Taboo Tunes: A History of Banned Bands & Censored Songs

Rating:
Summary: Light reading on a heavy topic
Review: After hearing a recent NPR interview with the author I ordered Taboo Tunes and have been totally charmed by it. Music censorship is an issue that has always interested me, and I've read and enjoyed a few others books about the topic -- including Eric Nuzum's good contribution from a few years back -- but there is just no doubt that Blecha's book shines. He brings to the table a distinct voice, an eye for meaningful detail, a background as a professional music historian and museum curator, but also a sense of fun. The author explicates the deep historical background of the music (and musicians) who have faced scorn for producing challenging music or lyrics, and he accomplishes this in a witty (if occasionally sarcastic) way that will attract even those who don't usually gravitate to history books. Because it was written with obvious commitment to rigorous scholarly standards (the Source and Reference citations run to 15 long pages) the book includes info about hundreds of controversial songs that, to my knowledge, haven't been documented in any one other place. The inclusion of many photographs of censored album covers and vintage sheet music spices up the book visually, but what keeps you reading is the "tongue in cheek" (and sometimes "laugh out loud") humor of the author. I'll view Taboo as a most unusual case of a masterful research effort that has resulted in a remarkably fun summer read.

Rating:
Summary: Read the original
Review: Having cared about this issue for years, I immediately ordered this book. When I got it, I was disappointed. As I read, I kept thinking Taboo Tunes pretty much has one source, one of my favorite books: Eric Nuzum's groudbreaking Parental Advisory Music Censorship in America. In addition to the incidents and examples discussed, Taboo Tunes even uses many of the same photos used in Parental Advisory. I think that Blecha is a much better writer, and is much more entertaining in expressing opinions, but Parental Advisory is much more thorough and conprehensive. (...)

Blecha is fighting the good fight and this book is an entertaining read--fun if you haven't read much on this issue. But if you really care about free expression and music, I'd suggest reading Parental Advisory, which really was the first and best book documenting how scary America's love/hate relationship with popular music has been.

Actually, you should probably read both. While Parental Advisory is a better book, Taboo Tunes is more recent (includes Dixie Chicks and some other things) and has a few things that Eric Nuzum missed or chose not to include.

Rating:
Summary: Naughty, but nice!
Review: Taboo Tunes is not the first book ever published on music censorship, but FINALLY we get one written with skill, serious spunk, attitude, and flair. The author lays out the basics of what arts-censorship is, the deep history of the practice as a socio-political tool of the powerful, a brief survey of modern-day censorship in a global context, and then gets down to business: relating the story of censorship in America. Written in a humorous, fun, and wickedly wild style, Taboo Tunes' author sure knows what he's talking about. From the banning of early dance steps like the Waltz and Tango nearly a century ago, to radio bans on early jazz, rock 'n' roll, and hip-hop, this book covers a lot of ground at a good lively clip. Nothing is over-looked: I almost died laughing while reading this telling of the FBI's silly investigation of the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" -- and nearly wept reading how the Nazi's suppressed the German jazz and classical scenes - and how America's government harassed artists like Billie Holiday, paul Robeson, and Woody Guthrie. Tipper Gore gets no mercy for her role in the 1980's PMRC incidents just as Nixon is excoriated for letting the FBI harass John Lennon, Jim Morrison, and other musicians with a political bent. Taboo Tunes makes clear exactly what happened during the Ice-T "Cop Killer" scandal in the '90s, and distills into entertaining form all the uproars in recent years over record "Warning Labels," satanic "back-masking," radio payola, censored album jackets, banned MTV videos, and controversial artists like Madonna, Rage Against The Machine, and the Dixie Chicks. Speaking of which: perhaps the book's strongest point is the even-handed way it presents the history of political dissent (in song) and the amazing things that have happened to various bands who have spoken out against war since 9/11. Scary stuff! Just raced through the book and can't imagine a finer telling of all this history of sex, drugs, dissent, and, yes, Rock N Roll. I'm going to read it again. Right now. Highly Recommended!