Get the latest gossip

How music is used as a weapon of control, from Lady Gaga to The Sex Pistols

After a bizarre ban in a Russian republic.

Russia, the US, UK, Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, North Korea and Afghanistan have all banned songs, bands and artists for myriad reasons, ranging from inappropriate language to outright propaganda. Lady Gaga has been removed from her album ‘Joanne’ (Picture: Michael McCarthy)During the 1979 Revolution, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini banned ‘all popular music’, citing corruption to children’s minds. Lana Del Ray wasn’t safe from censorship either (Picture: Michael McCarthy)Anyone caught with music deemed ‘un-Islamic’ was fined, lashed or even imprisoned for causing ‘corruption on earth’ –though these punishments are not enforced nearly as much as they once were.

Get the Android app