The negative portrayal of music

It is hard to choose just one artist from any genre of music that has been portrayed negatively. I think in every genre there is always an artist that is portrayed negatively by the press. Sometimes the press over exaggerates a message an artist is trying to delivery and take is completely out of context. The press can either hurt an artist or help them succeed in an industry that is nearly impossible to succeed in.

Since I cannot choose just one artist or genre, I’m going to pick an artist from a couple of different genres.  Let’s start with hip-hop which in my opinion is the style of music that is negatively portrayed the most. A hip hop artist that is portrayed very negatively is Eminem.  I actually do not think I have ever heard anything good about Eminem. His lyrics are very crud and in my opinion disturbing. I think the most disturbing song by Eminem is “Stan”. It is about a guy who is obsessed with Eminem who writes him letters telling him how much they are alike and that he is his biggest fan. In his letters he tells him about he wants to be together but his girlfriend is pregnant. He has serious issues and it really scary. The song goes on and Stan keeps writing to Eminem and doesn’t get a response. Finally at the end Stan is recording his voice while he’s driving a car drunk 90 miles an hour in a rain storm with his pregnant girlfriend locked in the trunk. He is blaming Eminem for his problems and telling him all he wanted was a letter.  He ends up running off of a bridge into a lake and killing himself and his pregnant girlfriend. People argue that artists’ messages get misinterpreted but I can’t see a way that anybody can listen to this song or watch this video and come up with a way that this would be sending a good message to anyone. I’m not saying that all hip hop or rap songs are like this, there are actually quite a few hip hop artists that only have good messages to spread. But songs like “Stan” are why hip hop has such a bad rep and is instantly frowned upon.

Let’s move on to pop. Pop music is much more accepted by the world than hip hop, but why? Yes, pop music doesn’t have as much violence as hip hop but it is mostly about sex. The messages are just as bad, but when some people hear the word pop music they instantly think oh there is nothing wrong with that it’s just teeny bopper stuff, but it definitely is not.  Artist’s like Lady Gaga are horrible influences. I know this blog is supposed to be about music or artists that are portrayed negatively and think pop music is to a certain extent, but not nearly as much as it should be. All Lady Gaga talks about in her songs is sex; she just uses weird metaphors to do so. I think artists and music like that deserve to have just as much negative attention as hip hop does. Society is so contradictive about things like this, they can look at one thing and talk about how negative it is but overlook something that is just as bad because it simply just doesn’t seem like it should be.

Parental Advisories for music

I feel that for the most part record companies should and do have a certain responsibility to provide the listeners with a description of what they are about to listen to but I am not sure that putting a parental advisory label on the music is the best way to do so. How often are the parents usually with their children when they are purchasing music anyway? I bet most of the time they are not. These kids are most likely purchasing music while they are at the mall with their friends or at a record store. One of the most common ways to buy music today is through something like iTunes on the internet. I highly doubt that parents are going to be sitting over their children’s shoulder monitoring every single thing they are doing or purchasing on the computer.      

            As a mother myself I do worry about the type of music my son is going to listen to in the future. I realize by the time he is old enough to want to listen to music of his own choosing that I may not be as up to date as I once was. I will want to know about the artists he likes and what kind of messages and morals they are sending out before purchasing their music for my son or letting him purchase it. It is a mother’s and father’s job to protect and shelter their children as much as possible and it is also the music, television, game, movie and all other entertainment industries job to help protect and warn as well.

 That being said I do not think that putting parental advisories on the music is the most effective way to let the parents know the content of the music their children are listening to is. Most of the parental advisories are little labels in the bottom corner of the CDs in small print. Most parents don’t even pay attention to the cover of the CDs. How do we expect them to really pay attention to these warnings? CDs are almost obsolete nowadays anyway. Like I mentioned before the most common way to purchase music is through something like iTunes. I realize that iTunes has an explicit lyrics warning label next to the song but most of the time the kids are purchasing the music without their parents around. People can argue that kids can’t buy music without their parent’s permission but things like iTunes gift cards give kids full access to whatever kind of music they want to purchase at anytime.

I feel that the record companies can come up with more effective ways to warn parent’s about the content of their children’s favorite music than a little label or warning.  Maybe they can do something like have a required age limit in order to purchases the music with these types of warnings. When purchasing in person at a music store they should have to show a picture I.D. that shows their age. When purchasing music through the internet they should require you to do something like type in your driver’s license number to make sure that you are of age. I feel like they have the right idea by putting parental advisories on music but they need more effective ways to get the point across.

             

Music and it's negative influences

As I’ve stated before I personally think music is a wonderful thing. For myself, music does not influence any negativity towards my life or my moods and state of mind, I don’t let it. I also believe that music doesn’t influence many young kids in a negative way, that they use it as a scapegoat, a way to express themselves and just for the sheer joy of it.  That being said I think there are exceptions.  Some young people do let music alter their behavior and moods in a bad way.  I don’t think that the music it’s self inspires some of our youth to act out, I think that they are already in that frame of mind and the music adds fuel to their fire. There are all different types of music to fit every mood, feeling, and desire, and it is up to the listener to determine how they will be affected by it. For example, a young teenage girl, who has low self esteem about herself and her body, can listen to a song about the pressure of being thin and beautiful and let it even lower her self esteem and image, or worse make her develop something like an eating disorder. An angry misfit can listen to heavy metal and it will make him in the mood to go mash mailboxes or start a fight with someone. It all just depends on the music and kids.

Certain types of music have different types of influences on different kids. I think rap has the worst reputation and is the most influential in a negative way. In my opinion rap sends out the most negative messages about morality and produces a negative outlook on humanity. Some rap music tells kids that it is cool to become a “thug”.  It perpetuates racial differences and is constantly promoting disrespect to women. They glorify sex and drug in their music. I think certain rap music can influence a young kid from a bad neighborhood to join a gang, because they think that is who they are and it is the only thing they will be able to do with their life and this music is encouraging it. I’m not saying all rap music is like this there are some artists that promote the exact opposite but for the most part this is how it is.

I also believe that the youth in general are very impressionable.  That as kids are growing up and they are constantly looking for things that will help them feel more like they belong.  Music is always the first thing that society blames for ruining our youth.  Even though I do agree that music can have a negative influence on our youth I don’t think that it is the only thing that can have that type of influence.  Kids can be influenced by their friends, T.V., video games, and many other things. I don’t really understand why everyone’s first assumption is the music but that is just how our society is.

Young People and Music

When Bloom writes about young people and music, that “it is their passion: nothing else excites them as it does; they cannot take seriously anything alien to music”, he is bringing up two points. The first is that young people are passionate about music, and the other that they are incapable of taking anything else seriously. With these two points I agree with one and disagree with the other.

I agree that young people find passion in music, not only when playing or listening to music, but also when it comes to activities, such as dance and sports. Many young people find comfort and a form of release when it comes to music. It is a way to express one’s self in a manner that is easy to convey to other people. It offers a way to release emotions that are hard to explain and can sometimes only be felt while playing or listening to music. Music also plays a vital role in activities that are not directly related to music. Dance has a strong connection with music, as it can be seen as a physical manifestation of the song. Even sports have a connection to music, music is pumped through stadiums to get the crowd excited and motivate the team. Most of these things are activities done by young people, and therefore they have a passion for it.

But the second point to Bloom’s statement I disagree with. I do not think that they are incapable of taking anything other than music seriously. Many young people are very capable of taking things other than music seriously. Many young people have a serious outlook on things such as school, jobs, and family. These are things that are not closely connected with music, and can be very important to young people. Many young people have an intense focus on school, and the need to enter a good four year institution. Because of this drive, it can be shown that they have the ability to take other aspects of their lives seriously, beyond the scope of music. This is also true when it comes to jobs and family. Many young people do not have the luxury of having the only thing they need to take seriously be music, but are forced to focus on jobs and family and have that be the most important thing in their lives.

Overall, I feel as though Bloom had many good points about young people and their passion for music. It is obvious by the way it is such a crucial cornerstone in so many of the activities that are enjoyed by and participated in by young people. I also feel like it may have been a severe over generalization because of the fact that I know many people personally who simply listen to music in their car, or watch an occasional music video. This leads me to believe that to some young people music is their entire life, their passion and the only thing they take seriously, but from personal experience I know there are always the exceptions to the rule.