Kimberly Steele

To understand what censorship was I wanted to get a definition of the word.
Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful or sensitive, as determined by a censor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship).
What came to mind right away was that by definition censorship has to be determined by a censor. A human being that has education, opinions, life events and outlooks that may be different than mine. If the censor has very little in common with me why are they telling me what I should or shouldn’t listen to. And if they do have a lot in common with me shouldn’t they trust me to make my own decision on what I should listen to. Unfortunatley this is a situation that is never going to happen. There is always going to be someone or some organization who thinks they know what is better for me. What I really found interesting was that the music that was being censored ranged from rap to pop to even christian. It seemed to me that no genre was safe from scrutiny. In the eighties I got the sense it was more rock, folk and emerging pop that were either banned form record stores, omitted from radio playlists or burned. In the ninties and this decade largely rap, metal and rock were under the strict lens of communication organizations, the government and now large retail chain and schools.
I also found it interesting that the complaints could have come from a radio listener or a large number of conservative groups. The songs could have one word or multiple lines that were being protested or it could have been something that was a simple as the title of the song or the cover of a CD case. Nothing was considered off limited and yet nothing was concrete. In 1986 CBS Music sets a strict, yet vague, company-wide policy regarding explicit lyrics (http://ericnuzum.com/banned/incidents/80s.html). The Federal Communication Commission would fine radio stations for playing both edited and unedited versions of songs. MTV would be removed from cable networks in areas after complaints of inappropriate songs but then put back on after complaints from viewers that they wanted MTV. Finally in 2000 the Federal Trade Commission held hearings stating that the entertainment industry should be regulated and sanctioned for deliberately marketing violent and sexual content to children (http://ericnuzum.com/banned/incidents/00s.html) and then followed that hearing with a finger shaking at the music industry in 2001. Based on the actions of these groups as well as many others, any song, no matter what the topic or genre could offend someone.
Listening to the two pieces of music by Ozzy Osbourne and Ice Cube, I understood why so many complaints were made by individuals and organizations, but I stand by the idea that freedom of expression should not be censored but instead talked about and understood. Many questions came to when I read and listened to the songs and I hope they arose at the time those songs was released as well. Why did Ozzy write that song about drinking? It’s known fact that he has had his own issues with drinking and drugs. Would it be so hard to believe that this was his own way of expressing how he felt about himself? Why did the parents feel that it made a big enough impression on their child that he would commit suicide? Personally I have had times in my life that things seem bleak, but listening to a sad song didn’t put me in a bigger rut. The issues that I was facing did. Why did Ice-T write a song called “Cop Killer�? Could it be because he felt that the issue of police brutality and racial profiling was so rampant that it needed to be addressed in a way the he knew would garner attention from all angles? The song did get into newspapers, television and on the radio and a lot of talk and debate was brought up.
People have used music as a form of expression or protest for years and has helped to bring a wide range of topics into view. I believe that using certain words that are going to be called out is a deliberate attempt to broadcast a idea. Singers and songwriters know it’s going to push peoples buttons and a conversation is going to get started. So thank you censor, because if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have looked up the Blind Faith album cover, or listened to Sarah Jones and DJ Vadim “Your Revolution�.