Music nowadays goes far beyond than simply getting pleasure, relaxation or spiritual nourishment. Since the late 1960s, with the first Woodstock festival in the United States, music started to inculcate new ideology such as: “make love, not war” or “bed peace”, and that’s when the hippie era began, messing up youngsters mentality. This epoch changed the function of music for teenagers: from source of joy, to hypnotizer. The further step, closer to our reality, was Kurt Cobain - the king of Grunge and a teen idol in early 1990s. Known for his controversial lyrics and behavior, he became important figure and icon in music industry, in the United States. Teenagers tried to resemble him in actions and observed him as part of their lives. This was the reason for four teenagers to commit suicides in 1994 after the death of Cobain, as they could not envisage their existence without their hero. Nowadays, such artists as Marilyn Manson promote socially unacceptable behavior and vicious lyrics, encouraging young adults to be “free” and “expressive”. However this can be considered as one-sided justification of what he does.
For the sake of self-expression, artists imperil lives of teenagers who might misinterpret their music and behavior. In the Picutre on the right, you can see Manson tearing apart the pages of the Bible, while performing Antichrist Superstar during the Dead to the World tour. “Many children do not have parents and these lonely kids try to gravitate to people alike Marilyn Manson, with whom they identify themselves”, stated Bill O'Reilly on The O'Reilly Factor, whilst having a discussion with Marilyn Manson (O’Reilly).
Dr. West, a national expert in the United States, identifies hip-hop as revolutionary form of music: “Rap music identifies young black women in five sexual personas: diva, a woman who trades sexual favours for luxury; gold digger, a woman who trades sexual favours for basic necessities and leaves men bankrupt; freak, a sexual powerhouse; gangster bitch, a "tough" girl; and baby mama, a child's needy mother”. Gold Digger, By Kanye West, is the classic example of this belief: "She take my money, well I'm in need, yeah she's a triflin' friend indeed. Oh she's a gold digger, way over time that digs on me.” Simultaneously the music video contains sexually aroused women in lingerie (Saengian).
Psychological research was conducted to assess the youngsters’ behavior after listening to rap music, which revealed that, teenagers watching rap videos were more accepting violence, especially against women. Additionally, female adolescents were more inclined to accept violence against them in relationships (Copley).
Although, there exist such organizations as ROC – Rock Out Censorship, which works hard for what they believe in and that is – no censorship. “You’ve got a right to rock: don’t let them take it away” (Rock and Roll Confidential). However this is not a powerful organization, as their plural activities are limited to issuing newspapers, having a community and supporting each other. ROC is oriented on style, rather than social values. Their official website contains pictures of celebrities, showing middle fingers under the headline, “Free Speech” and this way they try to set new criteria for being “cool” or “stylish”.
Despite all these evidences how negatively music can influence teens, on the other hand it is impossible to keep youngsters in absolute vacuum. There cannot be complete censorship in democratic society however it is possible to fortify artists’ social responsibilities and ban outrageous musical content during daytime. Government is the protector and guide of the society, so they can actually construct general restrictions and directions for media and provide young generations with healthy products.
Works Cited:
Copley, Jennifer. “Rap Music’s Psychological Effects.” 8 May, 2008. Cognitive-psychology.com. http://cognitive-psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/rap_musics_psychological_effects
O’Reilly, Bill. “Bill O’Reilly Factor” Video, YouTube. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6n5Oi4714o>.
Rock and Roll Confidential, “You’ve Got a Right to Rock: don’t Let Then Take It Away.” Rock Out Censorship. http://www.theroc.org/roc-mag/textarch/roc-03/roc03-01.htm
Saengian, Kathy. “Researcher Cites the Negative Influence of Hip-Hop.” Post-gazette.com, 15 Apr. 2008. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08165/889550-51.stm
I do believe that music can influence people in many different ways, but also I believe that the media tends to point out to connections with behaviour and music very fast. Do you agree that there should be more research done, to find out the connection between music and behaviour? What kids are likely to be influenced? Do they have to be from a less privileged family or comunity?
ReplyDeleteSure, more research will be beneficial to perceive the problem, although some researched proved that music can actually influence our behavior. Often parents fail to control the situation, so government must be protector which will contribute to raise healthy generation.
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