Several UK TV channels have refused to air the video for Dresden Dolls frontwoman Amanda Palmer's new solo single, 'Oasis', on the grounds that it "makes light of rape, religion and abortion". NME TV, Scuzz, Kerrang!, MTV, Q, The Box and a number of other stations reportedly placed a ban on the song, completely missing the point Palmer is trying to make with it.
Palmer wrote on her blog: "It isn't a simple issue, obviously. But the fundamentals seem clear to me. I sat down one day in or around 2002 and wrote a tongue-in-cheek, ironic up-tempo pop song. A song about a girl who got drunk, was date raped, and had an abortion".
"She sings about these things lightly and joyfully and says that she doesn't care that these things have happened to her because Oasis (her favourite band) has sent her an autographed photo in the mail. And to make things even better (!!), her bitchy friend Melissa, who told the whole school about the abortion, is really jealous. If you cannot sense the irony in this song, you're about two intelligence points above a kumquat".
She goes on to suggest that perhaps the song would be better received if she played it in a minor key and cried while performing it, adding: "The song isn't even so much about those topics, it's about denial, it's about a girl who can't find it in herself to take her situation seriously. That girl exists, everywhere. You probably know her. You've probably met her. You might be her".