“Popular music is underwritten by advertisers. If a song is TOO controversial, and enough folks scream into their phones about it, its hit potential gets instantly curtailed. Witness Napoleon XIV’s #3 7-66 ‘They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa.’ Napoleon’ Jerry Samuels of New York claimed a million-seller, but after two days stations reeled from a fiery flurry of negative calls saying the song made vicious fun of the emotionally ill—which it did” (Maury Dean, Rock and Roll: Gold Rush, 2003).
Napoleon XIV “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa”
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