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The History of Music Censorship

Not only has music censorship been used as s religious or political vehicle to deny knowledge, but it has also been a means of protecting the public from potentially harmful material. It began in the mid-fifties with Elvis Presley; the Ed Sullivan show only filmed the musician from the waist up in order to block out his hip movements. During this time the American society was relatively conservative, with the emergence of the nuclear family. However, it was at this time that teenagers began to purchase their own music, eliminating the opportunity for parents to censor what their children listened to before they bought it. This also encouraged the music industry to produce music that would appeal to youth, as opposed to the adult-oriented music that had previously dominated the industry. Various churches deemed controversial music a sort of spawn of the devil looking to corrupt their children, and high schools banned rock ā€˜nā€™ roll.
The sixties saw the calming of the America...

Posted by: Chad Boger

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