I’m ashamed that only now I discovered Hugo Raspoet, and saddened that he died in 2018. A most underrated Belgian forward-thinking artist, bashing the church and media before it was safe to do so, with stunning lyricism.
His song Evviva Il Papa caused such uproar that public media refused to play it and cops removed him from a stage when he disobeyed orders to not perform it.
It’s weird to miss someone you never knew existed a week ago.
“In 1969, his song “Evviva Il Papa” caused controversy because it attacked both the Pope as well as the Vatican. It was banned from radio and TV airplay and Raspoet was often forbidden to perform it on stage. When he ignored the ban and tried to perform it one time in Borgerhout the police forced him to leave the stage . Johan Anthierens, who had a radio show about chanson, protested the ban by not playing the record on the air, but reading its lyrics for the listeners. He was still fired nevertheless.” ―Wikipedia