"Cold Ethyl" by Alice Cooper is ok, isn't it?
Actually, that one was
never very PC.
So, should song lyrics be censored now?
Curious that art has gone through various cycles of being more acceptable, to pushing boundaries, or even deliberately overstepping them to get a reaction, and back to more staid styles again.
To me, music is, in part, about pushing boundaries, regardless of what people might think, or perhaps even
because of what people may think.
In fact, according to Oscar Wilde, “A true artist takes no notice whatsoever of the public. The public to him are non-existent.”
“The artist should never try to be popular. Rather the public should be more artistic.”
Should we limit what can be said in songwriting? Should it be controlled?
“People sometimes inquire what form of government is most suitable for an artist to live under. To this question there is only one answer. The form of government that is most suitable to the artist is no government at all. Authority over him and his art is ridiculous.”
So are the kind of lyrics we're talking about immoral? For books, Wilde wrote, "There is no such thing as an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all."
Should musicians not write about things we find distasteful? again, Wilde: "No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style", and, "Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art."
What musicians and other artists write about doesn't necessarily reflect what they themselves believe, nor are they suggesting a way of thinking or acting to others. Wilde: "All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors."
Our reactions to certain things have changed over the years, but I don't believe the function of art should change with it. Art will always mirror those who look at, or indeed listen to it. But in actual fact, the things that musicians once sang about haven't changed. Sick things still go on in society. The artist draws attention to those things, but it is not for him to judge them, or even to give his opinion whether they are right or wrong. "No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything."
Or maybe we should say Wilde's opinions are outdated?
. He gives me the creeps.
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