oadway musicals, and big-city noises. Performances continued during the late 1920's, despite continued defiant actions by the National Socialists, but the opera was eventually banned. (DOC).The official Nazi logo for Entartete Musik, a 1938 exhibition of "degenerate music" produced by Jewish composers, used a grotesque caricature of the original poster for Jonny spielt auf, in which the saxophonist wears a star of David instead of a carnation in his tuxedo lapel .( DOC) This is just one of the many examples of censorship early on. Although still significant, there was not much of a challenge for censorship at that time. It would be over 25 years until artist and their supporters would start fighting back. Throughout the history of music, would-be censors have primarily targeted controversial lyrics as a problem, but there have been efforts to blame the actual music for causing society’s ills. Every unusual advancement has met with disputes, whether it is Johan Sebastian Bach’s music or heavy metal’s distorted guitars. In this past century, jazz, bebop, swing, rock n' roll, and rap have all had its hard critics. Such attacks have usually (most-often) been initiated by adults ready to attribute juvenile delinquency on a musical form that appeals almost exclusively to young people and which “few of its detractors comprehend” (DOC). Once Elvis’ pelvic gyration would not be televised, and it is now an accepted entertainment technique as Ricky Martin shakes his “Bon Bon” on his sold out international shows. (DOC) So basically we have a society that has shifted in its view of “bad things”; however, much of society are still turned of by what some others may find acceptable.Censorship TodayThe problem with censorship today is that the percentage of the population that may find something interesting that someone else may not is on the short end of the stick. Moreover, we think we be...
