Author : Jennifer Stone
Source: Ultimate Classic Rock
Creative freedom and freedom of expression are very sensitive yet powerful words that dominate society. When we think of art when we think of music we think of artists pouring their hearts out, expressing the feelings that are left unsaid. But artistic freedom, best known as creative freedom, has always been censored. Music censorship has always been around the industry and continues to dominate the industry, even today. But with the expansion of the industry and times changing the course of music censorship also evolved. Not long ago, it was completely banned from saying naughty or indecent words in music. But does censorship on music act as a restricting entity on artistic expressions? Let’s find out.
- What is music censorship?
Let’s discuss the elephant in the room. What is music censorship? Will music censorship acts as a boundary that focuses on music lyrics that are harmful in any way to the balance of our society? The obscene lyrics, which can incite violence and create harmful thoughts in minors especially come under the radar of music censorship.
But can there be any lyrics, written by a sane songwriter and sung by a sane artist in the public eye, that are harmful to children? The early stage of music censorship did not think about that, and in the early era, even saying “damn” in a song was considered to be an invitation to trouble. The Kingston Trio, a famous pop group from the late 1950s to late 1960s, had to cover the word with a loud drum noise in their song ‘Greenback a-dollar‘ so that the song can reach the audience.
- Not just the explicit lyrics…
If reading till now made you think that only lyrics were censored in the early ages, you are wrong. Even though the lyrics were the main focus, the themes created havoc too. The Beach Boys released a song named ‘God Only Knows’ which was banned by several radio stations at that time. Why? God’s name was too pure and sacred to be used in just a pop song!!!
Music censorship has a long colorful history that we will talk about here.
- Early days
Legendary Lucille Bogan made a song titled ‘Shave Em Dry‘ which created huge controversy and immense buzz in society and in 1935 it was said to be the start of music censorship. The genre of blues music was considered the devil’s music and the blues artists were banned from performing at venues due to their explicit lyricism and ‘vulgar’ nature. Blues is a genre of music that is focused on lyrics rather than narratives and the songs contain the expression of feelings rather than just storytelling. However, various artists like John Lee Hooker and Bessie Smith were able to sneak phrases of double meaning into lyrics. In the late 1950s, censorship became stronger and the best example of it was the song ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll‘ covered by both Bill Haley and Elvis Presley created negative controversy for its explicit undertones.
- The 1960s and 1970s
Music censorship became a bit relaxed in the late 1960s and 1970s as society became progressive. The songs such as ‘Love Child’ by The Supremes made a breakthrough despite saying explicit things such as waiting till marriage to have intercourse to avoid unwanted pregnancy. Making a song with this theme was unimaginable a few years back, but in this era, musicians were able to create a single like this unless you were not saying everything too blatantly. Another example was the sex and drug predilections of the Andy Warhol crowd in ‘Walk On The Wild Side‘. The song also entered the top global 20 hits and to this day we say thank you to Lou Reed.
Songs composed with erotic noises were art in themselves. ‘Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus’ by Serge Gainsbourg was too hot for America in 1969. But ‘Jungle Fever’ by The Chakachas a year later broke the taboo.
The word ‘f__k’ was not allowed in vinyl until 1968’s hippie classic ‘Up Against the Wall’ by David Peel and Lower East Side contained lyrics that indicated high drug abuse yet appeared in various mainstream albums. In the same year, the legendary rock band The Rolling Stones stomped all over the taboo of featuring the F word with the song ‘Star Star’. While it was certainly not the first song to feature it, it was the song that featured it the most times. However, the song had some other controversial lines and lyrics which were covered by a Jagger overdub for censorship in the US.
The saga continued in the reggae genre and the UK reggae artist Judge Dread holds the Guinness Book of World Records for ‘most songs ever banned by the BBC’.
Also Read: 10 Famous Artists Got Banned In Different Parts Of the World
- Changes happened…. rapidly!
Later on, with the disco era and the uplifting of pop music breaking all the loose ends music censorship faced a real threat with people becoming over expressive. In 1975, Donna Summer released ‘Love To Love You Baby’ which celebrated physical music and embraced sexuality. In 1981, the censorship boundaries were pushed to their greatest extent by Grace Jones when she released ‘Pull Up To The Bumper’. By the 1980s the censorship became weaker as lyrically explicit songs bearing either strong physical or political messages were all over the radio. The arrival of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) made some barriers and challenges but every artist they targeted got a career boost. There were several anti-PMRC songs out there and the most celebrated one is Eminem’s ‘White America‘.
The battle got uglier in the 1990s as the super Wal-Mart chain store refused to stock albums if they did not meet the criteria of PMRC. the best example of it was Nirvana changing the In Utero track’s name ‘Rape Me”‘ to the nonsensical ‘Waif Me’.
- Modern era
In the 2000s, there was a list of 150 songs that were sent to radio stations in the wake of the terrorist attack on 9/11. Even though the songs were not banned, the DJs were suggested not to play the songs that are on the list.
The genres of hip-hop and pop continued to become the carrier of embracing sexuality and talking openly about drugs and violence at censorship.
Today it seems like music censorship has become extinct altogether. We collectively as a society have understood that a 2-minute-long song doesn’t hold the power to influence our adult minds and for children, we as parents are responsible for the songs they are listening to. Music censorship became weaker as the power of mainstream music artists began to grow.
Censorship comes in the way of artistic freedom and today’s industry is like a dream to artists surviving the horrors of the past.
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