China Bans "Threatening" Musicians Following Bjork's Tibet Outburst

China has banned all overseas performers that "threaten national sovereignty" following a performance by Bjork in Shanghai earlier this year. At that concert, the Icelandic singer led the crowd in a chant of "Tibet, Tibet!" after performing her song "Declare Independence." The ban will also fall on artists who "threaten national unity", "whip up ethnic hatred", "violate religious policy or cultural norms" or "advocate obscenity or feudalism and superstition." Plus, all performances must be approved beforehand, right down to what encores will be played. The move was made as China's Ministry of Culture gears up for this year's Olympic Games, which is expected to attract protesters and unruly crowds that don't need to be exacerbated by musicians.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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