Essay on Music Censorship

Although we, as citizens of this country, are guaranteed freedom of speech and press by the first amendment, we are encouraged to “watch what we say”. In order to avoid unnecessary violence and to keep people from being offended, it is recommended the certain things be censored. While many may look at this censorship as a well-needed percussion it can reversely be seen as going against one's first amendment rights, in itself causing controversy.

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

     Racism, hate, sex, drugs, and profanity are among many things people encounter in everyday life whether they want to or not. The one thing that people do have control over is what kind of music they listen to and to take that right away from anyone would be more offensive than having the president of the United States of America get oral sex in the oval office, one of the most honored places in the country. People get more worked up over the things in life that mean nothing, than worrying about crucial issues. Our society can tolerate watching parents smack their children in *Wal-Mart more than they can stand to hear a curse word, or a sexual comment in a song. Music is an

However, the amount of censorship on arts and media has been recently declining, “it’s ben glacial, but it’s happening” (Sterngold 8). Individuals who disagreed with the amount of censorship and the ideas or values being censored stood up and spoke what they believed. With the years of struggle, the pressure groups and individuals eventually won, resulting in less censorship in media. With less censorship, it allows people to speak what they believe, without fearing how society will react.

Freedom of speech is an essential part of our democratic government. The only way that the truth can be brought to the fore is when there is a forum where ideas and opinions can be openly expressed. However, there is a strong support of censorship when people start mentioning extremely offensive opinions. Should the freedom of speech be limited in this case? The answer is “No”. “If liberty means anything at all,” writes George Orwell, “it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” (Wikipedia, 2016) If

Censorship dates all the way back to 443 BC in ancient Rome with the Office of Censor. In that time this was an office of great repute, the Office of Censor was charged with the shaping of the character of the people. Thus it was considered to be an honorable task, since then the connotation of the word and such an office has changed greatly. Today censorship is the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc. and suppressing “unacceptable parts” based on whoever is defining “unacceptable.” Unacceptable has been considered to be a wide range of concepts from ideas to sexually explicit content. Historically in the USSR most leaders used censorship in every form as a means of suppressing whatever or whoever was perceived as a

One important point to remember is that while the First Amendment is specifically designed to protect offensive or controversial speech (because who needs to protect speech that no one disagrees with?), it does not protect libelous nor obscene material. Obscene material is defined as that which community standards finds offensive.[ii] So one question to consider is, within which community does the Internet live?

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.

Many music artists have had other people attempt or succeed to sue them for their explicit lyrics and sexual content. 2 Live Crew was one of these music groups. In June of 1990, a Broward County judge in Florida declared that their album, As Nasty as They Want to Be, was legally obscene. (http://www.xyno.de/) 2 Live Crew’s record was the first one in America to be deemed legally obscene although a Georgia appeal court later overturned this decision in May of 1992 (http://music.lycos.com/artist/bio.asp?QW=2+Live+Crew&AN=The+2+Live+Crew&MID=66486&MH=). Some people believe that a label should be placed on albums by artists who have explicit content in their recordings.

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,

I can 't seem. To find myself again. My walls are closing in.” (Linkin Park, “Crawling”). These lyrics just show to prove how much emotion was displayed into the song itself. With that said, censorship sabotages an artist’s intent to express themselves. Not only does it limit one’s ability to put forth one’s feelings into his or her songs, but it also affects the artist’s creativity.

Censorship may be protection from inappropriate materials, but it also limits free speech. For the limitation of free speech, it is reasonable why people are emphatically against censorship. It is understood that there is a need to filter some of the materials released in today’s society, but too much is being done by people who have no right meddling with everyone’s rights. Civilization has always been plagued by a never ending battle being fought over what is deemed right and wrong. In today’s culture, censorship oppresses everything in the media. From movies and music to television and even news stories, most of the content viewed today has been filtered one way or another. Restrictions have been in place since early societies have been

Neil Young once said, “Rock and roll is here to stay”. In the mid-1950s, rock and roll began emerging in the United States. In the early stages, rock and roll created many controversies and did not gain large popularity quickly. However, rock and roll continued to push forward, develop, and overcome many of the controversies against it. Like Young said, “Rock and roll is here to stay” and it was not going to go away quietly. Censorship is “the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security” (Oxford). During the rock and roll era, examples of censorship were easy to find. It all started with Elvis Presley and his dances moves, then moving on to the increase of suggestive songs.

1: Censorship? How about the consequences? Have we forgotten that everything that we do corresponds to a responsibility?

The main issue in censorship today is responsibility. Who is essentially responsible for properly censoring and controlling