The Ed Sullivan Show and the (Censored) Sounds of the Sixties

SSUES SURROUNDING THE CENSORSHIP OF POPULAR MUSIC HAVE PROVOKED some of the most complex debates about freedoms of speech and expression in recent years. Radio broadcasting bans imposed on songs during the first and second Gulf Wars, persistent criticisms of the celebrations of/incitements to violence allegedly contained in gangsta rap, attempts to implicate musicians in the aftermath of the Columbine High School shootings, and restrictions of airplay time faced by performers and their music following the attack on the World Trade Center have served to focus attention very directly on the justifications for, and arguments against, censorship. But such discussions are not new. Forty years ago, three celebrated, controversial, and linked incidents, involving some of popular music’s best-known performers, provided comparable illustrations of impositions directed at live music and the individual responses that followed. A contemporary analysis of these historical case studies within the broader context of creativity and control in popular music can offer significant clues about the artistic integrity and motivations of the performers involved, and at the same time indicate the extent of potential or actual conflict between the entertainment industry and its leading practitioners, at a time when it was widely believed that such restrictions were there to be confronted. Although (stereo)typically associated with the actions of the state— prior restraint by the government—it is important to recognize that censorship takes many forms and springs from many sources. In fact, it is best approached not as a singular action or policy, but as any