As everyone knows, the first amendment grants us the freedom of speech. But what does that really mean? Are we really allowed to say whatever we want, whenever we want, and to whomever we want? Specifically, how does this freedom relate to the music we hear everyday?
Of course there are some limits to what we have a right to express. For example, even though you are entitled to free speech, you wouldn't yell "fire" in a crowded building. Similarly, while journalists and writers are allowed to write whatever they want, its up to the newsstand which publications they carry. When it comes to music, radio stations normally bleep-out words based on what their standards deem as inappropriate. Record companies put labels on songs with potentially offensive lyrics. And artists produce "clean" and "uncensored" versions of songs so that the consumer is able to make an informed choice about what they want to hear.
Music is a form of art, and like any art form it has had its fair share of suppression and censorship. In the 50's legislation was passed to limit the "suggestive" lyrics of rock n' roll. In the 70's John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" was banned on radio because it was feared the "high" referred to drugs. And in the 90's many people blamed rap for a rising trend of violence in schools. Regardless of the time, music has constantly been under scrutiny and faced restriction.
So how does this relate to the freedom of speech that is granted to us in the first amendment? And how far is too far when it comes to censorship on the lyrics an artist carefully creates?