Censorship is not new; it has been around for as long as government has. One of the first documented instances of music censorship in America was during the 1860’s.

Following the Civil War, Southerners are forbidden from publicly singing

Also during this decade, many songs are completely banned from the radio, due to certain themes. An example if this is during the year of 1956 when “ABC Radio Network bans Billie Holiday’s ‘Love For Sale’ from all of it’s stations because of its prostitution themes” (Nuzum 219). During the same year, an issue of the popular magazine Variety “declares that rock music should be banned for causing a staggering wave of juvenile violence and mayhem” (Nuzum 219).

Lyrics in the song ‘These Foolish Things’ are changed by the publisher because of concerns that the original words are too sexually aggressive. The phrase “gardenia perfume lingering on a pillow” is altered to “a seaplane rising from an ocean billow” (Nuzum 214).

“As Elvis Presley’s popularity surges, several radio stations across the country pull his records, claiming they are too obscene. A Nashville deejay known as Great Scott burns six hundred Elvis records in a city park; WSPT in Minneapolis vows never to air any of Presley’s records; and Los Angeles station KMBC refuses to play Elvis’s Christmas Album, saying it is tantamount to “having Tempest Storm give Christmas gifts to my kids” (Nuzum 220).

Congress shall not make no law representing an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances (Nuzum 177).

Lastly, the most important reason why censorship should not be practiced is because it’s against the constitution; and the constitution has been the backbone that has made America strong. The first Amendment of the Constitution reads:

“Curbing new ideas hurts not only individual creators but the audience for which they create and the posterity that inherits their legacy” (Postrel 162). It is not fair for someone to force the altering of an artist’s work against their wishes. This does nothing but cause misinterpretation of the artist’s original intentions. One example of this is the effects of the World Trade Center attacks.

Some topics in this essay:
I’m Armstrong, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Manson, America Isn’t, Amendment Constitution, Billie Holiday’s, Run Clegg, Lyrics” Nuzum, South African, Foolish Things’, freedom speech, elvis presley, music censorship, marilyn manson, nuzum 214 decade, nuzum 177, 214 decade, lewis armstrong’s, nuzum 220, music censorship america, alter lyrics, abridging freedom speech, experienced censorship, “what wonderful world”, reason censorship practiced,