Can Music Hurt? - Music and Violence

The purpose of this investigation is to resolve an almost half a century old debate about the ethics in music and the extent of freedom of artistic expression. This debate originates in a few thousand year-old discourse which held the interests of a social group higher than the music preference of an individual, which has now completely reversed.

The arguments for censorship of emotional expression in music that prevailed during Antiquity and Christianity, up until the 19th century, became ideologically tainted by what was perceived as communist propaganda, and was therefore downplayed in the middle of the 20th century. Today, the argument for individual freedom in music preference for production and consumption, has evolved into the status quo of Western music industry.

However, unrestrained usage of music is found to lead to substantial increase in aggressive content in music which today constitutes about a fifth of the music products consumed in the U.S.

This paper implements a number of approaches to draw a perspective view on the connection between violence in music and violence in society. It provides an insight into the causes for why violent music is cultivated, as well as the causes for persistent denial of ties between violent music and violent behavior that characterizes public consensus and opinion of music scholars.