Imagine a world in which all individuals could decipher right from wrong and good from bad. If this were feasible, we would live in a sanctuary free from the horrors of crime, death, and destruction. In this "perfect world" we would no longer have to worry about corruption and influence from outside forces, and all new outside information from movies, magazines, and music would portray positive messages. However, being intelligent citizens, we recognize no matter how many laws are passed or how severe the punishments are, evil, hatred, and poor judgment regarding the health of one's body will always exist. Because we do not live in a perfect society free of destructive messages, we are subjected to understand and to interpret external messages individually. Today, when listening to musicians, people have to process the artist's message and draw their own conclusions; however, this was not required at the conception of music. .
In its earliest forms, music was intended to be viewed as an art, where the artists expressed their emotions in an attempt to educate and to influence their listeners. Part of this notion still holds true today, as modern artists express their inner emotions to please their listeners. Yet, to what extent is music educating its listeners when modern songs portray death, hate, drugs and other negative images? A defender of this genre of music might say, "Well these messages do not mean anything, because people can interpret the song's true meaning which does not center around negative messages." However, the question must be raised, "What about adolescents?" .
Adolescents have proven to be quite fragile and struggle with concepts and values put forth by many artists. Often, children tend to develop role models and learn from what they see and hear. Kids wanting to actually become a singer show this by dressing and acting like their role models. However, with negative messages and poor role models being repetitively aired, young children grow up believing that hatred, suicide, and drugs are morally acceptable actions in our society.
