Throughout the history of our great nation, we have fought to keep our society as clean as possible. Yet, we have also made strong efforts to make our lives as fair and just as possible by giving ourselves freedom. Such freedoms are brought to us through laws and amendments made by our early leaders in hopes that our rights will not be infringed upon. Music censorship is a topic that has found itself conflicting with these two facts. While the censorship of music is an attempt to rid the world of “the bad”, it is also an area that violates the first amendment right of freedom of speech. Some say the fight for music censorship is a valid battle, while others would argue that it is merely a scapegoat for the problems in America today. This review on the topic of music censorship focuses on defining this complex idea.The censorship of music has been present for as long as music has been around. Even before there were any CD’s to be edited and taken off of shelves there was censoring of music occurring. In the mid nineteenth century the libretto of Giuseppe Verde’s opera La Traviata was either removed or censored in performances throughout Italy (Woods, “PMRC Launches New Offensive Against Rock and Rap“). Even since the first days of rock and roll there has Schiller 2been censorship around us. Elvis Presley was censored on television because of his hip movements that some people found to be too offensive and perhaps too sexually suggestive. Music censorship has affected our generation's society since the rap groups of the early eighties, when they brought their sexual lyrics and explicit content to the music scene, were first labeled as indecent and explicit. In the nineties, censorship has now reached out to other types of contemporary music, such as heavy metal and cult music (Mass. M.I.C., “Attacks on Music“).Yet it was not until the creation and the rise of the PMRC (Parents Mus...
