Once This Song Was Banned...!

Once in a great while, the folks in charge of what is good for all the rest of us deem that we shouldn't hear certain songs...and so, in their infinite wisdom (?) they banned them from being played on the radio. What makes this so strange in this case is that the song in question has no words! Not a single word at all! It was banned strictly because of the title! Here is the song and the story behind the reason for this madness!

Link Wray

‘Rumble’

Link Wray’s 1958 classic “Rumble” was originally banned from many US radio stations, notably in Boston and New York, for fear of the song inciting gang violence. Although it did not take much for a song to be banned back in the 1950s, even by the sensibilities of the time, banning “Rumble” is a stretch for the imagination because the song contains no vocals. That is zero words.

It was not the raucous rock ‘n’ roll sound of the song that caused the widespread boycott from radio stations but rather the song’s title that caused the ban. The use of the word “rumble” as the title proved just too much for several radio DJs, and therefore, the song was banned.

Surprisingly, the banning of Link Wray’s song didn’t have much negative impact on the tune’s commercial success. “Rumble” remained in the charts for ten weeks after its release, and even today, it is revered as iconic.

I have to say, I can remember this song and always liked it, but not one single time that I heard it did I ever think of fighting someone...NEVER!!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Pretty nice weather!