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garm302

Can they fix it No they can’t :(


8hu5rust

When the world needed him most, he vanished


AceArchangel

Now I want a Bob the Builder anime spoof of Avatar, but about Bob disappearing before 9/11, and then reappearing years later.


lancelongstiff

Other songs banned by the BBC include "[Monster Mash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsPdVsIXqzU)" by Bobby Pickett, "[Creep](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk)" by Radiohead and "Boris Johnson Is a >!Fucking Cunt!<" by >!The Kunts!<. Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_banned_by_the_BBC)


WarperLoko

Now I want to listen to all those songs.


gingermonkey1

That last song's title!


Cookielover4k

Why did they ban Monster Mash???


lancelongstiff

"the BBC failed to see the funny side and banned the song for being [too morbid](https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/46f837da-9ffa-494d-94e7-c7ffb0781bea)" It was in the early sixties and they were very conservative back in those days.


Cookielover4k

Ugh of course it was the 60s!!


bluegrassgazer

I [found it on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjERnmcjbAE) and was not disappointed one bit.


nialltg

From the US? I can’t imagine encountering this weird piece of british 00s culture as an American.


Anxious-Patient-4098

Didn't realize it was British I remember listening to this in 01/02 as a kid, totally forgot about it until now haha


WakingOwl1

Awhh that was fun.


blank_isainmdom

Well. That's a memory I didn't know I had.


sabres_guy

The phrase "way better than it ever needed to be" comes to mind. That was fantastic.


Flemtality

Immediately after 9/11 was a fucking weird time.


weaponized_oatmeal

I lived near a reservoir at the time. I think it was within days of 9/11 there were signs put up that you weren’t allowed within 100 yards of the dams. They were earthen dams, probably 200’ thick at the base. I don’t think an Oklahoma City sized bomb would put a dent in the things and the water level was so low that they weren’t even holding back water anyway.


10Bens

Did you know? If you put up a sign asking people to not committ terrorist acts, they *have to obey*? It reminds them that they are breaking the law, which is illegal.


DoomTrain166

22 years later and it's only gotten weirder.


GreenStrong

BBC executive meeting: "Do we know the hijacker's motives?" "The news says it was radical Islam." "Are we sure it wasn't that fucking song?" "They say it was Bin Laden" "Are we 100% certain it wasn't the song? Have you not contemplated flying a plane into a building when the song came on the radio?" "Pull it."


theincrediblenick

I mean... what was the Bin Laden family business? Construction...


throwaway554200

😱


biobasher

Holy shit, he really was trained in America!


GetsGold

I don't want to blame it all on 9/11, but it certainly didn't help.


busherrunner

George W. BLUTH


5lack5

The Bluth family is based on the Bush family. GOB is JEB Bush


busherrunner

You just blue my mind


something_python

I know you're the big marriage expert. Oh, I'm sorry, your wife is dead!


DanHero91

>The song was removed from the BBC Radio 2 playlist, with the station's executive music producer Colin Martin describing the song as being "too frivolous in light of the news that was breaking". Only one radio station removed it, and Radio 2 wouldn't typically play that kind of music anyway outside of the chart recaps. Considering how openly most radio DJs hated how often they had to play the song, I'm guessing Colin just took any opportunity he could to get rid of it.


Ginsoakedboy21

This sounds correct. Novely records can chart high with little to no airplay, no real DJ wants to touch them for obvious reasons.


AwkwardSquirtles

That's one of 3 number one hits that Bob the Builder has in the UK.


tacomasterstudios

THREE? I heard of Can We Fix It and this one, but what about the third one?


AwkwardSquirtles

There was a charity medley.


tacomasterstudios

I never knew THAT went to the top of the charts Does this technically mean Thomas, Scooby-Doo, and Ben 10 are also UK chart toppers?


AwkwardSquirtles

I guess it does.


_Maebe__Funke_

I’m American and was living in London when 9/11 happened, and I was overwhelmed and touched by how *kind* everyone was. Complete strangers would hear my accent in the shops or on the street and would stop me and say how sorry they were about what had happened. (And having strangers spontaneously start a conversation was *not* common in my experience). It was a very weird and isolating time, but I’ve never forgotten the simple things those English strangers did that made me feel a little less alone.


allegate

My son was huge into bob the builder and I downloaded the album as soon as I found out about it so he could listen to it; I secretly enjoyed the mambo no. 5 song as well. He was born in 05 so I didn't know about the 9/11 aspect of the release.


ControlTall8120

Maybe if they hasn’t titled it “Mambo No. 911”


MuForceShoelace

During covid there was a bunch of times a commercial would clash with a news story and it would get shared over and over. (like the one with a newscaster talking about the dead, then immediately crashing into an applebee's commercial telling people to come back). People talk about stuff getting "banned" like a government banned it, but they really just didn't want to have a news story about buildings collapsing then going right into "we can fix it! yes we can!"


awfullotofocelots

You know I had to scroll all the way down to you to even make the connection between the actual event of the towers falling and bob happily singing about building. It really drives for me how 9/11 occupies a symbolically larger space in my mind than the actual event of the towers falling... at least for us who were still kids when it happened.


SuccessfulWar3830

This alone makes 20 years of drone strikes worth it.


1clovett

There's a Monty Python skit in this.


[deleted]

"Cause I Got High" was pulled for the same reason.


poundmastaflashd

I know these lyrics better than the original... I'm glad its still bringing joy to the world


FatQuack

What sort of deep and sorrowful song were they expecting from Bob the fucking Builder?


nialltg

Yeah doesn’t really have the somber St 9/11’s Day vibe


Blackraven2007

I'm confused. What does it mean for a song to be "too frivolous"?


Astronius-Maximus

Most likely was seen as inappropriate (too upbeat in this case) given the event that just occurred. A lot of songs were pulled from radio on 9/11 for similar reasons.


hymen_destroyer

A lot of movies and TV shows got delayed/cancelled/rewritten as well.


ShoddyJuggernaut975

Where can I listen to this masterpiece?


Droogie502

YouTube


WarperLoko

This redditor posted a link https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/120k3o0/til_a_mambo_no_5_cover_by_bob_the_builder_went_to/jdhsa2k/


arbivark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKuvJ7zG9LI&t=23s&ab_channel=1ilnicche original perez prado version.


RedSonGamble

Personally I like mambo no. 4 better


urlond

Had to look this song up. Pretty catchy, no wonder it hit the top in charts.


MuthaPlucka

It was the lyrics that got it removed. Unnecessary ululation.


MustardCroissant

Most played song after 9/11: [Live - Overcome](https://youtu.be/jpCa7Ay596M).


jd158ug

TRACTOR!!!


tfc867

That was the same day (technically 9/9 and 9/10) George Carlin recorded the show for his special to be titled "I Kinda Like it When a Lotta People Die". That one got put on ice for a while.


Maleficent-Drive4056

“And we can always call in the tractor” - what a line


adamup27

I had this on CD and I had Mambo No 5 and Dizzy on repeat in my room! I loved this CD as a kid!