There, I said it.
I grew up a child of the 80's when Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Research Council decided it was their mission to make sure kids didn't hear anything that they deemed inappropriate or obscene. They were going to save us from Judas Priest and Twisted Sister and Prince.
My parents weren't big on censoring music. They played the music of the 60's, which, to be honest, contained one drug reference after the next. I loved all of it. And I loved the music my cousins introduced me to - everything from Alice Cooper to John Denver. And I loved the music of my generation. My parents never objected to what we played. They asked us to turn our music down when we were up in our rooms, but never to turn it off. They didn't police our purchases.
So when these people went to Congress and convinced them that it was worth the time and money to have a Congressional Committee discuss censoring popular music and blocking the sale of some of it to impressionable minors like myself, I took notice. When they started labeling albums, I sought those albums out. Owning them became a badge of honor.
Who the hell were they to decide if I was old enough to own "Ritual de lo Habitual"? If I wanted to sing "She Bop" at the top of my lungs and my parents weren't going to stop me, then why should the PMRC have the right to? Why yes Tipper, that is a pledge pin on my uniform!
So now, because I was so sensitive to it in my youth, I don't censor nearly as much as I should.
It doesn't help that music is like oxygen to my husband - all types of music, all appropriateness of music. And my children love music as much as their daddy does.
We have a video of Elwood at a little over a year old dancing to "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse - we started them young. Finn's current favorite song is so outrageously inappropriate, I won't name it here. Both boys are big fans of the song of the summer "Blurred Lines". The list goes on and on.
There are some things they don't listen to. We have yet to introduce them to "99 Problems" or an uncensored version of "Gold Digger", but they listen to stuff that we like, which doesn't always translate to family friendly.
This will come back and bite us - I'm pretty sure of that. But the truth of the matter is, I don't want them to have boundaries when it comes to art and literature. I want them to decide for themselves what has value and what doesn't. I want them to see the beauty and creative process in things that other people don't necessarily give a chance.
It's not all inappropriate. Elwood falls asleep at night to Tchaikovsky. He has a fine appreciation for The Traveling Wilburys. Finn likes musicals and has howled along to "Werewolves of London" since he was still in his rear facing carseat. They have broad musical tastes. And that, I am proud of.
(For the record, I met Tipper Gore in the late 1990's while Al was Vice President. She's a lovely woman - a little misguided, but lovely nonetheless.)
No comments:
Post a Comment