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