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Controversial Songs

What do we really mean when we say a song's controversial? We don't mean it's good or bad, and we don't mean it's just offensive, vulgar, or crass. No, controversial songs are the ones making people argue about them. In order for there to be controversy, about an even number of people have to take one side or the other in an issue. When that happens, the artist is really doing their job; they're making us think and challenging our ideals.

Here you will find songs controversial for various reasons. Some of them are perfectly natural songs that wouldn't be on this list except that they happened to make one politician flip her lid. Some of them challenge the social mores of the time but make you wonder what the big deal is now. Some of them are deliberately written to shake people up, to get a reaction out of listeners. After all, as any agent will tell you, there's no such thing as bad publicity...


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