Music Information

Dont Censor the Music and Artistic Expression


Ann Powers said:

"Don't censor the music and artistic expression.

Eminem's music, in particular the songs "Kim" and "Stan," is a continuation of a tradition in music and American art in general: the Gothic murder ballad, which has been with us ever since the blues or Appalachian folk music. "Stan" is just like an Edgar Allan Poe tale, if you think about it. Johnny Cash shot a man just to watch him die. This is something that's had a very solid, longstanding role in culture.
Self-styled moralists are getting up in arms about something that has always been part of the literature of development. If you're a kid, you have to learn about violence, about hate, about death, about fear. That's part of becoming an adult. And if it's not fed to you by Eminem, you're going to get it from your own nightmares. The illusion that kids need to be protected from that is connected to a kind of fetishizing of innocence, which is unrealistic."
Ann Powers

Music critic, the New York Times

We live in a society where we are taught to hide our true feelings and emotions. When I look back at the way I have been educated at school and and home, I now know how hypocritical it was. Teachers and parents tried to hide some reality.We were pictured a safe world with nice people. Religion ( particularly the way it was taught) increased that wrong impression.
Eminem's work appears to be progressive for conservative people. But the same conservative people would also have rejected Baudelaire or any other controversial poet or writer centuries before. Conservatism is a form of intolerance in general.

I have felt insecure a great part of my life and I didn't know how to act the right way with people, being too much afraid to speak my mind.
There is something I will probably never get: why are references to suicide so taboo in people's mind? Many people also blamed Goethe for his work "Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers" ("The Sorrows of Young Werther") because a lot of young people committed suicide after reading his book. Not Goethe is to blame, but rather those young people's decision...but do we really need somebody to blame? Anybody has the right to end his life if he feels like his pain is unbearable. My cousin committed suicicide when I was 15. I was shocked, but I don't judge her for that. It was her decision to stop her immense sorrow.

MTV also censors notions that have to do with suicide.

The "Tatu" video "Not Gonna Get Us" was considered as shocking and would be censored not because it pictured two lesbian girls, but because they seem to commit suicide at the end of the video.
I was very surprised to discover that the word "die" in the sentence
"I'm so sick and tired of bein admired/
that I wish that I would just die or get fired » from Eminem's song « The Way I Am ». How is that possible ? How could MTV censor a word like « die » as if death didn't belong to our every day reality ?

They allow sentences such as « People killin', people dyin'/Children hurt and you hear them cryin'» from sugar sweet songs such as « Where is the love ? » from Black Eyed Peas and they dare censoring « die » in « The Way I Am » video ?
How far should we push hypocrisy ?

So many writers and poets such as François Villon in the 15th century in France have been considered as shocking for their use of vulgar language. Many people want to do as if vulgar and popular language didn't exist (I'm sure the same people use it in their privacy as well). Popular and vulgar words are part of our culture too, there is no reason to ignore it.

Why should we censor notions such as suicide, murder and death that are present in the music when our kids already play violent games on their playstation and watch "Hannibal" and "Scary Movie" on Tv? A little bit of violence helps kids to get rid of their own agressivity and shouldn't be viewed as necessarly dangerous and negative.

The best way to protect our kids is not to hide reality. The closer they are to reality, the better they are armed to face real battles in life.

I do teach English and German at public schools. I am an Eminem biographer and a freelance music journalist.


MORE RESOURCES:

New Music Download Site - PositiveMusicandDownloads.com ...
MarketWatch - 6 hours ago
"Too often the industry has dictated what type of music we should be listening too. Artists who have a more positive message can't always get past music ...


Telegraph.co.uk

World's Greatest Artists Help Launch (RED)WIRE, (RED)(TM)'s New ...
MarketWatch - 16 hours ago
Every Wednesday, (RED)WIRE members receive an issue delivered to their desktop featuring exclusive music from the world's greatest artists. ...
(RED)WIRE Music Service Launches I4U
Music Stars Help Fight AIDS in Africa With New Digital Magazine ... Ecorazzi
U2 and Coldplay back new Aids mag BBC News
Slippery Brick - The Press Association
all 102 news articles


Universal Music Enterprises Partners Up With Amazon.com to Offer ...
MarketWatch - 8 hours ago
Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) is coming to the rescue of financially-strapped or simply unimaginative gift-givers this holiday season. ...


Download Shopper lets you compare prices on digital music
Macworld, CA - 2 hours ago
In it, I mused: What with the recent proliferation in DRM-free music stores, I’m in the market for a good search engine that’ll scan them all and tell me ...


Hartford Courant

Elvis Costello puts serious eye on music in Sundance Channel's ...
New York Daily News, NY - Nov 30, 2008
Music on TV goes only so far. You can see a short performance with no interview from the star (on late-night talk shows or “SNL”), hear a full concert that ...
Elvis Costello's new TV show 'Spectacle' offers different look at ... The Canadian Press
Music on TV This Week: Spectacle Film.com
New On Sundance: Costello & Friends Hartford Courant
New York Times - TheCelebrityCafe.com
all 97 news articles


PR Newswire High Technology Summary, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008
MarketWatch - 2 hours ago
NY48979 12/01/2008 00:01 rf NY-(RED)WIRE-AIDS (NEW YORK) World's Greatest Artists Help Launch (RED)WIRE, (RED)(TM)'s New Music Service That Fights AIDS in ...


Music group alleges copyright violations at RI pub
Boston Herald, United States - 4 hours ago
By AP PROVIDENCE, RI - A Providence tavern is facing a federal lawsuit for allegedly not paying for songs played at the pub. ...


Concert Reviews - Online Music Reviews - New Release Album
Billboard, NY - 1 hour ago
As first tipped here last month, Creed is hammering out details for a lucrative 2009 reunion tour, sources tell Billboard. The Scott Stapp-led group, ...


BBC News

Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Queen music enters Grammy Hall Of Fame
NME.com, UK - 4 hours ago
Music including Jimi Hendrix's rendition of 'The Star Spangled Banner', Queen's 1977 single 'We are the Champions/We Will Rock You' and The Police's 1983 ...
2009 GRAMMY Hall of Fame ® Inductees Announced as the GRAMMY ... Business Wire (press release)
Hendrix's Banner, Queen's anthem head for Grammy Hall of Fame CBC.ca
all 37 news articles


TheImproper.com

Britney Spears: 2008 Was a "Hell of a Year"
Seattle Post Intelligencer - 3 hours ago
Admitting that she "didn't know exactly where I stood with everyone," Spears says it was her big night at the Video Music Awards, where she picked up three ...
Britney Spears: 'My Music Is Therapy' AceShowbiz
New Spears effort is a gooey, glittery grab bag Baltimore Sun
Britney Spears' New Year's Resolution: 'Stop Worrying So Much' MTV.com
Daily Cardinal - TheImproper.com
all 62 news articles

Music - Google News

home | site map
© 2006