Essay about The Controversy Over Music Censorship

However, other Americas feel that there should be no such thing as censorship on music, but it is completely up to the parents to decide what their children should listen to. In an article written by Olivia Clarke, she interviews parents to see what they have to say about the music their children listen too. Lory Reinisch listens to the music her children listen to and then tells them what songs they can listen to on the CD. (3) Artists that produce hardcore music is only for entertainment. In the same article Dr. Dre stated, “I let my kids listen. Matter of fact, I have a 14-year-old daughter that critiques my music

     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).

The United States of America seems to be protected by a very important historical document called the Constitution. Despite the fact that it was written and signed many years ago, the American people and their leaders still have faith in the Constitution. One of the major statements of the Constitution is the First Amendment, freedom of speech. Although it is difficult to decide what is offensive and what is not, it is clear to see that songs of rape, violence, bigotry, and songs containing four letter words are completely unnecessary for susceptible minds to acknowledge. It is reasonable to say that more people listen to music everyday and for that reason, music tends to be more influential. The American

Who determined content, and how, became the issue as demonstrated by the treatment of the 1992 album "Death Certificate" by the "Gangsta" rapper, Ice Cube. This album was determined to be so profane that Billboard Magazine asked merchandisers to refuse to sell or advertise it. Ice Cube's British label, Island Records, then edited two of the album's tracks before selling it and without obtaining permission from Ice Cube to alter his recording. In one of these edited songs, "No Vaseline", Ice Cube raps about his former N.W.A. bandmates with lyrics such as " Yo Dre… you been a dick, Eazy-E saw your ass and went in it quick. "Tried to dis Ice Cube but it wasn't worth it, cause the broomstick fits your ass so perfect."

     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

This labeling of albums is not the first attempt and success at censoring music. For 50 years radio stations have been censoring songs deemed inappropriate. In 1940 NBC banned 147 songs. The Supreme Court upheld the FCC's authority to regulate music in 1978 (Winfield pg. 14). The rock and roll community could only expect some sort of limited censorship. Initially the ban was only in effect from 6 am until midnight but in 1988 president Reagan made the ban all day. The FCC in an attempt to let radio stations know what types of songs were unacceptable sent a list of 22

Music with explicit lyrics or content started having black and white parental advisories on them in 1994 (http://www.riaa.org/Parents-Advisory-4.cfm). Are these labels necessary? Is controversial music molding our society and causing teenagers to turn to drugs? Is censorship necessary to protect the youth of our nation. Generally, younger people are against censorship on this issue. Music is an outlet and even an anti-drug for many teens; however, parents and society feel differently. Should parents censor their children or society, many parents would like to raise their own

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,

Most popular music today is driven by violence and sex. These musicians put out albums that glorify violence and promote causal sex. When the albums are being produced, the artist does not think of how it will affect the perspective merchant. When

The media coverage of this event was intense and parents started to take notice. Mass hysteria ensued with religious groups burning heavy metal records and parental groups taking their concerns to the highest courts in an attempt to filter the content of the music. It was the “moral panic” in the eighties that resulted in the “parental advisory” label that began to grace CD covers everywhere (Brown, 2012, p.21).

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

Currently, censorship in music is possibly the most relevant form of censorship. One of the more disturbing signs of censorship in music is a condition nearly snuck into the USA-PATRIOT Act that would allow the government “to hack private citizens’ computers to delete what they consider to be illegal MP3 song files” (Blecha 179).

references”, says the FCC, but they are still letting his songs play on the radio because the

The first reason lyrics of popular music is considered harmful to teens and children because it have contains inappropriate content in the song . According Varda Epstein lyrics written by men an artist by color where most likely too include sex references . This shows that men and younger boys have an effect on how to

One of the earliest instances of music censorship occurred betwen 469-399 B.C.E., when Plato and Socrates called for censorship of popular music. Thousands of years later, music censorship still affects democratic societies, like the United States. Popular music has been a driving force because of its role in shaping, critiquing, and celebrating American culture. It provides a platform that protests, calls for change and works as a strong emotional outlet. Additionally, popular music has long served as a common ground for racial divides in America, first with jazz and now with hip-hop (Humphreys, p. 6). However, ultimately, scholars recognize that popular music is really about “political and/or cultural domination” (Humphreys, p. 4) and this analysis seeks to determine the forces that undermine such domination.