Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Freedom of expression?

Buck-Tick is one of my favorite Japanese rock bands. In 1995, they released an album including a track called Rakuen (a Japanese term meaning Eden). This track features, as an interlude, the reversed version of a melody you hear in an Islamic country - the sound of reading the Koran.

Soon after the release of the album, an Islamic organization in Japan criticised it as a profane treatment of Allah and, in response, the record company recalled the original album CDs and re-released the album with an edited version of the track.

As Buck-Tick was not hugely popular at that time, this news was only reported in a very small column in newspapers. I wonder what would have happened if it had been an album released by a massively popular pop singer.

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