Klarinet Archive - Posting 000199.txt from 1996/02

From: "Scott D. Morrow" <SDM@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: MUSIC
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 09:29:52 -0500

> Yeah, I like some of the music on this station, but I think that with a
>little output on this music, we can change it. I love rap. But, if has
>nasty swears or something about sex, no matter what the rythm might be, I
>hate it. I think that art and expressing yourself through music doesn't
>have to involve immature words. I think that in a few years, no matter how
>hard we start to try, the world will be trash. The least we can do is get
>this garbage off the radio. I would LOVE to hear EVERYONE'S opinion,
>please. I want to know if anyone else feels this way. Also, if anybody,
>close to my age, has to say anything, PLEASE DO!!!!!!!!!
>
>BETHANY

Bethany,
Sorry: I'm not even CLOSE to your age (but I have a daughter who
is!)! However, I can understand your frustration. I personally don't like
rap (my theory is that rap is what happens when people who work at the
Hallmark Greeting Card Company finally go off the deep end), not just
because I find it annoying, but because what I've heard of it seems
uncreative - rhymes are stressed over meaning, etc. Also, I don't care for
it for precisely the reason you've stated: it is mostly used as an
expression of hate and violence. I suppose the question is: can you remove
the hate and violence from the medium, or, if you DO remove it, will it no
longer BE that medium, but something else, instead? (I am also a
songwriter, and I was recently collaborating on a musical where the
playwright decided he wanted a rap number. I fought tooth and nail, but he
really wanted it. I decided that if I HAD to write a rap number, it would
express my feelings about rap in general! The result was the "Torture
Rap", where the characters are torturing another character by means of the
rap!)
I think this question is probably the same that has been discussed
throughout our history: when some composers/performers got tired of
classical music and decided to change it, how far could they go before it
became a different style altogether?
I suppose the way to try to change it is to encourage those artists
whose messages you approve of and let the ones you DON'T approve of know
you don't approve of them (ie., buy the ones you like and DON'T buy the
ones that offend you!) You can also note who the sponsors are on the radio
stations that play the songs that offend you and write to them telling them
that you won't buy their products because the music they sponsor offends
you!

-Scott

Scott D. Morrow
Department of Biochemistry
School of Hygiene and Public Health
Johns Hopkins University
(410)-955-3631

SDM@-----.edu