Season 378 "Banned by the Beeb"



Mark, I could not agree more and I apologise to everyone for the discomfort this must be causing. Could we not PLEASE concentrate on the business of bringing songs here!

You need not apologize Val. I have never seen a week where a host has been treated in such a confrontational and aggressive manner, and it's really disappointing. I have no idea what happened at the start, and not taking sides on that, but this wasn't the way to handle it regardless. We're here playing ukulele for fun. This has cast an unnecessary pall over this Season, and has taken the fun level down. This week was never designed to see if the host will ban someones controversial submission or not. Especially at a time where hosts are getting harder to find, this only discourages people from doing it in the future, and I'm not cool with that at all. Val, you've handled this amazingly well, and I apologize you've had to deal with this publicly.
 
Quoting Wikipedia...

Details and ban by the BBC

"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" was written by Heaven 17 members Martyn Ware, Ian Craig Marsh and Glenn Gregory and included on their 1981 debut album Penthouse and Pavement. It was the first single released by the band.

The lyrics of the song [...] reference the UK and US political leaders of the time, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan, respectively, and include denunciations of both racism and fascism. According to the book Banned!: Censorship of Popular Music in Britain, 1967-92, the song was banned by the BBC due to concerns by Radio 1's legal department that it libelled Ronald Reagan as he was the new US President at the time of the song's release.[4]

Reception and chart performance

Despite being banned by the BBC, "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" reached number 45 on the UK singles chart. It debuted on that chart on 21 March 1981 and peaked one week later. The single peaked at number 72 in Australia, and was also a minor dance hit in the US, reaching number 29 on the Billboard Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart in 1981. The song was ranked at number 4 among the top ten "Tracks of the Year" for 1981 by NME.

And it's fun to play on ukulele!

 
Hello, Everyone! It is now midnight Sunday in Hawaii and Season 378 is, therefore, officially at an end ... phew!!! I am SO sorry that this developed into such a miserable experience for all concerned - I had intended it to be fun and I am very grateful to those who posted and entered into the spirit of the week. I will put up the Wrap as soon as possible. Meanwhile, on to the far safer shores of Mikel's bossa nova-ing. Thank you all!
 
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Thanks Val - it was a great week of music and a really interesting theme. And especially well done for keeping it all together - you did great under what must, at times, have been very difficult circumstances! :)
 
Thanks for hosting this week Val, it was a great idea for a season and there has been some excellent music as a result. Thumbs up! :)
 
yes, many many thanks for hosting, val. you did an amazing job in what has clearly been an awful and very difficult week for you. thank you for sticking with the season, i think many lesser mortals would have packed the whole thing in on day two, and no one could have blamed them. a fascinating theme, i had no idea many of these songs had ever been banned, or that the banning started back in the very earliest days of the bbc, before TV, before even the mighty :bowdown: top of the pops!
 
Thanks so much, Mark, Del, John and Lynda for the kind words. I am bringing the Wrap for the Season with what might seem like indecent haste, but I really just want to put this whole last week behind me. I could really have singled all of you out for all sorts of reasons, and I really appreciate how you all attempted to discover why the songs which you chose had originally been banned. The actual winners are shown in the video ... would you please all PM me with your addresses. (And, yes, Andy ... I know I already owe you something!)

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An awesome week, Val! We may get banned from a street fair this week because one of our more mischievous players (a delightful native of France and mother of two) insists we play "Fat Bottomed Girls!"

This was fun. You can PM me if you'd like to send bail money.
 
Congrats on a clever and challenging week. I really appreciate your comments, especially the quirky ones! (I like quirky!)
You are amazing. Illegitimi non carborundum.
 
Very worthy winners, well done. Have to say my personal favourite was Ralf’s Fascist Groove Thang, how he manages to transfer these big big songs so brilliantly onto a simple uke, time and time again, is always a source of inspiration.
 
Thanks so much for hosting this week Val, and congrats to all of the winners. Missed Ralf's entry, so I'm going to check it out now ~
 
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