Sabbath, "War Pigs"
Blood Sweat & Tears, "And When I Die"
Blue Oyster Cult, "Burnin' For You"
Boston, "Smokin"
Brooklyn Bridge, "Worst That Could Happen"
Arthur Brown, "Fire"
Jackson Browne, "Doctor My Eyes"
Bush, "Speed Kills"
Chi-Lites, "Have You Seen Her"
Petula Clark, "A Sign of the Times"
The Clash, "Rock the Casbah"
Phil Collins, "In the Air Tonight"
Sam Cooke/Herman's Hermits, "Wonderful World"
Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Travelin' Band"
The Cult, "Fire Woman"
Bobby Darin, "Mack the Knife"
Dave Clark Five, "Bits and Pieces"
Skeeter Davis, "End of the World"
Neil Diamond, "America"
Dio, "Holy Diver"
The Doors, "The End"
Drifters, "On Broadway"
Drowning Pool, "Bodies"
Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Everclear, "Santa Monica (Watch the World Die)"
Shelly Fabares, "Johnny Angel"
Filter, "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
Fontella Bass, "Rescue Me"
Foo Fighters, "Learn to Fly"
Fuel, "Bad Day"
Peter Gabriel, "When You're Falling"
The Gap Band, "You Dropped a Bomb On Me"
Godsmack, "Bad Religion"
Norman Greenbaum, "Spirit in the Sky"
Green Day, "Brain Stew"
Happenings, "See You in September"
Jimi Hendrix, "Hey Joe"
Hollies, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"
Buddy Holly & The Crickets, "That'll Be the Day"
Jan & Dean, "Dead Man's Curve"
Billy Joel, "Only the Good Die Young"
Elton John, "Bennie & The Jets"
Elton John, "Daniel"
Elton John, "Rocket Man"
Judas Priest, "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll"
Kansas, "Dust in the Wind"
Carole King, "I Feel the Earth Move"
Korn, "Falling Away From Me"
Lenny Kravitz, "Fly Away"
Led Zeppelin, "Stairway to Heaven"
Jerry Lee Lewis, "Great Balls of Fire"
John Lennon, "Imagine"
Limp Bizkit, "Break Stuff"
Local H, "Bound for the Floor"
Los Bravos, "Black is Black"
Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Tuesday's Gone"
Martha & The Vandellas/Van Halen, "Dancing in the Streets"
Martha & The Vandellas, "Nowhere to Run"
Dave Matthews Band, "Crash Into Me"
Paul McCartney & Wings, "Live and Let Die"
Barry McGuire, "Eve of Destruction"
Don Mclean, "American Pie"
Megadeth, "Dread and the Fugitive"
Megadeth, "Sweating Bullets"
John Mellencamp, "Crumbling Down"
John Mellencamp, "Paper In Fire"
Metallica, "Seek and Destroy"
Metallica, "Harvester of Sorrow"
Metallica, "Enter Sandman"
Metallica, "Fade to Black"
Steve Miller, "Jet Airliner"
Mudvayne, "Death Blooms"
Ricky Nelson, "Travelin' Man"
Nena, "99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons"
Nine Inch Nails, "Head Like a Hole"
Oingo Boingo, "Dead Man's Party"
Ozzy Osbourne, "Suicide Solution"
Paper Lace, "The Night Chicago Died"
John Parr, "St. Elmo's Fire"
Peter & Gordon, "A World Without Love"
Peter & Gordon, "I Go To Pieces"
Peter Paul & Mary, "Blowin' in the Wind"
Peter Paul & Mary, "Leavin' on a Jet Plane"
Tom Petty, "Free Fallin'"
Pink Floyd, "Mother"
Pink Floyd, "Run Like Hell"
P.O.D., "Boom"
Elvis Presley, "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
Pretenders, "My City Was Gone"
Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"
Queen, "Killer Queen"
Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Aeroplane"
Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Under the Bridge"
REM, "It's the End of the World as We Know It"
Rolling Stones, "Ruby Tuesday"
Mitch Ryder, "Devil with the Blue Dress"
Saliva, "Click Click Boom"
Santana, "Evil Ways"
Savage Garden, "Crash and Burn"
Simon & Garfunkel, "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Frank Sinatra, "New York, New York"
Slipknot, "Left Behind, Wait and Bleed"
Smashing Pumpkins, "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
Soundgarden, "Black Hole Sun"
Soundgarden, "Blow Up the Outside World"
Soundgarden, "Fell on Black Days"
Bruce Springsteen, "Goin' Down"
Bruce Springsteen, "I'm On Fire"
Edwin Starr/Bruce Springsteen, "War"
Steam, "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey"
Cat Stevens, "Morning Has Broken"
Cat Stevens, "Peace Train"
Stone Temple Pilots, "Dead and Bloated"
Sugar Ray, "Fly"
Surfaris, "Wipeout"
System Of A Down, "Chop Suey!"
Talking Heads, "Burning Down the House"
James Taylor, "Fire and Rain"
Temple Of The Dog, "Say Hello to Heaven"
Third Eye Blind, "Jumper"
Three Degrees, "When Will I See You Again"
3 Doors Down, "Duck and Run"
311, "Down"
Tool, "Intolerance"
Tramps, "Disco Inferno"
U2, "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Van Halen, "Jump"
J. Frank Wilson/Pearl Jam, "Last Kiss"
Youngbloods, "Get Together"
Zager & Evans, "In the Year 2525"
Zombies, "She's Not There"
