Music censorship

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Sat, 08 Dec 2012 4:49 am

I considered posing this in the Music thread, but wanted to open the question out to a broader audience.

Does anyone know what if any music is currently banned in Singapore?

A while back some albums were outright banned (Rage against the Machine), tracks banned (Pearl Jam), er, and others. State censors attended all 'rock concerts' with the power to summarily close them down on the spot (what fun Pearl Jam had with that the night i saw them).

I recall moving there and taking these bands' albums out of my freight and posting them home because of this. And also having to list on a customs form every single album/CD I had... fun... I already had maybe 1000 back then.

Does SG still censor music, if so how do I know what/who?

taxico · Post by **taxico** » Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:33 am

IIRC, songs about drugs/drug-taking, gays/lesbians, and maybe senseless murders are banned... unless censored.

update: wiki says not anymore... can't really find anything relevant from MDA either...

http://www.mda.gov.sg/Public/MediaClass ... ation.aspx

Post by **x9200** » Sat, 08 Dec 2012 12:09 pm

After http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Singapore

In 1963, Singapore banned the hit song Puff, the Magic Dragon, fearing that it referenced marijuana.[12] Janet Jackson's albums Velvet Rope and All For You were also banned due to homosexual and sexually explicit themes that the BPAA found "not acceptable to our society".[12] The ban has since been lifted

taxico · Post by **taxico** » Sat, 08 Dec 2012 12:54 pm

i'd like to think that singapore's moved on since the 60s...

looking at the mda website and the approach they've been adopting for magazines, i don't believe that any music is "banned" in singapore today.

(not to be confused with broadcasting expletives-filled rap music on local radio)

Post by **x9200** » Sat, 08 Dec 2012 1:55 pm

I am very sure they changed a lot. Even the quoted wikipedia says the ban has been lifted.

Brah · Post by **Brah** » Sat, 08 Dec 2012 7:50 pm

Saint Jack was banned for many years, then you could buy the DVD around 2006-7, but I would guess the local version to be cut. I saw it, a shocker in a sense.

Sorry this is not about music. I've wondered if certain bands were banned from playing here due to their partying tendencies. More likely they just don't want to come here for the same reason.

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Sat, 08 Dec 2012 10:55 pm

I found the trailer for it on Youtube, 'Saint Jack - 1st Hollywood film totally shot in Singapore 1978'. (I won't post a link as it is perhaps R-18).

Wow, that was an eye-opener, I'd never heard of it, despite Paul Theroux being an author I respect/enjoy.

It says it was shot with the Mitre Hotel set as a brothel, Saint Jack of the title being the brothel-keeper!

p.s. I recall being extremely drunk one time and draped over an old leather sofa in the Mitre Hotel bar - many moons ago. I also recall attempts to knock it down and build a condo on the site. Does anyone know if it is still there, or whether it did eventually get bulldozed? I've Googled it, but found nothing conclusive...

taxico · Post by **taxico** » Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:43 pm

i think it's gone. so has the cheap beer.

edit: it's all here http://forums.condosingapore.com/showthread.php?t=1136

Brah · Post by **Brah** » Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:54 pm

Gone for at least a year. I used to live pretty close to it, but by the time I heard about it, it was semi-closed - we went one night and it seemed more like a frat house and few people were there.

I have heard there are a lot of stories about the place, but I've never actually heard the stories.

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Sun, 09 Dec 2012 8:05 pm

Curiously enough Google Maps (the date-stamp suggests 2012) shows a cleared plot for 'Residences@Killiney'*, but you can still see the Mitre standing adjacent to it, red tiled roof near the centre of the picture. Maybe the plot was split or something...

Thanks Taxi for the links to the articles re: the legal case. Agree Brah, it was bohemian and different, reminded me rather of some of the ancient student pubs in Cambridge, same kinda run-down feel, same kinda crowd, same kinda behavior

* http://www.sglaunch.com/residences-at-killiney/

the lynx · Post by **the lynx** » Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:12 am

I remember how Tina Turner's Proud Mary was banned that time too. But seeing how it came up in Gold FM recently, I think music ban is no longer around.

Brah · Post by **Brah** » Wed, 19 Dec 2012 7:40 pm

Personally I think you will be gone as fast as you came.

Meanwhile, I passed by the plot of land where the Mitre used to be, it's gone now, they're building yet another condo there, behind the other new condo they're just finishing up.

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Wed, 19 Dec 2012 7:50 pm

Brah wrote: Meanwhile, I passed by the plot of land where the Mitre used to be, it's gone now, they're building yet another condo there, behind the other new condo they're just finishing up.

Oh... [deep sigh].

I expect in 30 years time they'll knock down the condo and rebuild a Disneyfied version* of 'The Mitre', you know, to help preserve SGs heritage.

* a la Clarke Quay

Post by **nakatago** » Wed, 19 Dec 2012 9:06 pm

JR8 wrote:
Brah wrote: Meanwhile, I passed by the plot of land where the Mitre used to be, it's gone now, they're building yet another condo there, behind the other new condo they're just finishing up.
Oh... [deep sigh].

I expect in 30 years time they'll knock down the condo and rebuild a Disneyfied version* of 'The Mitre', you know, to help preserve SGs heritage.

* a la Clarke Quay

and Chijmes

and The Cathay

and The Capitol Building

and...

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