Since the time of the broadcasting of Elvis Presley during the 1950’s, there has been a notion to censor material on media outlets that were deemed inappropriate because of the potential suggestive message it could present. With the efforts of the Federal Communications Commissions, media outlets have to follow a strict guideline in order to be in compliance with the FCC’s standards, or else they will be faced with a hefty fine. Although music artists are not federally regulated like their visual counterparts, a group of concerned individuals wanted to do everything that they could in order to keep the explicit content out of the reach of children and have a certain censorship in their works of art. The Parent Music Research Center took matters into their own hands to the extent that a United States Congressional hearing was held to bring to the attention of government leaders the potential damage explicit content in music could have on the youth in this country. The defendants, who were prominent artists of the music industry would not go down without a fight, and they defended their work. With the leadership of Tipper Gore and the Parent Music Research Center, they brought to the attention of the country that they believed that the explicit content of music records must be regulated in the form of a federal rating system in order to protect the youth of this country to be introduced to the explicit content in the music.
The Parent Music Research Center was a group of individuals who wanted to bring the attention to the public that the content in certain music records were deemed inappropriate for the youth of our country to listen to, and action was needed to help create a warning label system to warn parents of the content of...
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... the market control these actions. What her main point is that she wants the corporations to make sure that their products are in the right hands and to protect the integrity of what she calls “young minds.”
Works Cited
Goldstein, Patrick. “Parents Warn: Take The Sex and Shock Out Of Rock And Roll.” Los Angeles Times 25 Aug 1985.
Harrington, Richard. "The Capitol Hill Rock War; Emotions Run High as Musicians Confront Parents' Group at Hearing." The Washington Post 20 Aug. 1985.
U.S. Congress. Contents of Music and the Lyrics of Records. 99th Congr., 1 sess. 1985. Washington, D.C.
VH1. “VH1 Original Movies: Warning: Parental Advisory.” http://www.vh1.com/shows/series/ movies_that_rock/warning/filthy.jhtml
Vidar, Sara. "Parental advisory stickers." The Eighties in America. Ed. Milton Berman. 3 vols. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2008. Salem History Web.
Most people agreed the warning did nothing but have certain stores claim to be Family Friendly. The labels are still used in today’s music including CDs, digital songs and digital albums. In 2016 its nearly impossible to stop kids from listening to explicit material. With a lot of technological advances in the recent decades there are endless ways to stream music, both legally and
Rock n’ roll gave people the voice they did not have in the early years. As the genre of music became more wide spread, people actually began to speak out. Altschuler touches on the exploration of how the rock n' roll culture roughly integrated with replaced and conflicted with preceding cultural values. Many of these values were very touch topics. Besides black civil rights, sexuality were one of the most sensitive t...
Howard, John Tasker. Our American Music. 1946. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1954. 666. Print.
Nuzum, Eric. “Censorship Incidents 1950s.” Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America. Parental Adivsory, 2003. Web. 9 Nov. 2009. .
1. Furritus , David. "Advantages and Disadvantages of Music Censorship." Entertainment Scene 360. RR Donnelly , 23 Jan. 2008. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. .
...from the other side of this argument is the fact that profanity and sexually explicit material shouldn’t be exposed to young children without their parental permission. But telling teenagers and young adults who are mature enough to choose what they want to listen to is completely wrong and unjust. The key word here is choice. As stated earlier, the thing that makes this country truly great is the idea that we have the right to listen to whatever we choose we want to listen to, not what a censor thinks you should be exposed to, it’s ridiculous.
The music industry gets a lot of criticism about the music that they put out on the market. Most of the criticism comes from the parents. There are bills passed, such as the "Parental Advisory Program," which enforce that CD's with explicit lyrics have to have a label on them that state, "Explicit Lyrics" or "Explicit Content" (Parental Advisory). This sticker cautions the person who buys the CD that there is bad language or content. The recording industry takes serious responsibility to help parents identify the music with explicit lyrics.
Many bills have been passed to stop explicit messages in music from getting out. Censorship limits the amount of lyrics that get out to the community about violence. (History of Music Censorship) It may also limit anything in music that a community might find offensive to its values or beliefs. The lyrics presented in some songs are not appropriate for young adults. Some say music censorship goes against the First Amendment. It stops artists from expressing how they may feel. The profit on albums often goes down because of censorship. Censorship constantly targets rap and hip hop, and they are usually hit the hardest. (Forms of Music Censorship)
In one case, the parents of John McCullom sued Ozzy Osbourne, because his song "Suicide Solution", "aided, advised and encouraged" McCullom's suicide (Nuzum 1). C. Delores Tucker, chair of the National Political Congress of Black Women, said, "No one and no industry should be allowed to continue the social and psychological poisoning of the young minds of this nation that occurs with the music industry" (91). This belief in musical content being "poison" is prominent all over America. During the 1970's, record burning was a popular way to speak out against music content, and today protests are quite popular. Other ways of stifling these problematic artists may be through the pressure of having to use a parental advisory label or legislation passing bills.
The development of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the late 1940s and early 1950s by young African Americans coincided with a sensitive time in America. Civil rights movements were under way around the country as African Americans struggles to gain equal treatment and the same access to resources as their white neighbors. As courts began to vote in favor of integration, tensions between whites and blacks escalated. As the catchy rhythm of Rock ‘n’ Roll began to cross racial boundaries many whites began to feel threatened by the music, claiming its role in promoting integration. This became especially problematic as their youth became especially drawn to ...
McLeese, Don. “The Spirit of a Rocker.” New York Times. 18 October 1987. Web. 11
In conclusion this report has helped us understand the significance of Music in America. Also, the impact it has on music we listen too. Music is very much like a big chain reaction. Rock ‘N’ Roll, much like music today, stood out and was in a way rebellious. Parents now hate Rap and we love it. People in the 70’s loved Rock ‘N’ Roll and parents hated it. This shows that maybe no matter how much older people deny it, the time gap and generation gap is not too far apart. Without Rock ‘N’ Roll the World would without a doubt be changed. Any guess to that of which way would be a good one.
We are all familiar with the way children interact and play together. Through these interactions, it is clear to see their curiosity, energetic attitude, and friendliness. However there is one important part of their interactions that is overlooked. We often do not think much of kids humming a tune or combining small syllables into a little song, but if we paid close attention, we could see how music is so thoroughly integrated into a child’s life. After reading “Songs in Their Heads: Music and its Meaning in Children’s Lives” by Patricia Shehan Campbell, it became clear to me how children have a concept of music from such a young age, and in a lot of cases, their knowledge of music is not taught to them through school.
The Web. 17 May 2010. http://www.tabootunes.com/gallery.html>. This gallery was not one of taboo songs as much as taboo album covers, giving a new outlook on music-related censorship. The gallery also shows another method censorship could be used to limit creativity.
... women. There are labels on music today that warn of explicit and violent lyrics, but there are none that advise listeners against language that debases women and that could possibly harm a person’s self-image. Every person has the right to speak their mind however they see fit, but if they can ban an album for condoning murder or rebellion against authority why can they not at least warn the public of music that offends an entire gender? Censorship of these words will not stop them from being spoken or written; only education about why and how they are used and how harmful they can be can bring about a change.