Moral Panic In Rock Roll Music

"HOW ROCK AND ROLL CAUSES A MORAL PANIC"

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In "On the concept of moral panic" Garland, David (2008) argues that, from subliminal messages to witch hunts, the moral panic has existed for many centuries especially when related to the music industry (25). Moral panic even predates television. A moral panic in particular that experienced much media presence and public reactions were in the1980s when allegations arose on how subliminal messages were being hidden in songs through the process of back masking. In the 1980s, Christian evangelists started noticing that there were some messages being passed in rock and roll music. This issue caused a moral panic as it was alleged that some rock band wrote and sang songs that when sang backwards held some particular messages. The songs were alleged to be containing satanic content or occult and encouraging drug and alcohol abuse. Back-masking created a moral panic in the country and had several effects in the rock roll music industry.

Back-masking is the process where a recording is normally recorded, but the message is embedded in the song in a way that if the record is played backwards there is some kind of message in the song. This means that the song can be played both forward and backwards and the song will have two different meanings. This process was made popular by the Beatles.

Organizations such as MADD were some of the groups that effectively condemn drunk driving, a fact that is majorly praised in rock and roll videos up to this day. Parents were concerned with the music their children were listening. They feared that the rock and roll music would unintentionally corrupt their minds. According to Brake, Michael (2013), it is important to be aware of how profound moral panic can truly affect people’s lives according to what has happened in