Music and Censorship
By Jenah Shaw. 
Music is everywhere. On that radio over there, on TV, in that car driving past… so imagine if the only song you could hear from any of these was something everyone agreed was ‘safe’ enough. Something without swear words or any references to violence or sex – like Hi 5. Shudder.
Welcome to a world of music censorship, a subject that can get a lot of people very, very angry. Music is expression. Ideas, beliefs, and opinions are all set to a catchy tune.
Banning music, then, is banning expression and freedom of speech, and censoring lyrics is saying: ‘I liked your first line – I really did - but I’ve changed the rest. It just wasn’t doing it for me, and that reference to holding hands? A bit too racy for teenage audiences I’m afraid’.
So in a perfect world there would be no censorship. You could play, write and listen to whatever you want. Everyone is so over the controversy of Eminem, after all.
When is it justified?
In some cases, music censorship does have justification. Several reggae stars have been dropped from UK’s MOBO Awards because of their anti-gay lyrics, and the potential violent backlash it could’ve had.
Even more disturbing is the possible influences that white supremacist rock ‘n’ roll (thankfully, a very small genre) may have – one distributor’s website featured an ad for a computer game called Ethnic Cleansing (violence for the whole family!). Hardly among the top 10 ways for making the world a better place.
Violent music breeds violent behaviour. Or maybe it works the other way around – certain types of music attract certain types of people, and censorship really wouldn’t make that much of a difference.
One thing is for certain: music has a huge impact on our lives. If it is necessary for some albums or songs to be banned, the lines between what makes it hate speech or justifies it as political expression are easily blurred.
In 2004, for example, when the Dixie Chicks announced they were ashamed that George Bush came from Texas, radio stations stopped playing their songs until they apologised. A slap on the hand for being unpatriotic or an obvious curbing of freedom of speech?
With a society so reliant on Internet culture, perhaps censorship will become ineffective anyway – what the shop won’t let you buy, you can download online and save yourself some cash.
So, music censorship: either a necessary part of our society or an obstruction to freedom of speech. You decide.
This article was written as part of Global Focus a collaborative project of Tearaway Magazine and the Global Education Centre. It was first published in Tearaway magazine and is reprinted here with their permission
Illustrator: Toby Morris
