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The relationship between music and religion
Religion shown in contemporary music
Religion shown in contemporary music
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Profanity in pop music has become a major burden on today’s society and is negatively affecting the behavior of the listeners. It does not have a positive message and it tells the listener that doing the wrong ok. It contradicts what the Bible says. Take a look at what was acceptable 40 years ago, and what is considered acceptable today.(Pareles) The lyrics of songs today would cause a riot 40 years ago! According to Bozell, 21st century pop music has become very dirty. This is very true. “The top 100 pop songs are about sex.” (Bozell) In Katy Perry’s song “E.T.” she talks about having sex with an alien. E.T. is a song that many young people listen to. Lady Gaga wrote a song that said she was going to have sex with people till she got old and faded away. When people listen to these song, they are filling their heads with the though that it is ok to have sex outside of marriage. The Bible tells you to put a guard on you ear, eyes, and mind because what you take in will affect your heart. With music becoming more vulgar and profane, it is getting harder and harder for people to lis...
Censorship in music is a very controversial subject in today’s society. What is considered a form of artistic expression to some is also considered vulgar and inappropriate to others. But who ultimately gets to decide what is considered vulgar and what is not? Who decides who hears what in the music industry? The RIAA is responsible for applying the Parental Advisory stamp on every album that is released in the United States. The FCC is responsible for making sure that no vulgarities or controversial comments are aired on radio or television. But why is some content edited and other content not? I will try and explain these questions in our article.
In today?s society, we value and learn to tolerate different cultures and people. Sometimes people end up expressing themselves differently as well. This country is based on the idea that we may express ourselves any way we want to, be it religion, organizing, writing, or speaking. Music has been a popular form of expression for centuries. These days, in the country best known for freedom, some people are trying to censor it the freedom of music. Music should not be censored along with any other form of expression otherwise what we and artists say are being controlled. If we value freedom, then that includes what we may say and how we say it even in musical form.
Music censorship has been debated since the beginning of recording history. The censoring of music is the practice of restricting free access to musical works. Songs with strong language, racist views, or harmful references will have warning labels on them. There are currently no laws regarding the censorship of music. Censorship originated from a wide variety of motivations, including moral, political, military or religious reasons. The censoring of music is incorrect and should be eradicated. Music has been prominent in culture for thousands of years; it is a big contributing factor to moral compositions, for some it is a personal refuge, for others it is enjoyment, music is an important aspect and to censor music would be racially discriminative, insensitive, and detrimental towards society.
... it brought in sultry rhythms and made some adults worried about over-sexualizing music. However, today it is very common to hear something sexual in a song or verse. In today’s music industry, many women are just as successful as the men.
"Turn that music off! I don't want you listening to that kind of music." Many teens these days are experiencing this kind of thing almost every day. Many parents, in general, have complained and tried to regulate the music that teens are listening to these days. They complain that the music industry shouldn't be able to sell and produce the explicit CD's.
Since the explosion of music videos in 1981, a large portion of their popularity has been due to the objectification of women and their sexuality. “Early content analyses showed that anywhere from 40% to 75% of music videos contained sexual imagery”(Arnett, 2002). Hip-hop music videos especially have a reputation of degrading women. In these videos “women are often depicted in positions of submission to men” (Sommers-Flanagan, 1993).On the flip-side Country music videos are “known for [their] socially conservative themes”(Frisby & Aubrey, 2012).
Against Music Censorship Music censorship has been a major problem plaguing America for over fifty years. In 1957, Elvis Pressley was only allowed to be filmed from the waist up on the Ed Sullivan show (Nuzum 1). Plenty of controversy has taken place between then and now, but more recently it has become much more prominent in the media, and people and organizations are beginning to actually take a stand. For example, Island Records (owned by Disney) dropped the Insane Clown Posse just after their release of The Great Milenko and MTV actually refused to play Madonna's video for Justify My Love because it was considered too sexually explicit (Nuzum 1). Music content is just one of the many issues that put the First Amendment of our Constitution to work.
When we listen to some rap songs we encounter lots of vulgar words. They seem so misleading if the word is acknowledged with dictionary meaning. But in reality there is nothing intentional with the singer. The word is uttered just to make a rhyme and make the song more beautiful. So, it can be generalized that anything that matters in choosing the word is how the listeners take it about the tone of the speaker. When someone smiles and calls his friend “freak” then he is just making a fun of him. But the same word if spoken in serious tone misleads the listener and make him think, “Am I really a freak?”
Looking at our past, there have been dramatic changes in the way humans view sex. Long before the 1900s individuals framed their views based on the religious institution. Due to the fact that they strongly centered their idea of sexual thought on religion, they believed that the only purpose of having sex was to procreate. As the 1920’s approached, there were various factors that changed the way individuals viewed sex. The “new women” known, as flappers were women who were confident in who they were. They changed their attire as well as their social attitude. In the 1920s, the flappers redefined sex; customs and traditions were broken and new norms were created by society.
Imagine our youth all over the country being exposed to this explicit kind of language. There is no need to imagine, because it is already happening. Ever since the rise of Rap and Hip Hop music, teens have been turning to them to help solve their problems. However these kinds of music can be very destructive to teens. It is not the youth’s fault; it is the content that the music contains. Although Rap and Hip Hop music can be a force for good, they can also have an extremely negative impact on the attitudes and behaviors of our youth.
There is not one song in Wiz Khalifa’s music that has no swear words. Not one of his collective 409 songs are completely clean with no drug references or profanity. Anyone who listens to Khalifa’s music is exposed to these, no matter what the song they may choose to listen to. After examining parent guides, the ideas, language and meanings behind the songs of the artists, Wiz Khalifa, Kid Cudi and G-Eazy, It can be concluded that Wiz Khalifa has the worst influence in message and language.
Music has always been a basic form of expression. From Antonin Dvorak, to Eminem, to even ancient, tribal music, it has been a medium through which individuals convey their thoughts and expressions. Today this medium is under attack. Everywhere we turn, everything we do and say is being scrutinized. We are being told what to say. We are being spoon-fed our emotions. No longer are we allowed to think freely, openly. All the censors out there are on the prowl for another piece to rip to shreds because it doesn't fit their description of what is decent and moral. What they fail to realize is that we don't make the music for them... We do it for release.
Teens and the human populous have been draw to music, and the relief it gives off. As recent as the 1990’s, we’ve seen an increase in explicit and violent lyrics and deviant behavior in the music industry surrounding such genres as heavy metal, rock, rap, and gangster rap. During this past decade, lyrics are becoming more violent and sexually explicit. It is approximated that teens listen to an average of 40 hours of music a week, and somewhere along the way, a child will hear something derogatory, or cruel. Along with this, teens don’t necessarily interpret what is said through lyrics in the right manner.
Every human possesses some guaranteed basic freedoms and rights, whether it is the freedom of speech, or the freedom to express themselves. However, the government seems to be increasingly determined to limit these freedoms using censorship to confine these rights that we usually take for granted. The most important facet of media in general is that it allows people to express themselves freely. In fact, this freedom of expression that music allows us is one of the primary reasons why it exists. Sadly, many of the current artists have forgotten that, but nonetheless, censorship seems to always be there to limit the expression of those who choose to place deeper messages in their songs. Tackling censorship is much more important than it appears to be at the surface; to take down censorship would help preserve the expression of thought. It would help preserve the right to listen to the unaltered forms of everything. Most importantly, it would help preserve the rapidly weakening basic right of speech.
To conclude, those offensive lyrics by rappers and rockers shouldn’t be available. These should be banned for good to keep minors from detrimental music. The facts proves these offensive songs have a horrific impact on minors and shouldn’t be heard in music ever