Censorship in Music Essays - 1076 Words

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†¦show more content†¦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 Parents 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). 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 FCCs 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 22Show MoreRelated Censorship in Literature and Music Essay examples1860 Words   |  8 PagesCensorship in Literature and Music What is censorship? An encyclopedia defines censorship as the control of what people may say or hear, write or read, or see or do1. There are many reasons why people censor entertainment such as literature and music. Many governments or groups try to preserve their standards of morality by preventing people from learning about or following other standards2, commonly found in the two previously mentioned mediums. There are different ways to censor things.Read MoreMusic Censorship Is Not Possible Without The Color Red And For Artists1497 Words   |  6 Pagesvery impactful in how he uses the example of painting the American flag, it’s not possible without the color red and for artists to not be able to write songs using their past experiences that isn’t quite possible either. Another limitation of music censorship is that lyrics are poetry and are filled with double meanings so what may be obscene to one person may be perfectly acceptable to another. John Denver testified at the 1985 hearing of the PMRC stating that his song â€Å"Rocky Mountain High†, whichRead MoreCensorship And Censorship Of Music1544 Words   |  7 PagesThroughout the years, music has evolved and transformed in many ways. However, there are restrictions in today’s music, otherwise known as, censorships. A crisis has emerged concerning the issue of censorship. This argument consists of two possible stances: one, supporting the continuation of censorship, and two, eliminating the status quo of censorships in the music industry. There have been countless debates and arguments regarding the issues of censorship ever since the U.S. Congress passed theRead MoreMusic Censorship1016 Words   |  5 PagesKevin Ung Professor Vazquez English 101 October 9, 2007 Music Censorship I enjoy and love music very much. I feel that music artists should have the right to freely express their work and I feel that I should argue about the censorship attacks on these artists. I’m tired of listening to a good song on the radio with some of the words censored. It ruins the song and I can’t stand it. Some people think that rap is a bad influence and causes the young to behave badly. But I think all this censoringRead MoreMusic Censorship1092 Words   |  5 Pagesgovernment for a redress of grievances, censorship in America still exists in a big way. Music censorship is the term used to describe the act of editing, altering, or preventing the listener from hearing the music as the artist created it in order to either deny certain information or to act as a moral gatekeeper of potentially harmful material (http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~barndollar/courses/spring98/students/fabfive/index.html). The Censorship of music in the United Stated is documented as farRead MoreEssay on Music Censorship880 Words   |  4 PagesMusic Censorship The tall, lanky fifteen-year-old ambled slowly up to the counter and tossed his music selection toward the clerk. The salesman began to ring the sale up in his routine manner, but just then something caught his eye. It was a small black sticker on the corner of the CD. This sticker plainly read explicit lyrics. As the teenager fumbled through his pockets searching for a method of payment, the clerk gave him a questioning glance. Could I see some identification pleaseRead More Music Censorship Essay1269 Words   |  6 PagesMusic Censorship Healthy debates have been caused by todays music. Generally, foul language has rapidly increased within modern popular song lyrics, especially among rap and heavy metal artists songs. An increase in explicit violence and misogyny in popular music lyrics has been recorded. These lyrics have been judged to be inspirations for violent, suicidal, and criminal acts. For example, Mr. Raymond Kuntz referred to his sons incident. When his wife went to wake their son for school, theyRead MoreThe Problem Of Music Censorship1280 Words   |  6 PagesAttention Getter: Imagine yourselves listening to music at a party, you’re jumping around yelling, screaming, and majority of the time singing or rapping along to whatever song is playing. Now imagine every other word, or whole verses in the song getting bleeped out frequently because of the message it presents even though you have the right to listen to whatever you so desire. This is the problem of music censorship we all face today. B. Relevance: BeingRead MoreMusic Censorship Essay625 Words   |  3 PagesMusic Censorship 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 someRead More Music Censorship Essay640 Words   |  3 Pagesnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Why is it that when a person that listens to music that may promote violence and contains â€Å"objectionable† lyrics does a bad thing, families are quick to point out that it was external materials such as the music that influenced the person to do it? nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;This is the controversy over music censorship. Music censorship is the attempt or action taken by any agency to limit or hold back anything in music that a community may find offensive to its beliefs or values