Can music be blamed for crime and violence?

By Kara Francis

Since the beginning of time, music has been the heart and soul for people all over the world, creating stress-relieving bliss that only music can provide. For every emotion felt, there is a song expressing it whether it is sombreness or anger. Violence and Crime is often blamed on the artists’ ability to communicate their souls. I’m here to inform and persuade you that music cannot be blamed for crime and violence.

The lyrics of a song can be interpreted in many different ways depending upon the individual. These interpretations are often very different to the intentions of the artist and can spark untrue accusations to the artist, who can be blamed for the “secret messages” in the lyrics.

Throughout history music has been blamed for crime and violence. In the 1950’s the relationship between African Americans and white Americans, was very limited. African American music such as Blues Jazz and Rap was often blamed for the crimes that African Americans committed on white people. Obviously this was mainly a cause of racism but still controversy surrounded the issue. White Americans believed that the African American music was associated with the devil.

In the 1960’s the Beatles were blamed for the Charles Manson massacre because one of their songs was playing while the murders occurred. The Beatles were a much-loved pop sensation by all teenagers in that generation which made the Beatles a good target for all of the blame. Though their music was joyful, optimistic and peace loving, some claimed that there were hidden messages in the music’s lyrics causing violent behaviour and schizophrenic episodes.

In the 1990’s Marilyn Manson was an angel in disguise for the media, being blamed for murders and crime. One incident in particular, the ...

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In the 1990’s Marilyn Manson was an angel in disguise for the media, being blamed for murders and crime. One incident in particular, the Columbine massacre, was a direct hit into the gut of Marilyn Manson. His gloomy look on life did suggest that he was encouraging others to follow his ways. Although this seems like a fair case, Marilyn Manson, also known as Brian Warner, was given a chance to defend himself in an interview. He was asked how he felt having been blamed for a savage murdering spree in the school. He replied, “All the great artists of each generation have been blamed on things that ignorant people decide to do, so I am more flattered than I am disappointed.”

Recently, there was a murder case blamed on a Heavy Metal band named Slayer. Three boys murdered a girl and later raped her so their uprising band would have the “edge” they needed to become professionals. This disgusting act was linked to Slayer, as all three boys happened to own a copy of Slayers long play. One song in particular was blamed for the murder, “Post Mortem” which in my opinion does not give me the impression that I want to go out of my way to kill an innocent girl. The court hearing is still in procession but still it is my opinion that the 3 boys’ interpretation of the music was their choice and they should take the blame.

In most of these cases, the people involved had mental problems previously, and were going to commit these crimes whether they listened to the music or not. Music does not provide a mental guide to the physical world. It only tells the stories of the past events of the artists’ lives and the hardship they went through to overcome it.

Tragedy leads to blame. When hearts are broken, dreams are shattered, lives are lost, people naturally look for something to blame even though there was nothing more to blame than the criminal. In the Slayer case, the parents had lost their only daughter, whom they loved and cherished. They would have been lost without her so they needed to compensate by stretching her death out longer so that they wouldn’t lose the thought of her. Even though the 3 boys were caught and prosecuted, they needed something else to blame so they wouldn’t have felt guilty about the clothes she was wearing, or the time of night they let her out. These factors of the situation are always left out discouraging people to believe that maybe it was the criminal’s fault.

Music will continue to exist, and so will murders. Should we really try to deter musicians? If we want music to be with us, to make us happy, to be present when we are married and when we die, we will have to remember that they are making music for the love of it and to make people happy. They are not trying to kill people or send out pessimistic signs to people with mental conditions. Violence and crime cannot be blamed on music.