Media Censorship: The PMRC versus Heavy Metal
As legendary musician Frank Zappa once stated, “Rock music is sex. The big beat matches the body’s rhythms”. Ever since the emergence of Jazz in the United States of America by the African-American working class, music (in particular jazz, blues and rock) have stimulated a range of concerns regarding the appropriateness of lyrical and musical content.
While music can be defined as a vehicle for the “free expression of the ideas, traditions and emotions of individuals and…their cultures” it is likely that these exact expressions could cause conflict with the beliefs and ideas of those in a place of power (Freemuse Online). In most cases, it is simply the ideas themselves that are “unpopular or outside the current thinking or practices of a regime or special interest group” (Freemuse Online). Yet, while this type of conflict of interest has been one of the more common reasons behind media censorship, there has been increasing concern for the safety of the youth audience. Previous events such as the Columbine High School Massacre and Virginia Tech Shootings resulted not just in a concern about gun control in the U.S.A, but a moral panic (generated predominately by the media) aimed at goth culture and heavy metal music.
The above video is an example of the ways in which censorship began to stretch out into the music industry after fears arose between specific groups about the effects of lyrical themes on young listeners. In the video, the Parent’s Music Resource Centre (PMRC) spokesperson Tipper Gore stated “we have always talked about the positive aspects of the music industry but of course the highlight has been on the excess that have been allowed to develop as we have tried to focus our concern on those excesses” (Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey). While the idea of music ‘censorship’ covered a variety of genres when it was first considered, heavy metal was a particular target due to the degree of different themes such as sex, drug use, violence and the occult. Bands such as Twisted Sister, Mercyful Fate and Black Sabbath were only allowed radio airtime during particular timeslots and were subsequently placed on a playlist with the derogatory title “The Filthy Fifteen”. Furthermore, while many musicians and other artists attempted to stop the censoring of heavy metal music, the PMRC succeeded in their cause by introducing the (now very familiar) “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics” labeling on CDs. However, this was not going to deter fans, nor artists, from making the music they had originally intended to produce. In fact, the irony became that these stickers helped increase record sales, juxtaposing its initial effect!
Overall, while censorship can appear to have a positive purpose, I believe that most (if not the majority) of the time its foundation is based on stereotypes and generalisations. For many years heavy metal has become the victim of misunderstanding and ignorance with artists being labelled as “symbols of irresponsibility, irreverence, and anarchy” – accusations stemming from the moral “majority” (TruckStop Online). There is an unfair belief by this ‘majority’ that everything an artist communicates to its audience has a literal intent, yet it is usually the listener who puts his/her biases and experiences into the particular song.
Though I do have my biases (because heavy metal is my most loved genre), it does seem unjust to place a ‘gag’ or even accuse heavy metal of motivating events such as the Columbine High School Massacre because of the eccentricites it flaunts when compared to genres such as mainstream pop. To use heavy metal as a scapegoat for the problems in society is unreasonable when people can be motivated by any number of things to act or behave how they do. In contrast to the common belief that heavy metal induces hate and violence amongst teens, anthropological studies have shown that the vast majority of fans use the music as a tool against stress and anger and that those with an interest in metal are shown to be very intelligent!
To conclude, it is my strong belief that the blame doesn’t (nor should it) lie solely in the hands of the music – rather it is the interpretation of the individual that counts. While advisory stickers can help prevent young children from picking up a CD that could be ‘inappropriate’, it does little to understand the nature of the content on the disc. Like it or not, censorship will always be there, but hey…perhaps it will entice the devil to create some awesome new riffs!
Lilen Pautasso
Resources:
- http://www.essortment.com/all/musiccensorship_rill.htm
- http://www.freemuse.org/sw2338.asp
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX1mnf5N8Yc
- http://the-trukstop.com/articles/2007/devil_made_me.html
