Banned in the U.S.A. - 2 Live Crew (mp3) -
Banned in the U.S.A.Although it's not on the cutting edge of the print medium,
Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America (published in 2001) is still a great read. I'm impressed with Eric Nuzum's research and writing style. The general focus of the book concerns the history of music censorship in the United States, how the "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content" sticker came into being, and why the music industry caved into demands from outside groups such as the PRMC to start using such a sticker.
Unbeknownst to many, music censorship is nothing new: it's been around for over a hundred years here in the USA. From early attempts in this century to limit the influence of African-American music on the white middle class, to our grandparents' generation trying to eliminate rock and roll and its immoral tribal beats, there has always been an attempt to curtail what the general public is listening to. In recent years, the heat has been on groups such as Marilyn Manson, Madonna, and pretty much any rap group in general, but ironically, the same people who are pushing for censorship now listened to music that their parents objected to as well: musicians such as Chuck Berry, the Doors, and Elvis.
Please do yourself a favor and check out the book if you get a chance. It's divided into chapters that focus on various censorship issues such as religion, sex, drugs, politics, etc... It's a fairly fast read and although it doesn't reveal any revolutionary ideas or newly released CIA documents, it does bring together some interesting information in a coherent and interest grabbing fashion.
In celebration of musical freedom, I offer up the following songs:
(If your name is Tipper, please DON'T download any of these)
the 50's
I Get A Kick Out Of You - Frank Sinatra (mp3) -
The Capitol Years(In this Cole Porter classic, the line "Some they may go for cocaine" was changed to "Some like the perfume from Spain")
Hound Dog - Elvis Presley (mp3) -
Hound Dog [Import](On Elvis' third appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, the camera men were instructed to only show him from the waist up!)
the 60's
Pictures of Lily - The Who (mp3) -
Who's Better, Who's Best(Many radio stations banned this song because of its indirect reference to masturbation)
Louie, Louie - The Kingsmen (mp3) -
The Kingsmen(Fearing obscene messages, the FBI investigated it and the Indiana governor tried to ban this song. I don't know about you, but I couldn't tell you another line in the song other than Louie, Louie.)
Coming tomorrow...the 70's and 80's
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ALL of this information is offered as tantalizing tidbits from Eric's book. PLEASE go out, or click here, and buy a copy for yourself!
Summer vacation is almost here...which means it's almost time for summer reading. I just announced the list of choices to my students and of course they were overjoyed at the prospect of spending part of their two months of freedom reading two books. I never had summer reading when I was in school, but I read much more than two books anway. I can remember going to the local book store to pick up the Sunday paper with my dad and he would buy me a book. Sometimes I would have it read by the end of the day. My love of reading would eventually lead me into being a teacher, although I didn't know it then. Now a days though most of the reading I do is to my 2 year old daughter when she goes to bed. Summer is about the only time I have a chance to read anything for personal enjoyment anymore unfortunately. So now that I'm done with my personal confessions, here are some songs you can listen to about books.
