Research Project on Music

Music Censorship is a very controversial issue that has been around over fifty years. In the world of music, the censorship effort repeats itself every generation. Society always tries to censor something or somebody to stop the world from evolving or changing. Since music is so popular and universal, it gets censored the most. Music censorship alters the creativity of music artists and does not abide by the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution. More specifically, it does not respect the freedom of speech.

Music is a free expression of the ideas, traditions, and emotions of individuals and of people. It may express musicians hopes and aspirations, their joys and sorrows, and their identity as a culture. Yet these expressions often conflict with those of people in power. Then there are those who are threatened by the very nature of a free exchange of ideas.

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Censorship is when a person, an organization, or a government decides that something is unfit or obscene, and keeps everyone else from reading, having, seeing, listening to, or buying it. Censorship of music can take various forms. For example, parental advisory sticker labels, banned concerts, banned cover art, rating systems, legislative bills and laws, and banned clothing are a few of the ways in which music and the artists that create the music can be censored.

Throughout history, many works of art and literature have been repeatedly censored. However, there seems to be an increased sensitivity when dealing with popular music. Music has always represented freedom to its fans and ever since the start of rock music in the 1950s, there have always been those ready to campaign against it. Calls for censorship have come with the emergence of almost every new form of communication: Television, radio, the internet, photography, telephones, and even the postal service. In fact, many other twentieth-century musical genres, like ragtime and jazz, have been met with resistance (Nuzum 5). When the saxophone was popularized in the 1920s, critics called it the "devil's flute" and thought that its low, seductive tones would cause young girls to behave immorally (Nuzum 5).

Music censorship has been taking place for a long time. In the 1950s, Ed Sullivan called Elvis, "unfit for a family audience" (Nuzum). Today, Elvis Presley is on a postage stamp. In the 1960s, a New York bishop forbade Catholic school students from dancing to "The Twist" because he considered R&B music and its associated dances, to be lewd and un-Christian. In the 1970s, Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman" was edited without his knowledge for a live appearance on American Bandstand (Nuzum). In the 1980s, a representative of the New York State division of substance abuse services suggested that a tax should be put on musicians whose songs promote drug use (Nuzum). In the 1990s, a Tennesse judge ruled that 2 Live Crew's "Nasty As They Wanna [sic.] Be" album and N.W.A's "Straight Outta [sic.] Compton" album were obscene under state law. He also stated that anyone arrested for selling the records could face fines from $10,000 to $100,000, depending upon the minors in the offense. The latest censorship incident was: Radion stations across the country removed songs by the Dixie Chicks from airplay because of a comment made by the group's singer saying she was embarassed that President Bush is from her home state of Texas (Nuzum).

In matters of censorship, do not believe that content is the sole reason a work of art is censored. Actually, content makes very little difference. Censorship is less about content and much more about communication and control. Censorship has less to do with defining appropiate expression than it does with defining appropiate people (Nuzum 6). There are those in control and those who question or threaten that control. Music offers a sense of empowerment against authority and authority feels a need to suppress and control it. In this paradigm, censorship cooks down to its basic ingredients: racism, classim, and elitism. Throughout history, censors have not really cared about Chuck Berry, Ozzy Osbourne, or 2 Live Crew. What they really have cared about is what these artists represent: change. The struggles associated with music censorship are battles between facts and opinions, between truth and assumptions.

Some supporters of music censorship are the American Family Association, the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), and C. Delores Tucker. C. Delores Tucker and William Bennet have joined forces over the past couple of years to wage war on gangsta rap and heavy metal. In 1995, they went after Time Warner for the "marketing of evil" (Mass Mic). They went after Time Warner because Time Warner was shareholder in Interscope Records, which carries artists such as Nine Inch Nails and Snoop Doggy Dog (Mass Mic). The Parents Music Resource Center is the organizatione responsible for the warning sticker on CDs and cassettes today. Even Wal-mart had a policy of not carrying any CDs that carry the notorious parental warning label, a few years ago (Wal-mart Blues).

Music censorship takes place for numerous reasons. Music is an easy targer when legislators are looking for scapegoats. When certain events take place and things go wrong, the society find someone or something to point their finger at. For example, there were a couple of cases, in which murderers listened to certain rap artists and certain songs begore they committed the murders. As a result, legislators tried to censor these artists and their songs. The legislators were implying that the music was the cause of the murders and that certain music influences people to commit wrongful acts like murder, rape, and theft. After the Columbine High School incident , the media immediately turned to music for the blame. The two killers, Harris and Klebold, had been fans of "goth" culture, violent video games and movies, and the internet. In the weeks that followed the shootings, a seemingly never-ending parade of activists, politicians, parents, and special-interest groups called for the censorship of the music, movies, web sites, and games that some felt were the training grounds that turned two boys into ruthless killers. Industrial rock band KMFDM received heightened attention because the lyrics to its song "Son of A Gun" appeared on Harris's web site.

Album covers have also caused controversy. In the 1950s, photos of dancing teens or musicians were thought to promote hedonism, promiscuity, lewdness, and disdain for authority (Nuzum 69). For many years, racial prejudice kept record companies from showing interracial dancing on album covers. Album artwork for the British group, Led Zeppelin, caused a great deal of controversy. Although none of the artwork was particularly offensive, critics felt that the mysterious album art themes had to contain some kind of subversive message.

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