'Stop this filth': The censorship of Roger Lucey's music in apartheid South Africa

Abstract

In the late 1970s South African protest singer Roger Lucey composed and performed songs which were critical of the apartheid government. When his music came to the attention of the South African Police, they decided to intervene. By using legislation to shape ideas and state security to impose threats, the apartheid state was able to apply pressure to all areas of production, promotion and distribution of Lucey's message and thereby effectively silence him. This paper considers Lucey's story and his message, the mechanisms used to silence him, and the implications thereof for a deeper understanding of how the censorship of music operated in apartheid South Africa. It is argued that in such a context censorship involves both the administrative measures taken to silence counter-hegemonic messages and repressive mechanisms used to back these up.