The Music Made Me Do It

***WARNING*** This post contains graphic language and violence. If you are easily offended please do not read any further. You have been warned.

This is going to be quite a long topic, but just hang in there with me. I saw an interesting bit on the news last night that posed the question, should we ban violence in music? This is not a new topic in our society and has been a point of discussion for many years. Rev. Al Sharpton is even making a fuss about a recent incident between two rap artists, which I'll discuss more thoroughly in a moment.

First we must ask the obvious question, why would we want to ban music that contains violent lyrics? Most of you may formulate an answer something like, "Because I don't want to expose my child to violent behavior," which is a completely acceptable response. There are others that might say, "Because I don't want my child to be more likely to participate in and accept violent behavior as a way of life". You'll notice that both answers are very similar, yet the second one indicates that violent lyrics directly influence, if not provoke violent behavior. I think that both answers are correct, but there have been no studies which directly link violence in music to violent behavior, although they have been able to indicate that visual and audio media does have a strong effect.

I take that back, there was one report I found, but I don't have a lot of faith in it and I'll explain why. This report deals with young, black girls between the ages of 14-18 in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods. The reason I don't put much faith in the study is because the subjects are young females from a minority group living in the poorest parts of town, all of who were already sexually active prior to the study. One would think they might have several other factors, aside from music, that are affecting their behavior at such a young age. This particular study focused on rap videos and didn't discuss if environmental issues, such as their home life, were factored into the final results. Nonetheless, the study does share a couple of interesting points. There was also an older study that spouted off a lot of statistics, which I found equally fascinating.

Last week members of rap groups 50 Cent and The Game had a disagreement at a radio station and decided that shooting someone would solve their problems. Behavior like this only further compounds the stereotype that if you're a rap artist you always carry a gun and you're ready to shoot the next person that pisses you off (usually another rap artist that disses your "niggas and bitches"). The Rev. Al Sharpton has called for a 90-day ban on radio and TV airplay for any artist that uses violence to settle disputes or promote albums. Hmmmmm, could be a first amendment issue to me, let's take a look.

Article [I.]
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Sorry Al, but I think they've got you on that pesky freedom of speech bit. I understand completely what Rev. Sharpton is trying to do and respect his intention; unfortunately it's just not going to happen. Radio stations will not stop playing music that continues to make them money, regardless of whether or not the artist turns out to be a homicidal maniac. Radio corporations spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in surveys just to determine what people want to hear and will continue to blindly do so unless you respond to their surveys accordingly. In my opinion their surveys are terribly skewed and totally unreliable, but that is another post altogether. My girlfriend could explain the process better than I can considering she used to work in radio, which she's ranting about on her site as I type this. If someone commits a violent act a radio station is not at liberty to intervene or punish the parties involved, that's what we have law enforcement agencies and a judicial system for.

I want to take a moment to examine some lyrics from various artists of different genres and discuss the types of violence they portray. Please be aware these are explicit lyrics that I will be sharing.

Jay-Z: Threat
"And I, nigga I'll kill ya, I'll chop ya up
Put ya inside the mattress like drug money nigga"

Ja Rule: Niggas & Bitches
"Niggas! Grip the iron and keep it cocked
Bitches! Work your clit keep that pussy hot
Cause it's all about sex, money, and murder
Bitches that burn ya, niggas with burners
Cocked and let go!"

2Pac: Ghetto Star
"Send they bodies to they parents up north
With they faces they wrists and they nuts cut off
Fuck em all what I scream as I dream"

All of these artists express a huge amount of rage in these passages and all three wave "murder" around so carelessly. An important thing to take note of is the fact that none of them incite the listener to go out and murder someone, they are merely describing the act or using it as a metaphor for life in the ghetto. Rap music is certainly not the only offender, it just gets the most attention because so far they're the only group going out and DOING what they sing about.


Marilyn Manson: The Beautiful People
"There's no time to discriminate,
Hate every motherfucker
That's in your way"

Now here's one instance where the artist is talking directly to the listener, but he doesn't give instructions to shoot up a school or anything. He simply makes a general statement that we should hate everyone. That would make Christmas cards so much simpler, wouldn't it?


Slayer: Addict
"Your fear gets me high
Unbound I'm the weapon made to sterilize
Sterilize all the idiot victims
Anytime, anywhere, anyone I want"

Danzig: Skin Carver
"Pull another face
Rip another hide
Steal the waning moon
From a dying bride
All the world must die
All the world must die
Ripped and skinned alive
All the world must die
Skin
Carver"

These songs also describe murder, albeit in a much more subtle and darker fashion. I find these lyrics more frightening than the rap lyrics because these artists actually seem twisted and cunning where the rap artists just seemed angry.


Tool: Prison Sex
"I have found some kind of temporary sanity in this
shit blood and cum on my hands.
I've, come, round, full circle.
My lamb and martyr, this will be over soon."

Tori Amos: Me and a Gun
"Got a full tank and some chips
It was me and a gun
And a man on my back
And I sang "holy holy" as he buttoned down his pants
You can laugh
It's kind of funny things you think
at times like these
Like I haven't seen Barbados
So I must get out of this"

Both of these songs talk about sexual assault although both have extremely different angles. Neither of these songs mentions murder, but the threat of death (or hope for death, depending on your perspective) lingers on as an afterthought. Sometimes surviving a traumatic experience can be the toughest ordeal of all.


Tim McGraw: Kill Myself
"Just how much I hurt you is hard to tell
This is not some kind of cry for help
Just good bye I wish you well
Because I love you
I'm gonna kill myself"

Toby Keith: The Taliban Song
"So we prayed to Allah with all of our might
And then those big U.S. jets came flyin one night
They dropped little bombs all over our holy land
And man you should have seen em run like rabbits, they ran"

Yep, here's some country music that I actually found violence in. There are definitely more than just these two, they're just harder to turn up because most country music songs in which violence is mentioned are very tongue-in-cheek or have some redeeming moral lesson in the end. The first song does talk about suicide, but to be fair, if you listen to the rest of the song the narrator wimps out and doesn't go through with killing himself. The second song really seems to take pleasure in war, which is very different from being patriotic.

All of the songs I listed here described some type of violent act or hate mentality, but I don't believe for a moment that any of them intend for a listener to act on their lyrics. I think most of these artists are merely expressing their frustration with life and don't expect the world to use their song as an instruction manual for murder and violence.

For once I would like to see parents take responsibility for simply being bad role models, when it applies. I get so tired of people finger pointing at the music industry when the real reason little Timmy shot up his school was because his dad beat him every night, not because he was listening to Marilyn Manson the day he snapped. Music only amplifies emotions that are already inside of us it doesn't change us into murderers. Our environment and surroundings shape who we eventually become, not the radio station or CD we listen to.

If parents repeatedly neglect their children then violent acts comitted by minors are sure to continue. If your child is still a teenager make it a point to know what music they listen to and make good parenting choices. The bottom line is everyone controls his/her own actions and "The music made me do it!" is not a valid excuse. Banning music with violent lyrics will not solve the problem either, but making educated listening and parenting decisions is a step in the right direction.