ACCORDING to a study released this week by Rand Corp., teens who listen to music with “raunchy lyrics” have sex earlier than those who like John Denver. While a dozen other factors could have contributed to their moral decay, expect an outcry against the evils of pop music and its corruption of our youth, as there has been time … and time … and time again:
500 BC – Confucius distinguishes wholesome from unwholesome music, the former of which fosters order within the state.
1922 – The words “rock” and “roll,” black slang for sexual intercourse, appear in Trixie Smith’s “My Baby Rocks Me With One Steady Roll.”
1952 – On the night of March 21, DJ Alan Freed puts on the first-ever rock ‘n’ roll show that turns into a riot, bringing the newly coined “rock ‘n’ roll” music its first widespread headlines and scrutiny.
1955 – A rock ‘n’ roll show in Connecticut, to be headlined by Fats Domino, is canceled for fear it will lead to rioting. State police subsequently ban all further rock concerts in the state. Boston follows suit by assembling a record censorship board to prevent “dirty” rock records from being played on the air.
1956 – Gene Vincent is convicted of public obscenity and fined $10,000 by the state of Virginia for singing the erotic “Woman Love” onstage.
1957 – On his final Ed Sullivan appearance, Elvis Presley is filmed from the waist up. The screams from the studio audience only made what the home viewers missed more titillating.
1963 – The FBI begins a two-year “dirty lyrics” investigation of the Kingsmen’s garage-rock classic, “Louie Louie.”
1967 – The Doors are asked to censor their song “Light my Fire” by changing the lyric “Girl we couldn’t get much higher” to “Girl we couldn’t get much better.” Since it was live television with no delay, CBS was powerless to stop Jim Morrison from singing his original line.
1968 – The term “heavy metal” first appears in the Steppenwolf song “Born To Be Wild.”
1971 – The FCC instructs FM radio stations not to play songs perceived to “encourage drug use” such as “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “White Rabbit.”
1971 – Members of Funkadelic moon the crowd at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. while performing the song “Loose Booty” and are tear-gassed by security while on stage.
1976 – A number of American radio stations ban Donna Summer’s disco hit “Love To Love You Baby” because of its orgasm-like vocals.
1985 – Tipper Gore, wife of then-Sen. Al Gore, prevailed on the Senate Commerce Committee to look into the effects of “porn rock,” such as Prince’s “Darling Nikki.” The music industry agrees to place warning labels on music with sexually explicit lyrics.
1991 – Cardinal O’Connor asks the pope to excommunicate Madonna.
1992 – The obscenity trial of the rap group 2 Live Crew and the civil action for incitement of suicide against British rockers Judas Priest were in the courts.
2004 – Janet Jackson has her famous wardrobe malfunction that exposed her breast while singing “Rock Your Body” with Justin Timberlake.
