Violence in Music

Sourced from http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/DLiT/2003/Group1/music.htm

Music wakes us up in the morning, makes us want to dance, soothes us when we're feeling sad and grates on some folks nerves in the elevator. From infancy to adulthood it is an integral part of our lives. Teenagers become absorbed in songs they believe help better define them into this rocky transition into adulthood.

Paediatricians who have specialised in adolescent medicine are keenly aware of how crucial music is to a teen's identity and how it helps them define important social and sub cultural boundaries, teens listen to on average 40 hours of music per week.

Whilst looking at music lyrics, in the past 4 decades, lyrics have become increasingly explicit particularly with reference to Drugs, sex, sexual violence etc. And the greatest concern in music lyrics is Heavy Metal and Rap genres often the songs "as they compound the environment in which dome adolescents increasingly are confronted with pregnancy, drug use, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, injuries, homicide and suicide'.

To date no studies have documented a cause and effect relationship between sexually explicit or violent lyrics and adverse behavioural effects, however there is an acknowledged overall effect that music has an effect on people. If it didn't have an effect on people in general there would be no point listening to it.

American Statistics show (in music lyrics) Forty-seven percent (47%) of mothers with children in public schools believe that violent messages in rap music contribute "a great deal" to school violence, and 66% of 13- to 17-year-olds believe violence in music is partly responsible for violent crimes like the 1999 Columbine High School shootings.

Again studies have shown "that the preference for heavy metal music may be a significant indicator for alienation, substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, suicide risks, sex-role stereotyping, or risk-taking behaviours during adolescence" however a hypothesis also shows that "teenagers already struggling with those issues may be attracted to heavy metal music, because the lyrics express their own troubled feelings."

The 90's have seen the development of an "anything goes" mentality. Look back to the 50's and think "If parents in the 50s didn't like Elvis' gyrating hips, those same people would be astounded" with today's film clips. The with the popularity of dedicated music channels and programs such as MTV, Channel V, Rage, Video Hits and Fly some of the videos shown on them not only show film clips that contain violent lyrics that for example degrade women, but we also get to see it acted out in full colour. There have been a handful of experimental studies that indicate music videos may have a significant behavioural impact by desensitising violence and by making teenagers more likely to approve of premarital sex. "Music Television (MTV) redefined music for future generations by creating music videos, and the unique fusion between rock music and visual images continues to be a hit. A 1996 study revealed that boys and girls ages 12 to 19 watch MTV for an average of 6.6 and 6.2 hours each week, respectively. But despite music videos' popularity among adolescents, many adults criticise the medium as studies show that music videos often contain violence, sexism, suicide and substance abuse. A 1998-1999 study revealed that music videos were more violent than feature films and television, averaging four violent scenes each, and a 1997 study reported that 22.4% of MTV videos contained overt violence and 25% depicted weapon carrying."

"When music lyrics are illustrated in music videos, their potential impact is magnified. Teenagers who may not "hear" or understand rock lyrics cannot avoid the often disturbing images that characterise a growing number of videos music videos are self-reinforcing: if viewers hear a song after having seen the video version, they immediately "flash back" to the visual imagery in the video. Music videos may represent a relatively new art form, but it is one that often contains an excess of sexism, violence, substance abuse, suicides, and inappropriate sexual behaviour."

Today the music business, like much of the rest of the entertainment industry, is facing fallout from youth violence they are being held responsible and in 1999 the music industry was being held accountable for the high school shooting in Littleton, Colorado. "Artists, executives and labels are being called to account for what some perceive as the impact violent lyrics may have on impressionable young minds.

While the issue has been at the forefront of the music industry for several years, it reached a crisis point most recently when the names of two rock bands surfaced in the aftermath of Littleton.

The two teen-age suicidal assailants in the massacre reportedly listened to Rammstein, an industrial-metal group based in Germany, and KMFDM -- one of the first big-selling industrial-rock bands, formed in Paris in 1984."

From this it is evident that the music industry is aware that there could be a proven link to violence in music and their music videos, however, no studies have ever proved this.