Censored: 4 times when lyrics had to be changed

Related Artists: Eminem

We all have a favourite song that was probably never written to be played on the radio, one full of swearing, romantic overtures or other “adult material”.

Some acts, like Rage Against the Machine, refused to bow to pressure from censors, as we saw when their hit “Killing in the Name Of” re-entered the British charts a few years ago. But there are those tunes that get so big that before long they need to be played at Sunday lunchtimes – and those rude bits just won’t wash.

Here are four times that artists gave into the censors, and changed their most iconic – if naughty – lyrics:

Eminem – My Name Is

The lyrics to Eminem’s 1999 smash are pretty risqué, with overt references to drunk driving, extreme violence and murdering his own father. When a video for the track was sent to MTV for family-friendly viewing, such references were switched quickly: vodka became Kool Aid, violence was contemporary band Primus, and a dream of patricide turned into asking Poppa Shady whether he’d “bought a porno mag and seen my ad”. Not sure how censored that is, but there we go.

The Kinks – Lola

The British band’s biggest hit was also one of the most famous rewrites in rock history, but it wasn’t the reference to dancing with a transgender woman that offended BBC Radio when it came to playing the song – it was the reference to Coca-Cola in the first line. While fine with the narrative, the Beeb wouldn’t play a song with obvious product placement. And so it became “cherry cola”.

Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass

The US singer was very obliging when approached by Radio Disney, who wanted to play her song to an audience a bit too young and innocent to understand what Trainor meant when she talked about “all the right junk in all the right place”. So references to her behind were changed to dance moves, Tweeting and boys liking girls “for the beauty they hold inside”. How sweet.

The Black Eyed Peas – Let’s Get It Started

It’s hard to remember but when this song first appeared on the group’s 2003 album Elephunk, it was mind-bogglingly called “Let’s Get Retarded”. It was only when will.i.am and co wanted to get airtime on television around coverage of the 2004 NBA playoffs that they thought they should change the title and lyrical content – and re-released Elephunk with the amended track.