The Music: Cher, “If I could Turn Back Time”
Who pulled the plug: MTV
When: 1989
Supposedly featuring Cher in a fishnet body stocking and what just so happens to be a very revealing swimsuit, the singer’s video for “If I Could Turn Back Time” caused quite a stir when it appeared to look more like some artful electrical tape thoughtfully shrouded in some pantyhose. The outfit combined with the canon she straddles for part of the video caused MTV to refuse to show it before 9pm, and only then after omitting some of the more racy shots. Sexually charged and scandalous at the time, today it’s more something we look at and say “Oh, that Cher”
The Music: Pearl Jam, ‘Another Brick in the Wall (Pink Floyd’
Who pulled the plug: AT&T
When: 2007
Cybercast by AT&T and played on the company sponsored stage, a few collars were tugged when Eddie Veder took center stage and made a few creative changes to Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’. Instead of asking teachers to leave those kids alone, Pearl Jam so kindly urged,“George Bush, leave this world alone,” and “George Bush, find yourself another home.” AT&T quickly “accidentally” omitted those lyrics from the Webcast. In a statement, AT&T blamed the mistake on their vendor and said that there was no reason for the lyrics to be censored.
The Music: The Sex Pistols
Who pulled the plug: Thames Television’s “Today” with Bill Grundy
When: 1976
There was some initial under-the-breath cursing early on in the interview, but that turned out to be the least of anyone’s worries. To be fair, Grundy sort of had it coming – he suggested on air to Siouxsie Sioux that they meet up after the show-raunchily enough for everyone to know he didn’t just want to grab a cup of tea. Steve Jones proceeds to call him a dirty… well, we try to avoid explicit language ourselves, so we say go ahead and check out the YouTube video. The band was immediately dropped from their label EMI, and Grundy was suspended from his job for two weeks. The show was cancelled two months later. Though we don’t totally get why anyone was shocked…it was The Sex Pistols after all.
The Music: Neil Young, ‘This Note’s for You’
Who pulled the plug: MTV
When: 1989. Neil’s song “This Note’s for You” mocked the bands and companies who used one another for popularity and endorsement. In fact, the song specifically says,
“Ain’t singin’ for Pepsi
Ain’t singin’ for Coke
I don’t sing for nobody
Makes me look like a joke
This note’s for you.Ain’t singin’ for Miller
Don’t sing for Bud
I won’t sing for politicians
Ain’t singin’ for Spuds
This note’s for you.”
The video includes a spoof of the now infamous Michael Jackson incident involving the filming of a Pepsi Ad, some product laden hair, and a small fire. MTV initially refused to play the video on the grounds that it was worried about copyright infringements from celebrities it mocked, so Young’s record company said they would sign an agreement releasing MTV from any responsibility from any future lawsuits. They also offered to scrap the satire and just show Neil singing, but MTV still said no,this time saying that they didn’t allow any artists to name specific products in their songs. However, based on the fact that “Parents Just Don’t Understand” was in high rotation at the time, featuring the name drops of McDonalds, Adidas and Porsche, among others, this argument didn’t hold fast. Neil wrote an public letter to MTV calling them spineless, and the t.v. station finally gave in. The joke was on MTV though- fans voted the video as the Best Video of the Year in the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards.
The Music: The Doors, ‘Light My Fire’
Who pulled the plug (or at least tried to): Ed Sullivan
When: 1967.
When The Doors made an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 76′ they were asked to do something about the lyric of ‘Light My Fire’ that said “Girl, we couldn’t get much higher.” The band said, “Why, of course, no problem”… and proceeded to go ahead and disregard the request, singing the song as it was written. Anyone who has seen the Oliver Stone movie knows about the famous move to that left Sullivan miffed. In the movie, however, Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison looks directly into the camera while delivering the line as a snarky blow to Sullivan. In the real clip? Morrison is acts totally nonchalant. doing his thing and singing with his eyes closed. “Hey guys, I’m just purposely pissing off one of America’s biggest people in the entertainment world. No big deal.”
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