Essay/Term paper: Music censorship

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Culture

Music and Censorship







In our society today, some musicians and their music drain and plague the moral and

spiritual well-being of the people; therefore, censorship offers a necessary action that

we must take to keep the world from becoming a land of decadence. The musicians

lives are not examples for the children or the adults. The lyrics of many songs are not

suitable for anyone. All types of music need some kind of censorship. Censorship

makes a person realize that music is good for the heart. Censorship totally makes

people act better, and when thinking better, this sustains a better society. The lives

of some musicians contain types of anarchy and self-gratification. Once the musicians

realize that people want not just their music but them as well, they act as gods, which

no one can touch. For example, think of it like a secret dictatorship, and we breathe as

a fascist society, which puts fun and feelings above the Lord, above all. Many of the

musicians consist of non-religious people who live only for fun and only for

themselves. Why then would we, especially as Christians, put our total devotion in

them? It exists like wanting to ride with a blind driver rather than one with perfect

vision. In addition many of the musicians use drugs and stimulants to satisfy their

hunger for themselves and for pure fun. The musicians tend to use drugs massively,

to get out of the very real world that they consist so much a part of. Popularity seems

pleasing but when one has the affections and total devotion of a mass of people, that

person can not handle it because that person does not have Jesus' personality and only

He could truly control that much fidelity. One person who truly could not handle the

excitement was Jimi Hendrix(Appendix A). Instead of performing as himself and

using his talent for good, he used rebellion and used many drugs. On stage, Jimi

Hendrix would put hits of acid in his headband. When he perspired, the sweat,

containing acid would run down into his eyes and make him "higher than a kite."

Most people never actually saw Jimi Hendrix the person, but a blurred vision of him.

When Jimi performed on stage at Woodstock(Appendix B and C), a man from the

crowd asked him, "Jimi are you high?" He simply replied back to the man, "Thanks

man I got mine," causing the crowd to act wild almost as if he had saved someone's

life, but ironically he unintentionally destroyed their lives. In addition Bob

Dylan(Appendix D and E) also talked about getting stoned in some of his music. The

song "Rainy Day Woman #12 and #13," blatantly says that "everybody must get

stoned." That tells people to disobey the law and tells people to mangle the temple of

God, our bodies by perverting it with drugs and stimulants. Many musicians make a

mockery of their fans. The lead singers subsist to do this the most because of the

vocal opportunities they have to express their discontent with life and thrust their

ideas upon those who hypnotize with the musician's power position, thus, makes the

listeners obey their thoughts without fully knowing. The lead singer Billie Jo, for

Green Day, says to his fans, " I'm not going to say anything f****** intelligent, I'm

just going too swear a whole d*** lot." The Bible tells us that we should let

everything that comes out of our mouth praise Him, and swearing for any reason

doesn't really praise Him at all and is degrading for us as well. Almost like if he did

not swear than we wouldn't like him or understand him. In addition the lead singer

for Kiss would spit on his fans. He would get the crowd to spit in a spittoon-type

container, and by the end of the concert, he would drink the saliva and then he would

use what dwelled left in the spittoon to spit on the crowd. This creates a bad

influence on anybody and makes a person believe that it justifies him to do these

actions because he dwells on stage, which totally in fact creates wrong, and not right.

The band would also wear face paint and look like demons of some sort. This displays

a mockery of what God has given us, and it hides their true identities and make them

something they are not. They are only human, trying to be a type of some sort of god,

not the God. The lyrics of some songs openly and/or subliminally put rebellious

messages in the heads of people. Repetition makes someone think about things

constantly and then act upon that thought which usually creates an illegal action.

Outward messages make people do bad things knowingly, but they aren't in the

correct state of mind and therefore have no idea what they do at all. Adrenaline comes

forth from within the soul and people tend to go wild and have no care about

anything. Rage Against The Machine says that no one can tell each other what to do

in their song, "Killing in the Name." This song promotes anarchy and rebellion of all

rules and makes peoples discontent with society come forth. Metallica tells people to

"Exit light, Enter night" in their song "Enter Sandman." This song does not talk

about sleeping but taking the dark side of life into life. Subliminal messages bring

evils from within a person, which the person previously did not have. Subliminal

messages brings our deepest thoughts out, without even thinking. When we hear

something but, not aware of it, it makes our minds think about it and that is

dangerous. Madonna's "Justify My Love" song played backwards, blatantly says, "I

love Satan." Thousands of people heard this on 98.1 WKQQ in Lexington, KY.; but

still continue to listen to it anyway. This pumps into our heads and we like it because,

"men will choose darkness instead of light." Heavy Metal and Hard Rock do not only

break the moral character, but there exist others as well. Those who are softly

padded with the broken hearts of people who have power over others and who, in

fact, make the rules. Country music also has many songs which are not acceptable,

but they have shields because of their soft tone and wholesome looking artist. People

still have in their heads things that look good and sound pleasant live approvable, but

Satan, a very smart guy will strike at the most unexpected places. Garth Brooks, who

takes one of the leading country singers right now, talks about an affair and how it

was approbated in his song " The Thunder Rolls." And people hear this and see a star

doing that and believe it's acceptable for them as well. For example, watching parents

as a child, and everything they do, you do. In addition Sammy Cershaw talks about an

affair in " Third Rate Rendezvous." He doesn't care that he's cheating on his wife and

is actually excited when he knows what he's doing to his marriage and life. New Age

music offers innner-self as a substitute to God. This means that the meditation of the

biblical times cannot be achieved today and we tend to lose our respect for God by

trying it, because we meditate on ourselves and not on Him. Meditation of the new

age music also allows Satan to plant seeds in our heads that lead us further and

further away from the truth. The new age music of harps and tiny nature like sounds

of whales and dolphins and rain leads one to believe that they are alone in this world.

It makes people think that they control their environment, when in fact only God

does, not them. Indian and Monk chants actually make a person seemingly high

through deep meditation. Meditation was originally intended for the pure thought of

God, but with new age thoughts, we are perverting it. Censorship puts a cap on

ungodly music and makes music a good experience that is productive and positive,

rather than a negative one. Music can be a tool in which we may learn examples of life,

just look at the book of Psalms. In chapter 23 the whole chapter is called the

Shepherds Song and it is a song that we can learn from. Stopping the flow of profanity

will make a person less inclined to think about an action and furthermore, less likely

to act upon one. If a person doesn't think about something, then usually that person

won't do it. When masses of people are saying that it is all right to do things that are

wrong over a period of time, people become prone to the wrong doing and it suddenly

becomes part of the norm to them. Even though it is still wrong, we don't even realize

it. Repetition makes a mind think. To study for a test a person must read things over

and over again to learn it. When we hear music we like, we listen to it over and over

again to memorize and subconsciencously think about the words of the song that

we're listening to. When people hear ungodly lyrics over and over, they tend to think

like their surroundings and music is a part of that. After hearing and memorizing

words people form their own ideals and make new religions and leave God forever.

Also, people hear music far more than they read the Bible, and if the music is

damaging to us then negative thoughts will cloud out the Biblical ones. Just like one

negative number will make a positive number come down. Censorship offers a better

society in general, in which we can all live in harmony and learn to respect music

power. People would respect the laws more because there would be a definite decline

of ungodly things, acts and thoughts with censorship we won't think on ungodly

things as much, therefore have a better society. Fewer crimes would be committed

because there would be no musicians telling the public to break them or kill cops.

People make musicians their idols and want to do what their idols say. With

censorship we would learn to meditate on the right things. We would see the essence

of music and learn to see the total spectrum of life rather than just our life. Good

thoughts with productive meaning would flow through our heads. We would hear

positive things and make us think about positive things in general. Christian music is

a great example of what we should listen. People would learn to answer things with

their minds and not their fists. People would think about positive ideas and positive

outcomes to quarrels, that usually involved fighting or "backstabbings." Work Cited

Cole, Richard and Richard Trubo. Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin Uncensored. 1st

ed. NY: Littletown, 1992. "James Hetfield." Rolling Stone 15th April 1993: 56H.

Landy, Elliot. Woodstock Vision: The Spirit of a Generation. NY: Seabury, 1991.

Milward, John. "Field of Dreams." Rolling Stone 11 August 1994: 36. "Music"-

America Online 1995. Comptons Encyclopedia. Savage, Jon. England's Dreaming:

anarchy, Sex Pistols, punk rocks, and beyond. New York: Copper books, 1991.

Young, Neil, The Rolling Stone Files: The Ultimate Compendium of Interviews,

Articles, Facts and Opinions From the Files of Rolling Stone. NY. 1994. Censorship:

The Music That Plagues Us