The Russian Republic of Chechnya has reportedly banned all music which does not fit in a specific range of beats per minute. The Moscow Times reported that the culture ministry has said music must “correspond to a tempo of 80 to 116 beats per minute (BPM).”
The Moscow Times said that Ramzan Kadyrov, the Republic’s leader, instructed culture minister Musa Dadayev to make Chechen music “conform to the Chechen mentality.”
Iron Maiden songs 2 Minutes to Midnight (94 BPM) and Flight Of Icarus (111 BPM) fit in the range, with Run To The Hills (117 BPM) banned by a single beat per minute. Aces High at 133 is much too fast.
For Black Sabbath fans in Chechnya, Sign Of The Southern Cross at 61 BPM is just too slow, although The Shining (87 BPM) and Black Sabbath (88 BPM) scrape in.
Metallica fans will miss Nothing Else Matters (47 BPM) and The Unforgiven (70 BPM), while Living After Midnight (134 BPM) and You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ (140 BPM) will disappoint Judas Priest fans.
At the other end of the spectrum, you can discount anything by Slayer, with Angel Of Death coming in at double the maximum BPM rate allowed.
The plan was declared after a meeting between the Republic’s ministry and artists from the local and regional scene. Local artists have been granted a deadline of 1 June to modify any music that fails to comply with the new standards.
Failure to do so will result in a ban from performing the unaltered music publicly.
