7 massive '80s songs that were completely banned from the radio upon release – and the reasons why

Madonna's hit 1989 single 'Like A Prayer' was one of the most controversial songs of the 20th century, and even earned condemnation from the Vatican for the music video's use of religious imagery. 

The pop star made a deal with Pepsi to debut the song at the Grammy Awards that year, but after its release, the track drew so much ire that people began to boycott the brand, prompting them to pull out of the deal and cancel her contract.

The Vatican spoke out against the song due to the music video's inclusion of burning crosses, Madonna kissing a saint, and Catholic symbols like the stigmata.

"The video is a blasphemy and insult because it shows immorals inside a church," said Italian Roman Catholic historian Roberto de Mattei, before the Vatican tried to block her from performing in Italy on her world tour.

"I am aware that the Vatican and certain communities are accusing my show of being sinful and blasphemous, that they are trying to keep people from seeing it," Madonna said in a statement. "I think I'm offending certain groups, but I think that people who really understand what I'm doing aren't offended by it."

Despite the controversy, 'Like A Prayer' hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, thanks in part to MTV's insistence on playing the video even when other TV stations refused to.

30 years later, Madonna paid tribute to her hit song in an Instagram post, writing: "30 years ago today I released ‘Like a Prayer’ and made a video that caused so much controversy because I kissed a black saint and danced in front of burning crosses!"

"I also made a commercial with PEPSI that was banned because my video was seen as inappropriate??? Happy Birthday to Me and Controversy!"

When 'Relax' was released in 1983, the BBC almost immediately banned it due to its suggestive lyrics, upon the insistence of radio DJ Mike Read. 

The imagery in the music video also played into the controversy, depicting the band members inside an S&M club alongside queer-coded people. Instead of killing the song's popularity, the BBC's ban created a Streisand effect that saw it shoot to number one on the charts.

The band's lead singer, Holly Johnson, later shared with The I Paper that he believed homophobia had a role to play in the song's censorship. "I felt it was based on viewing the video, not listening to the record," he explained.

"So I felt there was homophobia involved, and they let their imaginations run wild with themselves thinking, because I’m gay, it’s all about gay sex, and we can’t have that…I thought it was a bit of a storm in a teacup, to be honest with you."

George Michael's 1987 track 'I Want Your Sex' was released amid the AIDS crisis, when governing bodies were trying to promote abstinence rather than promiscuity.

As a result, his song was banned by the BBC and most US radio stations, despite George's insistence that he was trying to promote monogamy and deep emotional connections.

The music video doubled down on this, and depicted the singer and his then-girlfriend, Kathy Jeung, in various stages of undress, even including a scene of him writing "Explore Monogamy" in lipstick on her body.

Olivia Newton-John was looking to break out of her girl-next-door box in 1981, and so released the hit single 'Physical' and an accompanying music video, which was quickly banned by several radio and TV stations for being too sexually suggestive.

"A dear friend of mine wrote the song, and I thought, 'This is a great song!' And I recorded it with John Farrar, who's my producer and also my friend, and after it was finished, that's when I freaked out," Olivia recalled to Entertainment Tonight.

"I went, 'I never even thought about the double entendre here!' I called my manager and said, 'We have to, we have to kill it! Let's stop it because I think I've gone too far.' And he said, '[It's] already on the charts, doll. It's doing really well; we can't stop it.'"

The song was a certified success and remained her biggest chart hit throughout her decades-long career. "The things that are out there now! The things they talk about and say freak me out," she told ET.

"I'm finding that very often the things you are most afraid of or tentative about doing are the things you need to do. So I'm very thrilled that I didn't pull it off the charts."

The BBC quickly took Heaven 17's 1981 song '(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang' off the airwaves due to its lyrics slamming then-US President Ronald Reagan as a "fascist god in motion", for fear that Reagan would initiate legal action.

"At the time, we were honestly convinced that Ronald Reagan was going to bring about the destruction of the planet," Heaven 17 member Martyn Ware later told 909 Originals.

"We were confident [the song] would go Top 20. But then Mike Read got it banned from the BBC playlist because of the line 'Reagan’s president elect/Fascist god in motion'. In hindsight, we could have been more subtle. We could have said ‘American president’ rather than identify Reagan directly." 

The track has experienced a revival in recent years as a protest song, and was covered by LCD Soundsystem in 2018 with a reference to Donald Trump in place of Reagan.  

The lyrics of Queen's 1984 single 'I Want To Break Free' seemed completely innocuous, but when combined with the accompanying music video, the song stirred its fair share of controversy.

The band members were dressed in drag for the video to parody the British soap opera Coronation Street, but this idea didn't exactly translate with American audiences, many of whom had never heard of the show. 

Several TV stations, including MTV, refused to play the video, and the song's release led to a strained relationship between the British band and their US audience.

"I remember being on the promo tour in the Midwest of America and people's faces turning ashen. And they would say, 'No, we can't play this. We can't possibly play this. You know, it looks homosexual.' And I went, 'So?'" Queen guitarist Brian May later told NPR.

"It really damaged our sort of whole relationship with certainly radio in this country and probably the public as well."

"[It] was really a tragedy because so many of our hits would have fitted very well into the life of the States," he added. "We didn't really get back in there until [the release of their songs] 'The Show Must Go On' and 'These Are The Days Of Our Lives.' And even those weren't the hits that they were around the rest of the world."

The 1984 song 'We're Not Gonna Take It' by the Twisted Sisters has gone down in history for landing a spot on the "Filthy Fifteen", a list of controversial songs compiled in 1985 by the Parents Music Resource Centre (PMRC), headed by Al Gore’s wife, Tipper Gore.

The PMRC wanted to pressure the music industry into creating a rating system so that parents could have more control over what their children listened to, and they claimed that the Twisted Sisters' song promoted violence and anarchy.

A 1985 Senate hearing saw the lead singer, Dee Snider, testify that the lyrics were not inherently violent, and he was backed up by other musicians who disagreed with the attempt at censorship, including Frank Zappa and John Denver.

Ultimately, the PMRC's efforts led to the "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content" label on albums that were considered to have inappropriate content, and the Twisted Sisters' track spent 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart before becoming an iconic '80s anthem.