Doorknockers Sadness & Silence: Censoring Music, Censoring Our Imaginations Music provides a powerful form of expression that at its most basic level helps to entertain while containing the power to cause revolutions both cultural and political. (Hall) Whether you are a fan of heavy metal music or classical music, there Is no denying that a life without music would be a very boring world indeed. Yet there are people out there that want to destroy this long-revered art form. People who call music a bad influence and want to see it censored and controlled.
Why do they want to do this? Well, there are many reasons. Many people want to censor music as a means of enforcing morality. Since the ass’s many religious conservatives have made It their personal duty to “clean” up the lyrics In the music of the past 20 years. Among these Is former Second Lady Tipper Gore, who put the entire music Industry on trial In 1992 (Gore, 1987). Musical acts, from rockers such as Frank Zap and Twisted Sister to country music legend John Denver, took the stand to protest Mrs.. Gore and her organization; the Parents Music Resource Center (AND. Com).
There was even a 2002 television movie, Warning: Parental Advisory, about these Senate trials. (midi. Com) Though many would deny it, racial issues fuel a lot of the problems with musical content. It started In the 1 955, when a Chicago radio station promised to censor “any controversial music. Especially after receiving letters from angry listeners. [ (Sparrow, 2009) In the ass’s, with R&B music on the rise, many adults were worried that their children would be exposed to immoral concepts while listening. Given the fact that R&B was performed, and listened to, by primarily
African-Americans many racial tensions were brought to bear. These tensions continued into the ass’s. In 1983, during a live interview, David Bowie suddenly asked, “Why are there practically no black artists on the network? ‘ [ (Why It Took MAT So Long To Play Black Music Videos ) ] In fact, due to the popularity of his album Thriller, Michael Jackson is credited as one of the first minority musicians to gain major rotation on MAT. When “rap music” came into prominence even the government found a way to discriminate. The argument can be made that racial motivations also laded a large role in the Bi’s 1989 letter to the rap group N.
W. A. [ (Magnum, 1986)] The FBI took exception to the group’s single “F*** that Police. ” While the group said they were only expressing their anger towards the treatment of Inner city black youths by local law enforcement. It served as another example of censorship rearing its ugly head. Gaps in the values of our different generations have also played a major role in this constant “war on our ears. ” In the ass’s and ass’s this “clash of values” was over the younger generation’s love affair with R;8 and Rock N’ Roll, which promoted ex, drugs, and the questioning of authority.
This did not sit well with the older MINI, and as result put much more emphasis on structured values and respect for authority. For example, in 1965, the Rolling Stones and the Who were banned from radio stations nationwide because of sexual references in their songs. [ (Sparrow, 2009)] In 1971, the FCC threatened to take away broadcast licenses from stations playing songs that glorified drugs. In the same year, songs by John Lennox and Jotter rule were changed without their knowledge or consent. Lemon’s music was changed y radio station themselves while Jotter Tulle’s songs were changed by their record label Chrysalis Records. (Magnum, 1986)] That would be the same as a going into a museum and painting over an artist’ work because you did not like what it portrayed. Do you think Leonardo Dad Vinci would have stood for something like this? Would we have masterpieces such as the “Sistine Chapel” if Michelangelo did not have creative control? As is usually the case when people try to infringe on our freedoms, fear is at the root of music censorship. Parents fear that their children will be “corrupted” by existing to the likes of Oozy Osborne and Amine.
The government fears that the public will be incensed to rebellion by the anarchic lyrics of bands like N. W. A. And Rage Against the Machine. Religious leaders fear that their followers will lose faith after listening to anti-Semitic artists like Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails. Rough many of these fears are unfounded, they have led to many irrational attempts to censor music. The National Coalition on Television, which monitored the level of violence in music videos, asked for the federal government to regulate rock USIA on television. (Magnum, 1986)] Although these demands were never met, other groups found more success in pressuring the record companies. The Parents Music Resource Center (MARC), pushed the music industry and the government to create a rating systems evaluating the content of artists. The MARC also hoped for radio stations to become conscious about airing controversial content which would in turn censor artists hoping to become played on the radio. The MARC was led by ripper Gore and very influential wives of politicians and businessmen living in Instigation, D. C.
As a result of testimony before the U. S. Senate, the Recording Industry Association of Americana) began labeling albums that may be objectionable, including the infamous black-and-white label “Parental Advisory: Explicit Content,” created in 1990 and still in use today. [ (Hall) ] Even today, censorship advocates are still attacking the violent lyrics of ‘gangster rap” and sexually-charged videos of today’s videos. No matter what decade it is, it always seems that the music of that era’s youth is the music under attack. The source of this is humanity inborn aversion to change.
During the Revolutionary War, there was a large segment of colonists who did not want to secede from England. The struggles women and minorities alone have faced Just to be treated like “human beings” is proof enough of mankind’s fear of change. This affects music because music is recognized as a potential source of power to change values, ideas, and beliefs – as well as to influence actions. In the case of children being exposed to inappropriate things from the music they listen to, it is the Job of the parent to make sure they know exactly what their children are listening to.
Those who fear this change try to stop it by censorship, even when, as history has shown us, censorship is different than the crimes committing against Japanese-Americans and the Jews during World War II. Our freedoms have been written down for hundreds of years. To encroach on any of those freedoms is to go against the ideals of our forefathers, the ‘ere essence of our great nation. If you do not like the message of a certain song or performance, you do not have to listen to it, but do not try to rob others of the right to listen to whatever they want.