How to determine what to listen to

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NO music, art, movies, or any other personal form of expression should be banned. See: 1st Amendment.
 
You’re right, after readimg the responses I realized the title was incongruous with the post.
The question at the end of the post is more what I had in mind. IE what kinds of criteria can be considered in order to discern if a song, band, or genre is worthwhile listening to?
 
I guess “ban” is the wrong word. The question at the end of the post is more what I had in mind, ie what criteria can we establish in order to determine if a song, band, or genre is worthwhile listening to?
 
Heavy Metal is the low hanging fruit IMO. It’s easy to condemn it because it often deals with dark themes. Should we also ban Macbeth because it might encourage dabbling in the occult. Or films like Hellboy or Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
 
Really what i meant to ask is what criteria can we establish in order to determine if a song, band, or genre is worthwhile listening to?
I realize using an incendiary word like “ban” in the title overshadowed the actual question…
Also, I believe I mentioned that part of the argument is that a song or piece can be detrimental regardless of lyrics.
 
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Although there is lots of very impure music out there, banning it isn’t the solution. Not only is it against the first amendment, but just look at what happened with prohibition. Prohibition did exactly the opposite that it had intended: it increased immorality.
 
I agree that HM is low hanging fruit. I think I even mentioned it in the OP.
It’s also why I distinguished song, band, genre.
 
What about “what criteria can we establish in order to determine if a song, band, or genre is worthwhile listening to?”
 
Well a CCCB rating system for music, and video games would be nice as they already have one for movies. But doing anything with the government would be contrary to what this country stands for.
 
How exactly is a piece of lyricless music offensive? That sounds like the arguments people used to make against any composer who broke the established rules and took music to a new level. Once you remove lyrics from the equation, whether you like or dislike sounds coming out of an instrument or pieces of recorded media is a pure matter of taste.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
How exactly is a piece of lyricless music offensive?
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Not offensive but perhaps detrimental to the soul due to the way it moves the soul.
I think of Radiohead, one of the most talented trailblazing acts out there. Also one of my favorite bands. However, even though half the time I have no idea what the lyrics say, the music has an effect on my dispositions, my mood, my outlook, to the extent that sometimes I have to keep myself from listening to Radiohead because I know it’ll have an undesired effect on me, and not because of the lyrics (like I said half the time I don’t even know what is being said) but because the way melody, harmony, and rhythm play off of each other.

I believe I mentioned the argument in the OP, but basically it states that the three parts of music correspond to the three parts of the soul and that a piece of music in which its lower parts overpower the higher parts will stimulate the soul in a similar way, ie stimulate the appetitive part of the soul over the rational part of the soul.
Tis_Bearself said:
That sounds like the arguments people used to make against any composer who broke the established rules and took music to a new level.
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I’m not sure what arguments you are referring to about breaking established rules, what do these arguments say?
Tis_Bearself said:
Once you remove lyrics from the equation, whether you like or dislike sounds coming out of an instrument or pieces of recorded media is a pure matter of taste.
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I think reducing everything to taste robs music (or any art form) of its formative and expressive powers. If you do that art stops being a reflection of beauty and ends up being simply another stimulus for the senses.
 
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ChunkMonk said:
When would these be appropriate?

“They’ll find you wit’ your back open and your legs cut off/And as for your man, don’t you ever in your expletive life/Know when I gotta gun come at me wit’ a knife, a’ight?/And forgetting you ever saw me is the best thing to do/Don’t give a expletive about your family, they’ll be resting with you”

“Going off on the expletive like that/With a gat that’s pointed at your expletive/So give it up smooth/Ain’t no telling when I’m down for a jack move/Here’s a murder rap to keep y’all dancing/With a crime record like Charles Manson/AK-47 is the tool/Don’t make me act a expletive fool”

“I used to love her, too bad I had to put a slug through her/Dumped her body in the trash like I never knew her/Blood runnin down the gutter into the sewer/Her body stunk for weeks like horse manure”

“Man I murder fo’ fun but my job is never done/From morning morn’ to the setting of the sun/Bad men come come, come get murdered for fun/The hundred round drum in my tommy gun”

Righteous anger, huh?
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I believe you just committed a misdemeanor. Will you be paying your fine with a check or credit card?
 
Music and Movies, in fact all art cannot and should not always be out Flowers and Rainbows. Take one of my favorite songs “One” by Metallica. It describes in great detail the horrors of war. It’s about a soldier who steps on a landmine and loses all limbs and the ability to communicate. He cannot see or hear and is trapped in his own hell. But he does remember Morse code so begins to move his head and call out “SOS” and then eventually “Kill me.” Yes very dark and haunting song, but it absolutely rocks. Sometimes Metal is the best medicine for channeling any kind of anger or fear and helping one cope, or on another level it really pumps them up! See the new Punisher Netflix trailer, it uses this exact song and is amazing.
 
I think the Radiohead example is interesting. I often find myself near the point of despair listening to Ariana Grande, but my daughter loves her. This doesn’t tell you much about the music of Ariana Grande as it does about the very different responses of two different people. Which makes notions of regulation fraught with complication.
 
That’s the beautiful thing about art, it leaves 100% room for each individual to interpret and take whatever meaning of feeling from it.
 
Originally a 1971 movie, Johnny Got His Gun.

Back on topic, there are multiple reasons why certain art forms (including certain genres of music) should not be viewed or listened to by people who are trying to become like Christ. There are also multiple reasons in our culture why those same art forms cannot be banned. This is a conflict that will not be solved in our current society, but it does provide a lot of fuel for social media arguments . . . err, animated discussions.

D
 
The only thing I feel when I listen to Radiohead is a desire to turn them off because I never liked them and never understood their appeal to others.

Given the millions of people who listen to Radiohead, and the many comments I’ve heard about them over the years in person, on music fan boards, in music magazines, etc, I’m sure their music has many different effects on individual listeners. Again, it’s a situation where if you feel it is leading you personally into sin, don’t listen to it, but that doesn’t mean it’s having the same effect on others.
 
I would hope that any person with even a rudimentary education in their religion would KNOW what is inappropriate without anyone having to legislate it.,
Let’s face it, if no one bought the terrible stuff, it would go away, right?
It’s a business. Stop buying junk, and they stop selling junk.
Supply and demand.
Teach your children well.
Keep them in Faith Formation classes even AFTER they receive their sacraments.
((SHOCKER))!!! 😯
 
Very cute. But I do notice that not a single one of you can defend these kind of songs without appeals to a modern interpretation of a secular principle (First Amendment) or with silly arguments about banning things making them more popular.

So what moral defense can be had for this kind of “music”?
 
I would ban it because it is pure evil. There is no good at all in it.

Why can’t we legislate morality? We do it all the time.

Like it or not, if minoritires make that type of music more than others then they will be the rightful targets of that kind of legislation. However, I already saod I would ban a lot of country and other genres too.

That’s a slippery slope fallacy.

You are arguing for the music. Like it or not, you are arguing for the production and distribution of evil.
 
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