3 Iconic Artists Who Recently Censored Themselves

Culture evolves and sometimes that evolution is messy and uncomfortable.

Though some art endures timelessly, other works are time-stamped with outdated norms. While many have productive conversations about evolving standards, others are less graceful in assuming they wouldn’t have fallen victim to the existing norms of a previous era.

Some of music history’s biggest stars are now grappling with these issues. The three iconic artists below are deleting pieces of their decades-old work.

The Rolling Stones

Mick and Keith no longer perform one of their most beloved songs, “Brown Sugar.” In 2021, the Stones pulled the classic hit from their live sets following backlash to lyrics like Hear him whip the women just around midnight. Richards responded at the time, “Didn’t they understand this was a song about the horrors of slavery?”

“Brown Sugar” opens with Gold Coast slave ship bound for cotton fields and continues with sexual references to a young Black girl. Like many Stones songs, its surrounding lines are scattered and ambiguous, and Jagger admitted he’d probably censor himself from writing it today.

Joni Mitchell

The artwork for Joni Mitchell’s 1977 album Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter features the folk singer in blackface. She had controversially created a character in pimp clothing called Art Nouveau. With the album’s reissue, a new cover appears with Mitchell behind a dog or wolf. The current picture comes from a 1985 photo shoot for her album Dog Eat Dog.

The singer once arrived at a Halloween party dressed as Art Nouveau. Rock photographer Henry Diltz said even her close friends didn’t recognize that Mitchell was behind the costume. How many fans bought the album in 1977 and didn’t notice it was Mitchell on the cover? The new album artwork now appears on streaming services. Mitchell hasn’t issued an official statement regarding the change, though the artwork swap probably speaks for itself.

Cher

Ahead of her October induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cher will release an anthology of self-curated music. It will include her biggest hits, “If I Could Turn Back Time,” “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves,” and the auto-tuned anthem “Believe.” However, the one song you won’t find on the sprawling collection is her 1973 single “Half-Breed.”

The song follows a child of a white man and a Cherokee woman who endures prejudice and rejection from both sides of her family. Both the artwork and music video use Native American stereotypes and props, which 1970s popular culture largely ignored. By not including “Half-Breed” in her new anthology, Cher is joining other artists in rethinking questionable choices from the past.

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