Censorship of Music :: Music Censoring Singers Bands Musicians Essays

Censorship of Music During the Doors concert in Miami, in 1969, lead singer Jim Morrison, "did lewdly and lasciviously expose his penis and shake it. . ." (Rosen et al. 90). Today, Billy Joe Armstrong, lead singer of Green Day, bares all at his concert in Philadelphia (Bernstein 95). The eccentric Courtney Love will rip off her bra for the audience to marvel and glorify at her action (Bernstein 95). She acts in such a fashion because she is insane and wants to prove it to the world, where as Billy Joe just performs naked for the shock value and the love of hearing tabloids and gossip. Both performers of past and present conducted strange acts on stage for the shock value and attention, but with performers of old, it reflected their life and what they were really like. Today's performers, however, do not act like that in real life, for the most part. Today, performers take on challenges, like the dare of a child. . . "Betcha won't do it!" These rock performers cannot turn down a dare or back away from even the slightest bit of public notoriety. By listening to one of their "questionable" albums, it is easily noticeable how they thrive off of it. All of these performers do have one thing in common, at one time or another, censorship made them victims because of their social unacceptable actions or the content of their music and lyrics. While censorship is slightly more realistic and open-minded (no more censoring performers from the waist down, like Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan show), it still affects listeners and their choice of music quite significantly. Although the government, music associations, and other various groups try censorship, the music a person chooses is still, and always should be, his choice. Some children are too young for the exposure to certain types of music. Albums containing sexually explicit lyrics depicting sexualacts in great detail are not good for young children to hear. Also, sexual content within the albums, as in their artwork, is unacceptable. For example, the Frankenchrist album by the Dead Kennedys, which portrays an extremely sexual painting by H.G. Giger, entitled Landscape #20: Where Are We Coming From (Wishna 444). Not to mention all the shows and concerts in which some kind of pornography is used or displayed that is inappropriate for younger kids, such as Billy Joe Armstrong, of Green Day, baring all for a concert of his in Philadelphia (Bernstein 95). Also, in Cleveland, a frustrated Courtney Love tore off her bra and screamed, "Now you know how I get all the guys," (Bernstein 95).