BBC Radio Urging Stations to Be Sensitive to Song Titles

BBC Radio has advised its stations to avoid playing hit records such as “Give Peace a Chance” by John Lennon and “Walk Like an Egyptian” by the Bangles because the songs may offend listeners as fighting continues in the Persian Gulf.

Also on a list of 67 “questionable” songs, which BBC Radio executives culled from the Guinness Book of Hit Singles, are Lennon’s “Imagine,” “Bang Bang” by Sonny and Cher, “I’m on Fire” by Bruce Springsteen, “I Shot the Sheriff,” by Eric Clapton and “Killing Me Softly” by Roberta Flack.

An internal memo from the BBC’s Radio Training office, where the list was devised, to its 37 regional radio stations, said that the tracks on the advisory list were “questionable” choices for airplay during the “current fighting.” Also included in the memo were technical instructions explaining how to delete the songs from each station’s computer playlist system.

The BBC’s five national radio stations, of which only one plays pop music, were not issued the advisory, but are expected to be sensitive.

A random check of the BBC’s regional radio stations showed that at least some executives thought the creation of the list was a good idea and that they had already deleted the offending records from their playlists.

“We’re sticking to the list,” said Helen Martin of Greater Manchester Radio. Defending the decision, she made the analogy that if there had just been a big train wreck, she wouldn’t play Louis Jordan’s “Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie.”

It appeared, however, that there were some pockets of resistance to the plan that branded as “questionable” Desmond Dekker’s ‘60s Jamaican hit “The Israelites” and numerous other songs.

“I haven’t deleted them,” said an employee at the BBC’s Radio Merseyside in Liverpool. “It’s like a ban if you like.” The employee, who asked not to be identified, said that deejays at the station were making their own decisions about what to play.

BBC officials stressed that the list is not a ban, just guidelines for programmers.

A BBC Radio Training executive who was involved with compiling the list of records, said the project started when it was discovered that one local station was drawing up its own list of hits to stop playing. Rather than have the same work repeated at each of the 37 stations throughout the country, it seemed like a better idea to make a central list and distribute it.

The executive, who would only speak if not identified, began flipping through the Guinness book looking for songs with “titles or lyrics that might be unfortunate.”

“In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins went onto the list. The Swedish band ABBA made the list twice with “Under Attack” and “Waterloo.” Also added were “War” by Edwin Starr, “Suicide Is Painless” from the soundtrack of “MASH,” “End of the World” by Skeeter Davis, and “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” by Elton John. Also included was “Boom Bang-a-Bang” by Lulu.

The BBC executive said “Imagine” was added because, “I think there’s a line that says ‘Imagine there’s no conflict’ or ‘Imagine there’s no war.”’

At the time he added “Give Peace a Chance” to the list, the executive had not been aware that Lennon’s son Sean had recorded an updated version of the song specifically to be played during the gulf crisis.

But he defended his inclusion of the anti-war anthem by describing a scenario in which a radio station had just finished a news report about vicious fighting and heavy casualties.

“Do you really want to come back (on the air) after that,” he asked, “with ‘Give Peace a Chance?’ ”