Censorship

Censorship The rock world’s always pushing the envelope, as they say, in terms of what’s permissible or acceptable or even legal in our society…They’ve put rock groups on trial for the content of their music. Rock’s always been a little dangerous for each generation, from Elvis on. So I do think we have something in common.” -Chris Willman (Foerstel 19) The decades of the 1950s and 60s, with their unprecedented openness, naturally ushered in a new generation and a new era of censorship as well. The main questionable issues between these decades were freedom of speech, political protest, cultural radicalism, drugs, sex, literature, and of course, music (Garry 21). Rock and roll began as a symbol of integration, as an interracial music with the participation of performers and consumers of both races (Winfield 3). It was still the 1950s, and America was not yet ready for such integration. For example, as Winfield states on page 13, “black music” was not accepted by society. To be financially successful, black music was introduced into popular culture with white “covers”. Many black musicians, such as Little Richard and Bo Diddley, received little or no compensation when their songs were recorded music, rock, songs, censorship, sixties, roll, lyrics, generation, dylan, because, mcwilliams, about, winfield, seeger, new, industry, folk, example, banned, zappa, war, sullivan, refused, garry, freedom, even, 1960s, stations, states, song, social, protest, presley, political