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NEWS
17 August 2004

Protest singer Earle blasts US war
US folk-rock artist Steve Earle, whose song about so-called American Taliban John Walker Lindh provoked major controversy in the US, is set to release album which criticises the Iraq war. Earle, an eight-times Grammy nominee based in Nashville, caused a storm with his 2002 song about Lindh, who was jailed for 20 years for serving with fighters in Afghanistan allied to al-Qaeda.
The song, John Walker's Blues, describes Lindh as "an American boy raised on MTV" who sought out another culture because he felt alienated from his native country.
Its release led to Earle being vilified by some in the US media as "unpatriotic" and even "a traitor".

Story from BBC
Taboo Tunes - music censorship in the US
Related reading: Taboo Tunes - new book on music censorship in the US

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Related reading:

Musical responses to 9/11: From Conservative patriotism to radicalism
This article poses the question: What would a suitable American popular music response to the events of 9/11 sound like? Read the chapter by Martin Cloonan, from the book "9/11 – The world's all out of tune"
09 December 2004
The world's all out of tune: Popular music after 9/11
"9/11 – The world's all out of tune. Populäre Musik nach dem 11. September 2001". New book - in German - on music after September 11, out October 2004
14 September 2004
USA: 'Crash into me, baby!'
America’s implicit music censorship since September 11. Read the chapter from 'Shoot the Singer!', by Eric Nuzum on how the September 11 terror attacks have affected freedom of musical expression
03 June 2004
Musical responses to 9/11: List of allegedly 'banned' songs
A list of "lyrically inappropriate" songs banned from some US radio stations in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks in 2001
09 December 2004
Cat Stevens denied access "on national security grounds"
US officials identified that the singer, whose name is now Yusuf Islam, was on one of their "watch lists". After an interview, the singer - who converted to Islam in 1977 - was denied entry into the US
22 September 2004
New US study on cultural exchanges since September 11
U.S Homeland Security and State departments are encouraged to "work together to improve the current visa situation…so it is less of a barrier for foreign visitors, artists, and scholars, and for the presenters who invite them"
10 September 2004
9/11: Is protest music dead?
Music used to be the dominant voice against war. Now it's easier to shut up and get paid. What's really going on? Extensive article on 9/11 effects and media concentration, by Jeff Chang
16 April 2002
Press release: Post 9/11 USA report
Freemuse report on USA after 9/11
13 February 2006
Dennis Lyxzen / TINC
Video interview with Dennis Lyxzen from The (international) Noise Conspiracy. An outsider’s view on music and censorship in the USA after 9/11
11 July 2002
Protest singer Earle blasts US war
The US singer - whose song about so-called American Taliban John Walker Lindh provoked major controversy in the US and resulted in US media calling him "unpatriotic" and even "a traitor" - is set to release an album which criticises the Iraq war
17 August 2004
Shoot the Singer! Book
"Shoot the Singer! Music Censorship Today". The first worldwide presentation of contemporary cases of music censorship, with cases from i.a. Burma, Mexico, Middle East, France, Algeria, Zimbabwe, USA, South Africa, Turkey. Edited by Freemuse director Marie Korpe, published by Zed Books, May 2004.
25 May 2004
Music during wartime
An extensive collection of links to articles related to how the war on Iraq affected freedom of musical expression - from American country albums being burned to the rise in protest music
10 June 2003
Clear Channel: September 11 & Corporate Censorship
Corporate censor no. 1, or just the market leader? A collection of articles on Clear Channel - including the debate on the infamous list of 'potentially offensive songs', which Clear Channel suggested its 1.300 radio stations not to play following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US
01 December 2002
WOMEX 2004
This year Freemuse presented two conference sessions: "Meet the banned! Music censorship in Turkey" featured Turkish musician Ferhat Tunç, while "9/11 – The world's all out of tune" presented a new book on freedom of musical expression after 9/11
19 October 2004
Venue expels Linda Ronstadt after political remarks
The singer was booed and removed from a Las Vegas casino for praising film-maker Michael Moore and his film Fahrenheit 9/11 during a show. Ronstadt called Moore a "great American patriot" and "someone who is spreading the truth"
20 July 2004
Singer Lee Jones attacks Bush
American singer Rickie Lee Jones has attacked the policies of the Bush administration on her latest record - despite the potential risk to her career. “I usually reflect things totally internally. But I think what is happening in America is so disturbing to me, it becomes internal”
07 January 2004
USA: What if they gave a culture war and nobody came?
Extensive article on the history of music censorship in the U.S., detailing the occasions when judicial and legislative authorities have focused attention on popular music as expression
28 January 2003
Freemuse report on censorship in post 9/11 USA
’Singing in the Echo Chamber’. Music censorship in the U.S. after September 11. New report published by Freemuse
13 February 2006
Post September 11- Freemuse conference
Listen to the Freemuse organized panel discussion from WOMEX 2003 on how September 11 has affected freedom of musical expression. Visa problems, threats, disrupted tours, changed play-lists, nationalistic concerts and withdrawal of covers are just a few results
30 November 2003
John Adams banned in Boston
Because of the September 11th terror attacks, the Boston Symphony Orchestra has decided to cancel "The Death of Klinghoffer", the both emotionally and politically sadly relevant John Adams opera
25 November 2001
CNN "Worldbeat": A Victim Of Terrorism
Another TV music outlet has gone as a side-effect of the September 11th terror attacks
13 November 2001
Pakistan: Music video about 9/11 censored
The Pakistani-Canadian rock group Falak has been blacklisted on MTV Pakistan. Their song 'Yadein II' is deemed too controversial because of its 9/11 images
21 February 2007
9/11: Freemuse conference abstract (WOMEX 2004)
Freedom of musical expression post 9/11: Read abstract from the Freemuse conference session at WOMEX 2004
19 October 2004
Primal Scream change title and lyrics
The UK band have made a dramatic u-turn and re-recorded ‘Bomb the Pentagon’ in the wake of September 11
29 May 2002
Ban the bomb
Primal Scream’s new album looks set to be banned in the U.S. - for featuring their controversial song ‘Bomb the Pentagon’. The song, a bitter attack on US foreign policy, was premiered live just before the September 11 terror attacks
10 April 2002
3rd Freemuse World Conference on Music and Censorship
200 professional musicians, scholars, and composers from 22 countries met at the 3rd Freemuse World Conference on 25-26 November 2006 in Istanbul, Turkey
18 December 2006
Musicians hit by the “9/11-effect”
Tighter restrictions on air travel means that musical instruments are no longer allowed on the plane as carry-on baggage. This has lead to cancellations of concerts and tours
11 September 2006
Bob Titley: Artists afraid to speak out
Video interview with one of the founding members of Music Row Democrats, which was born in December 2003 out of frustration and concern about the changing music climate
02 March 2006
USA: Anti-Iraq war rock song claimed blacklisted by US government
American rock musician Mick Star claims that his anti-Iraq war song 'Jets' is not getting air time due to pressure on radio stations from the White House
25 October 2005
US school talent show draws Secret Service
The band, named Coalition of the Willing, was to perform Bob Dylan's song "Masters of War" – but some students and adults who heard the band rehearse called a radio talk show Thursday morning, saying the song the band sang ended with a call for President Bush to die. So the Secret Service was called
12 November 2004
'Kill Bush' rappers rapped by US
Gatans Parlament - a Norwegian rap group that criticised US President Bush by setting up a website whose name means "Kill him now" is in trouble with US authorities. Gatans Parlament, or Street Parliament, has defended the exercise as a satire
04 November 2004
CRAG Report: The Missing Cuban Musicians
No Cuban bands have been admitted entry into the U.S. since November 2003. New report on the situation for cultural exchange between Cuba and the U.S.
05 October 2004
Elton John attacks new 'era of censorship' in America
The British singer has attacked what he calls a McCarthy-like "era of censorship" in America. Entertainers who speak out against the Bush administration or its policy on Iraq, he claimed, risk scorn and damage to their livelihood
17 July 2004
Rapper Jadakiss Blames Bush for Sept. 11
"Why" - the new single by US rapper Jadakiss, with the words "why did Bush knock down the towers?" - has gotten him the most mainstream attention, and criticism, of his career. MTV and several radio stations are playing the edited version
16 July 2004
Hip-Hop Cops: US put Hip-Hop under surveillance
A collection of articles on the latest developments in a nationwide effort to place every aspect of hip-hop culture under state surveillance
08 July 2004
Explicit Lyrics & Parental Advisory
Tipper Gore, the PMRC, and the infamous black-and-white logo: Background material and news articles
01 February 2004
American radio station bans Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull is off the play list of a classic rock station after the band's frontman criticized displays of the Stars and Stripes
13 November 2003
Making Marx in the Music: A HyperHistory of New Music and Politics
Classical music and jazz seem to have a more long-term, measured, even sublimated approach to political protest, slower to react and more deeply embedded in the structure of the music itself
07 November 2003
Cuba - US row over Grammy visas
The Cuban government has accused the United States of deliberately delaying visas to stop Cuban nominees attending the Latin Grammy Awards in Miami
09 September 2003
Controversial cover
US rapper Paris' forthcoming "Sonic Jihad" album depicts a jet about to slam into the White House. The intention is to create a dialogue
03 April 2003