Music Censorship 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).

According to Mary Eberstadt, "contemporary adolescent popular music, especially the subgenres of heavy metal and hip-hop/rap, is uniquely degraded – and degrading – by the standards of previous generations." When compering music in the past and today, it is important to compere musical lyric too. Modern music is more aggressive and coarser than old music. Contemporary lyrics describe misogyny, violence, suicide, sexual exploitation, children abuse and other bad things. Mary Eberstadt explains the changes in musical lyric as a result of changes in society. Nowadays, music is not censored. In her essay "Eminem is Right," Eberstadt wrote about how Eminem is right in his songs because he understands the current family crisis that millions children

Artist are protected through the first amendment to express their feelings through the art of music. They use their songs to get an issue out to the world, to tell about something personal, for entertainment, to relate to the world, or to make a statement. Censoring the music is discrimination against the emotion the artist felt in their song. It’s like taking the first amendment away from the artist and listeners.The government can't limit expression just because of any listener, or a community is offended by the content and characters of the song. We have a choice of what we listen to. We aren’t forced to listen to anything. If you feel a certain genre of music has too rated for you or children, don’t play it. We have a choice. We have a choice. We as Americans have a

For many years, the youth have been known for singing along to their favorite song and taking that song as whole and using it as their motto for life. It may seem that sometimes these kids do not know what is being said in the music but this shows that they do know what the lyrics are saying. According to Franklin B. Krohn and Frances L. Suazo in their article “Contemporary Urban Music: Controversial Messages in Hip-Hop and Rap Lyrics,” many teenagers and minority groups view rappers as their spokesmen because of their ability to speak in street language and bluntly express their frustration (Krohn, 1995). Unfortunately, hip hop lyrics usually tend to talk about drugs, sex and violence leading kids to think that everything they hear is okay and that is how they have to live their life. Yet, there are artists out there who take their lyricist skills to give positive lyrics and messages in their music, but these songs are not often played in the mainstream.

     The Parents Music Resource Center and other censorship groups became a thorn in the side of free speech when many parents (like Tipper Gore) were outraged and disgusted by this new music known as “rap.” Censorship organizations demand that these new performers like Ice-T and NWA become banned from the radio and their music be labeled as indecent and explicit in order to protect America’s Youth from listening to this so-called “filth.” Rap has since been the biggest target for censorship, with groups going as far as saying that, “there has been a marked increase in explicit violence and misogyny in popular music, and it stands to reason that exposure to such hate filled lyrics has had a effect on kids’ attitudes, assumptions, decisions, and behavior” (Senate subcommittee…). This is a crazy assumption with no facts to back it up. According to Vincent Shiraldi, the executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, “There has been a 30

“Ironically, "The Real Slim Shady" also includes anti-censorship message, pointing out what Eminem sees as double standards about what kinds of speech are considered acceptable in popular culture.” This station was also issued a $7,000 fine. Even though it was an edited version of the song, and all curse words were bleeped out, the FCC was determined that it was an indecency. ("The FCC, Radio & Censorship”)

Censoring music will limit the creativity and viewpoint of other people; which is causing our freedom of speech becoming eradicated and adds on to the shortcoming of understanding other people’s perspectives. People have different stances on life, and want to canvass the things that they lived through. This is where foul language and censorship is most debated.

In the late 1950s, Rock and Roll began to pick up and get very popular. It became big among young people of the generation. While it was found captivating for teens, many adults at the time formed strong criticisms and dissatisfactions of the music. They tended to believe that Rock brought out “animalism and vulgarity” (Kornhaber). Nowadays, the very popular music choice amongst teenagers is rap. Just like what happened with Rock and Roll, there is a great deal of criticism about this music choice as well.

The corruptness of music today seems to be linked to the crude language and aggression found particularly in hip-hop and rap music. Some rap artists use vulgar language in their lyrics that are easily adoptable by teens (Holden). Not only have certain lyrics influenced the way teens speak but also their actions. An article on Headliners.org stated that “lyrics in the music are too violent and are to blame for many problems.” The problems range anywhere from suicide and aggression towards women to underage drinking and drug use. Lyrics are not only to blame, but also what people see in artists’ music videos can affect what they do (Doaks). The urge to emulate these rap musicians has escalated quickly causing a spike in rebellious tendencies among teens.

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.

Though rap started out as a force for positive social change, popular subgenres of hip-hop such as "gangsta rap" have since eroded much of the art form's value to society. Impressionable young people are negatively affected by rappers' obsession with guns, drugs, sex, and material possessions. Since record companies do not seem to care about negative content as long as it sells albums, parents should assume a greater role in regulating their children's listening habits. Hip-Hop is the proclamation that young people are independent and intolerant of what they consider to be adult society, which they frequently view as hypocritical.

Others believe that the music should not be on the market for the public to access at all. Many believe that censorship should not be allowed at all because it

Music is one of the most popular ways of expression and has been for generations. It makes us want to dance, inspires, soothes, relaxes, and sometimes tells us a story. Music is something the whole world shares and has brought together different kinds of people. However, there has been a question on whether some music has affected society negatively and crossed the line with some of its lyrics, content, and the persona of the artists. Certain music has been boycotted and even banned in the U.S. Pro-censorship supporters say that music is something that can deeply affect our society especially children who should not have to be subjected to things like violence, sex, drugs, or hate. However, being that music is a form of expression,

Second of all, music should not be censored because it reduces an artist’s capability to be creative. A musician uses certain lyrics for a reason. Every lyric has some sort of meaning. Whether it be to rhyme with a subsequent phrase, or going with the flow. Regardless of its purpose, it still has value. However, creativity is not only limited to the lyrics in a song. Creativity can also be express through rhythm and tone. The downside, one can only have so much creativity than resides in the tone of a song. In the song, “Never Take Away My Freedom” it says, “Can take everything I own. You can have and sing my song. You can never take away my freedom” (David Guetta). This means that he could be stripped of everything that he owns. But his freedom can never be taken away by anyone. This holds true about music as well. Artists have the ability to create any kind of music they wish. Lyrics help surpass that limitation of creativity. An artist’s lyrics cannot and should not be contained by the power of the government. It takes time and dedication to create music. Musicians carefully