1977 Classic Rock Hit Was Edited for Radio-Then Got 'Banned' Anyway
In 1977, the Steve Miller Band was riding high on the success of the album Book of Dreams. The 10th studio album from the San Francisco-based rock band was fueled by its lead single, "Jet Airliner." But while the song became a hit for the group, peaking at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 9, 1977, it didn't come without controversy.
Written by Paul Pena, the song was recorded two years earlier for Miller's Fly Like an Eagle album but wasn't included on the record. When it appeared on Book of Dreams, some radio stations took issue with its lyrics, which included, "don't want to get caught up in any of that/funky s--- goin' down in the city."
According to VH1, "Jet Airliner" was one of several popular songs that toyed with the FCC rules, which prohibited the use of "seven dirty words" on air. Some stations, especially AM radio, played an edited version of the song that subbed the phrase "funky kicks" for "funky s---." The sub also appeared on the single version of the song released in April 1977.
Steve Miller reworked the song in other ways
Miller once reflected on "Jet Airliner" in an interview for the book The Guitar Greats. He noted that he met Pena through a mutual friend and was taken with his song, which had never been released.
"I particularly liked 'Jet Airliner,' so I worked on it and reshaped it into what it became," Miller said, per Songfacts. The outlet noted that Miller changed several key lyrics, including Pena's line "I couldn't seem to quite get it down" to "the big wheel keeps on spinnin' around."
In a radio interview, Miller told Ultimate Classic Rock Nights that Pena's original song was spawned by his bitterness with the music industry. "It was very long, verse after verse after verse of anger, a lot of it," the singer recalled. "So I took the song and said, ‘Can I reshape it? Can I play with it?' They said, ‘You can do anything you want to with it.' I remember laying out all the lyrics, typing them up on big sheets of paper… I had them all out on my kitchen table, moving the verses around… then I got it all together and went, ‘Yeah, this'll work – it's great!'"
RELATED: 1978's Biggest No. 1 Hit Song Was Written in Ten Minutes
‘Jet Airliner' was temporarily ‘banned' by some radio stations
More than 20 years after its release, "Jet Airliner" temporarily landed on a list of songs deemed insensitive for American radio. According to Kerrang, the song was one of 164 records that many radio stations banned following the September 11 terrorist attacks against America.
At the time, the media corporation Clear Channel Communications sent a memo to more than 1100 radio stations, which listed songs considered "lyrically questionable" to play following the airplane-led 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Loudwire clarified that radio stations were strongly urged not to play "Jet Airliner" due to its lyrics about flying in a plane. Other questionable songs included Metallica's "Seek and Destroy," AC/DC's "Shot Down in Flames," Kansas' "Dust in the Wind", Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," and the entire Rage Against the Machine catalog.
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 7:06 AM.