This British Rock Song Hit the Top 20, but Dropped Off the Charts When It Was Banned After Princess Diana’s Death

A band’s big break can happen in an instant, but unfortunately, so can their fall from the top. English folk-rockers Levellers learned this lesson the hard way when they watched the second track off their 1997 album, Mouth To Mouth, climb to the Top 20 in their native United Kingdom—only for the track to tumble off the charts following a national tragedy on August 31, 1997.

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Early that morning, Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris. The death of the People’s Princess sent shockwaves around the world. Unsurprisingly, this affected how the media interacted with the public. Just like the United States would do several years later, after the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, British radio began pulling tracks that seemed overly cheerful while the nation mourned.

For Levellers, that meant their track “What A Beautiful Day” was no longer deemed appropriate for radio play. That song, bassist Jeremy Cunningham later explained to The Guardian, “along with every other cheerful-sounding song, was taken straight off the radio.”

“What a Beautiful Day” Was Subversive Enough Not to Be Banned for Other Reasons

Folk punk doesn’t have a long history of topping the mainstream music charts. So, Levellers was ecstatic to see their track “What A Beautiful Day” climb to the Top 20. The band’s fifth studio album, Mouth To Mouth, also peaked at No. 5 on the U.K. album chart. But Princess Diana’s death changed everything for the band. “It was going up when suddenly, boom, all radio play was cut, and it disappeared,” Jeremy Cunningham recalled.

Interestingly, it stands to reason that “What A Beautiful Day” could have been banned for a different reason entirely. Despite what the cheery title suggested, the track was actually a protest song. “John Lennon once said that everything he wrote was two songs in one,” vocalist and singer-songwriter Mark Chadwick told The Guardian. “I’ve always stood by that. So, you can take ‘What A Beautiful Day’ at face value, like, ‘Oh, he’s having a lovely day.’ But the song is essentially about revolution and bringing down the government.”

“A lot of Levellers songs are reacting against horrible things that we’re angry about,” Cunningham added. “But this one is really life-affirming and full of positivity. My favorite line is, ‘Nothing is impossible in my all-powerful mind.’ To me, it’s all about actualizing things and the endless possibilities that are out there.”

That one of Levellers’ most optimistic songs—even with its subversive, revolutionary message—would be banned from the radio because of a national tragedy no one could have anticipated is a sad and ironic footnote in the band’s decades-long career.

Photo by Ian Dickson/Redferns