Banned song: Barry McGuire, “Eve of Destruction”
 

Barry McGuire, “Eve of Destruction”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntLsElbW9Xo

modern video version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsjmuvCN3q4

Perhaps the most innocuous song on this list, Barry McGuire’s mellow folk rock song doesn’t feature a single obscenity or explicit line. Nevertheless, as noted by Ultimate Classic Rock, the song was banned by many U.S. radio stations. The reason? Radio station programmers took issue with the artist’s general views on the state of the world.
In the song, McGuire laments that “human respect is disintegratin’, this whole crazy world is just too frustratin’.” Released in 1965 during the Vietnam War but before the voting age was lowered to 18 years old, the song also includes the line, “you’re old enough to kill but not for votin’,” which apparently struck some listeners as anti-war. Despite the ban, the P. F. Sloan-penned song became a No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts in the U.S. during the fall of 1965.