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Music's
Power: To Use or Abuse One of the reasons
we're in business at the Vintage Drum Center is to continue the
traditions of the We
have today within our music industry an insidious moral "disease",
one that desensitizes and conditions us through our consistent exposure
to it. Gradually we come to expect it, tolerate it, and finally
submit to it. Hence, with no challenge to its advancement, the malady
is assimilated into the vitals of our culture, infecting all parts
of society, especially the most impressionable and vulnerable -
our youth! According to a report in the Journal of American
Medical Association - Sept. 22, 1989, "Between the 7th
and 12th grades, the average teenager listens to 10,500 hours of
rock music, just slightly less than the entire number of hours spent
in the classroom from kindergarten through high school." Common
sense tells us that such a massive amount of exposure is bound to
leave a sizeable impression. Since a significant amount of today's
rock music is gangsta and death-metal, the crucial questions to
ask are: what kinds of impressions is this "music"
leaving, and how will these impressions manifest? To our
dismay, both society and science are providing the answers. Research
studies linking anti-social behavior with lyrical messages are beginning
to mount. Dr. James Johnson, an associate professor of psychology
at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington found that boys
(ages 11-16) who watched violent music videos were more likely to
approve of the violent behavior of others, and to report that they
would have engaged in the actions themselves.' "The kids would
walk like them, talk like them and base their philosophy of life
on rap music," Johnson said. "Rap music had more influence
on their perceptions than their parents did."' And parents
are learning this tragic lesson through tragic experience, while
newspapers across the country spew horrifying accounts of youth
whose heinous crimes were inspired and or modeled by the lyrical
content of their favorite death metal or gangsta band. The
music industry's printed ads are also fueling the fire by explicitly
depicting aggression, destruction and promiscuity. Some of them
even use crass catch words such as "attack", "killer"
and "blow 'em away", to get our attention and exploit
our sensibilities. While these ads don't openly say it's good to be violent, aggressive, and injurious to others - as does some of our music - their underlying message conveys and confirms that "might is right", our world is a jungle and aggression and violence are the way to get what we want. There exists a philosophy in the field of the arts, that justifies violence and depravity under the guise of an "artistic license" - a philosophy whereby those gifted with artistic talent claim their need and right to exercise an unlimited and unrestrained "freedom"; a freedom that they believe is guaranteed by the First Amendment of our Constitution. However, according to the massive amount of official public documentation concerning the purpose of the Constitution and the First Amendment along with the biographical back- grounds of its founders, it is clearly evident that our Constitution and First Amendment were firmly rooted in the concepts of responsibility, common sense and reason. Furthermore, there are 19 categories of speech that are constitutionally prohibited by government. No right, including freedom of speech is absolute. In
1833, former Supreme Court Justice, Joseph Story wrote in his renowned
work Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States,
'Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or
of the press. [First Amendment Text] That this Amendment was intended
to secure every citizen an absolute right to speak, or write, or
print, whatever he might please without any responsibility, public
or private...is a supposition too wild to be indulged by any rational
man. This would allow every citizen a right to destroy at his pleasure
the reputation, the peace, the prosperity, and even the personal
safety of every other citizen." Joseph Story with other Federal and State Justices of our early history knew that the Founders never intended an unlimited, unrestrained and unconscionable freedom that is so often practiced today, but emphasized the responsibility which limited that freedom. Our form of self-government was established within the context that the people it would serve would be a "self-governed" people; people of decency, self-control and moral character; people that would not abuse their privilege of freedom, but instead would be willing to accept the profound and basic principles that God has created the world and we must live in that world with respect for His justice and the dignity with which He has endowed us - otherwise that form of self-government could not and would not work. George Washington expressed this so well when he said, "The propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation which disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained." Historically, free societies that had abandoned the bedrock of moral principles upon which they were built, ceased to exist as free societies. Their abuse of freedom eventually forced them to sacrifice their liberties for the sake of order, the personal safety of their people - and even for their survival! Today we are wanting our form of self-government and the dignity of freedom it guarantees without having to be responsible and accountable for how we use that freedom. If our popular culture with its music continues at its present rate of moral decline, the time will come, perhaps sooner than we think, when our government will be forced to apply increasing controls and censorship. If we are not willing to live by principled moral choices and self-control now, then where are we headed in the future? Within the workings of our music industry, who then is responsible? Is it the lyricist writing the music, the musician playing it, the record company producing it, the ad agency advertising it, the merchant selling it, or the consumer buying it? The reality is that all of us are responsible! Furthermore, those of us who have the most influence in the creation and promotion of our music are the most accountable, we are the ones who must ask: what kind of an effect are we having on the lives of those who listen to the music we produce and on the world around us? We must also ask: what kind of ethic do we live by and reveal to others in the creating and selling of such destructive goods? Does our industry have a soul and a conscience? On the last day of our life would we want to know that we have left the world a better place; or that we have left it scarred and seeded with misery and destruction? What will be our legacy? The choice is ours. Just as one small pebble cast into a pond stirs waves that reach far and wide, each one of us can affect a positive transformation throughout our industry. Let's no longer say,''That's just the way it is." The world is not "just the way it is"...it's this way only because humanity has made it so! And if we have made it so, then we can also make it better! The time to start is now. Here are some simple suggestions we've come up with if you'd like to get involved:
Let us, in our esteem for these gifts, use them with benevolence in our intentions, seizing the moment to fulfill our highest good and purpose as musicians. Ours is the calling to enlarge the horizons of our audience, provide them with wholesome entertainment and helpful stimulation, and remind them of the responsibilities which we all have as citizens toward our society. Let us resound in the concert halls of those thirsting hearts and minds music that will point toward something higher; toward a wholeness and a peace humanity knows exists and is ever striving to attain. Parents Music Resource Center HELP LINE Parents
Music Resource Center (PMRC) is a non-profit organization whose
mission is to:
When
calling the help line, you can choose from 7 menu options as follows:
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