It's Time to Stop the Censorship Music with Explicit Lyrics Essay

Since the being of time people have been making and listening to music. Music has been considered the best way to express ourselves. The Bible even talks about how music was used to praise God. Music has been used for all type of things ranging from to getting a girl to notice guy, trying to get over a broken heart, or maybe losing a love one. Now society says that music has become too violent and sexually oriented. Many people have different point of view on this topic some people feel that there should be some type of censorship, while other feel censorship is against the first amendment, and others feel that parents should be responsible for what their children listen to. The question that comes to mind is should

     Many people believe that music should be filtered because it provokes violence or sex within society. There may be some truth in this but for the most part it is merely myth. People who have any common sense or are not legally insane can understand fact from fiction and what not to imitate. Anyone who listens to Eminem and decides to go and kill their wife should have been locked up long before the actual crime. When people do things that resemble what an artist says in a song, it is usually by pure coincidence and all are negative incidents. Frank Zappa was quoted to have said “I wrote a song about dental floss but did anyone’s teeth get cleaner?”(Jackson 1).

These words by which we live by were actually made official on December 12, 1791. My point is that these governing words have governed our lives for over two centuries, which is a long time. The times aren't the same as they were when the Constitution and its amendments were established, so we need to reconsider some of the ideas that are not valid in today's society. Our greatest freedom that our founding fathers left us, freedom of speech, needs to be reconsidered. Many times the Constitutional right of freedom of speech is taken too lightly in that people believe that they can say whatever they want to say when they want to say it. This is a false belief. One would think it very wrong to scream fire in the middle of a crowded building. The same goes for the lyrics of many songs these days. "Music lyrics have profound public consequences and, in many ways, the music industry is more influential then anything…" (Brownback 454) therefore, there needs to be censorship of harmful lyrics so that listeners will not be influenced by the violence that many songs are about. This does not mean that singers can not sing certain songs, it means that it is not necessary for singers to glorify violent acts or incorporate meaningless four letter words that may be repeated. It is perfectly legal to draw the line with music if it is getting to a harmful state.

     Since the dawn of musical expression, there have been people trying to stop or hinder the constitutional right to listen and enjoy

Censorship is displayed thoroughly throughout the novel 1984 and continues to show in todays modern world. Censorship is seen in 1984 in the ways the minitruth decides what the public sees in the newspapers and how Oceana keeps a lot of information to themselves and hides it from the public. Their censorship can also be seen as their obsessive control because they want Big Brother to always have control. Luckily censorship in today’s modern world has changed to more so keeping the public and more specifically, children protected from the harm of nudity, profanity and affairs children should not be exposed to at a young age. The transition from too much censorship to a modern day of protection has been beneficial to public as we now see more

Music censorship has taken many forms in the past, but many forms are overbearing and generally ridiculous. Censorship comes in many forms. The practice of censorship is defined as “...the act of changing or suppressing speech or writing that is considered subversive of the common good.”(Merriam-Webster). Old forms of censorship included not allowing airplay, refusal of sale, and refusal of publishment. The major issue found with those that oppose censorship, is that they have no real grounds to address the problem sensibly. Most focus of censorship, however, is focused on the younger genres of music such as Metal, Punk, and especially Rap.

Censorship in music has been a major problem plaguing America since the early nineteen forties. It came to a head during the nineteen sixties with the Vietnam War and the hippie movement. During the nineteen seventies and eighties heavy metal and hard rock were getting the brunt of the censorship heat. Now in the nineteen nineties the major focus of censorship is rap; primarily gangster rap. Some of the main factors of music in general that cause legal ramifications are sexual content, suggestive violence and obscene language. Censorship is an attack against our first amendment right guaranteeing the freedom of speech. However if a song or album is deemed obscene the first amendment does not protect this.

Now that we know the history of censorship, we need to know the importance of censoring music and music videos. To begin with, Heather Newton gives her input on indecent speech with children in an article called Music Censorship: An Overview . Newton says that indecent speech needs to be kept away from children (Newton). This is a good example for why censoring music is a necessity. Also in the that article, Newton speaks of the legal side of censorship. Newton studied that freedom of expression is protected by the U.S. Constitution, but the US courts find the First Amendment does not protect obscene speech. This means that even though freedom of speech is protected, music

Marilyn Manson. Eminem. Limp Bizkit. Rammstein. All of these musical artists have been under fire in the past few years by government officials, the media, and activist groups. Supposedly, their music conveys too violent of a message. The sounds and words these artists have so carefully crafted have been targeted as the cause for violent acts, especially by young people. For example, Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold idolized German industrial bands such as Rammstein and KMFDM, as well as American shock rocker, Marilyn Manson. The public has been quick to blame these musicians for violence in the United States. People are calling for government regulations in the form of

Sure, protecting innocent children from exposure of explicit lyrics is best for both parents and children, but a person's creative works shouldn’t be blocked or bleeped on the radio just because another person wants it to. The radio stations that do play the bleeped songs are usually more adult radio stations. Everyone has the option to choose what to listen to, so they shouldn’t listen to the radio stations that upsets them. Parents can monitor their kids for themselves.

They believe it promotes content like drugs or violence. Music lyrics give teenagers something to think about. Music lyrics aren't “wrong” depending on what kind of music you're listening to.

Censorship, if used in the correct way and context, can be an appropriate way to counteract explicit content in today’s pop culture. Tupac, a famously known rapper, is frequently seen as a negative influence on adolescents. Yet some of his lyrics include, “For every dark night, there’s a brighter day,” “If you believe than you can achieve,” and many more uplifting messages imbedded throughout his songs. He has created a blend of inspiration, sentiment, and provision for the future, even though his work is all in the rap industry. The censorship of rap music has become an increasingly more popular debate topic as the genre takes over music charts worldwide. This notion has begun to call more attention to the content of which the youth are tuning in to on a daily basis. Parents and authorities are wanting to not only discourage the genre, but also rid it from radios, TVs, and many streaming sites. Although some portions of rap can be violent and condescending, censoring the genre would be repressing many positive aspects of it as well.

Musical censorship is incredibly important in certain venues and environments. However, any form of overarching censorship towards all musicians in all forms is not needed and potentially harmful. It is true that music can be hurtful, inappropriate, and racist but if the edges of normal and safety aren’t pushed, than society will never grow.

PMRC were denouncing, which many people heard about this issue even more. So they started listening to the music to see what is new, and they ended up going with it, which gain more support. The artist of this genres also, brought up more of this kind of music to shut them down, which they increased their popularity even more. All this labeling in the lyrical content did not have an effect in sells. Most people actually disregard this message, especially since it was teens buying the music. It was the parents to were against it, not the young teens.

Alexander, you touch on some very valid points such as the value of expression. It is true that the meaning of a song can de drastically changed when censored; however, the artist’s ability to freely express is retained as long as legality is retained. This is why I believe that there is a distinction to be made between government and private censorship. A prominent component to the music censorship debate is liberty (freedom of speech). Those who are against censorship are often supporters of freedom, for the privilege to create music and lyrics without restrictions is a result of the first amendment. Therefore, it is rational to allow businesses freedom in making decisions that reflect their values and beliefs, because they, just as artists,