The Rights of Groups (Such as the "Westboro Baptist Church") to Protest Music with Explicit Lyrics (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Sociology - Media, Art, Music, grade: A, The University of Liverpool, language: English, abstract: The original intention of music censorship was to expurgate ideas that were perceived to be unacceptable to society. Censorship was being performed by concerned regulatory authorities. It is unfortunate that this job has now fallen into the hands of groups or other cults like the "Westboro Baptist Church," capitalizing on freedom of speech to paralyze the music industry. Recently, members of the "Westboro Baptist Church" protested a concert organized by Lady Gaga on the grounds that her music promoted homosexuality.The main reasons for music being censored in the US are explicit lyrics. Since the 1950s, individuals and groups of people have protested music with the main intention of either changing or silencing musicians' ideas. It is believed that music censorship started with the birth of "rock n' roll" which was protested because of its sexually suggestive lyrics. Since then, there have been instances of musicians having to change covers of their albums, re-word their songs to remove protested lyrics, artists being denied radio and tv coverage and even their live performances being protested. The bottom line argument for censoring music has always been the claim that the songs are vulgar and use explicit lyrics. This essay argues that such groups like tge "Westboro Baptist Church" have no right to protest against any kind of music.