Alright, for my first big essay for school, for my "Forbidden Knowledge" class, I'm writing a paper about Censorship in Music. Basically it applies, because it's kind of taboo and what not. Idk, the assignment is really open ended, I need to go over it again. It's not due until Nov. 30th, but my 100-200 word thesis is due tomorrow (Thursday)...and I'm struggling with how to write it and stuff.

I don't think I really gave you guys much information, but if anyone has any ideas about how I can tie together Censorship in Music and Forbidden Knowledge...or just has an idea that would be interesting to include in my essay, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Oh, and if you're good at writing thesis statements, that'd be awesome if you could give me tips too. I'm like the youngest or second youngest here, and this is my first big college writing assignment.

Ok, hop to it.

Or ask questions to better grasp what I'm asking.

Thanks.
-Andy.

First of all, one has to define forbidden knowledge. Forbidden by whom? Probably a government, at least in the context of music.

Use examples of Islamic states (such as Afghanistan under the Taliban) banning certain albums and why they did it. A good example is "Uplift Mofo Party Plan" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was banned somewhere in the Middle East by a fundamentalist regime because of the song "Special Secret Song Inside", whose chorus is only the words "I Want To Party On Your Pussy Baby." Clearly in that case, they were seeking to keep explicit sexual words and ideas out of the heads of the people in their race due to their ideas on how to treat women.

Governments or religions that condone censorship, or even censor themselves are creating forbidden knowledge by not allowing their citizens/followers access to all the perspectives that they could possibly experience. Any form of censorship is a way to forbid knowledge.

That help? IM/e-mail me if you want to discuss this further or if I can be of any further assistance.

im: cmanhatan4
e-mail: cmanhatan4 at yahoo dot com

"Forbidden Knowledge"? Care to elaborate a bit?

Do you have to stick to one specific subject, or censorship in music in general?

Off the top of my head:

The Parental Advisory warning (and how it frequently didn't get put on albums by white artists, even though they were using the same words as black artists who got stickered)

The backwards masking lawsuits

Filming Elvis from the waist up on early TV appearances so they wouldn't show his evil swivelling hips

Censored album covers: Beatles "Yesterday and Today," Guns & Roses "Appetite for Destruction," Roxy Music's "Country Life," Black Crowes' "Amorica"

Illegal sampling lawsuits (not so much censorship, but sorta)

Sound artist John Oswald being forced to destroy all copies of his "Plunderphonics" CD because of uncleared samples and collage art, even though he was giving the CD away as an art project and was not actually profitting from it

When I talked to my teachers, I was leaning more towards the Gangster rap movement in the early 90s, and how it wouldn't be sold in chain stores and the videos wouldn't be played and the FBI was after NWA and Ice-T and stuff...just because they were saying stuff a very large population was feeling.

My problem is that I have a problem defining Forbidden Knowledge...my teacher/prof has never (to my knowledge) given a straight answer. It's kind of like "Is there any limit to what we should or can know?"

Things we usually talk about in class are like Creationism, Stem Cell research, etc.

Taboo subjects that might now have real answers on the surface. Like is it forbidden for a reason?

My paper will be around governmental (and clear channel) control over works of art, I think. And how a great deal of it is foolish.

i cant help you but

best lyrics ever!!!

Well, given that you want to talk about media control, you've got a ton of current events to pull from if you'd like: Janet's boob, the fact that Comedy Central now allows "fuck" late-nights with impunity, the fairly-recent ratings system, the v-chip, the communications decency act, etc.

Someone is class is doing Television censorship. Someone is doing video-game violence.

I'm doing music.

Not really censored, only recalled. My understanding is that the "Butcher Block" photo was a joke and never intended to be an album cover at all. A screw-up at the label led to its printing, which was never truly released. In order to save money, the "proper" cover was pasted over the first several thousand, and the rest is history.

In this case I was thinking more like self-censorship, or at least record company censorship. I hadn't heard that it was a gag (although it's hard to believe they really thought they could use that cover).

You could also mention the bands like the Mentors and G.G. Allin who truly were looking for Forbidden knowledge, or George Carlin's "seven Dirty Words" routine.

Regarding a thesis statement, be sure to explain why you are arguing what you are arguing. So, for example, don't say "rap music was not sold in music stores in the early 90s". That's not a thesis statemetn. Instead, say something like "the fact that rap music was not sold in record stores in the early 90s showed that yadda yadda...." Then, in the rest of your paper you will be providing evidence that supports your argument. Key word there is argument. Don't forget that. It doesn't matter at all what you are arguing as long as you can back up what you say with valid evidence. Your thesis statement will be used to let your reader know what you are arguing.

Oh. i know that. Heh.

talk about that chili peppers album and perhaps why they are so big here and so nothing there and what cultural differences you can relate to that, i.e. more sexual liberation here.

Yeah. Thanks guys, there's been some pretty good ideas thrown out there.

I'm wrapping up my Intro/Thesis right now, and then going to bed.

Thanks again.

One of the great things about college/university is going from really struggling to write a paper when you first start to being about to being able to produce a paper relatively easily at the end of the year. Certainly last year they were iintially taking about 3 days to write and I was getting 15/16 grades. By the end of the year I could write one in about 8 hours and I was getting papers graded 18 or 19. It's like University actually works, I'm intelligent now!

Our store didn't sell much rap, but we sure did chase a lot of little fuckers down the street for trying to steal it.

You should mention the voluntary censorship some labels and artists put up with in order to sell in Wal*mart and other large chains...

Sounds like a fun topic to write a paper on. When I was in school, I usually ended up with writing reports about supply-side economics or fungii or something.