Was 'Walk on the wild side' played uncut in 1972?

Lou Reed's track 'Walk on the Wild Side' was never censored in the UK, quite simply (it is said) because no one at the BBC understood what 'giving head' actually meant. It was played uncut on Radio One and has a bit of a reputation as the 'song that beat the Beeb'.

To be fair, it's not a common expression in the UK, we...err... would call it something else

Anyway did US radio stations censor it, or even refuse to play it at all?

I never heard that version of "Walk on the Wild Side" back then.i didn't hear it on US radio until many years later.

I remember hearing the "giving head" version on the AOR station in Boston, WBCN. The Top 40 that played the song -- this would have been WRKO -- played the edited version.

I can tell you that growing up in Dallas/Fort Worth, I listened to several top 40 stations KLIF/KNUS/KXOL/KFJZ and the Rock stations. I do not recall the song being edited when it was a hit. Stations were strange back then. I recall one station editing 'crap' out of Kodachrome by Paul Simon and not editing Pink Floyd's "Money". I never understood that one!

BMR said:

Lou Reed's track 'Walk on the Wild Side' was never censored in the UK, quite simply (it is said) because no one at the BBC understood what 'giving head' actually meant. It was played uncut on Radio One and has a bit of a reputation as the 'song that beat the Beeb'.

To be fair, it's not a common expression in the UK, we...err... would call it something else

Anyway did US radio stations censor it, or even refuse to play it at all?

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I don't think I've ever heard a censored version of that song, unlike the well-known "AM-ified" versions of Pink Floyd's Money or The Who's Who Are You. But those are rarely (if ever) heard on radio anymore.

Pretty much what others have said was the case nationwide. The AORs played the uncensored album version and the top-40s played the single edit.

In L.A., the full version was on KMET and KLOS, the single was on KHJ and KKDJ.

The 45 version is a pretty easy edit to recreate. I've done it myself.

KeithE4 said:

I don't think I've ever heard a censored version of that song, unlike the well-known "AM-ified" versions of Pink Floyd's Money

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I don't think I've ever heard that. But then in the UK, for some strange reason, bulls**t isn't considered as bad as plain old s**t. I don't know why.

I don't know whether the BBC played 'Money' at the time, because it was never a single over here. A handful of British stations, such as Planet Rock, play it now, and I've only ever heard it complete with bulls**t.

Gee, I thought this thread was about the line "And the colored girls sing...." That was pretty risqué in the 70s given the civil rights movement.

I'd suspect most folks didn't pay much attention to the "giving head" line. Then again, it takes a complaint for the FCC to initiate action, and I doubt the listeners to these stations would ever complain to the government.

TheBigA said:

Gee, I thought this thread was about the line "And the colored girls sing...." That was pretty risqué in the 70s given the civil rights movement.

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Coloured was never really considered a racial slur in the UK- until at least the early 80s, it was a fairly normal term.

By todays standards that was clearly wrong, but there was no racial slur intended and even now it is generally used out of ignorance rather than malice.

BMR said:

Coloured was never really considered a racial slur in the UK- until at least the early 80s, it was a fairly normal term.

By todays standards that was clearly wrong, but there was no racial slur intended and even now it is generally used out of ignorance rather than malice.

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In the US, though, "black" was the generally accepted term at the time Reed's song came out. "Colored," like "negro," was simply outdated. Neither was offensive in its time. "United Negro College Fund" and "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People" exist today as relics of each word's heyday. Now, why Reed chose to bring back "colored" in his song, I've never quite understood.

BMR said:

Coloured was never really considered a racial slur in the UK- until at least the early 80s, it was a fairly normal term.

By todays standards that was clearly wrong, but there was no racial slur intended and even now it is generally used out of ignorance rather than malice.

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It stayed that way even later in Australia. IN the late 80s, there was an Australian band named The Coloured Girls in reference to "Walk on the Wild Side". When their records got international release, they changed the band name out of fear of protests.

CTListener said:

"United Negro College Fund" and "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People" exist today as relics of each word's heyday.

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In fact, many advocates for racial equality have adapted the NAACP name to the phrase "people of color" to be inclusive of all non-Anglo people. (I think they're pushing the envelope, though, because I know a lot of people who identify as Latino/Hispanic who have lighter skin than I do.)

CTListener said:

Now, why Reed chose to bring back "colored" in his song, I've never quite understood.

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I've wondered that too. This guy https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101027015650AA4yMrD seems to suggest that it may have been satire. Black girls were often relegated to do-wop backing vocals and Reed is using the word to take a pop at the racist record companies who were saying "she's only a colored girl- stick her on backing vocals". There have been one or two attempts to do this sort of thing in music history and it is always open to misinterpretation if the performer or song writer isn't themselves black.


Of course this could be a billion miles wide of the mark- it's just the opinion of some random person.

In Los Angeles, the more progressive FM rock stations - KMET, etc - ran the song uncut. Though I don't recall for sure, I assume the more 'corporate' FM rock station - KLOS (owned by ABC) probably censored it.

LKellerIII said:

In Los Angeles, the more progressive FM rock stations - KMET, etc - ran the song uncut. Though I don't recall for sure, I assume the more 'corporate' FM rock station - KLOS (owned by ABC) probably censored it.

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No, Llew...KLOS played it uncut...which emboldened me to do the same at tiny KIBS in Bishop (at night). KLOS may have been corporate, but that just meant they'd avoid the seven words George Carlin said you can't say on the radio. KMET often aired some or all of those words.

Two or three years ago, before I left Phoenix, Bonneville (owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) had a variety hits station on FM...it played the single edit of "Walk on the Wild Side" but edited out "colored girls".

michael hagerty said:

Two or three years ago, before I left Phoenix, Bonneville (owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) had a variety hits station on FM...it played the single edit of "Walk on the Wild Side" but edited out "colored girls".

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But they left in the line that began "But she never lost her head..."? I would have thought they'd edit that out as well, given the subject matter.

KeithE4 said:

But they left in the line that began "But she never lost her head..."? I would have thought they'd edit that out as well, given the subject matter.

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Keith:

I said they played the single edit. That's the edit without the "head" reference. They then took out the "colored girls" line too...so it cuts (rather inelegantly) straight to "doo doo doo doo doo...".

michael hagerty said:

Keith:

I said they played the single edit. That's the edit without the "head" reference. They then took out the "colored girls" line too...so it cuts (rather inelegantly) straight to "doo doo doo doo doo...".

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As I said, I've never heard that version, so I had no idea what was cut out. By the time WOTWS was released in late '72, I'd quit listening to rock on AM for the most part. FM was taking over the rock market in central and southern Indiana, and WNAP (the FM rocker in Indianapolis at the time) always played the unedited version.