The punk veterans say two tracks from their final studio album have been restricted, but YouTube’s reasons remain unclear.
Reagan Youth have questioned YouTube’s moderation practices after reporting restrictions on two songs from their 2025 album Volume III – Life & Times Revisited.
In a statement shared on Instagram, the New York punk veterans said “Necrophilia” and “Crown of Thorns” had both been affected. The band says YouTube flagged “Crown of Thorns” for violating its Community Guidelines, without specifying which rule it had breached.
The group has requested a review and is questioning whether the restrictions reflect targeted enforcement or automated systems failing to recognise the songs’ context.
Neither explanation has been established.
Both songs appear on a posthumous album exploring the life of Reagan Youth co-founder Dave Rubinstein, better known as Dave Insurgent. The record also examines the difficult circumstances surrounding his death in 1993.
According to the band, “Necrophilia” references events surrounding Rubinstein’s death on 28 June 1993, while “Crown of Thorns” addresses his personal struggles and an assault that preceded a lobotomy.
Those subjects are confronting, but they are also part of the history the album was written to examine.
A record intended to revisit the band’s history
Released through Cleopatra Records on 28 February 2025, Volume III – Life & Times Revisited was Reagan Youth’s first studio album since 1988.
Guitarist and co-founder Paul Bakija, known as Paul Cripple, spent years working on the record before his death from cancer in September 2024.
In Cleopatra’s original album announcement, vocalist Madame St. Beatrice said Bakija wanted the record to explore more than the tragedy surrounding Rubinstein’s death.
Rather than have listeners focus solely on his final years, Bakija intended the record to explore Rubinstein’s experiences, beliefs and development as a person.
That intention gives the reported restrictions particular significance. The band’s latest work was conceived to provide historical context, yet Reagan Youth now says two of its most confronting songs have been restricted without a sufficiently clear explanation.
The group has questioned why YouTube continues to host other material dealing with explicit subjects while these recordings have reportedly been affected.
BLUNT’s searches of YouTube from Australia could not locate the affected uploads. Other versions of the songs still appear in search results, however. Without the original video links, BLUNT cannot establish whether YouTube removed the uploads globally or restricted them by region.
The band has also not publicly released the complete moderation notices, leaving the specific grounds for YouTube’s decisions unconfirmed.
Both tracks remain listed on Reagan Youth’s official Bandcamp release, where listeners can access the album.
BLUNT has contacted Reagan Youth, Cleopatra Records and YouTube for clarifications, but no substantive responses have been received at the time of writing.
For now, Reagan Youth’s request for an explanation remains unresolved.
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