Fuck Censorship

That’s a pretty cliché title, huh?

I am not a big fan of censorship in any form, I really do believe that it violates our freedom of speech.

Censoring music should be a crime. If the artist felt the need to include something, then there was a reason for it. I don’t think I can stress how important lyrics are. They weigh the song with meaning, and it threads the music together. The vocals in a  song are the closest connection to the listener. It is a medium we are all familiar with, and played using an instrument we all have.

Would we paint black lines over Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus”? We would not dare! It would be a travesty, an unheard of act of disrespect toward art around the world. Then why do we feel it’s acceptable to do so to a song? In fact, the entire premise of censorship in music is ridiculous. Content is being created constantly, whether or not it is acceptable for the public is a one way road. Yes or No. The answer shouldn’t be “Yes, but we need to take out this word, or this image.” Is it to protect our children? Are we too lazy and irresponsible to do that ourselves? Is it to prevent offense? Nobody is forced to listen to music, if they are offended, they can turn it off. If their kids are repeating vulgarities they’ve heard in music, their parents can turn it off. Again, it all goes back to good parenting. Your child will pick these words up sooner or later. It’s your responsibility to ensure that they understand when it is and is not appropriate to use them.

Aside from the obvious assault on the meaning, feel and emotion of the song, censoring it also destroys the rhythm. The most obtrusive methods of censoring music ( beeps or blanks ) halt the music to include their own sound ( or lack thereof ) . The effect is a watered down, more mediocre version of music being presented to the audience. This is especially damaging considering the audience is the most important critic.

This rant was inspired by Radiohead’s popular song “Creep” on the album “Pablo Honey”. I am an avid Radiohead fan, and as such, I own the aforementioned album. After purchasing it, I decided to give it a listen. The song “Creep” is track two. All of a sudden, I hear it again. I look at the cd player, and it blinks back at me ‘Track 13′ mockingly. ‘That’s odd’ I think to myself, until I realize that the version I began listening to was the clean version. The line “You’re so fucking special” was changed to “You’re so very special”. Groans all around! I was outraged, the entire song had a different feel to it, why would they even bother putting that on the album? ( I later discovered that it’s only the US version that comes with it. ) Not only did this mean that I had two copies of basically the same song, but that everytime the cd restarted they were one track apart. This means that if I’m not paying attention ( usually the case ) then It seems like I’ve heard the song about a thousand times. Fuck you censorship, now I can’t listen to Creep anymore.