List of songs banned by the BBC

This article lists songs and whole discographies which have been banned by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) over the years. During its history, the corporation has banned songs from a number of high-profile artists, including Cliff Richard, Frank Sinatra, Noël Coward, the Beatles, Ken Dodd, Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, the BBC Dance Orchestra, Tom Lehrer, Glenn Miller, and George Formby. Some songs were banned for only a limited period, and have since received BBC airplay, while others were banned many years after having been first aired, as was the case of the Cure's "Killing an Arab", ABBA's "Waterloo", Queen's "Killer Queen", the Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays" and 67 other songs which were banned from BBC airplay as the first Gulf War began.[1] Judge Dread, known for frequent use of sexual innuendo and double entendres, had all of his 11 singles that entered the UK Singles Chart banned by the BBC, which is the most for any one artist.[2][3]

  1. ^ "Banning songs not a rare occurrence for the BBC". The New Zealand Herald. Auckland. 19 December 2007. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  2. ^ "Judge Dread Biography by Jo-Ann Greene". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 20 June 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  3. ^ Simpson, Paul (2003). The Rough Guide to Cult Pop. Music rough guide. Rough Guides. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-84353-229-3. Retrieved 13 July 2022.