3 Songs From the 1960s That Were Considered Scandalous at the Time

These three songs are some of the most scandalous tunes from the 1960s, but I doubt anyone today would bat an eye at them. And one of them even earned an investigation from the dang FBI.

“Louie Louie” by The Kingsmen (1963)

Imagine producing a song so scandalous (or so hard to make out the words, due to the admittedly slurred vocals) that the FBI investigates you for two years. That’s precisely what happened to The Kingsmen after they dropped their 1963 classic, “Louie Louie”. 

Some listeners were so totally convinced that this song was filled with obscene content that the FBI got involved. This early garage rock jam had a very intense, proto-punk vibe that had conservative listeners on edge, and the lack of coherent lyrics led many to believe “Louie Louie” just had to be about graphic sex, littered with profanity. The FBI wrapped up their investigation by saying they couldn’t interpret anything in the song.

“Let’s Spend The Night Together” by The Rolling Stones (1967)

A lot of people didn’t even get to the meat of the song in order to get offended. Many just saw the title, “Let’s Spend The Night Together”, and were outraged by how suggestive it was. The Ed Sullivan Show initially refused to let the band perform this song based on the title alone. They eventually reached a compromise by changing the lyrics “the night” to “some time.” The Stones obliged, but Mick Jagger sang the changed line with an eye roll felt around the world. They were promptly banned for the disrespect, but would end up appearing on the show again just two years later.

“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” by The Beatles (1967)

It was the Summer of Love when The Beatles dropped this psychedelic pop classic in 1967. Plenty of bands had been dishing out songs about psychedelic drugs and other illicit subjects in droves by the time this tune hit the airwaves in May of that year. But The Beatles were the biggest band in the world, and it seems some fans had stricter expectations of them. 

Everyone thought “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” was about LSD. I mean, it is in the title to a degree. Whether or not the BBC actually formally banned the song has been the subject of debate among music historians for years. The consensus is that the song wasn’t banned, but it was certainly considered one of the most scandalous songs of the 1960s among fans and detractors alike. John Lennon stood firm by his claim that the song was about his son’s childhood drawings, not drugs.

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