
Clear Channel memorandum

Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia), the largest owner of radio stations in the United States, circulated an internal memo containing a list of songs that program directors felt were "lyrically questionable" to play in the aftermath of the attack.
During the time immediately after the attacks, many television and radio stations altered normal programming in response to the events, and the rumour spread that Clear Channel and its subsidiaries had established a list of songs with lyrics Clear Channel deemed "questionable". The list was not a demand not to play the songs listed, but rather a suggestion that they "might not want to play these songs". The list was made public by the independent radio industry newsletter "Hits Daily Double", which was not affiliated with iHeartMedia. "Snopes.com" did research on the subject and concluded that the list did exist as a suggestion for radio stations but noted that it was not an outright ban on the songs in question. The compiled list was the subject of media attention around the time of its release.
The list contains 165 suggestions, including a single suggestion for every song in Rage Against the Machine's catalogue as well as certain songs recorded by multiple artists (for example Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and the version by Guns N' Roses). In some cases, only certain versions of songs were included on the list. For example, the cover of "Smooth Criminal" by Alien Ant Farm is on the list while the original Michael Jackson recording is not. Similarly, J. Frank Wilson's version of "Last Kiss" is included, but Pearl Jam's cover is not. Also, Martha and the Vandellas's original version of "Dancing in the Street" and Van Halen's version are included; David Bowie and Mick Jagger's recording was excluded from the list. Also, the song "Leaving on a Jet Plane" by Peter, Paul, and Mary is included, but the version by the song's composer John Denver is not. AC/DC has the most individual songs listed, with seven.
Reasons for inclusions.
Notably, the Clear Channel memorandum contains songs that, in their titles or lyrics, vaguely refer to open subjects intertwined with the September 11 attacks like airplanes, collisions, death, wars, and violence, as well as the sky, falling, and weapons, and even two celebratory songs dealing with events occurring in the month of September. Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" was infamously included because of Clear Channel's belief that happy music was inappropriate for broadcast following the attacks. WASH supposedly played Kool & the Gang's "Celebration" while the memorandum was being circulated, "which brought a polite if reproachful call from one listener, who was assured by the station the song’s broadcast was a mistake."