Marilyn Manson, Britney Spears, Eminem, Garth Brooks, and the king

Elvis, What do all these people have in common? Well, yes, they are all

musical artists, but there is something more. Marilyn Manson is a heavy

metal artist who worships Satan, Britney Spears is one of todays hottest sex

simble , Eminem is a hardcore rapper today. Garth Brooks is a country singer

and greatest selling performer of all time. And well, Elvis is the king of Rock

N’ Roll. So what do they all have in common? All of these artists have or had songs

with indecent or obscene lyrics.

     Since the dawn of musical expression, there have been people trying to

stop the constitutional right to listen and enjoy music of all forms. There were

ordinary, everyday people during the time of Rock N’ Roll in the 1960’s who

made it their mission in life to stop so-called “obscene” music like the Beatles

song “Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds,” from polluting our airwaves and

minds. These groups succeeded in banning some songs from the radio, but

most of their actions were for not taken seriously, because there was no real

punishment for radio stations playing those songs labeled “obscene.”

     By 1985, many people wanted to cleanse the music industry of its

“indecent” music, so the most prominent group in the history of music

censorship was started: The Parents Music Resource Center.This was just

the first of many groups who made it their business to decide what the

American Population should or should not listen to. The PMRC and other

organizations have also convinced government organizations like the Federal

Communications Commissions (FCC) to regulate what music is played on

the radio. Places like Target, Wal-Mart, and other local record stores are also

forced to label music that the PMRC and other censorship groups find

obscene. Who is to say that what is obscene to someone might not be seen

as obscene to another person? This question, as well as many others,

brought forth many anti-censorship organizations who fight to give the

people of America the right to listen to whatever music they want to, indecent

or not. The First Amendment from anyone who tries to censor it protects

music, like any other form of expression in the U.S. It is a violation of our

constitutional rights for groups like the PMRC to censor music, but they are

allowed to tell us what they think is decent music and what is not. “The use

of parental advisory labels, as with any system that aim to deny an individual

the right to receive a form of communication, most certainly is a free speech

issue”. Censorship should be left up to the public because it is our freedom

to decide to use our better judgment in deciding what we want to listen to,

regardless of other’s opinions.

     The Parents Music Resource Center and other censorship groups

became a thorn in the side of free speech when many parents were outraged

and disgusted by this new music known as “rap.” Censorship organizations

demand that these new performers like Ice-T and

Eminem become banned from the radio and their music be labeled as

indecent and explicit in order to protect America’s Youth from listening to

this so-called “filth.” Rap has since been the biggest target for censorship,

with groups going as far as saying that, “there has been a marked increase in

explicit violence in popular music, and it stands to reason that exposure to

such hate filled lyrics has had a effect on kids’ attitudes, assumptions,

decisions, and behavior”. According to Vincent Shiraldi, the executive d

director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, “There has been a 30

percent drop in juvenile homicides between 1994 and 1996, and a 6.5 percent

drop in homicides at school between 1992 and 1997” This obviously shows

that music is not the cause of juvenile crime, since crime has actually gone

down progressively in the nineties.

     The Federal Communication Commission has been around since the

1930’s much longer than the PMRC and other censorship groups. Their main

objective was to regulate what radio stations did not give or receive any

confidential information over the airwaves. The FCC’s most noted regulation

is one that includes banning indecent and obscene material until late at night

when children are not awake to hear it. They also can give out citations to

radio stations that do not comply with regulations on indecency and

obscenity.

     There are also groups, many unofficial, consisting of church members

who call Rock N’ Roll “the devil’s music”. They contend that heavy metal

groups promote devil worship, and suggest in their music for people to do

violent things. Some people have gone as far as to sue musicians because

they believe that their sons or daughters killed themselves because the music

they listened to. In 1987, the parents of a 19-year-old who said one of his

songs promoted their son to commit suicide sued Ozzy Osborne. Luckily, in

all such cases, the musicians are acquitted. These groups are a bit lucky, and

some of their views considered extreme even by most censorship

organizations. These are the same groups in the 50’s that said Rock N’

Roll’s “tribal rhythms” encourages young people to “behave in a unrully

manner” .

     Is there a difference between indecency and obscenity? Well, the FCC

claims that “…broadcasters may not broadcast obscene programming; they

may broadcast indecent programming only when there is a strong possibility

that no children are in the audience”. If you compare the two words,

“obscene” and “indecent,” there really is no difference between the two.

Webster’s dictionary defines obscene as, “repulsive by reason of crass

disregard or moral or ethical principles,” and indecent as, “grossly unseemly

or offensive to manners or morals” .

     So, how do you regulate this law? The problem with many FCC

regulations is that they are not quantative. For example, a speed limit says 35

MPH or 65 MPH, it doesn’t say, go a speed in which there is a strong

probability that the road is safe enough to drive, and if you wreck you are

likely to survive.. If you were to censor all songs that supposedly influenced

people negatively or had obscene lyrics, you would have to ban may songs

that are considered decent by most of the censorship committees. We could

start with the Beatles, (who wrote may songs about drug use), The Everly

Brothers (Wake Up Little Susie), and top 40 and country music with their

lyrics of depression, alcohol abuse, drug use, explicit sexual lyrics, and

adolescent rebellion. It is only fair that if you ban White Zombie’s “Devil

Man,” then you should censor songs like Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low

Places,” too.

     Censorship organizations also believe some music ruins the minds of

children and turns them into anti-social, mean, or disrespectful members of

society. It had never been proven that Ted Bundy or Charles Manson were

the way they are because of Alice Cooper or Iron Maiden.

      There are many reasons that censorship violates our First

Amendment rights. “The principle of freedom of expression is founded on

trust: that each member of society benefits from the free exchange of ideas,

when all are permitted to speak and hear others speak” . Why did Thomas

Jefferson, George Washington, and other founding fathers write the First

Amendment if it were not important? The First Amendment is the foundation

of our country. What do you think would happen if we took away the

freedom of speech? What will be next, taking away the freedom of religion?

How about the freedom of the press? It just does not work; censorship has

no place in democracy.

     Censorship also brings about another nasty conformity. In the 1940’s

when Hitler had an entire nation believing that Jewish people should die, and

all the books not adhering to his views should be burned? Censorship brings

about close-mindedness and prejudice. What if they arrested Christopher

Columbus because he said that the earth was round? Before the Renaissance

Period, people were hanged for saying that the earth was not the center of the

universe. Granted, comparing censorship to Gailileo is a stretch, but maybe

not.

     If you are wondering why this issue of music is important to you,and

why you should listen to my message, consider this: The FCC budget has


tripled in the last ten years, costing the American Taxpayers millions upon

millions of dollars. These tax dollars could be used to combat the real evils

of our society that hurt our kids, drugs, and violence. More results can be

achieved from providing alternatives for young people rather than spending

so much of our time and energy discussing music distracts us from the real

causes of crime: things like child abuse, poverty, parental neglect in care and

time spent with their children, etc. And think of all the concerned parents who

are reading their PMRC newsletter and donating millions of dollars to stop

supposedly undermining part of our society.

     I have problems just like everyone else, but I do not blame my

problems on music, or do I look to music to solve my problems. Music is

art, and art is anything that can be appreciated by one person in some form

or another.
     
     So who is to say what is and isn’t art, the PMRC? I think not. I listen

to music that it is considered by some people to be offensive, but that

doesn’t make me crazy or a bad person. It is not music that has control over

our youth. It does influence youth, but it is not the only power that does so. I

credit my well being to my parents, good or bad. Music should not influence

out children more than parents do. If music should happen to have this effect

on the youth of America, parents should think of ways of how they can help

to nurture their kids better (Clip 1). We know that the discussion of the

messages in a song and how it effects a particular child belongs in the home,

between a child and their parent, not in the offices of a record company, in

the back room of a retail store, and certainly not in a Senate chamber.Almost

every delinquent person I have ever met is that way because of a broken

home or a dysfunctional family, not because they listen to Eminem or Marilyn

Manson. There are always exceptions to the rule, but how can you blame

music for that? There are so many other factors that influence a young

person’s life much more than music ever can. Music is, and probably always

will be, the easy thing to blame for the problems of America’s youth.

     Music should be left alone, left to evolve and regress, as it wants to

because we have the right to choose what we want to hear; all censoring does

violate the first amendment rights that we supposedly have. Parental Advisory

stickers can and do censor musicians. If an artist’s painting or sculpture is

removed from a gallery because someone may be uncomfortable with its

image- that is censorship. When a band’s music is declared to be off limits

for a group of listeners- that is censorship. So even though the FCC makes

regulations and censorship groups like the PMRC do convince millions of

parents that Marilyn Manson is the anti-Christ, we can still make a difference

in the fight against censorship. There is an Anti-Censorship petition on the

Internet that allows you to voice your opinion about censorship, to tell the

government and all those censorship organizations that it is wrong to censor

someone’s freedom of expression.

     So what if some music is out of the ordinary to some people, why not

think of it as being insightful or a different view, instead of thinking if it is

being obscene? Why can’t music be artistic instead of indecent? Why do we

allow the government and all the music censorship organizations to deny

musicians and the public our constitutional rights? And why do we pay

millions of our tax dollars to try and undermine what our whole country was

built upon over two hundred years ago? We must acknowledge that ratings

systems of any kind can do and result in censorship. And we all must fight to

preserve free speech for everyone regardless of whether or not we agree with

the message.Please consider this quote;

     “In Germany, the Nazi’s came for the communists, and I didn’t speak

up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t

speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I

didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for the trade

unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they

came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak for me.”








































                          Work Cited Page

New York Times Website;”Ozzy Osborn to face charges” written by Tony Webber

PMRC Website;”Facts On what we can do” written by Tipper Gore

Big Book Of Quates “War” Page 125 written by John Harvey

PMRC Website;”How the PMRC started?” written by Tipper Gore

FCC Website”Music Censorship” written by Franklin Addams