The Melodies of Mayhem
1998; Hoover Institution; Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0146-5945
Autores Tópico(s)Music History and Culture
ResumoTo curb obscene lyrics, change minds, not laws If music is the universal language, it is small wonder that public discourse has grown increasingly shrill. Although controversial music has always been with us, the past several years have seen a marked increase in violent, hateful, racist, and misogynist songs, not merely on the market but topping the charts. Never have the sounds of slaughter been so profitable--nor the need for a thoughtful response to music violence been so pressing. Recent bestselling albums have included graphic descriptions of murder, sexual torture, and rape. Songs such as Don't Trust a B----- by the group Poetic Hustla'z or Slap a 'Ho by Dove Shack condone hostility or even violence toward women. Shock-rock groups like Cannibal Corpse and Marilyn Manson go even further, with songs such as F------d with a Knife and Cake and Sodomy. Consider just a few examples from top-selling albums: F---- home we capture with more hits and slaughter more kids . . . You know for real the nig---- came f----in' sucked my d----- . . . I have nig----z falling like white b------ in a scary movie . . . --From At Me Dog by DMX, on the album It's Dark and Hell Is Hot I'm known in the ghetto for slangin' narcotics . . . I come up short I'ma bust yo' f-----in' lip up Cuz money and murder is the code that I live by to ya set and do a muthaf-----in' walk-by. --From Come and Get Some by Master P, on the album Ghetto D These are not extreme examples, only recent ones. The popularity and profitability of hyper-violent music has fueled its growth and secured the corporate backing of the most successful, prestigious entertainment conglomerates in the world. With such backing, both of the albums mentioned above reached number one on the Billboard 200, the music industry's official listing of the most popular albums in the land. At this writing, DMX's album It's Dark and Hell Is Hot still ranks among the top 25 albums, while Master P's new release, after hitting number one, has remained in the top 50 for four months. The chart-topping popularity and record-breaking profitability of such albums raises the obvious question: Who is buying this music? Although most music with hyper-violent lyrics carries a parental advisory warning sticker, such music appears to be most popular among exactly the group that is supposed to be warned against buying it: children. I haven't heard of many Marilyn Manson fans over the age of 20. The Knowledge Gap Few adults have any idea how violent and venomous some of these lyrics are. This gap in parents' knowledge about violent, misogynistic music is illustrated perfectly by the experience of Debbie Pelley, who testified at a U.S. Senate hearing on this issue that I chaired last summer. Mrs. Pelley is a junior-high-school teacher in Jonesboro, Arkansas. One of her students was Mitch Johnson, the young boy who, along with a friend, was recently charged with shooting and killing four students and a teacher. In the aftermath of this tragedy, several of Mrs. Pelley's students approached her to talk about Mitch's fascination with violent rock and rap. She surveyed her students and found that, although virtually all of them were familiar with the violence-laced lyrics of songs by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Tupac Shakur, and other groups, most were convinced that their parents were not. My experience is similar: Most of the Kansas students whom I encounter are familiar with (even if they are not fans of) rap and shock-rock groups; few think their parents know anything about it. Industry executives claim that children under 18 are unable to buy such music. In a recent Senate hearing, I asked Hilary Rosen, the CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, whether the music industry had ever studied the demographic profile of those who purchase shock rock or gangsta rap. She repeatedly asserted that the industry had no such information and said that record retailers restrict the purchase of stickered albums to people above the age of 17. …
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