I listened to an interesting podcast the other day from the Library of Congress' Music and the Brain series. The podcast was about using classical music to deter crime, which I've written about briefly here.
The interviewee, Jacqueline Helfgott, spoke about the criminalization of certain types of music; namely, rap, punk, and heavy metal. This got me thinking about a few things. First, how does music become criminalized? (She mentioned the work of an author, Jeff Ferrell, who has evidently written quite a lot on the topic. I hope to read some of it before too long.) Is the music criminalized because of the people/places that are associated with it? Are there power structures that criminalize music? The PMRC comes immediately to mind. Is there something in the music itself that warrants criminalization? The lyrics?
I'm sure Jacques Attali has something to say about this. It's been a while since I've read his book. Might be time to revisit it.
I bring this all up now in light of my recent post on Christian heavy metal (and, to a small degree, rap). I think the view of certain genres as "criminalized" adds a more sophisticated wrinkle into my earlier confusion. If it's the music (i.e., the actual sounds) that's criminalized, then can the Christian lyrics redeem genre? If it's the lyrics that criminalize the song, then what role does the music play in our understanding? If there are power structures in place, by what criteria do they determine what is criminalized and what isn't? What about the behaviors and/or social situations of the listeners? I'm a middle-class white guy living in a small(-ish) town in Texas. I happen to love rap music and heavy metal. Am I guilty of something by association? Does my liking the music somehow decriminalize it?
*Sigh*... so many questions. I see this growing into a paper before too long. Stay tuned.
The interviewee, Jacqueline Helfgott, spoke about the criminalization of certain types of music; namely, rap, punk, and heavy metal. This got me thinking about a few things. First, how does music become criminalized? (She mentioned the work of an author, Jeff Ferrell, who has evidently written quite a lot on the topic. I hope to read some of it before too long.) Is the music criminalized because of the people/places that are associated with it? Are there power structures that criminalize music? The PMRC comes immediately to mind. Is there something in the music itself that warrants criminalization? The lyrics?
I'm sure Jacques Attali has something to say about this. It's been a while since I've read his book. Might be time to revisit it.
I bring this all up now in light of my recent post on Christian heavy metal (and, to a small degree, rap). I think the view of certain genres as "criminalized" adds a more sophisticated wrinkle into my earlier confusion. If it's the music (i.e., the actual sounds) that's criminalized, then can the Christian lyrics redeem genre? If it's the lyrics that criminalize the song, then what role does the music play in our understanding? If there are power structures in place, by what criteria do they determine what is criminalized and what isn't? What about the behaviors and/or social situations of the listeners? I'm a middle-class white guy living in a small(-ish) town in Texas. I happen to love rap music and heavy metal. Am I guilty of something by association? Does my liking the music somehow decriminalize it?
*Sigh*... so many questions. I see this growing into a paper before too long. Stay tuned.