This argument is not isolated to urban areas, or rap music. In fact, hard rock groups have been blamed as the cause of several school shootings. The shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton Colorado was attributed to the music of Marilyn Manson. The most recent shooting blamed on occured in Santee California; the alleged shooter had said that he was listening to Linkin Park's album, Hybrid Theory the night before the shooting. .
In 1985, Tipper Gore, wife of former Vice President Al Gore, as well as many other concerned parents came together to create the Parents" Music Resource Center. Mrs. Gore quickly became one of the leading figures in the fight against obscene lyrics in popular music. Soon thereafter, the PMRC began campaigning to let parents everywhere know that the music their children were listening to was depraved. The PMRC, as well as representatives from the recording studios, testified before the senate. They reached a compromise, in which the music would not be altered, however, there would be a label that read "Parental Advisory, Explicit Lyrics" adorning the covers of albums that the PMRC found harmful to children. .
The 1973 Supreme Court decision Miller v. California gave local government control over music they found to be obscene. The first arrest made based on this court decision was against Luther Campbell, leader of the group 2 Live Crew, in 1990; during a concert in Miami Florida, after the group had performed their song "Nasty as We Wanna Be," authorities went on stage and arrested him. However, this did not work out in the PMRC's favor; the controversy of the arrest sent 2 Live Crew's sales skyrocketing, and in 1992, the group appealed the court decision and was given back the right to sing their song. .
Although there seems to be so much good to be gained from censoring controversial artists, we are in essence taking away their fundamental right of freedom of speech; if certain groups get enough power that they can choose whose rights will be abridged, then America will no longer be the free country it was always intended to be.