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Michael Medved states in his book, Denial Behavior, that "Scientific and academic research support a clear consensus that the media is purposefully pumping children with the message that violence is the way to solve their problems." When applying Medved's notion to music, it is clear that a comparison can be drawn. The music associations provide children with violent messages in part because clever catch phrases which detail violence as "cool" draw the most amount of listeners. Thus, the higher the sales of these well-promoted albums enable the music industry to make a greater profit. Because of excessive profits, companies who support these messages lose sight of the heightened corruption and violence that exists in our society. Songs depicting violence usually display subtle yet powerful messages.
In the famed Marilyn Manson- The Fight Song, he states:.
The death of one is a tragedy.
But the death of a million is a statistic.
A first time listener might not acknowledge these words with any real significance, but after being continually repeated, subconsciously the listener begins to interpret the artists message which is one of hate and anger. It is ignorant to think that some of these messages do not take hold in certain individuals, for example, the Columbine tragedy. This event detailed a trench coat gang, infiltrating their own school and murdering numerous classmates. The subsequent investigation found that more than one of the murderers worshipped Marilyn Manson. Not to put blame on the artist solely for the murders, but his words and images must be considered as an influence on the teens. Because of tragedies like Columbine, we must accept that adolescents often cannot depict right from wrong for themselves, especially when children can easily be convinced to follow and accept a poor role model. .
In September 1991, the Center for Disease Control reported a crisis in the teen suicide rate--which has increased by more than 400 percent since 1950.
