Unplugging The Offensive

3 Pages 729 Words

Unplugging the Offensive
Following the terrorist attacks on September, 11 2001, music radio suffered changes like many other aspects of life in America. Program directors at radio stations began to question the choice of songs due to their suggestive lyrics or titles. Any song that had to do with tragedy or misfortunes came under scrutiny. Clear Channel, the largest owner of radio stations, which owns ten percent of all stations in the United States, began circulating a list of 150 songs with questionable lyrics; as a result, Clear Channel attempted to decide what would be appropriate for Americans to listen to on the radio (Corporate 3).
Clear Channel is a media conglomerate which owns and controls many aspects of what you see and hear in the music world today. They operate in 65 countries, owning 1,376 radio stations, 700,000 forms of outdoor advertising, and venue promoter for hundreds of concerts every year (Corporate 1). There goal in creating the list was to sanitized American radio from offensive material. The idea to come up with a list was Clear Channel programmer Jack Evans. This list could have been created for Clear Channel to remove music that they viewed was too violent, insubordinate, or political for their radio stations. One song that was included on the list was by The Dave Matthews Band. The song was called Crash into Me (Barger 15).
The Dave Matthews Band was formed in 1991. The band is composed of the widely varied musical interests. The five musicians create a unique sound that combines musical genres folk, jazz, rock, and reggae. The lead singer and guitarist Dave Matthews, who is from South Africa, created the band with diverse musicians from unlikely backgrounds to create the distinctive sound. The only instrument that is used in the band that is non-acoustic is the electric bass. The Dave Matthews Band uses a balance between composition and improvisation similar to the qualities found i...