Rebellious Music And Youth

Music plays a considerable and fundamental role in the youth culture. It affects their mood, the way they speak, the way they dress, and even the friends they hang out with. With music being such a big influence in their lives, one cannot help but wonder what kind of impacts degrading and rebellious music has on youth nowadays. The truth is rebellious music represents two sides of the same coin, an avenue for emotional freedom and identity, as well as a catalyst for violent behavior in youth.

Rock and rap music have been constantly under public scrutiny for promoting sex, drugs and violence. Rock and rap have become synonymous with rebellious conduct in the minds of parents. Among them are traditionalists who strongly hold the belief that such music is a one-way ticket to aggressive and even violent behavior in youth. This has led to musicians such as Eminem, Dr Dre, and Marilyn Manson being heavily criticized for their radical image as well as the lyrical contents in their music. Since rock and rap music depicts so much negativity, why are youths all around the world so fascinated with them?

The Pursuit of Freedom and Identity

Rebellious music is often an instrument for adolescents to manage their emotions. Youths of today face enormous pressures from vast sources, from their studies, to their friends, and even their family. Such pressures usually breed feelings of frustration, anger, and vulnerability. However, through music, many of them are able to relieve stress after channeling these negative emotions into the songs. This not only helps them to attain emotional balance they so badly need, but also emancipate them from the harsh reality of life.

Many teenagers have the common perception of "you are what you listen to". They see themselves as being identified by the kind of music they listen to. In the normalcy of their lives, many of them want to have a sense of being empowered, to break out of their mold, and to be somebody they can never be. Rebellious music releases an energy that enables teenagers to express the aggression and meanness bottled up deep within them. Contrary to popular belief, listening to rebellious songs in most cases actually help teens in getting around instead of intensifying their angst.

"We loved the stuff and ate it up like crazy, even though we never had a damn clue what the lyrics of rappers like Snoop Doggy Dog, Notorious BIG, and Tupac were actually talking about," said Heather Wentland, a student at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. "To us it was music to dance to and interpret in our own ways" (Wentland, p385). It might be a hard fact that many rock and rap music glamorize violence, but assumptions that youth are going to take literal meanings to those songs are often flawed. Like Heather, many teenagers have their own interpretation to the songs they listen to. They are aware that these songs contain messages that unashamedly defy society norms. However, they do also know that entertainment is all there is to these songs. Very often, the simple fact is that the lyrics of such music are the furthest thing from reality for its young listeners.

Ingredient for Aggression

According to studies by media violence researchers, influences caused by sexual and violent contents in the media are usually not the main cause for severe aggressive behavior (Huesmann & Taylor, 2002). Such behavior generally results only when there are multiple converging factors involved. But does this suggest that we should ignore its effects on the teenagers?

Sadly, the dark truth remains that although most teens understand that rebellious music are simply entertainment and should not be taken into context, there are still a minority who are negatively influenced by music that encouraged racism, violence, suicide, and other forms of degradation. In the book "It's Not Only Rock & Roll", two professors of communications, Professor Donald Roberts and Professor Peter Christenson (1998) support findings