It's not often when a song that reaches the top 40 gets skipped for a particular reason, but today we have the even rarer event of two songs being purposely skipped. Here is a list I've come up with: (reasons in brackets)

 

The Irish Brigade 'Roll of Honour' (IRA hunger strikers related controversy)

Dapper Laughs 'Proper Moist' (too explicit)

Wizard of Oz Cast 'Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead' (Margaret Thatcher related controversy)

DJ Stay The Night 'Stay The Night' (fake version)

Lil' Wayne feat. Drake 'Right Above It' (too explicit)

Spark Productions 'Wake Me Up'* (fake version)

Kings Of Pop 'T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)'* (fake version)

Precision Tunes 'Payphone'* (fake version)

 

*the original version was played in the place of the cover

 

Are there any other examples?

I think I recall a version of Turn My Swag On being skipped? The one that charted before Alexa Goddard's.

^ Yeah, Greg Street ft. Keri Hilson & Soulja Boy - Turn My Swag On was top 40 for a few weeks, and never got played in full. :(

 

Also, Dappy - Tarzan 2 I think?

 

I think there was also a song that was all silence that charted a few years ago and they skipped it.

 

There was a Glee Cast song that got skipped despite being a new entry a few years ago, but they played it on its 2nd week in the top 40.

Edited February 16, 201411 yr by Eric_Blob

I think there was also a song that was all silence that charted a few years ago and they skipped it.

 

How could you tell? :lol:

I think there was also a song that was all silence that charted a few years ago and they skipped it.

 

There was a Glee Cast song that got skipped despite being a new entry a few years ago, but they played it on its 2nd week in the top 40.

That would be John Cage's "4'33" which was a campaign for the Xmas #1. It went to #21.

 

Funny enough, a month before that charted The Royal British Legion's charity single "2 Minute Silence" went to #20. I don't remember if it was played or not though.

 

I think the Glee Cast song that was skipped was a mistake, I can't think of anything controversial about them charting.

I think they played '2 Minute Silence' in full (IIRC it wasn't actually silence unlike '4'33"', but rather 2 minutes of ambient noise).

 

The skipped Glee song was 'Thriller / Heads Will Roll' IIRC and I think that was just because it was a week with one of R1's time-wasting events. A few other top 40 hits have also never been played for similar reasons, off the top of my head Muse's 'Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)' and Katie Melua's 'The Flood' are two such songs.

The first song to have a major swear word in the title to chart top 40, 'Too Drunk to F***' by the Dead Kennedys way back in 1981.

 

The chart show at the time would just quickly say "At 36, a record by a group calling themselves The Dead Kennedys" and immediately move onto the next entry.

Of course the biggies "Relax" and "Je t'aime... moi non plus"

I think I recall a version of Turn My Swag On being skipped? The one that charted before Alexa Goddard's.

That was due to it not having a radio edit that omitted the expletives iirc, similar to Proper Moist!

I will never understand the reason of skipping songs because of their explicit lyrics. I'm sure it's a UK thing.

I will never understand the reason of skipping songs because of their explicit lyrics. I'm sure it's a UK thing.

 

Pretty sure you can't broadcast swear words on the radio in any country (unless post-watershed with a warning) :lol: They aren't skipping it because it's explicit, but because they don't have access to a clean edit.

Pretty sure you can't broadcast swear words on the radio in any country (unless post-watershed with a warning) :lol: They aren't skipping it because it's explicit, but because they don't have access to a clean edit.

You can. In my country nobody cares about the clean version, they play the explicit and without warning as this is the official version. You can hear all the nice words as they are in the songs, and nobody cares about it.

You can. In my country nobody cares about the clean version, they play the explicit and without warning as this is the official version. You can hear all the nice words as they are in the songs, and nobody cares about it.

In your country the first language is not English though ;)

 

In Hungary they mostly play the clean versions too.

I believe Ben & Jamie Hazelby (with Chris De Burgh)'s version of "Lonely Sky" was skipped when it had its one and only week on chart, I think they were racing through the bottom end of the chart to include the year-end chart as well in the same timeframe as the normal chart

The first song to have a major swear word in the title to chart top 40, 'Too Drunk to F***' by the Dead Kennedys way back in 1981.

 

The chart show at the time would just quickly say "At 36, a record by a group calling themselves The Dead Kennedys" and immediately move onto the next entry.

 

 

Tony Blackburn was at the helm in June 1981.

I remember Richard Hawley's Tonight The Streets Are Ours wasn't played when it was a low top40 new entry

In your country the first language is not English though ;)

 

In Hungary they mostly play the clean versions too.

 

It's German, but everybody is fluent in English.

Back in '87 George Michael's 'I Want Your Sex' was skipped on the chart. Radio 1 didn't play it at all but I recall the Network chart playing 'Hard Day' instead which was an extra track on the 12 inch version. Also skipped in 1987 were The Tams 'There Ain't Nothing Like Shaggin''. The Shag was an American dance and the lyrics go:

 

"There ain't nothin' like shaggin, when you're shaggin' with the one you love".

 

I'm sure they were having a cheeky laugh. The song just missed the top 20. :D

 

 

It's actually a pretty good track. The Tams date back to the 1960's and had a No.1 in 1971 with 'Hey Girl Don't Bother Me'.

Edited February 16, 201411 yr by highlander69

It's German, but everybody is fluent in English.

Austrian German better said, I know exactly. You don't have to speak fluent English to understand the swear words.

Back when Jk and Joel started they would skip new entries between 21-40 for no reason at all. Two stand outs in my head were Hanson- Lost Without Each Other and Anastacia-Heavy On My Heart. What's even less amusing is that it's nearly a decade on and neither act has graced the top 40 since. So they both missed their last chance to be played within the top 40.

 

I think not being on the R1 playlist is the probable reason.

Edited February 16, 201411 yr by T Boy