Free Speech or Just Offensive

Jason Thomas

Free Speech or Just Offensive?

A highly debated topic as of late has been the staggering rise of offensive
language and topics of the music industry, which have infiltrated through.   Should the
artists of this music be punished for corrupting the minds of the people who listen to it?
Or should the musician's rights be protected by the first amendment?
The main problem to be seen is that this music has become extremely popular to
the youth.   With this popularity comes blow after blow from the media, parents, and
organizations putting down the music because they believe it's corrupting the children.
All of these criticisms towards music have even made the government step in and put
parental advisory warnings on the CD's.   This lets the consumer know that the CD they
are buying has adult language, violence, or sexual references in the songs.   The
government has also set an age minimum of seventeen years old to even purchase the
offensive CD's.   After all of this is said and done, the albums are still selling millions of
copies.
It is a whole different market today, set on exploiting the rebels "fuck you I won't
do what you tell me" attitude of the youth.   "Big bucks is the name of the game." says
music critic Harvey Bickle. This implies that these stars that have risen from this music
are only doing so to make themselves a quick buck.   Whether or not this is true, we still
support these stars and will continue to do so.   But is there any evidence that the music is
hurting anyone?  
Many reasons offensive music has been blamed can be documented through past
incidences.   During the Columbine shooting, the media was blaming the music of Marlin
Manson because of his dark songs.   This idea of music creating violence is not a new
one. In 1982 ACDC put out a song called Night Stalker on their album.   Later on that
year, a killer roamed the countryside while assuming the alias Night Stalker, and was
convinced that the lyrics... [continues]

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