Selective Hearing :: essays research papers

Music is a creative outlet for emotions, expressions and personal issues. It is also a place to force ideas and opinions on a mass of thousands. People can relate to it on many levels. But the problem of who should be responsible or regulate it exists. Who should decide what is played or sold?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Music has had both a negative and positive reactions, especially with the young. Should the parents be responsible or should the artists themselves? Should the Studios (Labels) take the heat or should the government get involved?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the past couple of decades, music has been in trouble. It has been said to be the cause of deaths, suicides, unwanted sexual behavior, and other forms of indecency. It has taken blame for everything no one wants to be responsible for.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1985, Prince had a hit record with â€Å"Purple Rain†. On the album contained the song â€Å"Darling Nikki† about a sexual woman who was â€Å"masturbating with a magazine†. The song went on about with a sexual tone. Tipper Gore, felt that this was not proper for her daughter to have. She felt that the music needed to have ratings. She founded the PMRC – Parent Music Resource Center. They wanted a standard rating system to alert parents to the types of music that kids were listening to such ratings as â€Å"X† for sex related and â€Å"V† for violence. This was shot down. Instead, a â€Å"parental advisory explicit content† sticker was chosen. The PMRC is now made up of 19 women. Tipper Gore has since left the group now that her husband is vice president. They still are an active voice in the fight for free speech. The question raised is shouldn’t parent be monitoring children’s music anyhow? Has th e family unit become that dysfunctional? What exactly can parents do? For one, parents should have some understanding of their kids and realize that times are changing and so are the kids. But in many cases the parents do not. Things are different than when most parents were kids. Relate to children on that level of â€Å"now†. Talk openly about hard subjects such as drugs, violence, and sex. As for music, parents should be with the child in the store. Sales people should not be babysitters for kids. Parents should inquire about store policies and ask why something has the advisory. Most stores will tell parents the reasons.