Folio Essay - Promotion of Violence in Music

7/23/2019 Folio Essay - Promotion of Violence in Music

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Do Rock/Metal Bands

Promote Violence?

Green Day, Marilyn Manson and Slipknot. Three

diferent unique bands that each have diferent musical

abilities, sound and techniques that make them their

own. But, they all have one thin in common, they all

sin !or have sun" about violent themes. # am oin to

investiate this statement to see i$ these violent lyrics

are responsible $or several violent acts in the past, andalso whether or not they have made a stron impact on

the youth o$ today.

Most metal%heavy rock sons tend to consist o$ low&

tunins, $ast&paced uitar, double&bass pedals and

harsh vocals !whether that means the siner is literallyscreamin or even 'ust sinin with a slihtly ritty

voice" but does this collection o$ instruments

collectively promote hate and violence( )ave you ever

listened to heavy rock%metal( )ow do you imaine you

personally would $eel whilst listenin( *ressive(

)orri+ed( Disusted( ell # can tell you riht here riht

now that when # sit down a$ter a lon day at school and

stick on a bit o$ Metallica # $eel absolutely reat - helpsme to rela even. My rand&$ather however, would ive

you a very diferent view. #n his words, metal is/ music

to kill your mother to. To et to the point, everyone is

diferent. 0verybody has their own pre$erences in music

and with lyricism and that1s +ne. Great actually. 0ven

thouh we eist in a world o$ duality and we may $eel

that there is ood music and evil music that doesn1tmean the scary -soundin music that may $rihten


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people, is the evil music. #$ li$e was that black and white

all these philosophers like 2ichard Dawkins and

3hristopher )itchens would be completely out o$ a 'ob.

So 'ust to clari$y, music is not evil. Music is an ama4inway people can epress their true $eelins%emotions

and $eel a release a$terwards. Metal music is very rarely

$ound to be 5evil6 in $act, # would arue that it is more

likely to be $ound in the pop enre but that1s a whole

other arument but # can ive one eample o$ the top

o$ my head/ 3hris De Burh...need # say more( Da$t old

man.

The +rst band # will look into to show an eample o$

violent lyrics is Green Day. Green Day are a very

popular *merican rock band that $ormed in the late

789:1s and are now one o$ the most in;uential punk&

rock bands o$ the century. They are well&known to be

anti&overnment and use their music as a $orm o$activism but::? there was

an epic uproar aainst the *merican overnment as

Green Day1s stron lyrics had caused the nation to re&

evaluate the $reedom o$ control they $elt they had been

iven by the overnment. ith sons like =)oliday1 and

the title track =*merican #diot1 the band had upset the

traditionalist public. @ne eample o$ these provocativelyrics is $ound in the chorus o$ the title track/

5Don1t wanna be an *merican idiot % Don1t want a

nation under the new media % *nd can you hear the

sound o$ hysteria( % Subliminal mind, $AAk *merica6

#mplyin that *merica is a nation is stupid and ullible

the *merican overnment did not receive this well. Somuch so that the album was banned $rom bein sold in


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al&Marts $or its 5eplicit content.6 This is my +rst

eample o$ the efects music lyrics can have on current

politics and actions o$ the public.

@ne o$ the most controversial artists # can think o$ -

and #1m sure many would aree - is Marilyn Manson,

the =*ntichrist Superstar1 and =God o$ AAk1 himsel$.

Marilyn Manson has created much disturbance within

the eneral public by his per$ormances on stae

!includin many seual acts and what appears to be

satanic acts also", his appearance as an artist and+nally throuh his music. Manson had his +rst success

with =Cortrait o$ an *merican amily1 that he released to

the band which has since been re&released. This album

contained many diferent sons - to name a $ew =3ake

E Sodomy1, =Get Four Gunn1, =Dope )at1 - with lyrics so

vular and deroatory it made Marilyn Manson a poster

boy $or $ear. @n *pril >:

th

, 7888 !'ust a year a$terMarilyn Manson1s =Mechanical *nimals1 was released"

the 3olumbine hih school massacre took place where

two teenae students went into a hih school and killed

7> students, one teacher and then both committed

suicide. *t this point you may !or may not" be thinkin,

what on earth does this have to do with Marilyn

Manson( ell, a$ter the shootins occurred it was later

predicted that the two teenaers were bi $ans o$Marilyn Manson and the media went insane by

constantly brinin up the name Marilyn Manson

whenever the shootins were mentioned. This meant

Marilyn Manson had to cancel his shows in 3olorado

later that year, as many protests were oranised to

keep Marilyn Manson out o$ the state. years later,

Michael Moore directed a documentary called =Bowlin


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$or 3olumbine1 which $ocused on this issue, and in this

documentary Marilyn Manson spoke up about the issue/

5HThe mediaI is a campain $or $ear, y1know 3olate $or

eample, i$ you have bad breath the irl won1t $AAk you,

no one will like you.6

Michael Moore then asked Marilyn Manson i$ he could

speak to the teenaers that committed the crime what

would he say to which Marilyn Manson replied

5# wouldn1t say anythin, # would 'ust listen to them

because that1s what no one did.6


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because it was accused o$ in;uencin two people to

murder their $riend


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these crimes is the mental state and mind set o$ the

criminal. @ne can only assume that someone who

commits such a sick and twisted crime is either very

mentally unstable and%or has very evil intentions andthouhts that could even hurt themselves.

To conclude, rock%metal music is not the root cause o$

violence. #t is however in some cases a $actor in these

crimes. Jobody commits a crime to impress a

superstar, nor a rock star or kills another human bein

'ust so they can be like $amous movie character theylike in that $amous movie. The sad truth is, all diferent

criminals have diferent thins that motivate and

persuade them to commit such wicked crimes and

sometimes the thin that persuades them can be their

$avourite band, due to possible misinterpretation o$ the

lyrics. But that doesnLt mean that rock%metal music is

solely to blame $or all crimes, as i$ this were the case,all these horrible crimes wouldLve only oriinated

around the 78?:Ls, when rock +rst came around. # hope

#Lve persuaded you with this persuasive essay, i$ not,

well #Lll see you in rock%metal hell.

Folio Essay - Promotion of Violence in Music

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