1964. USA. Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash was concerned with the plight of Native Americans, and produced a series of records about their condition. The song 'The Ballad of Ira Hayes' became a top ten country hit. It tells the story of Ira Hayes - a Pima Indian who was one of the soldiers raising the flag at Iwo Jima in the famous photo, and who died drunk in a ditch in 1955. Country radio stations in America tried to show their influence and ban the song, but it backfired. It made Johnny Cash into the darling of the industry. He paid for a nationwide advert that said, "DJs, station managers, owners, etc. Where are your GUTS?... 'The Ballad of Ira Hayes’ IS strong medicine. Well, so is Rochester, Harlem, Birmingham and Vietnam."

1965. USA. Frank Zappa
In 1965, when Zappa and his group, called The Mothers, were about to release their first LP "Freak Out" on MGM Records (featuring the song, "Who Are the Brain Police?"), the label told the group to change its name. "Out of necessity, we became the Mothers of Invention," Zappa writes in his autobiography, "The Real Frank Zappa Book".

1966. USA. The Beatles
In March, John Lennon comments that the Beatles are more popular with teens than Jesus Christ. The observation leads to Beatle record burnings and bans from radio play around the country. In June, the Beatles release their 'Yesterday and Today' album with the "butcher cover" (featuring the Beatles sitting with pieces of meat and decapitated baby dolls). The record company quickly withdraws the record from stores and replaces it with an innocuous photo of the band.

1968. USA. The Rolling Stones
During the National Democratic Convention, Chicago mayor Richard Daley orders local radio stations to avoid playing the Rolling Stones' single 'Street Fighting Man' in anticipation of rioting that occurred during the convention. The plan backfires, and air play and sales of the single reach record-setting proportions in Chicago.

1968. USA. Bob Dylan
An El Paso, Texas radio station bans all records by singer Bob Dylan because it is too difficult to understand the lyrics. The station management fears that the lyrics may contain offensive or lewd messages. However, the station continues to play recordings of other artists covering Dylan's songs.

1968. USA. Frank Zappa
During a Dutch music awards ceremony in 1968 (for the LP "We're Only In It for the Money") Zappa heard the album for the first time since he turned it into the record company. "I noticed that whole chunks of songs were missing. Someone at MGM had been offended by the lyrics and had arbitrarily chopped portions of them out.
There are many, many more censorship cases in Zappa's history, involving record companies, radio stations, TV stations, governments and retail stores.
On September 19, 1985, Zappa appeared before a Congressional hearing on explicit lyrics in popular music.

1969. USA. John Lennon & Yoko Ono
Newark Police seize 30,000 copies of the album ‘Two Virgins’, featuring John and Yoko naked on the cover, and the vice squad shuts down a record shop in Chicago. In the same year, ‘The Ballad of John And Yoko’ is banned by 50 percent of all US radio stations. It still gets to number one.