censorship in music
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. The mass media has been involved has been involved in the many so-called problems that music causes in society today. The attempted censorship of music is not just because people need a cause to fight. In today's society there are many problems that experts feel are directly related to music. Some of these problems are suicide, murder and sexual assault. Many people argue that it is not only music made for entertainment purposes. Many parents and experts argue that rappers and musicians use vulgar, pro
Music is in sad state of affairs today. No matter where you look someone is offending someone else and no one attacks the issue at hand. It is always taken one step up and nothing is ever resolved. In closing this paper I would just like to say that just because it is there and it is obscene it doesn't mean you have to listen to it. You may not like it but to someone else it may be genius. In the words of John Lennon, "LET IT BE." In nineteen eighty-five the seeds of censorship were sewn. It began by the Recording Industry association of America agreeing to voluntarily place-warning labels on albums that were deemed obscene. This came after a congressional hearing before the Senate commece, science and transportation committee. Frank Zappa a controversial musician attended the conference and called Tipper Gore who is co founder of the Parent's Music Resource Center a "Cultural Terrorist."(Winfield pg. 25) Record labeling made many angry and at the same time pacified others. It was seen as a step forward in attempting to control the one mass media aimed directly at teenagers. Musicians such as Axle Rose have spoken out against labeling claiming their right to express themselves musically no matter what the response. One artist, Luther Campbell, of the rap group 2 Live crew released a single titled "Banned in the USA" in response to the labeling (Winfield pg. 14). 2 Live Crew was the first group to be indicted on charges of obscenity. With lyrics like "Hey, we want some pu**y" they were found offensive by people everywhere (Winfield pg. 13). However when they were brought to trial the Supreme Court ruled that they were not legally obscene. Sexual lyrics in rap are not the only controversial issues at hand. Violence in rap songs have also taken center stage and are getting their share of criticism and attempted censorship. Rapper Ice T ended up pulling a song "Cop Killer" of his album body count because his record officials were receiving death threats for releasing it (Winfield pg. 13). The predecessor to Ice T's stance on cops would be the rap group Nigga's with Attitudes or NWA. They received a lot of abuse for a song simply title
Some common words found in the essay are:
Vietnam War, Supreme Court, Conan O'Brien, K-Mart Wal-Mart, Morisson Winfield, Cop Killer, Dole FOP, Banned USA, NWA's Fu&k, Cultural TerroristWinfield, winfield pg, radio stations, pg 13, pg 14, censorship music, winfield pg 13, cop killer, winfield pg 14, national radio stations, rage machine, national radio, 2 live crew, live crew, supreme court, labeling winfield pg,
Approximate Word count = 1451
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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