although the words are not reprehensible, they can lead to obscene
anything, as the presentation of a work subject to being censored did
interpretations.
not entail any actions against those who subjected it for examination.
XV: Yes. When they were not sure, they censored by default.
That relationship between the record companies and the censors is
Symptomatic of this is the case of a record by the flamenco protest
well documented, especially through written administrative resources,
signer Manuel Gerena; the censor could not find anything clearly
although we can also sense that direct telephone or spoken
censorable but distrusted its author and wrote the following: ‘In these
negotiations also existed with the Spanish authors and/or through
and almost all lyrics by Manuel Gerena there is a sibylline vindictive
their publishers, because they were close by.
allusion against something: Politicians? Those in authority? Employers? The venom is distributed in disguised doses.’ HF: It is worth checking in which cases the censors made a mistake from beginning to end in their judgement and in which cases their aim was accurate.
HF: The cast of censored groups and artists is fascinating. It is like the perfect encyclopaedia of rock, all the greats from the sixties are present. XV: Dylan, Bowie, Zappa, Lennon, The Who, The Stones, Lou Reed, Ohio Players… There was no special attack on any one artist
XV: There are a great many examples. In the first type, to mention
and, furthermore, it was all censorable and totally arbitrary. The
one, in ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’ by Lou Reed with The Velvet
surprise has been discovering that there was proportionally more
Underground, the censor missed that he was talking about a drug
censorship in rock than in the world of Spanish singer-songwriters,
addict waiting for his dealer, by writing the following: ‘The content
maybe because more records were published in this field or because
refers to a girl who is always waiting for her man “got twenty-six
the negotiations with the Spanish singer-songwriters were not so well
dollars in my hand.” She always has to wait for him. Everybody has
documented in writing.
“pinned” her, but he has a sweet taste.’ Among the ‘correct decisions’
HF: I suppose that Spanish singer-songwriters were already pre-
there is a really curious one, although the censorship came about
warned and practiced quite allusive writing, avoiding explicit
after a mistake in checking a record. The single by Serge Gainsbourg
references, developing metaphors that to a certain extent covered up
and Jane Birkin ‘Je t’aime… moi non plus,’ which was published in
the theme, mixing it up so it was less obvious. Although some quite
Spain because songs arrived at the censorship for approval with their
explicit images or texts sometimes passed censorship.
lyrics, so ones presented as instrumental were always authorised;
XV: One of the striking cases is the record Abraxas by Santana,
once the record was published, and after discovering the panting
with two nudes on the cover. It managed to pass the filter because the
when it was played on the radio, it was removed from circulation,
director of its record company convinced the censors by arguing that
and from that moment, besides reviewing the lyrics, they also had to
there were many nudes in classical paintings and that it was a
listen to the songs.
painting, not a photograph, by a famous Afro-American plastic artist.
HF: It seems that there was a certain obsession about
In other cases, it was an oversight by the censors. And on other
homosexuality; the censors see references to the subject everywhere,
occasions, there were artists who recorded their records in other
although the list of censured subjects is very long.
countries, like France or Germany, and took them over the border to
XV: I would say that there are four main themes, which are the
distribute them in Spain, with the risk that entailed.
ones around which the exhibition is organised. In the moral aspect,
HF: On another level, I believe that one of the most long-lasting
they censored any reference to eroticism, intimate relations,
and pernicious legacies of musical censorship was the creation of an
pornography, masturbation, masochism, prostitution, homosexuality,
accommodating culture in the record companies, a culture of fear of
bad-sounding words, nudity or unseemly activities. In the political
risk and of complacency with the established power.
sphere, they paid particular attention to antimilitary messages,
XV: The record companies probably entered a policy of fear of
criticism of the security forces and the State powers, Spanish politics
risk and they also slowed down the publishing of foreign records in
and US politics, communism or anarchism. In the social aspect, they
Spain. We should probably also talk about the creation of a defensive
focused on everything related to drugs, the hippie movement,
discourse by the record companies in which it is understood that the
marginalisation, crime, racism, bad taste, social criticism or
lyrics were of no interest to anyone, they were simple occurrences
inappropriate images. And, lastly, any critical or negative reference
with no value, against the placing of blame by the regime that ended
to the catholic religion was invariably censored.
up eroding the cultural value of pop and rock, understood as
HF: The part about hippies and inappropriate images fits in
something negative or banal.
perfectly with the politics of a regime that had a Vagrancy Act that allowed people to be taken off the streets merely due to their somewhat untidy appearance. There was a culture of fear that generated self-censorship by artists and record companies. XV: As was the case in literature and the cinema, some authors no longer presented for censorship what they thought would not pass the control. In other cases, it was the record companies who filtered the material. In any case, as ridiculous as this may seem, we have to take into account that the companies could present practically
Xavier Valiño and Héctor Fouce. Curators of the exhibition