Censorship of American Music Although is clearly states in the first amendment that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances," censorship in America still exists in a big way. I think censorship can be applied to almost anything, including music of all kinds. "Music censorship is the term used to describe the act of editing, altering, or preventing the listener from hearing the music as the artist created it in order to either deny certain information or to act as a moral gatekeeper of potentially harmful material" (http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~barndollar/courses/spring98/students/fabfive/index.html). The Censorship of music in the United Stated is documented as far back as 1954, when "Michigan congresswoman Ruth Thompson introduces a bill in the House that would ban mailing of any pornographic recording, punishable by five years imprisonment and a $ 5,000 fine" (http://ericnuzum.com/banned/fifties.html). Even Elvis Aaron Presley, The King of rock-n-roll was once thought of as obscene. In 1957, when he appeared on the Ed Sullivan show for the third time, the cameramen were told to only film him from the waist up. "Elviss dancing was considered lewd" (http://ericnuzum.com/banned/fifties.html). In 1964, "Indiana Governor Matthew Welsh asks the State Broadcasters Association to ban the song Louie, Louie by the Kingsmen because he considers it to be pornographic." (http://ericnuzum.com/banned/fifties.html). This trend has continued all the way up to the nineties, and Im sure it wont stop any time soon. In the past ten years especially, music has been under attack by many law makers, prosecutors and critics of morality and good taste. One attack on this freedom comes from parental advisory stickers. These sticker...
