Houston Claims Success in Anti-Rock and Roll Campaign
The Juvenile Delinquency and Crime Commission in Houston, Texas, claimed success on this day in its anti-rock and roll crusade.
The effort involved pressuring radio stations not to play recordings with “lewd or suggestive” lyrics. All nine Houston radio stations were cooperating. The crusade began when African-American parents objected to a program that had a female singer (race not identified), who burlesqued southern African-American singers and in the process performed numbers with suggestive lyrics.
Other censorship actions involving public fears of rock and roll included a ban on the film Blackboard Jungle in Memphis, Tennessee, and a ban on a Fats Domino concert in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Learn more about the censorship of rock and roll (see especially the chronology in the Appendix): Eric Nuzum, Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America (2001)
Learn more at the National Coalition Against Censorship here
40 Banned or Censored songs here
Find links to book, articles and more on censorship of rack and roll at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame here