The tall, lanky fifteen-year-old ambled slowly up to the counter and tossed his music selection toward the clerk. The salesman began to ring the sale up in his routine manner, but just then something caught his eye. It was a small black sticker on the corner of the CD. This sticker plainly read “explicit lyrics.” As the teenager fumbled through his pockets searching for a method of payment, the clerk gave him a questioning glance. “Could I see some identification please?” The clerk’s voice cut through the silence like a knife through butter. Immediately the boy’s face went from something of a blank stare to a frown. “I’m sorry this particular CD is not available to minors,” the clerk apologetically stated. “Yeah whatever,” the boy said in disgust. As he turned to walk out, the clerk called out, hopefully, “The edited version is available for the same price.” Appalled by the idea, he paid no heed to this last ditch sales plea. The bell on the front door jingled louder than normal as he exited in anger. Happenings such as this are occurring all over America today. The constant question remains the same. Music censorship, is it necessary? Censoring music is no different than censoring any other art form. Not only is censorship unethical, but also in directly disobeying the First Amendment, it is unconstitutional. By telling a musician not to use certain words you are taking away from his art. Imagine if the sculptor who created the statue of David had been told to put clothes on his work. Music, much the same as any other art form, can not be altered or changed and receive the same respect or meaning. The topic of music censorship has been in the news and talked about since the 1850’s. Music was censored before it was ever recorded. In the mid nineteenth century the libretto of Giuseppe Verde’s opera La Traviata was either removed or censored in per...
