How Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick in the Wall' Was Banned in South Africa 46 Years Ago
Protest songs have always been a major part of music, rock and roll in particular. Over the years, certain rock songs have become rallying cries for various groups of oppressed or downtrodden people around the world.
In November 1979, Pink Floyd released The Wall, its 11th studio album. The record produced the English band's biggest worldwide hit, "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II),"which went No. 1 in eight different countries.
The song spoke out against cruel teachers and abusive schooling methods. Not everyone appreciated the track's message, however.
On May 1, 1980, the South African government officially banned "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" amid ongoing protests against the country's apartheid state.
Setting the scene
South Africa's apartheid government had created a profoundly segregated educational system. By 1980, groups of protesters began mobilizing against the unjust learning conditions.
As nationwide demonstrations began, activists were spurred on by the message of "Another Brick in the Wall."
We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teacher, leave them kids alone
Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone
All in all, it's just another brick in the wall
All in all, you're just another brick in the wall
"Boycotts at black schools started at Cape Town's Hanover Park in February 1980, just as Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" entered the South African charts," wrote Ultimate Classic Rock. "A month later, the song reached No. 1 there, and by then protests had spread across the nation – with Waters' lyric as a rallying cry. South Africa's Directorate of Publications held sweeping power in that era to ban books, movies, plays, posters, articles of clothing and, yes, music, that it deemed "politically or morally undesirable." "Another Brick in the Wall" quickly came into its cross-hairs."
The ban goes into place
Forty-six years ago today, the South African Directorate of Publications banned "Another Brick in the Wall," and eventually the entire The Wall album, along with other pieces of media leaders found to be unsavory.
Roger Waters, Pink Floyd's bassist and vocalist who wrote the song, eventually called the government's move "a cultural blockade, so to speak."
What happened afterwards?
The Directorate of Publications' decision led to Waters being one of the artists to publicly refuse to play the Sun City luxury resort in South Africa until apartheid was ended.
Eventually, following the fall of apartheid in 1991, the ban on "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" was lifted. The song has continued to be an anthem for causes around the globe, with Waters performing it in Berlin in 1990 and the West Bank in 2006.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 1:15 PM.