We see society using musicians as scapegoats all the time. One example of people attacking musicians occurs when a young man thought his life could not get any better. This young man was depressed and felt alone; his favorite band was Staind. They had a song called “Outside”, and the young man thought it explained how he felt. One day he taught himself to play the song on the guitar, then recorded himself playing the song, and listened to it before hanging himself. The story is sick in itself, but another sick thing that comes from this story is that all the media, parents, and all adults blamed the band and its depressing lyrics. This country makes you think you have freedom of speech, but that appears not to be true. The lead singer Aaron Lewis said in an interview, "I was crushed by that," he says. "Music has always been my therapy, a positive force. Before I ever thought about writing songs, I started writing poetry in junior high school and high school. I would fill these five-subject notebooks and it helped me through some rough periods. The only difference now is I was more surprised than anyone when people started coming up to me and saying they understand just what I was saying. I thought I was just telling my story”(qtd. Lewis interview). We cannot infer that a person’s words in a song are telling us to do evil things or hurt ourselves in any way. Staind put out a song on their last album telling about how terrible suicide is and we should not take his story and distort it in to some twisted idea. Manson says in countless interviews, “The honest to God truth is, I really don't find the controversy something to be proud of, or to use to better my career," he said. "I'm not trying to be a lightning rod for all their hatred. ... I just want to be someone who inspires other people to have an opinion, to be an individual, to maybe question things once in a while"(qtd Manson interview). In the aftermath of the April 1999 massacre, which left 15 dead and 23 wounded, Manson canceled his "Rock Is Dead" tour - including a show at Red Rocks - and issued a statement expressing his sympathy for the victims. "But I was surprised," he said. "Even coming back home to Los Angeles, it was strange going out to a restaurant and having people give me dirty looks like I did something wrong, I became a poster boy for a big campaign of fear”(qtd Manson interview). Manson should not have to tell everyone he is not guilty; it is time society accepts responsibility rather than find an easy way out by blaming musicians.

It goes back to John Wayne, we would

Some topics in this essay:
John Wayne, Marilyn Manson, Aaron Lewis, State’s Constitution, House Bill, Los Angeles, Dylan Klebold, Rock Censorship, Ed Sullivan, Erosion Rights, freedom speech, john wayne, disposable teens, people believe, person age, teens we're, disposable teens we're, blaming musicians, don't surprised, surprised don't surprised, klebold decided, dylan klebold, don't surprised don't, we're disposable teens, parents accept responsibility,