Pop music, censorship, and subculture

1
Pop music, censorship, and subculture
2
Pop music, censorship, and subculture

• Protests and censorship
• General perspectives
• Moral panic, media effects, and adolescent
  stereotyping
• Prevalence and content of problem music
• Effects of problem music
• Delinquency and criminality, illegal drugs,
  permissive sexual attitudes, sexual and racial
  discrimination, self-harm and suicide,
  (mis)interpretation of lyrics
• Is there a case for censorship?

3
So what?

• Litman and Farberow (1994)
• On 23rd December 1985, Ray Belknap and James
  Vance from Reno, Nevada spent the afternoon
  drinking beer, smoking cannabis, and listening to
  the Stained Class album by heavy metal band,
  Judas Priest. Belknap had just lost his job and
  Vance had just quit his, leading to an angry
  confrontation with his mother. Late in the
  afternoon they jumped out of a first floor window
  and took a sawn off shotgun to a nearby church
  yard with the intention of fulfilling a suicide
  pact. When they arrived, 18 year old Ray shouted
  life sucks, put the gun under his chin and
  pulled the trigger, causing fatal injuries. A few
  moments later, 20 year old James did the same and
  although he didnt die, shot off the lower
  portion of his face. The parents sued Judas
  Priest and their record company, claiming that
  the album their sons had been listening to all
  afternoon drove them to suicide. One song on the
  album, Beyond the Realm of Death featured the
  lyrics He had enough / He couldnt take anymore
  ... Ive left the world behind ... This is my
  life / Ill decide not you. Another song Heroes
  End featured the lyrics, Why do you have to die
  if youre a hero? The parents later claimed that
  the suicide attempts also resulted from the words
  Do it having been recorded backwards into
  another song on the album, Better By You, Better
  Than Me.  
• The parents lost their case

4
Licentious pop star behaviour

• Long-standing concerns about media and pop music
• Then shall we allow our children to listen to
  any story anyone happens to make up, and so
  receive into their minds ideas often the very
  opposite of those we shall think they ought to
  have when they are grown up? (Plato The
  Republic)
• Ragtime and jazz criticised for their immoral
  effects on listeners (McDonald, 1988)
• Dean Martins Wham bam thank you Mam banned in
  1951
• In 1953, jukeboxes were outlawed within hearing
  distance of churches in six counties of South
  Carolina
• In 1954 Ruth Thompson introduced legislation to
  the USA Congress to ban the mailing of
  pornographic records
• During the 1950s Houstons Juvenile Delinquency
  and Crime Commission banned 50 records in a week
  simply because they were rock and roll
• Certain cases become very well-known

5
Licentious pop star behaviour

• Elvis Presleys turbulent 1956
• 5th June 1956 sings I want you, I need you, I
  love you on ABC TV and his pelvic thrusts cause
  outcry from 40 million viewers
• Im not trying to be sexy. Its just my way of
  expressing how I feel when I move around. My
  movements are all leg movements. I dont do
  nothing with my body I dont believe Id sing
  the way I do if God hadnt wanted me to I dont
  think Im bad for people. If I did I would go
  back to driving a truck
• 1st July 1956 forced to sing Hound Dog to a dog
  on NBC TV while wearing a tuxedo
• Following court order his Florida concerts during
  August 1956 are filmed for evidence of movement
  below the waist
• If teenagers want to pay their money to come
  out and jump around and scream and yell, its
  their business
• During 1956 spent 26 weeks at number 1 in the
  American charts and accounted for half of his
  record companys total income

6
Licentious pop star behaviour

• John Lennon
• 1966 claim that The Beatles were more popular
  now than Jesus led to record burnings before
  Lennon claimed he was commenting with regret on
  declining religiosity
• Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (and just about
  everything else between 1965 and 1968) and drug
  references
• Cliff Richard
• Criticised by Yugoslav Embassy for portrayal of
  their country in his films
• Sex Pistols
• God Save the Queen in 1977 Jubilee Year
• The facist regime She aint no human being
• Record pressing workers walk out
• Only got to number 2?

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Licentious pop star behaviour

• Madonna
• Threatened with arrest for fake masturbation
  during concerts
• Video for Like a Prayer featured her having sex
  on an altar with a black Jesus
• Gangsta rap
• E.g. Niggaz with Attitudes F that Police
• Artist X
• Accused of inciting school massacres, having oral
  sex on stage, smoking excrement, handing out
  cocaine
• 2000 Democratic American Vice-Presidential
  candidate, Joe Lieberman, says they are perhaps
  the sickest act ever promoted by a mainstream
  record company
• Florida concerts were picketed by Christian
  groups who distributed a protest prayer against
  those foul and evil spirits who have brought /
  The music group XXXX into Orlando, calling on
  Jesus to help So that they cannot sow lies / And
  spread discontent among our youth
• Licentious behaviour always a concern but
  becoming more extreme

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The PMRCs Filthy Fifteen c.1985

•  Judas Priest Eat Me Alive
• Sexual / Profane - Sounds like an animal /
  Panting to the beat / Groan in the pleasure zone
  / Gasping from the heat
• Motley Crue Bastard
• Violent - Out goes the light / In goes my knife
  / Pull out his life / Consider that bastard dead
  Got your neck in the noose / I got nothing to
  lose
• Prince Darling Nikki
• Sexual / Profane I met a girl called Nikki / I
  guess you could say she was a sex fiend / I met
  her in a hotel lobby masturbating with a
  magazine
• Sheena Easton Sugar Walls
• Sexual / Profane The blood races to your
  private spots / Lets me know theres a fire /
  You cant fight passion when passion is hot /
  Temperatures rise inside my sugar walls Come
  spend the night inside my sugar walls
• W.A.S.P. (Animal) F Like A Beast
• Sexual / Profane - I do whatever I want to to
  you / Ill nail your ass to the sheets / A pelvic
  thrust and the sweat starts to sting you / I f
  like a beast

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• Mercyful Fate Into The Coven
• Occult References - Take this white cross and go
  to the middle of the ring / Come, come into my
  coven / And become Lucifers child / Now crush
  it, crush the cross / Suck the blood from this
  unholy knife / Say after me my soul belongs to
  Satan
• Vanity Strap On Robby Baby
• Sexual / Profane Cant find on the internet but
  searching does take you to several pornography
  sites
• Def Leppard High N Dry
• Drugs / Alcohol Advocated - Saturday, I feel
  right / Ive been drinking all day On the
  bottle, Im on the line / Im up and feeling
  fine
• Twisted Sister Were Not Gonna Take It
• Violent - Well fight the powers that be / Just
  dont pick our destiny Were right / Were free
  / Were right / Youll see
• Madonna Dress You Up
• Sexual / Profane Gonna dress you up in my love
  / All over your body Let me cover you with
  velvet kisses

10

• Cyndi Lauper She Bop
• Sexual / Profane - I wanna go south and get me
  some more They say I better stop or Ill go
  blind They say I better get a chaperone /
  Because I cant stop messing with the danger zone
  / No I wont worry and I wont fret / Aint no
  law against it yet
• AC/DC Let Me Put My Love Into You
• Sexual / Profane - Dont you struggle / Dont
  you fight / Dont you worry / Because its your
  turn tonight / Let me put my love into you Let
  me cut your cake with my knife
• Black Sabbath Trashed
• Drugs / Alcohol Advocated - I was going down the
  track about a hundred and five And yet my mind
  was blowing / I drank a bottle of tequila and I
  felt real good
• Mary Jane Girls In My House
• Sexual / Profane - When it comes down to making
  love / Ill satisfy your every need / And every
  fantasy you think of Ill keep you happy and so
  satisfied / In my house, in my house
• Venom Possessed
• Occult References - Look at me, Satans child /
  Born of evil thus defiled / Brought to life
  through Satanic birth / Raised in hell to live on
  earth I am possessed by all that is evil / The
  death of your god I demand / I spit at the virgin
  you worship / And sit at my lord Satans left
  hand

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Protestors

• PMRC founded in 1985 by Tipper Gore
• Apparently prompted by her daughter playing
  Darling Nikki from Princes Purple Rain album
• U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and
  Transportation (19 September 1985) led to
  parental advisory sticker
• On the agenda was the labelling of records so
  that at least the whole family knows what is in
  them, and not just the child who buys the
  record.
• Attached to 59 of rap CDs and 13 of heavy metal
  CDs
• By 2000 19 states of the USA had considered
  regulating distribution of stickered CDs
• Crime to sell to minors (Missouri, Pennsylvania,
  Louisiana)
• Punish juveniles who buy stickered albums (e.g.
  Pennsylvania wanted to send them on community
  service at a rape crisis centre)
• Allow individual towns to impose stricter
  standards of obscenity (Ohio)
• Ban completely the sale of all labelled albums
  (city of Leominster, MA)
• Allow local prosecutors and judges to ban the
  sale of erotic music to minors (Washington)
• Make mandatory a system of labelling sexually
  explicit or offensive lyrics (Missouri and other
  states)

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Protestors

• Other nationwide action in the USA
• 1990 ruling by a USA federal court (later
  overturned) that 2 Live Crews As Nasty As They
  Wanna Be was legally obscene, and the subsequent
  prosecution of a record store owner who sold it
  and (failed) attempt to prosecute the group
  following a Florida performance
• 1993 demonstrations about lawlessness and
  obscenity in rap organised by NAACP
• 1994 Senate Judiciary Sub-committee on Juvenile
  Violence concerning misogyny by male and
  self-degradation by female rappers (e.g. Hes
  got me open like 7-11 Salt n Pepas Whatta
  Man)
• Wal-Mart wont stock stickered CDs
• Other stores wont stock them for fear of
  litigation
• In 2000 Clinton called for ratings system for all
  entertainment
• In June 1997 Governor G.W. Bush banned Texan
  state pension funds from investing in companies
  producing stickered albums
• Not just the USA
• Australia considering banning sales of some CDs
  to under 18s

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Protests

• Bizarre local censorship
• Louisiana sheriff arrested skating rink owner and
  confiscated 60 CDs by e.g. Britney Spears (and a
  Disney film soundtrack) following claims that
  they were involved in starting a fight in the
  rinks car park
• Many radio stations banned the Dixie Chicks (even
  after a public apology) after one group member
  voiced embarrassment at coming from the same
  state as President George W. Bush
• Ohio police made a 13 year old hand over an
  allegedly obscene t-shirt promoting a tour of rap
  group Insane Clown Posse
• Michigan high school pupil suspended for wearing
  a t-shirt promoting Korn that featured no lyrics
  or words apart from the bands name
• Four Texan high school students suspended for
  attending a Backstreet Boys concert which
  violated a school policy forbidding involvement
  in inappropriate music
• Many others see e.g. website of American Civil
  Liberties Union

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Protests A need for research

• Legal confusion
• Rulings usually over-turned on freedom of speech
• Political confusion
• Conservatives hate government meddling in
  everyday life but concerned about public decency
• Liberals hate censorship but say we cant ignore
  suicidal young rock fans from broken homes
• Musical confusion
• Musical meaning is a function of context and
  therefore often ambiguous to parents (e.g.
  Hendrixs Star Spangled Banner)
• Sex and drugs stereotype of pop music does not
  justify censorship some young people can take a
  mature, critical approach to music (but others
  cant)

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Three general perspectives

• Moral panic
• Media effects
• Adolescent stereotyping

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Moral panic

• Public reaction to problem music similar to moral
  panics e.g. ordination of female priests,
  paedophilia, gay marriage etc.
• Cohen (2003)
• Moral panics are widespread emotional outcries
  that occur over particular social and moral
  issues
• Originate in the discovery of a particular
  problem group / factor (e.g. paedophilia)
• Heavy media coverage means they are perceived as
  more pervasive than actually the case
• Reinforced by the media whenever similar
  instances come to light (e.g Soham murders in
  2002, teachers on Sex Offenders Register in 2006)
• Public sensitised to label future events as also
  resulting from the problem group / factor (e.g.
  missing child paedophile murder)
• Leads to the perception of a major threat and of
  the urgent emotional need for a solution with
  severe repercussions for the folk devils in
  question (e.g. the cut em off brigade)
• Solutions championed by moral entrepreneurs who
  highlight certain solutions to further their own
  objectives (e.g. opposition political groups)
• Moral panics maintain social order through the
  ostracising and eventual elimination of
  particular problem groups / factors from
  mainstream society

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Moral panic

• Applies to problem music
• Mainstream society needs a folk devil to blame
  for (perceptions of) a violent society
• Occasional high profile cases (e.g. Elvis, Sex
  Pistols, Marilyn Manson)
• An urgent need to act against producers of this
  music (e.g. stickers, bizarre legal actions)
• Moral entrepreneurs at the forefront (Lynxwiler
  and Gay, 2000)
• Liking for heavy metal and rap was lower among
  females, married participants, those who hold
  conservative attitudes toward gender roles, and
  those who attended religious services

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Media effects

• No large effects of the media on large portions
  of population
• Limited effects on specific sub-groups do exist
• July 2000
• Joint statement by the American Psychological
  Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics,
  the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
  Psychiatry, the American Medical Association, the
  American Academy of Family Physicians, and the
  American Psychiatric Association stated that the
  data point overwhelmingly to a causal connection
  between media violence and aggressive behavior in
  some children.
• Villani (2001)
• Reviewed effects of TV, films, pop music,
  advertising, video games, and computers /
  internet usage
• The primary effects of media exposure are
  increased violent and aggressive behavior,
  increased high-risk behaviors, including alcohol
  and tobacco use, and accelerated onset of sexual
  activity (p.392).
• Anderson and Bushman (2002)
• Meta-analysis established link between aggression
  and media violence
• Suggests heavy rock and rap might cause problems
  for some people

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Stereotypes of adolescence

• A time of storm and stress
• Adolescents like problem music because it
  reflects alienation from family / society
• But
• Offer, Ostrov, Howard, and Atkinson (1988)
• 5938 adolescents from Japan, Israel, Hungary,
  West Germany, Italy, Australia, Turkey,
  Bangladesh, Taiwan, and the United States
• Over 90 denied a) holding a grudge against
  parents and b) that parents were ashamed of them
• DuBois-Reymond (1989)
• 96 of Dutch adolescents satisfied with their
  home life
• Problem music does not reflect alienation from
  family / society

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Stereotypes of adolescence

• Identity crisis
• Adolescents accept dubious moral values from
  problem music without question because they
  havent resolved self-identity
• But only a few adolescents experience identity
  crisis
• Marcias (1966) four types of identity status
• Identity diffusion (avoidance)
• Identity foreclosure (premature commitment)
• Identity moratorium (try out different
  identities)
• Identity achievement (commitment to ideals and
  plans)
• But few are experiencing moratorium
• Adolescents have no incentive for uncritical
  acceptance of the messages of problem music

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Prevalence and content of problem music

• Economic clout of adolescents
• Listening times
• The importance of music
• Content
• Popularity of sex and violence
• General caveats

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Economic clout of adolescents

• Dortch (1994)
• In 1993 16-19 year old USA boys had US75 per
  week to spend and girls had US82
• Sellers (1989)
• Spending by American 12-19 year olds in 1988
  totalled US55 billion, and totalled US248
  billion when including purchases they made on
  behalf of their families
• British Phonographic Industry
• World music sales, although down 1.3 on the
  previous year, were worth US33.6 billion in 2004
• UK CD sales of 174.6 million in 2004
• UK music industry earns more than steel or water
  supply
• Christenson and Roberts (1998)
• Recording Industry Association of America data
  showing that under 24 year olds accounted for
  40-50 of all sales of pop music in the USA.

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Listening times

• Very high
• Davis (1985)
• Estimated that between 7th and 12th grades the
  average USA pupil has had 10500 hours of
  deliberate exposure to music
• Lyle and Hoffmann (1972)
• Estimated that a quarter of 10 year olds in the
  USA listened to music for four or more hours per
  day
• Roberts and Henriksen (1990)
• All incidences of exposure to music (i.e.
  foreground and background) in 9th and 11th grade
  USA pupils
• Listening time 3-4 hours per day
• Corresponding figure for television viewing
  2-2.5 hours
• Music television
• Early studies suggested about 3 hours per day
• More recent research suggests less than an hour
  per day
• Certainly not strangers to music video

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The importance of music

• Leming (1987)
• 46 of 11-15 year olds regarded music as very
  important and only 7 said it was not important
  at all
• The Horatio Alger Foundation (1996)
• Music was their USA 13-17 year olds number one
  non-school activity
• Roberts and Henriksen (1990)
• Music media were the most preferred item that 7th
  to 11th grade USA school pupils would take with
  them to a desert island
• Fitzgerald, Joseph, Hayes, and ORegan (1995)
• 76 of Irish boys and 81 of girls were
  interested in music as a leisure pursuit
• The leisure activity they were most interested in

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Content 1. Sexuality

• Cole (1971)
• Analysed the lyrics of the top 10 songs for each
  year of the 1960s and found that love-sex was
  the predominant theme (p.389)
• Even when protest pop was at its height, sexual
  relationships remained pop musics core subject
  matter.
• Christenson and Roberts (1998) review
• A gradual reduction over the past 50 years in the
  number of songs with a boy meets girl theme -
  about 90 in 1941-2, 70 in 1966, 50 in the
  early 1980s, back up to around 70 by the late
  1980s
• More emphasis now on sexual and physical aspects
  of love and less on emotional aspects (e.g.
  Fedler, Hall, and Tanzi, 1982)

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Content 2. Sexism

• Society has become more egalitarian pop maybe
  hasnt
• Wilkinson (1976)
• Pop songs from 1954-1968 portrayed men and women
  as equally likely to be primary actors or
  initiators in relationships
• But it all went wrong from the 1970s to mid-1990s
• Hyden and McCandless (1983)
• Pop songs from 1972-1982 had males portrayed more
  often as demonstrating initiative and competence,
  whereas females were more seductive and more
  powerful than men.
• Sherman and Dominick (1986)
• More than 75 of videos contained sexual
  suggestion (e.g. kissing, fondling), and females
  were dressed provocatively about half the time
  they appeared.
• Vincent, Davis, and Boruszkowski (1987)
• Over 50 of videos from 1985-1987 featured a male
  artist treated women in a condescending way

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Content 2. Sexism

• Seidman (1992)
• Strong sex-typing of occupational roles acted out
  in music videos from 1987, and women more likely
  to wear sexually provocative clothing
• Sommers-Flanagan, Sommers-Flanagan, and Davis
  (1993)
• Men engaged in more aggressive and dominant
  behaviour in music videos than do women women
  engaged in more implicitly sexual and subservient
  behaviour and women were more frequently the
  object of explicit, implicit, and aggressive
  sexual advances
• Signorielli, McLeod, and Healy (1994)
• Analysed the commercials shown on music
  television
• Females appeared less often, but when they did
  they tended to have more beautiful bodies, wore
  skimpier clothing, and were looked at more often
  than others
• Gow (1996)
• Music videos from the early 1990s
  under-represented women and emphasised their
  physical appearance rather than their musical
  ability 

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Content 2. Sexism

• Recent glimmers of hope
• Seidman (1999)
• Analysed music videos from 1993, comparing these
  with his earlier sample
• In the 1993 videos males and females were still
  portrayed overwhelmingly in sex-typed jobs males
  were still over-represented (63 of characters
  vs. 37 females characters), more adventuresome
  and violent and women were still more
  affectionate, nurturing, and sexually pursued,
  and wore more revealing clothing (33.4 of
  characters vs. 7.0 of male characters)
• However, males were no longer more aggressive,
  domineering, and victimised than women, and
  females were no longer more dependent, fearful,
  and in pursuit of others sexually

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Content 2. Sexism

• Dukes, Bisel, Borega, Lobato, and Owens (2003)
• Analysed the 100 most popular songs in the USA
  between 1958 and 1998
• Over time references to love in lyrics performed
  by female artists decreased although women still
  made more references to love than men
• Male artists steadily increased their use of sex
  words while this peaked for females during
  1976-1984
• More recent songs and songs performed by white,
  female artists expressed greater romantic
  selfishness (i.e. love on my terms)
• Number of songs by women increased over time
  towards a position of equality (from 15 of songs
  between 1958-1972, 43 in 1976-1984, up to 53 in
  1991-1998)
• Problems still persist
• For every Spice Girls preaching a (rather vague)
  message of girl power a 2 Live Crew have lyrics
  commanding a woman to Nibble on my like a
  rat does cheese
• 2004 MOBO awards highlights ongoing concerns
  about homophobia

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Content 3. Racial matters

• Dukes et al (2003)
• Black musicians responsible for 40 of those
  all-time top 100 songs that were released between
  1958-1972, 27 of those 100 songs released
  between 1976-1984, and 63 of those 100 songs
  released between 1991-1998
• Hakanen (1995)
• Rap and RB / soul (and jazz) produce
  predominantly positive rather than negative
  emotions
• But
• Brown and Campbell (1986)
• Blacks were more likely to be portrayed in videos
  shown on Black Entertainment Television whereas
  whites were more likely to be portrayed in videos
  shown on MTV
• Rich, Woods, Goodman, Emans, and DuRant (1998)
• Analysis of 518 music videos concluded that
  Compared with United States demographics, blacks
  were overrepresented as aggressors and victims
  of violence, whereas whites were
  underrepresented. White females were most
  frequently victims. Music videos may be
  reinforcing false stereotypes of aggressive black
  males and victimized white females (p.669)

31
Content 4. Death, violence, and destruction

• Popularity of music with themes concerning
  homicide, Satanism, and suicide (HSS)
• Wass, Raup, Cerullo, and Martel, et al.
  (1988-1989)
• 17 of rural participants and 24 of the urban
  participants were fans of HSS rock
• ¾ of fans were male and nearly all were white
• Wass, Miller, and Stevenson (1989)
• 17.5 were fans of HSS rock
• HSS fans more likely to have parents who were
  never married or remarried and less likely to
  have married parents, to be male, white, and
  enrolled in urban schools
• Wass, Miller, and Redditt (1991)
• 120 13-18 year old offenders
• 91 were fans of rock of whom 54 were fans of
  HSS rock
• HSS fans more likely to be white and have dropped
  out of school

32
Content 4. Death, violence, and destruction

• Plopper and Ness (1993)
• Analysed USA music sales charts from 1955 to 1991
• Only 90 of the 9311 songs (.97) that reached the
  charts concerned death
• Popularity of death songs peaked in the 1960s,
  and only eight of the 90 were released in the
  1980s and early 1990s
• But
• Death songs were disproportionately popular
  25.5 of death-related songs reached number 1
  compared to only 8.6 of other songs, and while
  57.8 of death-related songs reached the top 10
  only 36.2 of other songs did
• Of the songs concerning the death of common
  people, murder and other forms of violence (e.g.
  executions, shootings of criminals) accounted for
  48 of the deaths
• Attitudes towards death least expressed in these
  songs were that life is dear and death is
  undeserved, references to the tangible realities
  of death were limited, and there was little
  sustained attention to grief and grieving

33
Content 4. Death, violence, and destruction

• Music videos
• Greeson and Williams (1986)
• Only 15 of videos featured violence
• But
• Baxter et al (1985)
• 53 of their videos contained depictions of
  violence or crime
• About a quarter showed physical violence against
  people, and 10 displayed weapons
• Sherman and Dominick (1986)
• 56 of their videos included overt violence, and
  only 12 of violent acts led to injury
• Kalis and Neuendorf (1989)
• 61 of MTV videos contained objects or events
  that represented or threatened physical harm.
• Tapper, Thorson, and Black (1994)
• Violence in 29 of rap videos (versus 6 in soul
  videos)

34
Content 4. Death, violence, and destruction

• Recent falling violence
• DuRant, Rich, Emans, Rome, Allred, and Woods
  (1997)
• 22.4 of MTV videos contained open violence
  (Country Music Television 11.8, Black
  Entertainment Television 11.5)
• Weapon carrying was higher among music videos on
  MTV (25.0) than on Black Entertainment
  Television (11.5), Video Hits One (8.4), and
  Country Music Television (6.9)
• Smith and Boyson (2002)
• 15 of videos contained violence
• But portrayal of violence and destruction was
  casual and without consequences
• 56 of the violent interactions depicted showed
  no injury to the victim 72 of all violent
  interactions did not feature the victim
  experiencing pain 17 of all violent scenes
  showed the violence being rewarded or positively
  reinforced 79 of violent scenes featured no
  punishments 88 of violent videos were presented
  in authentic or realistic contexts and only 3
  of all music videos featured an anti-violence
  theme

35
Popularity of sex and violence

• Does this content attract people?
• Two studies indicate that sex does, violence
  might (not), and sex and violence together dont
• Hansen and Hansen (1990)
• High violence led to negative reactions to the
  song and video and also to students feeling less
  happy, more fearful, more anxious, and aggressive
• Sexual imagery led to greater musical and visual
  appeal, although the combination of sex and
  violence did not
• Zillmann and Mundorf (1987, p.316)
• The involvement of sexual stimuli intensified
  appreciation of the music and that violent
  stimuli tended to have a similar effect. However,
  the combination of sexual and violent images
  failed to enhance appreciation (p.316)

36
Popularity of sex and violence

• Individual differences
• Christenson (1992)
• 10-12 year olds did not feel that sexual images
  and lyrics were appropriate for them
• Greeson (1991)
• Liking for sex in music videos was lower among
  college- than high school-aged participants, so
  liking for sex in music may peak in the mid-teens
• Sex in music videos was more popular among
  working class participants, those who went to
  church less often, and males
• Zillmann and Mundorf (1987)
• Sexual images made the music more sensual and
  romantic for males, whereas females found music
  devoid of visual embellishments most romantic

37
General caveats

• Individual differences mediate the appeal (and
  likely impact) of salacious content
• Most research is North American
• Need to research music in other regions
• But North American music has global reach
• Lloyd and Mendez (2001) found that over 2/3 of
  Botswanan 14-20 year olds had weekly exposure but
  the majority did not accurately perceive
  culture-specific language and images in the USA
  music videos
• Pop music is ever-changing so new research needed
  constantly
• Oldies radio means that 1980s and 1990s
  research is relevant to modern world

38
General caveats

• Depends on the musical style
• Rap and heavy rock worst
• Smith and Boyson (2002)
• Rap (27) and rock (20) videos were more likely
  than adult contemporary (4) to feature
  justifiable violence
• DuRant, Rich, and Emans et al (1997)
• 20.4 of rap videos and 19.8 of rock videos
  feature violence compared to 5.9 of RB and
  10.8 of country videos
• Weapon carrying higher in rock (19.8) and rap
  (19.5) videos than in rhythm and blues (6.9),
  and country (6.3) videos
• DuRant, Rome, Rich, Alldred, Emans, and Woods
  (1997)
• Smoking shown in 30.1 of rap videos and 21.6 of
  rock videos compared to 10.9 of RB videos and
  11.7 of country videos
• Alcohol use shown in 27.4 of rap videos and
  24.7 of rock videos compared to 16.8 of RB
  videos and 20.7 of country videos

39
General caveats

• Problem content not limited to rap and rock
  though
• Tapper, Thorson, and Black (1994)
• Sexual imagery in 46 of rap videos, but also in
  50 of soul videos and 45 of pop videos, and
  only 8 of heavy metal videos
• DuRant, Rich, and Emans et al (1997)
• 71.7 of rap videos and 76.5 of rock videos made
  no reference to sexuality or eroticism compared
  with only 45.5 of RB videos and 54.8 of adult
  contemporary videos
• Smith and Boyson (2002)
• No differences between rap, rock, RB, and adult
  contemporary videos in the number of violent
  attacks that did not lead to consequences for the
  victim, the depiction of blood / gore following
  violence, and the humourous depiction of
  violence.
• What we mean by problem music not so clear cut
  as protestors suggest
• Legislation needs to work at the level of the
  song and not the genre

40
Effects of problem music

• General issues
• Delinquency and criminality
• Illegal drug usage
• Permissive sexual attitudes
• Sexual discrimination
• Self-harm and suicide
• (Mis)interpretation of lyrics

41
General issues

• Dubious content may not be enough for censorship
• Offensive content may be enough for some but
• There is an off button
• Depiction of sex and drugs may have (some)
  educational value
• Censorship may require evidence of negative
  effects resulting from exposure
• Effects of problem music on several attitudes and
  behaviours
• Delinquency and criminality, drug usage, drinking
  and smoking, permissive sexual attitudes, sexual
  and racial discrimination, and self-harm and
  suicide
• Correlational and experimental studies considered
  separately
• Marriage guidance correlates with divorce its
  not the same as a correlation between pollution
  and height
• Experiments allow cause and effect but are
  particularly prone to demand characteristics
  psychology students know the stereotypical
  effects of rap and rock better than most

42
Delinquency and criminality correlational studies

• Personality measures indicative of a tendency
  toward delinquency and criminality
• Sensation seeking and a preference for heavy
  metal music
• e.g. Arnett, 1991a, 1992 Kim, Kwak, and Chang,
  1998 McNamara and Ballard, 1999
• Disinhibition and time spent listening to defiant
  music
• Dillman-Carpentier, Knobloch and Zillmann (2003)
• Psychoticism, reactive rebelliousness, and
  enjoyment of rebellious videos
• Robinson, Weaver, and Zillmann (1996)
• North, Desborough and Skarstein (2005) found a
  positive relationship between psychoticism and
  British participants liking for each of rap, nu
  metal, hip hop, and rock, but not RB, indie
  music, or chart pop

43
Delinquency and criminality correlational studies

• Aggression
• Rubin, West, and Mitchell (2001) found that fans
  of problem music score higher on a measure of
  aggression than non-fans
• Other personality factors linked to delinquency /
  criminality
• Schwartz and Fouts (2003) - fans of heavy music
  were more tough-minded, overly assertive in their
  relationships with others, less concerned /
  indifferent to the feelings and reactions of
  others, more moody, more pessimistic, overly
  sensitive, discontented, more impulsive, more
  disrespectful of societys rules, and had less
  academic confidence
• Hansen and Hansen (1991) - heavy metal fans
  higher on Machiavellianism (i.e. manipulative,
  cynical, and amoral) and machismo (i.e. sexism
  and hypermasculine), lower on need for
  cognition time spent listening to heavy metal
  correlated positively with a belief that Satanism
  is widespread and punk fans less accepting of
  authority
• Trostle (1986) - fans of heavy metal more likely
  to believe in witchcraft and the occult

44
Delinquency and criminality correlational studies

• Poor school performance
• Tanner (1981)
• Canadian teenage heavy metal fans were more
  likely than others to have a low commitment to
  school
• Sun and Lull (1986)
• Time spent watching music videos was negatively
  related to happiness at school
• Larson and Kubey (1983)
• Frequency of music listening associated with
  lower levels of academic performance
• Roe (1984)
• Low commitment to school and low academic
  achievement predict liking for oppositional
  music
• Took and Weiss (1994)
• Adolescent fans of heavy metal and rap more
  likely to have below-average school grades and a
  history of counselling in elementary school for
  school problems

45
Delinquency and criminality correlational studies

• Risk-taking
• Arnett (1991)
• Male heavy metal fans more likely than non-fans
  to engage in risky driving, risky sexual
  behaviour, and drug use
• Female heavy metal fans more likely to engage in
  shoplifting, vandalism, risky sexual behaviour,
  and drug use
• Arnett (1992)
• Rock fans reported higher rates of reckless
  behaviours such as drink-driving, driving over 80
  mph, having sex without contraception, having sex
  with someone known only casually, drug use,
  shoplifting, and vandalism
• Martin, Clarke, and Pearce (1993)
• Australian fans of rock / metal scored higher on
  a measure of risk-taking than did pop fans

46
Delinquency and criminality correlational studies

• Actual criminality
• North and Sheridan (submitted)
• Eysenckian criminality correlated positively with
  liking problem music
• Wingood, DiClemente, Bernhardt, Harrington,
  Davies, Robillard, and Hook (2003)
• Participants who had had higher exposure to rap
  videos had greater unemployment and less parental
  monitoring
• Even when these were controlled, those with heavy
  exposure to rap were three times more likely to
  have hit a teacher and more than 2.5 times as
  likely to have been arrested during the 12-month
  follow-up period
• Atkin, Smith, Roberto, Fediuk, and Wagner (2002)
• Controlled degree of exposure to other violent
  media
• Listening to problem music related to the
  commission of verbal aggression (i.e. swearing,
  insulting or passing nasty comments)

47
Delinquency and criminality correlational studies

• Singer, Levine, and Jou (1993)
• Liking for heavy metal related to delinquency
  among high school pupils with low parental
  control
• North and Hargreaves (in press)
• British fans of problem music had carried out 20
  delinquent / anti-social acts more frequently
  within the past two years
• Martin, Clarke, and Pearce (1993)
• Australian adolescents scored higher on a
  delinquency scale if they liked rock / metal
  rather than pop
• Wass, Miller, and Reditt (1991)
• People in juvenile detention three times more
  likely than high school students to have heavy
  metal as their favourite musical style
• Epstein, Pratto, and Skipper (1990)
• 96 of their sample of adolescents with
  behavioural problems listed heavy metal as their
  favourite music

48
Delinquency and criminality correlational studies

• Caveats to the correlational evidence
• 1. Studies which investigate a third factor in
  addition to musical preference and a measure of
  delinquency / crime tend to show that the former
  has a strong effect in mediating the relationship
  between the latter two.
• Epstein, Pratto, and Skipper (1990) found people
  with behavioural problems overwhelmingly liked
  heavy metal but musical preference could predict
  only participants race and could not predict
  problem behaviour race may underlie the link
  between problem music and problem behaviour
• Singer, Levine, and Jous (1993) found that
  liking for heavy metal was related to delinquency
  among school pupils with low (but not high)
  parental control implies that parental control
  is very important in predicting delinquency /
  crime relative to the role of problem music
• Similar findings in North, Desborough, and
  Skarstein (2005) Arnett (1991 1992) Took and
  Weiss (1994)

49
Delinquency and criminality correlational studies

• 2. Numerous failed attempts to establish a
  music-delinquency link
• Personality
• Gardstrom (1999) found rap preferred by male
  felons only 4 perceived a music-deviance
  connection, and believed instead that the music
  was a mirror of their lifestyles
• Actual delinquency
• Miranda and Claes (2004) found a link between
  liking French rap and street gang membership, but
  also that liking for American rap was linked
  significantly to lower propensity towards theft,
  and that hip hop / soul were significantly linked
  to lower theft and hard drug use
• North and Hargreaves (in press) found that fans
  of hip hop / rap were among those more likely to
  have been arrested, but no more than for fans of
  blues and country rock fans were among those
  least likely to have been arrested
• Armstrong (1993) showed rap and country lyrics
  treated murder, manslaughter, and assault
  similarly

50
Delinquency and criminality correlational studies

• Conclusions
• There is a relationship between liking problem
  music and delinquency / crime
• The pattern of evidence is not entirely
  consistent
• The link between problem music and delinquency /
  crime is much stronger among those from
  vulnerable backgrounds
• The relationship is strengthened by e.g. high
  psychoticism, membership of an undervalued ethnic
  / social group, high sensation-seeking, negative
  family relationships, low parental controls, and
  whether or not participants are male.
• Is it these background conditions that cause both
  liking for problem music and also delinquency /
  crime?

51
Delinquency and criminality experimental studies

• Controlled exposure to problem music and
  subsequent acts of delinquency / criminality
• Two theoretical explanations
• Social learning theory (Bandura, 1973 1977
  1994)
• New behaviours can be learned through observation
  and direct imitation
• Cannot explain media effects that do not
  demonstrate direct imitation of the behaviours
  portrayed
• Cognitive priming theory (Berkowitz and Rogers,
  1986)
• Media violence primes additional information in
  memory that is related to the behaviour portrayed
• The entire category of information becomes more
  salient, and more likely to be employed
• Exposure to violent music media should prime
  related delinquent tendencies these guide
  assessment of the media in question and the
  future attitudes and behaviour of viewers /
  listeners 
• Some evidence for this

52
Delinquency and criminality experimental studies

• Hansen and Hansen (1990)
• Showed music videos that did (not) portray
  anti-social behaviours
• Participants then saw a confederate in another
  room perform or not perform an anti-social hand
  gesture targeted at the experimenter
• Participants then evaluated the confederate
• Findings confirmed prediction of cognitive
  priming theory the anti-social videos should
  lead to more favourable assessments of the
  confederates hand gesture than should the
  non-anti-social videos
• Johnson, Jackson, and Gatto (1995)
• A supposed memory test showed either 8 rap
  videos containing violent images, acts, and / or
  lyrics, 8 non-violent rap videos, or no videos
• A supposed decision-making experiments in which
  participants read a passage describing a dating
  couple. The male becomes violent when a male
  friend of the female gives her a kiss. Is the
  violence acceptable?
• Participants then read a second passage that
  described two male friends one went to college
  but the other is unemployed yet wealthy. Which do
  they want to be like?
• Participants shown the violent videos were more
  accepting of violence, and wanted to be more like
  the man who acquired material wealth without a
  college education

53
Delinquency and criminality experimental studies

• But two studies fail to support cognitive priming
• Wanamaker and Reznikoff (1989)
• Participants write stories about five ambiguous
  pictures
• Heard a rock song with either nonaggressive music
  and nonaggressive lyrics, aggressive music and
  nonaggressive lyrics, or aggressive music and
  aggressive lyrics
• No effect on aggressiveness in participants
  stories or their scores on a measure of hostility
• Violent music did not prime access to violent
  cognitions
• Gowensmith and Bloom (1997)
• Exposure to heavy metal increased arousal in all
  participants, but did not increase levels of
  anger in participants who were already heavy
  metal fans
• Evidence is inconclusive

54
Illegal drug usage correlational studies

• No experimental evidence
• Robinson, Pilskaln, and Hirsch (1976)
• Young mens use of marijuana, amphetamine,
  barbiturates, and hallucinogens (and alcohol, but
  not heroin) related positively related to liking
  for protest music
• Usage of marijuana, for example, increased from
  about 25 for those having only one or no protest
  favorites to almost 50 among those having 2 or 3
  protest favourites (p.125).
• King (1988)
• 59 of those hospitalised for substance abuse
  named heavy metal as their favourite style of
  music compared to 17 of those hospitalised for
  other psychiatric disorders
• Martin, Clarke, and Pearce (1993)
• Rock / heavy metal fans 50 more likely to admit
  use of marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol than pop
  fans

55
Illegal drug usage correlational studies

• Wingood, DiClemente, Bernhardt, Harrington,
  Davies, Robillard, and Hook (2003)
• Adolescents with greater exposure to rap videos
  were 1.5 times more likely to use drugs over a 12
  month follow up than those with less exposure,
  even when controlling for factors such as
  employment status, parental monitoring of their
  whereabouts, and religiosity
• Roberts, Dimsdale, East, and Friedman (1998)
• Adolescents who had strong (and particularly
  negative) emotional responses to music were more
  prone to drug use
• Hansen and Hansen (1991)
• These usage patterns permeate perceptions of
  reality
• Heavy metal fans