Censorship in music has been a major problem plaguing America since the early nineteen forties. It came to a head during the nineteen sixties with the Vietnam War and the hippie movement. During the nineteen seventies and eighties heavy metal and hard rock were getting the brunt of the censorship heat. Now in the nineteen nineties the major focus of censorship is rap; primarily gangster rap. Some of the main factors of music in general that cause legal ramifications are sexual content, suggestive violence and obscene language. Censorship is an attack against our first amendment right guaranteeing the freedom of speech. However if a song or album is deemed obscene the first amendment does not protect this.The mass media has been involved has been involved in the many so-called problems that music causes in society today. The attempted censorship of music is not just because people need a cause to fight. In today's society there are many problems that experts feel are directly related to music. Some of these problems are suicide, murder and sexual assault. Many people argue that it is not only music made for entertainment purposes. Many parents and experts argue that rappers and musicians use vulgar, profane, sexually explicit lyrics to target the teenage market because money is a major issue and this kind of media is a hot commodity. Another popular subject that has taken heat and was attempted to be censored is politically charged music. During the Vietnam War many songs blasted the government. "For what it's worth" by Buffalo Springfield is a song documenting the actions by San Francisco police taken against members of the band at a peaceful protest. This song is not the first and was definitely not the last to point out the harsh actions of law enforcement officials.In nineteen eighty-five the seeds of censorship were sewn. It began by the Recording Industry association of America agreeing to voluntarily place-warning labels on albu...
