media
Gangsta rap lives on real-life gun-play, heavy metal idolises Satan, and hip-hop degrades women to the status of mere sex objects. Or so the mass media would have us believe. When reduced to a simple sound-bite, such forms of music appear to have nothing in their favour. But these gross generalisations are simply gross generalisations. Violence in music cannot be blamed for society’s ills, indeed, perhaps the blame should be apportioned in the other direction – music only reflects the society in which it is created. Occult themes run throughout classical literature. Historical and religious texts detail hundreds of thousands of violent crimes, from Herod’s child slaughter to the Holocaust. Xenophobia, racism and sexism are evident throughout society. Music is not contributing to these in as much as it is reflecting and illuminating them. The rap artists Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur died living the life embodied by their music – that is not to say all involved in this genre will meet a similar end. Reverence and increased record sales are involved in such acts, but not copy-cat violence. Far from wishing to run out and buy their own weaponry, most agree that Puff Daddy, recently arrested for possession of a fire-arm, is a twat. Artists can be revered without being copied to the letter. The insinuation that repeated exposure to a record or genre can be detrimental is currently one of hot debate. Def Press' Pollack states categorically that; "There is no scientific proof that what you listen to on a record album is going to cause any kind of specific behavior. If so, you better go ban all the Wagner albums right now, because that was Hitler's favorite musician." Evidently, to some, violent tendencies are not exacerbated by the records they listen to – else all Wagner fans would be attempting dictatorship. But can links truly be made between music and violent acts? Violence in music usually takes one of five forms; it is reactive, descriptive, deliberately or unintentionally incendiary, or alternatively, simply politicising. The Manic Street Preachers were able to gain a British number one with ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’, a song inspired by George Orwell’s ‘Homage To Catalonia’ which took as its subject matter The Spanish Civil War. While this record does not urge fighting in the streets, it is politicising in that it does push its listeners into contemplation of fascism, and whether they themselves would be willing to fight in a foreign land for this universal cause, as Orwell did.