In response to the "Stripperella" column on Britney Spears in Sunday's NEXT page, while I agree that America should be above corny, prepackaged marketing techniques when it comes to music, endorsing censorship is a step in the wrong direction.
Christina Asavareungchai writes, "To get to this point, we must take action now. If we stop supporting CDs with offensive lyrics — whether they endorse premarital sex, drugs, violence or disrespect toward women — artists will be forced to change, or lose millions of dollars."
What is "offensive" to one person is fine for another. While somebody may be
insulted by a song's lyrics, it is their right to turn the radio station or change the CD. If America revives the Tipper Gore movement and starts judging art in terms of what's acceptable to the uptight, the freedom of creativity will be relegated to uninspired, political pandering saps like Toby Keith.
The problem with America's pop music doesn't lie in freedom of expression, it lies in the fact that America has collectively sold out, in accordance with the entire recording industry. If most of us raised our standards a little bit, we wouldn't have J-Lo and Britney shoved down our throats.
Americans consume mass-marketed crap and come back asking for seconds. Good music exists, but most just jump on the first corny band wagon that rolls along. Americans think that Grammy-winning Coldplay is "cutting edge" because they are original, when in reality they are just a cheap Radiohead
rip-off.
Americans need to invest a little more prejudice into their musical tastes. We've gotten culturally lazy and the result is a deluge of boy bands, 50 Cent and sleazy pop princesses. Put a little emphasis on substance and originality and use your Seattle roots as a platform to know the diffrence between mainstream and legitimacy.
If any city should be musically sensitive, it should be Seattle.
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