From controversial lyrics to banned music videos, these songs pushed boundaries and sparked outrage. Join us as we explore the most controversial rock tracks that had parents, politicians, and religious groups up in arms. Warning: Some of these might still ruffle some feathers today!
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for those rock
00:13tunes that caused a controversy at the time of their release and often still
00:18ruffle feathers today.
00:32Number 10 Closer – Nine Inch Nails
00:44Maybe the world wasn't ready back in 1994 for a music video experience celebrating dominance,
00:51submission, and deviancy.
00:53This hypothesis could go a little ways in explaining why Closer by Nine Inch Nails received so much
00:59media coverage back in the day.
01:08The song is actually more of an internal narrative rather than an outward projection of sexual
01:13desire.
01:14Never underestimate the power of a memorable chorus, however, because most criticisms
01:19of Closer focused solely on the song's visual aesthetic and profanity.
01:24The clip was initially relegated to late-night slots on MTV, but the power of Closer soon
01:30became strong enough that it helped Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails become household names for
01:36industrial rock.
01:43Number 9 Angel of Death – Slayer The realms of fantasy were always a fertile
01:56playing ground for early heavy metal bands, but the thrash scene that rose to prominence
02:01during the 1980s had some other ideas about lyrical content.
02:05Politics and real-life historical events began to creep their way into thrash anthems like Angel
02:11of Death by Slayer.
02:13This latter tune from the group's landmark Rain In Blood LP was even more extreme, however,
02:19thanks to its subject matter of Nazi Germany.
02:23Angel of Death specifically references the horrific medical procedures and war crimes of Josef Mengele,
02:33whose work at the Auschwitz concentration camp would draft him into the most infamous annals of history.
02:40It was a grim choice of subject matter that raised the eyebrows of just about everyone.
02:47Angel of Death!
02:48Angel of Death!
02:50Angel of Death!
02:53It's honestly kind of baffling that the progressive rock pioneers in Genesis even recorded this one,
03:12never mind releasing it as a single.
03:15The legal alien possesses good intentions, at least, with regards to its lyrical content.
03:21After all, the song is actually written about the real-life struggles many face when attempting
03:25to source out visas and immigration paperwork for countries like the United States.
03:30The controversy then unfolds, with Phil Collins' decision to place an affectation on his voice
03:37that almost sounds parodic.
03:38Additionally, the music video for Illegal Alien indulges in stereotypical imagery that honestly
03:51hurts the message at play.
03:53It may not have been intentional, but this otherwise innocuous song is aged like milk in
03:59the modern day.
04:00We could honestly populate this entire list with all of the various Maryland Manson
04:30moments that got the singer-songwriter in hot water over the years.
04:34We prefer, however, to focus on the world that, at the time, anyway, was still awaiting
04:40Manson's cultural impact.
04:42It's difficult for those that weren't there to appreciate just how much songs like Get
04:47Your Gun freaked out parents during the early 90s.
04:50The song was also blamed for influencing the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado.
05:07This was despite Get Your Gun actually being about the murder of an abortion provider, David
05:122001, back in 1993.
05:14Get your gun, get your gun, get your gun.
05:20Yeah.
05:21Number 6.
05:22He hit me, and it felt like a kiss.
05:25The crystals.
05:26He hit me, but it's if he hurts me.
05:34We often fall back on the phrase, it was a different time, when attempting to defend cultural divides.
05:41Make no mistake, however, folks were PO'd and offended about He Hit Me, and it felt like a kiss by the Crystals, even back in 62.
05:50He hit me, and it felt like a kiss.
05:59Everyone involved with the song has an opinion about why it does or doesn't work.
06:04From the shame of the songwriter Carole King, to the spacious and malevolent production job of Phil Spector.
06:11This latter point is important because the atmosphere of He Hit Me feels dark, and in line with the song's subject matters of gaslighting, abuse, and even Stockholm Syndrome.
06:22As a pop song, it remains one of the music industry's darkest curiosities.
06:27And when he kissed me, he made me go.
06:37Number 5. Sex Type Thing, Stone Temple Pilots.
06:42Composing a song from the perspective of a dark or deviant character can sometimes come back to bite the performer in the butt.
07:00Scott Weiland found this out firsthand when Backlash, to Sex Type Thing by Stone Temple Pilots, began making the rounds back in 1993.
07:08It's perhaps easier to understand today how this song is clearly written outside of Weiland's personal views on sex, dating, and assault.
07:24Yet that didn't stop many journalists and fans from taking umbrage against a song that they felt glorified and glamorized in decent assaults.
07:33Weiland even told Rolling Stone, during a 1993 interview, that he never thought that people would connect him to the protagonist of Sex Type Thing.
07:51Number 4. Money for Nothing. Uncensored. Dire Straits.
07:56You never hear this version of Dire Straits' Money for Nothing on the radio, nor is it performed live.
08:09The album version of this smash hit is a different story, however, containing an extra verse that got Dire Straits in some seriously hot water.
08:18This is one that's familiar to Stone Temple Pilots and Sex Type Thing in that Mark Knopfler is singing Money for Nothing from an outside perspective.
08:27Specifically, it doesn't really feel out of character for the working-class protagonist of Money for Nothing to utilize the slurs he does during this verse.
08:36We've got some movies, refrigerators. We've got some movies, color TV.
08:43Knopfler semi-defended his decision in a 1985 Rolling Stone interview, but continued to sing the verse on tour,
08:55substituting the word Queenie for one that we can't repeat.
08:59We've got a queenie, but you're in it as a baby. I'll tell you what, that's a baby.
09:06Number 3. One in a Million. Guns N' Roses.
09:10Yes, I need it.
09:12Sometime I get away.
09:16These legends courted controversy basically from Jump Street, not only with the band cover art for their debut album,
09:24Appetite for Destruction, but again for LP number 2.
09:28One in a Million was taken from the group's Lies album, a track that earned Axl Rose and company a whole lot of grief,
09:35thanks to the content of its lyrics.
09:36One in a Million was accused of basically every ism and phobia in the book,
09:41from the racial and social variety to Rose's inflammatory words against the LGBTQIA plus community.
09:49They make no sense to me.
09:53They come to our country and think they'll do as they please.
10:00The end results aren't any prettier in hindsight either, and the tune rightfully earned Guns N' Roses some heavy criticism.
10:08Even today, One in a Million is still seen as one of the band's most confusing creative decisions.
10:14Don't point your finger at me.
10:18I'm a small town white boy.
10:22Just trying to make it meet.
10:24Number 2.
10:26God Save the Queen.
10:27Sex Pistols.
10:29God Save the Queen.
10:31The fascist regime.
10:33Don't mess with the monarchy.
10:37Or at least don't release a scathing and satirical single titled God Save the Queen unless you're prepared to deal with the fallout.
10:45The Sex Pistols and their manager Malcolm McLaren seemed pleased when they released this two-fingered salute to their home nation.
10:53This was a knowing riff on the United Kingdom's national anthem,
10:57a defining anthem of the 70s punk era that didn't really care who would offend it.
11:02God Save the Queen was banned from radio, and many British retail shops wouldn't carry physical copies of the single, despite its popularity.
11:16Basically, God Save the Queen pioneered that punk spirit of pissing people off, and did so in absolutely fabulous style.
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11:47We're seriously impressed that one of hip-hop's elder statesmen, Ice-T,
12:05even considered branching off into heavy metal when he formed Body Counts back in 1990.
12:10This lyrical provocateur continued to stir the societal pot with the band's debut album, containing the infamous track titled Cop Killer.
12:28Just about everyone had an opinion on Cop Killer back in the early 90s,
12:33from U.S. President George H.W. Bush to conservative-leaning actor Charlton Heston.
12:39The latter famously pontificated in anger about the song's anti-cop content,
12:44and it was Heston's words, along with pressure from various police, that got Body Count pulled from store shelves.
12:51A newly censored version arrived in its place, now with a replacement song that was knowingly titled Freedom of Speech.
12:58Freedom of Speech, yeah, just watch what you say. Freedom of Speech, yeah, boy, just watch what you say.
13:07Is life too short to be offended, or are there lines of good taste that simply shouldn't be crossed?
13:14Let us know in the comments.
13:15Love, good job. Love, good job. Love, good job all day.