3 Iconic Songs That Were Banned by the BBC for Your Anti-Establishment Playlist

These three songs were each banned by the BBC for very different reasons, some of which were straight-up ridiculous in their reasoning. If you want to put together a solid anti-establishment playlist, consider tossing these three tracks into the mix.

“I Love A Man In Uniform” by Gang Of Four (1982)

How about a post-punk deep cut? “I Love A Man In Uniform” by Gang Of Four got a ban from the BBC because of public interpretation. That was a common thing that happened with more controversial songs in the 20th century. The topic of the song was touchy, and it also came out when the Falklands War started. 

The BBC thought this song was too inappropriate and slapped a ban on it as it was inching up the UK charts. Gang Of Four also found themselves censored before with their 1979 track “At Home He’s A Tourist”. The band even walked out of Top Of The Pops before they were set to perform the song after being asked to censor its lyrics.

“Creep” by Radiohead (1992)

Surprisingly, Radiohead’s melancholic alt-rock hit was banned by BBC Radio 1… for being too depressing. That was a little bit extreme even for the BBC. The band notoriously hated the song. But getting banned by the BBC as a British outfit with a charting hit could have been disastrous for Radiohead. After its initial release, the song stalled at No. 78 on the charts, and Thom Yorke responded by saying he was “horribly gutted.” Though, it’s hard to tell if that was sarcasm. 

Thankfully, though, the song was re-released the following year and reached No. 7 on the UK charts and did similarly well internationally.

“Anarchy In The U.K.” by Sex Pistols (1976)

Here’s probably the least surprising entry on our list of songs that were banned by the BBC. Sex Pistols really ticked all the boxes with this punk rock classic: promoting “anarchy,” criticizing the government, encouraging bad behavior among youths, use of the word “Antichrist.” The song was one of several from Sex Pistols’ sole studio album to get banned by the BBC. That didn’t stop “Anarchy In The U.K.” from making it to the Top 40 on the UK charts.

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