Following the September 11 attacks on New York and The Pentagon , radio stations circulated a list of songs that were deemed inappropriate for broadcast during the time of national mourning following the attacks . A small list was initially generated by the Clear Channel office on Thursday , September 13 , 2001 , though individual program directors added many of their own songs . A list containing about 150 songs was soon published on the Internet . Some critics suggested that Clear Channel 's political preferences played a part in the list . A number of songs were apparently placed on the list because they had specific words such as " plane " , " fly " , " burn " , and " falling " in their titles . Clear Channel denies that this was a list of banned songs , claiming it was a list of titles that should be played only after great thought . Also WOFX , Cincinnati , owned by Clear Channel at the time continued to play songs that were on the alleged list , even though radio headquarters was in Cincinnati at the time . Songs on the list included Tom Petty 's " Free Fallin ' " , Louis Armstrong 's " What a Wonderful World " and the entire Rage Against the Machine discography
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
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