In the past you have expressed your opinions and concerns over the children of America and the disruptive music that may influence. According to you, rock music contributes to the growing rates of rape (up 7%) and suicide between the age of 16 and 24 (up 300%)over the past three decades. Another rate that is affected is the teen pregnancy rate which remains one of the highest among developed countries. In this generation, where children seem to be even more influential, our society must look at the music that are harmful to today's youth.

In these times, those rates are not solely do to Ozzy Osbourne singing Suicide Solutions, Blue Oyster Cult with Don't fear the Reaper AC/DC and Shoot to Thrill. The music industry has become very slick in putting destructive messages in our children's minds. The worst part about it is they are profiting in millions with this destructive music. I have witnessed youngsters as young as 6 years olds affected by this musical terrorism. It is up to society to take a stand and prevent any further harm to the youth of America in order for them to have a promising tomorrow.

The music in which I talk about is obviously that of Ms. Britney Spears. She is being followed in a cult-like way by millions of children, especially pre-teens. The record industry is blindfolding children with her southern innocence are her beauty to strike with the immoral objectives of infiltrating influential and innocent minds with smut. Her large hit singles have the most popularity and the strongest messages. When I heard 6 year olds repeating her lyrics, I was surprised with what they were saying. Take her first hit single --Baby One More Time. In this song alone does she encourage sex, suicide, and the degrading of females. The lyric of --My loneliness is killing me now-- encourages youngsters that being lonely will kill you and further says --Hit me baby one more time. Is this honestly the correct solution to deal with a sad situation. The lyric clearly states that physical harm is the solution. This is supported by orgasmic groans made throughout the song. These absurd lyrics are hidden with catchy and attractive music.

The disruption does not stop there. After the commercial success of her first album, she follows up with 2 albums even worse than the first. Her follow up album includes the single Oops--I Did it Again. Her record company became slicker in this song. This song encourages woman to not care for the feelings of men and this ultimately can lead to suicide of a male. I played with your heart, got lost in the game-- As a good Christian it is known that love nor sex is not a game. And she further encourages girls to be sleazy by repeatedly saying I'm not that innocent. This shocked me and I told all parents not to allow their children listen to Britney.

If her first albums were not unspeakable enough, her latest album is just appalling. The first single off the album is I'm a Slave 4 U. The title itself is feeding off a bad message. Besides bad spelling, it talks about a concept of slavery which was abolished many years ago. I'm a slave for you. I cannot hold it; I cannot control it. I'm a slave for you. I won't deny it; I'm not trying to hide it. Is it alright for young girls to allow themselves to be controlled by their male counterparts as if they were slaves. And the rest of the song seems to reveal the rest of the diabolic plan for girls to be scandalous, immoral, sex freaks.

This alone should be condemned. What makes the situation even worse is that she is being looked up to as a role model. And her lifestyle compliments her wrongful music. She dresses loosely, dances provocatively, and lives with her boyfriend without being married to her which is very unchristian like. We need to put a stop to her just like a ban was put on Ice T's Cop killa. A ban is ideal but even a label warning parents about the content of her CD would be a large step forward toward the safety of our children. This must be done to not just CDs with explicit lyrics but with all songs that may influence our children negatively such as Britney Spears. We cannot just do this for Britney Spears but those who do similar deeds such as Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, Jessica Simpson, just to name a few. We must all take a stand and fight even harder for the safety of the nation's future...

Sincerely,

A Concerned Citizen

The Truth on the Ban on Britney

This ban on Britney is not a literal attack on Britney Spears. It is a example of how outrageous censors in the music industry, the media, and so-called "concerned citizens" can be. The Parents Music Resource Center is a committee founded by the wives of several congressmen aimed at censoring music that disrupts today's youth, specifically rock music. Among the founders are: Tipper Gore, wife of Tennessee Senator Albert Gore; Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker; Georgie Packwood, wife of Oregon Senator Robert Packwood; and Nancy Thurmond, wife of South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond. They claim that rock music is a cause of many problems. In all do respect, it seems as they are using rock music as a scapegoat to many problems. The media and high rank officials continue to use rock music as the reason for problems as seen during incidents such as the Columbine shootings.

If media and other "concerned citizens" attack rock music they should also look at other genre's of music including pop music such as Britney Spears. Any song can contain a wrong message if one really puts their mind to it and it seems many people are putting their minds to making rock the worst. But as shown in the letter on the Ban on Britney, pop too can contain bad messages and that is listened to by many impressionable pre-teens. It is kind of ironic how bands such as Slipknot are criticized for their lyrics when in actuality one cannot fully understand the words because of the style of music, yet in songs such as Ricky Martin, one can clearly hear She Bangs. Also, one may notice that America is one of the few countries that encourage this "censorship" on music. In many countries where English is not even spoken, the so called "disruptive rock music" is heard and the people there do not get wrong messages put in their head. They do it for the appreciation for the music and that too is what the censors of America should allow everyone to do, appreciate the music. Its incredible that the media blamed Rammstein for violence such as Columbine. How would the children be told to do such wrong deeds when the band does not even sing in English. If translated, some of their songs talk about puppies and smelling good. How can that possibly lead to someone killing others? If, someone commit a crime and listens to Classical music, will Classical music be under fire? Hannibal Lector liked Classical music and he killed, therefore classical music is bad. That analogy is what many are saying about rock music and its listeners.

Music can be influential but should not be the only influence. Research has proven that music is not the main influence in one's life. Daniel Offer, a Northwestern University psychiatrist, suggest that teen-agers' values and behaviors reflect those of the adults who rear them. Adults have the right to raise their children in any way they want but instead of just complaining about rock music or outside influences, they should be good role models and not rely on superficial things. They should also educate their children on how to have a mind of their own. One should not blame rock music for the cause of their child's actions.

If we censor or blame rock, we should censor pop music and every other type of music that might offend someone. That means there would be no music in the world. Music is a beautiful art. Let's not relinquish it by looking for negatives affects and negatives only. And like many aspects of life, people are scared because something is different and they don't understand it. Since they don't understand it, it must be bad. Isn't this what society is trying us to teach us not to do, yet these "concerned citizens" are doing the opposite with rock music. Let's not hate, rather appreciate.

Back From Africa

BAND PROFILE: Baltic Avenue

[Issue Forty-Eight // May 2002]