Editing Clear Channel memorandum (section)

{{Short description|List of songs discouraged from being played after September 11 attacks}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
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IMPORTANT!!!
This article includes a list of songs compiled in September 2001. Because it is a historical list, it does not actually change over time; it is not something new contributions are made to.

Don't add songs that are not listed in a reliable source as having been on the list in September 2001, such as the Slate and Snopes pieces given in this article as references.

It is very unlikely that you have discovered a song not already in this article, although of course, if you have a new reliable source that confirms that you have, you should add the new song and the source you're citing.

Any change without a confirming reliable source WILL BE REVERTED.

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Following the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001, Clear Channel Communications (now [[iHeartMedia]]), the largest owner of [[Radio in the United States|radio stations in the United States]], circulated an internal [[memorandum]] containing a list of songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-10-08 |title=The fallout over Clear Channel's (possibly apocryphal) do-not-play list lasted well past 9/11 |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/clear-channel-911-list/2021/10/07/2dd3dee2-17d8-11ec-b976-f4a43b740aeb_story.html |access-date=2023-05-30 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> that program directors felt were "lyrically questionable" to play in the [[Aftermath of the September 11 attacks|aftermath of the attacks]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lipmagazine.org/articles/featwishnia_142.shtml |title=Bad Transmission: Clear Channel's Hit List |work=[[LiP magazine]] |department=Reviews |date=October 24, 2001 |access-date=January 18, 2011 |last=Wishnia |first=Steven |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080416014917/http://www.lipmagazine.org/articles/featwishnia_142.shtml |archive-date=April 16, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During the time immediately after the attacks, many television and radio stations altered normal programming in response to the events, and the rumor spread that Clear Channel and its subsidiaries had established a list of songs with lyrics Clear Channel deemed "questionable."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kaufman |first=Gil |date=2021-09-09 |title=Filter's Richard Patrick, Don McLean, Drowning Pool, Saliva & More Talk Post-9/11 Clear Channel Radio Scrub |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/9-11-radio-scrub-anniversary-stories-9626045/ |access-date=2023-05-30 |magazine=Billboard |language=en-US}}</ref> The list was not an explicit demand not to play the songs listed, but rather a suggestion that they "might not want to play these songs." The list was made public by the independent radio industry newsletter ''[[Hits (magazine)|Hits Daily Double]]'', which was not affiliated with iHeartMedia.<ref>{{cite news
  |author1=Dutton, Jeremy  |author2=Puchert, William.
  |title=Music industry responds to terrorism
  |url=http://zephyr.unr.edu/zephyr/arts/archives/art_dutpuch_musicindustry.html
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620024102/http://zephyr.unr.edu/zephyr/arts/archives/art_dutpuch_musicindustry.html
  |archive-date=June 20, 2008
  |publisher=Zephyr
  |date=October 10, 2001
  |access-date=May 24, 2008}}</ref> ''[[Snopes.com]]'' did research on the subject and concluded that the list did exist as a suggestion for radio stations but noted that it was not an outright ban on the songs in question.<ref name=snopes>{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/rumors/radio.asp|title=Radio, Radio|website=[[Snopes.com]]|date=September 18, 2001|access-date=May 24, 2008|archive-date=October 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004052659/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/radio-radio/|url-status=live}}</ref> The compiled list was the subject of media attention around the time of its release.<ref name=snopes/>

The list contains 165 suggestions, including a single suggestion for each song in [[Rage Against the Machine]]'s entire catalogue at the time (49 songs) and [[Cover version|covers]] of certain songs (such as [[Bob Dylan]]'s "[[Knockin' on Heaven's Door]]" and the cover by [[Guns N' Roses]]).<ref>{{cite web|last=Truitt|first=Eliza|title=It's the End of the World as Clear Channel Knows It|work=[[Slate.com]]|date=September 17, 2001|url=http://slate.com/id/1008314/|access-date=September 14, 2007|archive-url=https://archive.today/20071015200337/http://slate.com/id/1008314/|archive-date=October 15, 2007|url-status=dead}} Slate published what it claimed was a copy of the list.</ref> In some cases, only certain covers were included on the list: for example, the cover of "[[Smooth Criminal]]" by [[Alien Ant Farm]] is on the list while the original [[Michael Jackson]] recording is not; conversely, [[Martha and the Vandellas]]' original version of "[[Dancing in the Street]]" and [[Van Halen]]'s cover are included, but [[David Bowie]] and [[Mick Jagger]]'s cover is not.