Good Music, Bad Music

4-16-02

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First and foremost, I don't believe there is such a thing as "bad music," only less than positive responses to music in various forms. This isn't to suggest for a moment that I appreciate all music, but I do appreciate all musical forms.

When Judas Priest was attacked by lawyers for one of their songs allegedly relating to the suicidal deaths of 2 teens in Nevada back in 1987, I was one of the first to scoff at the stupidity of the court system that even allowed for such a lawsuit. I still feel that the lawsuit was without merit, and very pleased that the court was unable to detect 'subliminal messages' in the music, nor could they find fault with the band or their lyrics. I felt the same way about Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution" cut. I laugh and can't imagine the stupidity behind the funding individuals of IBAR, the Institute for Bio-Acoustic Research facility that claims to hear sped up messages in many different songs, and have created the hysteria of "Hemi-sync" tones, tones that allegedly offer subliminal triggers to brainwaves, causing them to assimilate subliminal messages. Clearly, the morons involved in these efforts have never undertaken the recording process at any level. The recording process is far to expensive and time consuming to muck around with 'subliminal messaging' not to mention the fact that EVERY single person involved in the recording process would have to be a participant in the messaging. That would include engineers, mastering technicians, producer(s) artists, A&R people, etc. There is simply no way that the entire industry is so corrupt as to allow such expensive and silly antics. Someone, somewhere would be speaking up.

That being said, I also feel that teen suicide rates, which are climbing exponentially, ARE related to music. Just not in the moronic manner that the PRMC would suggest.

Music that contains lyrics that would damage the self esteem of our children plays constantly. It suggests violence by it's mere nature in many present contexts. Music that refers to women as "bitches and ho's" music that refers to "capping" people, shooting police officers, music that suggests stealing is acceptable, music that tells our children to skip school all contribute to the mental attitude of our youth. Some music even suggests that the way to riches and fame is to rob, kill, and then record a CD, and instant fame will be theirs. I recently saw a famous rap artist on television suggesting this very thing to the commentator, that he'd reached riches and fame by being a bad-a## gangbanger and so knew what to sing about.

This isn't at all to suggest that rap music is the culprit. These kinds of lyrics have been a part of our lives since the beginning of written music. And hysteria has accompanied music since the times of the Dark Ages. Rock, rap, pop, jazz, classical, even bluegrass music can be found to have negative messaging for our youth. But is it the responsibility of the artist/musician to provide good content in their music? I don't think so. And I don't believe that we as a community have the right to censor what artists have to say, play, or show with their music. Rather we, as parents, owe an obligation to ourselves, our children, and our society to monitor the appropriateness of what our children listen to, watch, and participate in.
I'm sickened when I see groups such as "Clean Flix" and "Scrubbed Pictures" editing film and music content so that families can watch them, removing 'objectionable lyrics and scenes' from 'otherwise wholesome movies.' Who the hell gave them the right to edit what the director or writer wanted them to see? Is "Saving Private Ryan" the same picture with all the blood removed? No. Is Titanic the same picture with the turning point nude scene removed? No. And neither is rap music, rock music, or pop music the same with certain lyrical content removed. If it's negative for our children or society to listen to, as parents, we have the obligation to prevent them from listening to that musical content. We have the responsibility to raise our children. We have the responsibility to protect them and our society AS PARENTS, not as Nazi-censors at the community level. Free speech is demanded, needed, and important to our society at a social level. It encourages art. But at the familial level, free speech is offset by parental responsibility.

Monitor what your children listen to. You might not like it. You might not enjoy it. Maybe it's got decent lyrics contained in a musical package that you can't appreciate. But you'll never know until you listen to it. And someday, you'll perhaps be grateful you did. As an artist who strives to provide positive messages in my music, I never want to be censored by a group of people who have only their own silly agenda to purvey. And so someday, I may well thank you for listening to music with your children. And someday, maybe they'll thank you too.

To my nieces and nephew that are serving in our armed forces as we fight this war, I'm proud of you, I love you, pray you will return to us safely. I thank God for your safety, bravery, and dignity.

dse