Media Depictions of Harm in Heavy Metal and Rap Music Author(S): Amy Binder Source: American Sociological Review, Vol

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Constructing Racial Rhetoric: Media Depictions of Harm in Heavy Metal and Rap Music Author(s): Amy Binder Source: American Sociological Review, Vol. 58, No. 6 (Dec., 1993), pp. 753-767 Published by: American Sociological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2095949 Accessed: 29-11-2017 20:03 UTC

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This content downloaded from 130.86.100.70 on Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms CONSTRUCTING RACIAL RHETORIC: MEDIA DEPICTIONS OF HARM IN HEAVY METAL AND RAP MUSIC

AMY BINDER Northwestern University

The literatures on social movements, the media, and the sociology of culture have addressed how ideologicalframes are imposed on social events and cultural texts. I extend this work on "social framing" by describing the construction and selection processes that explain why media writers appropriate some frames but not others, and why some frames "resonate" with broad cultural beliefs. I analyze the rhetoric in media accounts from 1985 to 1990 of the dangers posed to children and society by heavy metal music and rap music. I also examine the images used to amplify each genre of music. Although both genres have lyrical and performance elements focusing on sex and defiance of authority strong enough to evoke a moral outcry, they evoke quite different reactions. I argue that the racial composition of the music's audiences and producers shape the way the two genres are perceived.

In September 1985, a group of politically tivities. The mass media covered the hearing well-connected "Washington Wives" calling in great detail, provoking debate in the national themselves the Parents' Music Resource Cen- press over the alleged harmfulness of rock mu- ter (PMRC) was invited to testify before the sic lyrics and whether the proposed labeling of U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Sci- music lyrics constituted censorship. ence, and Transportation. Led by Tipper Gore Almost five years later, another event again (wife of then Senator Al Gore of Tennessee) focused the nation's attention on music lyr- and Susan Baker (wife of then Treasury Secre- ics-the lyrics in rap music. In June 1990, a tary James Baker), the group's objective was U.S. District Court judge in Fort Lauderdale, to reveal to committee members the current Florida found the 2 Live Crew album As Nasty state of rock music lyrics-particularly the lyr- as They Wanna Be to be obscene in the three ics of heavy metal music. The PMRC and its counties under his jurisdiction. This was the expert witnesses testified that such music filled first recording ever declared obscene by a fed- youthful ears with pornography and violence, eral court (New York Times 17 June, 1990). and glorified behaviors ranging from suicide During the following week, authorities from and drug use to occultism and anti-patriotic ac- one of those counties' Sheriff's Department - Broward County-arrested a local record * Direct all correspondence to Amy Binder, De- storeowner who had continued to sell the al- partment of Sociology, Northwestern University, bum and took into custody two members of the 1810 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, IL 60208. I am 2 Live Crew band when they performed mate- grateful to the Department of Sociology at North- rial from the album at an adults-only show in western for its Summer Fellowship Program which the area. The arrests and impending trials again supported me during data collection. Earlier ver- sions of this paper were presented at the annual galvanized heated public debate over whether meeting of the American Sociological Association, the lyrics in contemporary music harmed lis- August 1992, Pittsburgh, and at the annual meeting teners and warranted restriction. of the Social Science History Association, October These two widely publicized debates about 1992, Chicago. I thank Alan Dahl, Wendy Espe- contemporary music, both of which concerned land, Jim Ettema, Paul Hirsch, Douglas Holt, Aldon "harmful" lyrics and occurred within five years Morris, and Art Stinchcombe for their helpful sug- of each other, provide comparative cases for gestions, and three anonymous ASR reviewers, examining how the mass media serve as an whose comments greatly improved the paper. I re- serve very special thanks for Nicola Beisel, who ideological vehicle. In both cases, writers in the helped design this project and has read and com- mainstream press expressed concern about the mented on several drafts of this paper. harm that could result from exposure to lyrics

American Sociological Review, 1993, Vol. 58 (December:753-767) 753

This content downloaded from 130.86.100.70 on Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 754 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW containing sexual and violent themes, and ceived as a more authentic and serious art form called for action against such content. Despite than was heavy metal music, and as a more these similarities, however, the substance of frightening and salient threat to society as a media arguments changed significantly as the whole than the "white" music genre. controversy shifted from heavy metal music to rap music. Foremost among these differences THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS was the change in emphasis regarding whom the music was harming: the individual listener Interest in the mass media as a primary site for or society as a whole. the construction and dissemination of dominant I suggest that two factors drove the changes ideologies was first formally developed in the in the media discourse surrounding the dangers writings of theorists associated with the Frank- of heavy metal music versus rap music. One furt School (Adorno 1957; Horkheimer and factor is the difference in the content of the Adorno 1972). Writers working from this per- lyrics themselves. In general, the controversial spective argued that the mass media-as key rap lyrics were more graphic than their heavy members of the culture industry-were the metal counterparts, and discussions in the me- principal channels for ideological discourse in dia reflected this variation. contemporary society (Thompson 1990). As Second, the broad cultural context in which originally set forth, this thesis subscribed to a the "white" music and "black" music were be- hegemonic conception of the media as purvey- ing received also significantly affected changes ors of a single dominant ideology. This theory in the discourse. Rather than asserting a simple has been widely contested on empirical reflection model (i.e., the media only mirror grounds (Cantor 1980; Schudson 1989a). In the "what's out there"), I argue that the pronounced past several decades, sociologists and other re- shift in the discourse about lyrics cannot be ex- searchers interested in the mass media have plained by differences in the cultural objects developed a subtler and more nuanced expla- alone. Instead, the shift reflects opinion writ- nation of ideological communication. ers' perceptions of the populations represented Building on this thesis, recent studies have by these two musical genres. Writers who were demonstrated that the news media actively con- concerned about heavy metal lyrics and rap lyr- struct the events they report by responding to ics did not address the content of the music economic and organizational considerations in alone; embedded in their discussions were re- producing the news (Tuchman 1972, 1973; actions to differences in the demographic char- Gans 1979) and, more important for the pur- acteristics of the genres' producers and audi- pose of this study, by providing the available ences-music made by and for working and means through which audiences make sense of middle-class white youth versus music they events or objects. This perspective suggests perceived as predominantly by and for urban that the news media's impact is not so much black teenagers.1 In a cultural landscape the result of outright statements about what au- marked by divergent perceptions of black diences are to believe, but rather comes from youths versus white youths, different concerns the selection and application of the cultural emerged in the mainstream media about the lenses (Geertz 1973) through which events are impact of each group's form of cultural expres- portrayed. To examine how the media influ- sion. I show that rap music-with its evoca- ence audience perceptions, the codes the me- tion of angry black rappers and equally angry dia use to frame public discussions of events black audiences-was simultaneously per- or objects must be examined.

1 In my data, the vast majority of media writers- Framing and Media Discourse Theory particularly those who thought that rap music was dangerous-assume that rap music is produced and Frames and frameworks are "schemata of in- consumed exclusively by black youths. The popu- terpretation that enable individuals to locate, lar assumption about all-black rap audiences was perceive, identify, and label" events they have refuted in a cover story in the New Republic (11 Nov. 1991), in which the author David Samuels experienced directly or indirectly (Snow, demonstrated that, in absolute numbers, more Rochford,white Worden, and Benford 1986, p. 464; suburban youths consume rap music than poor see also Goffman 1974, p. 21). Frames help re- black youths. ceivers make sense of social occurrences be-

This content downloaded from 130.86.100.70 on Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms RACIAL RHETORIC AND CULTURAL FRAMES 755 cause they organize events into recognizable using very different frames. Essential to the patterns and help individuals understand what present research is Entman's (1991) examina- actions they can then take in light of these tion of how successful frames "cohere with an events. established discursive domain, a series of as- Frames are also used by cultural producers sociated idea clusters that form a way of rea- like social movement activists or media writers soning about a matter that is familiar to audi- to describe social phenomena. Sociologists in- ences from other cultural experiences" (p. 1 1). terested in how the media construct reality have By specifying the connections made between described how media writers use frames to se- frames present in media accounts and larger lectively represent certain elements of their sto- cultural frames, these studies have increased ries (Gamson and Modigliani 1989) and to em- our understanding of how resonance works. phasize some information to the exclusion of However, in their efforts to identify those other data. Framing an issue by using a reper- frames that resonate, researchers have too of- toire of arguments creates a dominant reading ten relied on a tautological argument, arguing, of the text, thereby reducing readers' capacities in effect, "I know this frame is resonant with to comprehend the text differently (Entman cultural beliefs because it is used often; this 1991). This framing effect serves an ideologi- frame is used often because it is resonant." This cal function when the frames reinforce unequal tautology can be avoided and our understand- social relations by those institutionally empow- ing of framing practices enhanced by redirect- ered to do so (Hall 1982; Thompson 1990). ing research in either of two ways. The study of framing must consider not only First, researchers could examine how frames the effects of framing, but also how the media resonate with beliefs in the culture at large by choose certain frames for events and objects in focusing on the audience side of framing, ac- the first place, and why a subset of these complished through sustained qualitative work frames "work" (i.e., become the dominant with audiences (as Radway [1984], Press mode of discussing a particular issue in the [ 1991 ], and Shively [ 1992] have done for other mass media and by the general public). In other cultural objects). Alternatively, researchers words, researchers must also ask how and why could more carefully study the writer/produc- certain frames resonate with cultural beliefs in tion side of framing by studying the techniques the society at large. used by media writers to build these linkages. Gitlin (1980), Gamson and Modigliani Writer techniques would include the tropes, (1989), and Beisel (1993) have suggested that narrative structure, or "emplotment" (White frames imposed on events or objects resonate 1978) employed in the frames. I follow this when they can be confirmed, bolstered, or oth- second route and look at the elements that erwise reinforced by the interpretive schemata make up successful frames, specifically, the of larger cultural frames. A frame has a much images that are used to construct frames. greater chance of success if it draws on some conscious or subconscious, unified or disorga- Referent Images nized belief held in the culture at large. To create an account that resonates, a writer must at Media writers frame events and objects in a least tell a story that makes sense according to rhetorically forceful manner (Schudson 1989b) these beliefs, or "cultural givens" (Schudson by using arguments that have empirical cred- 1989a). For example, in their analysis of the ibility, experiential commensurability, and nar- debate about nuclear energy, Gamson and rative fidelity (Snow and Benford 1988, 1992). Modigliani (1989) argued that the progress Cultural frames are abstractions that writers frame is powerful because it draws on Ameri- and their audiences use to make sense of their can beliefs and values about the desirability of experiences. Thus, a crucial rhetorical hurdle scientific and technological progress. for the media writer applying a frame to a par- Similarly, in his comparative analysis of me- ticular issue is to demonstrate the relevance of dia reports on the downing of Korean Air Lines the frame to the reader and to bring the frame Flight 007 by the Soviet military versus the to life. I argue that one central technique used U.S. military's downing of Iran Air Flight 655, by media writers to demonstrate such relevance Entman (1991) examined events that could and to amplify the importance of the object un- have been framed similarly, but were discussed der discussion is to invoke referent images.

This content downloaded from 130.86.100.70 on Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 756 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW

Writers make sense of an issue by conjuring Table 1. Distribution of Articles by Type of Music for up beliefs and values the larger culture takes Mainstream Publications and African-Ameri- can Publications, 1985-1990 for granted. They do this by comparing the object to images of past events in the collective Type of Type of Music memory or to revered cultural icons. Such ref- Publication Heavy Heavy Metal erent images are used as metaphors to frame and Year Metal Rap and Rap Total the meaning of the event at hand and provide a Mainstream Publications a compelling interpretation of it (Fine and 1985 13 1 1 15 Sandstrom 1993). Following the writer's lead, 1986 1 5 0 6 readers recall these memories or images, try to 1987 4 7 0 11 apply them as the media writer indicates, and 1988 6 7 0 13 to some degree, either accept or reject this 1989 5 5 5 15 framing of the social phenomenon. (The 1990 5 33 10 48 reader's application of these images and frames Total 34 58 16 108 is reminiscent of Swidler's [1986] tool kit African-American Magazines b metaphor.) 1985 0 0 0 0 By calling up these images and memories, 1986 0 1 0 1 media writers connect the specific event or ob- 1987 0 0 0 0 ject being discussed to general cultural frames. 1988 0 2 0 2 I argue that the ability of a media frame to reso- 1989 0 1 0 1 nate depends on the specific images used to 1990 0 6 0 6 construct it. Because a set of referent images is Total 0 10 0 10 always available for a writer to choose from and because there is nothing "natural" about a The New York Times, Time magazine, Newsweek, selecting one image or cultural memory over U.S. News and World Report, and Reader's Digest. another, the writer's choice of referent images b Ebony and Jet. is a potential site of ideological discourse, as is the choice of frame. and World Report represent an intermediate so- A comparative study of media discourse is cioeconomic level, and the readership of the an ideal venue for examining how the media Reader's Digest has low levels of annual in- select from available cultural frames to make come and education. The publications also sense of controversial events, and how they se- vary politically: the New York Times is consid- lect particular referent images to add rhetorical ered one of the most liberal large newspapers, power to their choice of frame. For the heavy the Reader's Digest is considered conservative, metal and rap genres, the lyrical content at is- and the other three publications fall somewhere sue was controversial enough to evoke a clear in between. moral outcry in the press. But while the con- For comparison to this mainstream debate, troversies were similar in content, the frames which was written for a "general" (primarily and referent images that media writers selected white) American readership, I also examined to discuss rap lyrics differed markedly from the discourse in two popular middle-class pub- those previously used to portray heavy metal lications that serve a predominantly black read- lyrics. ership: Ebony and Jet (hereafter referred to as black or African-American magazines). The articles in these African-American magazines METHODOLOGY were coded to determine if the race of the read- I examine the national discourse surrounding ership made a difference in how the music the harmfulness of music lyrics by analyzing genres were framed. nationally distributed mainstream publications The articles published in the five mainstream that target a range of audiences. Demographic publications and the two black magazines were profiles as of 1991 provided by these publica- located in the Reader's Guide to Periodicals tions show that readerships varied along socio- and the Lexis/Nexis data bank. Between 1985 economic lines: the New York Times and Time and 1990, these publications printed more than magazine have the wealthiest and most highly 1,000 news and opinion articles that concerned educated readers, Newsweek and U.S. News heavy metal music or rap music. Of these, 108

This content downloaded from 130.86.100.70 on Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms RACIAL RHETORIC AND CULTURAL FRAMES 757 of the mainstream articles and and rap songs.10 ofTo determine the black the universe of magazines' articles were opinion pieces that controversial songs from which to choose a specifically addressed the lyric content of the sample, I compared "offensive" songs listed in music. As shown in Table 1, 34 articles in these the Parents' Music Resource Center's press five mainstream publications addressed heavy packet with all songs cited in the 118 opinion metal music (13 of them written in 1985, the articles. In these sources, 33 different songs year of the Senate hearing), 58 articles ad- were mentioned a total of 137 times, either by dressed rap music (33 of them written in 1990, title or by the albums that contained them. I the year of the 2 Live Crew arrests), and 16 considered these the most controversial songs articles addressed both genres. In the African- of the debate.4 I then randomly selected and American magazines, all 10 articles were writ- coded 20 of the 33 songs. ten about rap music. Although all of the roughly 1,000 articles were read, for method- HARMFUL OR NOT HARMFUL: ological and theoretical reasons I limited cod- FRAMING MUSIC LYRICS ing and analysis to these 118 opinion articles.2 The 118 opinion pieces were content-ana- Popular music has always been denigrated by lyzed using coding categories constructed by adult society. Musical genres like the blues, the author. This first reading generated 68 cat- jazz, and early rock and roll and dances like egories, which were collapsed into nine frames. the jitterbug, samba, and rhumba provoked This set of nine frames accounts for the total complaints from the older generation about the discourse surrounding the issue of harm in lyr- perversion and general corruption of its chil- ics in these publications from 1985 to 1990. dren (Peterson 1972; McDonald 1988; Rosen- Each article was then read again to determine baum and Prinsky 1991). Thus, the controversy which of the nine frames were used in each that made its way into the limelight in the late piece. The mean number of frames per article 1980s to early 1990s was one episode in an was 1.6. ongoing debate. The official transcripts of the 1985 Senate But to understand the specific nature of the Committee hearing and Tipper Gore's 1987 controversy surrounding the lyrics in heavy book, Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society, metal music and rap music, it is necessary to provided a deeper understanding of the histori- examine the two defining events that shaped cal narrative concerning this issue. this media discourse: the Senate hearing in To address the issue of whether frames were 1985 and the arrests and trials of rap musicians suggested by the cultural objects themselves, I and record storeowners in Florida in 1990. The also analyzed the lyrics of a representative data in Table 1 indicate that these events fo- sample of the most controversial heavy metal cused the media discourse first on heavy metal music (in 1985, 13 of 15 mainstream articles 2 Methodologically, using opinion articles makes addressed heavy metal) and later on rap music content analysis simpler, more precise, and more (in 1990, 33 of 48 mainstream articles ad- valid. Because the opinion writer's job is to "articu- dressed rap). In the intervening years, 1986 to late and crystallize" a given issue (Gamson and 1989, mainstream media attention was more Modigliani 1989), opinion articles have fewer con- evenly split between the two music genres. flicting assertions compared to news stories, which must present "both sides" of the story. Coding what the opinion writer "really means" in his or her story The Senate Hearing and Its Aftermath is considerably easier. The theoretical rationale lies in the fact that opin- Considered the "hottest ticket in town all year" ion writers represent the most open expressions of (Gore- 1987), the 1985 standing-room-only subjective opinion in a news publication. If encoded Senate hearing launched a maelstrom of media messages occur in opinion articles, then they are debate about music lyrics. The competing ar- probably present in "objective" news stories as guments introduced at the hearing were gener- well. 3 Some frames were often used alone to support an argument about music's effects, which suggests 4For each of the 137 mentions, I noted the year that these were particularly powerful frames, Other they appeared in the press or the PMRC list and de- frames were more likely to be used in tandem with termined how many songs from each year should other frames. be represented in the sample.

This content downloaded from 130.86.100.70 on Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 758 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW ally used to discuss heavy metal for the dura- While opinions varied over how best to protect tion of the five-year debate. children from the dangers of lyrics (some One of the most frequent arguments made thought that lyrics should be labeled, while about heavy metal music throughout the five- others thought laws should be enacted against year controversy was introduced in 1985 by harmful music), the underlying theme infusing members of the PMRC and its witnesses. This this argument invoked adult responsibility, par- argument, which I call the corruption frame, ticularly as exercised by caring parents. In his stated that explicit lyrics-whether glorifying discussion of heavy metal, William Safire suicide, anti-authority attitudes, or deviant wrote: sexual acts-have a negative effect on I am a libertarian when it comes to the actions of children's attitudes. This frame emphasized the consenting adults, and hoot at busybodies who try music's corrupting effect on young listeners to impose bans on what non-violent grown-ups rather than on the effects such listeners might can say or read or do. With complete consistency, have on the society at large. A five-minute I am anti-libertarian when it comes to minors. Kids speech delivered to the Senate Committee by get special protections in law . .. and deserve pro- PMRC witness Joe Steussy illustrates this tection from porn-rock profiteers. (New York frame: Times 10 Oct. 1985, sect. 1, p. 31)

Today's heavy metal music is categorically di-f- ferent from previous forms of popular music.... Danger to society was a third theme that Its principal themes are, as you have already heard, emerged around the time of the Senate hear- extreme violence, extreme rebellion, substance ing, although arguments containing this frame abuse, sexual promiscuity and perversion, and were used infrequently in relation to the Satanism. I know personally of no form of popular "white" music genre. In contrast to the corrup- music before, which has had as one of its central tion frame, which warned of harm to the indi- elements the element of hatred. (U.S. Senate Hear- vidual, the danger to society frame warned that ing Before the Committee on Commerce, Science, when lyrics glorify violence, all of society is at and Transportation 1985, p. 1 17) risk. As applied to heavy metal music, the ar- The corruption frame also appeared frequently gument focused largely on the satanic influ- in the national press. In an article titled "How ences inherent in some heavy metal music, and Shock Rock Harms Our Kids," one writer ar- warned that vulnerable youths under the gued, "lyrics glamorize drug and alcohol use, music's spell might wreak havoc on innocent and glorify death and violent rebellion, rang- citizens. Paul King, a child and adolescent psy- ing from hatred of parents and teachers to sui- chiatrist who testified at the Senate hearing on cide-the ultimate act of violence to oneself" behalf of the PMRC, stated: (Reader's Digest July 1988, p. 101). The idea that children's values were corrupted by music One of the most pathological forms of evil is in the received considerable play inside and outside form of the cult killer or deranged person who the Capitol. believes it is OK to hurt others or to kill. The Son Like corruption, the protection frame was of Sam who killed eight people in New York was allegedly into Black Sabbath's music.... Most also introduced around the time of the Senate recently, the individual identified in the newspa- hearing and was prominent in references to pers as the Night Stalker has been said to be into heavy metal music throughout the five-year hard drugs and the music of the heavy metal band debate. Similar to the rhetoric found in corrup- AC/DC.... Every teenager who listens to heavy tion, this frame argued that parents and other metal certainly does not become a killer. [But] adults must shield America's youth from offen- young people who are seeking power over others sive lyrics. Reflecting on her campaign against through identification with the power of evil find graphic lyrics, Tipper Gore (1987) wrote: a close identification. The lyrics become a phi- losophy of life. It becomes a religion. (U.S. Senate We feel as we do because we know that children Hearing Before the Committee on Commerce, are special gifts, and deserve to be treated with Science, and Transportation 1985, p. 130) love and respect, gentleness and honesty. They deserve security and guidance about living, lov- ing, and relating to other people. And they deserve In addition to cult-like violence, this frame- vigilant protection from the excesses of adult so- when it was used vis-a-vis heavy metal-sug- ciety. (p. 46) gested that violence against parents, teachers,

This content downloaded from 130.86.100.70 on Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms RACIAL RHETORIC AND CULTURAL FRAMES 759 and sometimes women could also result from theme of misplaced, but predictable, parental listening to this music. concern: Of course, the serious charges brought Stirred by the [PMRC] alarmed mothers, my mind against music lyrics by the PMRC and support- began playing back the full repertory of bawdy, ive media writers did not go unanswered, ei- off-color, and just downright dirty songs it had ther at the Senate hearings or in the media. gathered during years when my mother would Music industry executives, outraged musicians, have cringed if I let on that I knew a more em- and media writers hastened to defend the con- phatic way of saying "gosh darn it all to the tent of contemporary music and the artistic in- dickens." (New York Times 13 Oct. 1985, sect. 6, tegrity of its creators. These arguments ap- p. 22) peared in the counterframes that were produced in this debate. The threat to authorities frame, which is Frank Zappa, John Denver, and Dee Snider closely related to the generation gap frame, (of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister) suggested that people in positions of political kicked off the attack against PMRC activities power felt most threatened by contemporary and concerns when they served as opposing music. Using this argument to ridicule a com- witnesses at the Senate hearing, where these peting critic's attack on music, one writer com- counterframes first widely appeared. One com- plained: mon argument, termed the no harm frame, argued that lyrics were not harmful to young lis- [Mr. Goldman, a writer for the National Review] hallucinates rather luridly: "You needn't go to a teners. Covering a variety of ideas around this slasher film to see a woman being disemboweled central theme, this frame claimed that youthful in a satanic ritual-just turn on your local music audiences know that the cartoonish lyrics are video station." No example is named. Such no- not meant to be taken seriously, that songs with tions have been a right-wing staple for decades, explicit lyrics represent a small minority of and they'd be as risible as Mr. Goldman's article music, that music lyrics are a negligible part of if legislators hadn't begun to take them seriously. the culture's barrage of sexual and violent im- (New York Times 26 Mar. 1989, sect. 2, p. 24) ages in the media, and that there is no causal connection between music and behavior. This Here, the conservative right, which tradition- last point was picked up by the media-one ally has caused trouble for youth culture, is writer suggested that "the social impact of a blamed for the condemnation of music. heavy metal concert is belching" (Time 30 Witnesses at the Senate hearing and media Sept. 1985, p. 70). The no harm frame was of- writers frequently disparaged. the concerns of ten used in this sarcastic manner, where the the PMRC and its supporters by arguing that writer argued that music was safe and belittled they advocated censorship. In one of the most the concerns of the opposition. colorful exchanges during the hearing, Frank Opponents of the PMRC also suggested Zappa charged that "the complete list of that opposition to heavy metal's lyrics could PMRC demands reads like an instruction be explained by the generation gap between manual for some sinister kind of toilet training Gore and her allies, and the youths they program to house-break all composers and sought to protect. The generation gap frame performers because of the lyrics of a few" was used at the Senate hearing and subse- (U.S. Senate Hearing Before the Committee quently to point out that vulgarity, parental on Commerce, Science, and Transportation anxiety, and censorship are all perennial con- 1985, p. 53). The freedom of speech frame cerns, and that outrage expressed about music maintained that labeling albums, printing lyr- lyrics bespeaks a generation gap between par- ics on album covers, and encouraging musi- ents and their children. Although this frame's cians to use restraint restricted artists' First rhetoric is clearly a subset of the no harm Amendment right to freedom of speech and frame (e.g., the music isn't harmful, parents created a "chilling effect" on expression. By just perceive it as harmful), it differs from the arguing that "the real danger is presented not no harm frame by making explicit the role of by rock music, but by those who want to con- parents in the controversy surrounding lyrics. trol what should or should not be heard," this In an article that appeared two weeks after the frame minimized the perceived threat of Senate hearing, Russell Baker picked up the graphic lyrics by focusing on the dangers of

This content downloaded from 130.86.100.70 on Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 760 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW abridging musicians' freedom of speech (New message/art frame, which was used most dra- York Times 8 Dec. 1985, sect. 11, p. 40). matically around the time of the government In a vivid example of how this discourse actions against rap music in Florida. about music was a media dialogue, the freedom The important message/art frame, which ar- of speech counterframe spawned a counter- gued against the "harmful" position, asserted counterframe from media supporters of the that rap lyrics have serious content. The frame PMRC, who claimed that they did not favor includes statements about the important mes- censorship. Writers sympathetic to the PMRC sages and concerns of rap music, the artistic used the not censorship frame to defend their expression contained in the music, the lyrics as positions against accusations of censorship and a reflection of urban reality, and the fact that presented themselves as providers of consumer rappers were positive role models for young information (to parents), not as enemies of free black listeners. Foreshadowing arguments that speech. Tipper Gore said: appeared four months later in the trial over 2 Live Crew lyrics, one media writer stated: We do not and have not advocated restrictions on [freedom of speech]; we have never proposed In its constantly changing slang and shifting con- government action. What we are advocating, and cerns-no other pop has so many anti-drug what we have worked hard to encourage, is re- songs-rap's flood of words presents a fictional- sponsibility. (Newsweek 29 May 1989, p. 6) ized oral history of a brutalized generation. (New York Times 17 June 1990, sect. 4, p. 1)

Rap to the Fore: Framing 2 Live Crew This frame argued that the music itself is While most of the frames applied to heavy worthy of serious contemplation, and that all metal music were also applied to rap music, people-black, white, young, old-could ben- new concerns emerged as writers turned their efit from its important messages. attention to the "black" music genre. Some of With the injection of new concerns in the these concerns were expressed in a frame new danger to society frame and the emergence of to the five-year debate, while others were the important message/art counterframe largely voiced using frames already developed for for rap, the set of frames used to analyze the heavy metal music. discourse surrounding these two genres of mu- For example, the danger to society frame sic in the years 1985 through 1990 is complete. was frequently used to talk about rap music following the arrests of 2 Live Crew in Florida. RACIAL RHETORIC: MAPPING THE However, the concerns about the types of dan- SHIFT IN FRAMES ger contained in rap lyrics differed sharply from the concerns about heavy metal. Rather The top half of Table 2 presents a percentage than focusing on the dangers of one-in-a-mil- distribution of types of frames applied to heavy lion devil-worshipping mass killers, the dan- metal and rap music genres in mainstream pub- ger to society frame as applied to rap much lications. Mainstream media writers used cer- more pointedly emphasized that rap music cre- tain frames about equally in their discussions ated legions of misogynistic listeners who of heavy metal and rap, suggesting that some posed a danger to women, particularly because frames were applicable to both genres. The rap music depicted rape and other brutality. freedom of speech and not censorship frames, Providing a short inventory of women-harm- for example, were about equally frequent in the ing abuses, one writer argued, "What we are discourse about both music forms. Both frames discussing here is the wild popularity (almost were used in 1985 in reference to heavy metal 2 million records sold) of a group that sings and continued to characterize the discourse about forcing anal sex on a girl and then forc- about rap. Other frames, however, were applied ing her to lick excrement.... Why are we so primarily to one genre and not the other. sure that tolerance of such attitudes has no consequences?" (U.S. News and World Report 2 "Music Is Harmful" Frames July 1990, p. 15). One counterframe that was specifically in- A pronounced shift occurred in the frames used stituted for rap (although it later was occasion- to construct the "harmful" discourse in the ally applied to heavy metal) was the important mainstream media: Frames that were used

This content downloaded from 130.86.100.70 on Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms RACIAL RHETORIC AND CULTURAL FRAMES 761 most frequently to describe the dangers of Table 2. Percentage Distribution of Frames by Type of Frame, for Mainstream Publications and Afri- heavy metal-corruption and protection- can-American Publications and Type of Music, were rarely used to describe the harmfulness 1985-1990 of rap music; conversely, the danger to society frame was prominent for rap music but not for Type of Music heavy metal music. Thus, the frames used most Percent often to decry heavy metal music were less sa- Type of Percent Heavy lient for rap music, while the frames used most Publication Heavy Percent Metal and Frame Metal Rap and Rap often to condemn rap music were less relevant for heavy metal music. The arguments repre- MAINSTREAM PUBLICATIONS a sented by these frames may have been based (Chi-square = 72.1, 16 d.f., p < .01) on different referent images, given their dispar- ate concerns. "Music Is Harmful" Frames

The corruption frame, which accounted for Corruption 34 0 31 more than one-third of all frames supporting Protection 31 14 23 the harmfulness of heavy metal music, con- Danger to society 13 64 38 cerned the music's effects on young listeners' values and behavior (e.g., the lyrics may lead Not censorship 22 21 8 some listeners to indulge in "self-destructive" Total 100 100 100 activities). A corollary to this frame, the pro- Number of frames 32 14 13 tection frame, urged parents and other adults to care enough about society's youth to get in- "Music Is Not Harmful" Counterframes volved in activities that would guarantee their Freedom of speech 18 14 37 children's welfare. The corruption and protec- No harm 39 22 16 tion frames together accounted for two-thirds Threat to authorities 4 1 21 of all "music-is-harmful" frames used in the Generation gap 25 3 5 mainstream press' discussion of heavy metal Important message/art 14 60 21 music.

The power of these frames derived from the Total 100 100 100 referent images they evoked. Articles in which Number of frames 28 65 19 the corruption frame appeared often referred to the writers' own children (or children like AFRICAN-AMERICAN MAGAZINESb theirs) being exposed to this. dangerous mate- "Music Is Harmful" Frames rial and the potential suffering because of it. Writer Kathy Stroud reported: Corruption 0 0 0 Protection 0 0 0 My 15-year-old daughter unwittingly alerted me Danger to society 0 0 0 to the increasingly explicit nature of rock music. "You've got to hear this, Mom!" she insisted one Not censorship 0 0 0 afternoon . . ., "but don't listen to the words," she Total 0 0 0 added, an instant tip-off to pay attention. The beat Number of frames 0 0 0 was hard and pulsating, the music burlesque in feeling.... Unabashedly sexual lyrics like these, "Music Is Not Harmful" Counterframes augmented by orgasmic moans and howls, com- pose the musical diet millions of children are now Freedom of speech 0 6 0 being fed at concerts, on albums, on radio and No harm 0 24 0 MTV. (Newsweek 6 May 1985, p. 14) Threat to authorities 0 6 0

And in another article titled "What Enter- Generation gap 0 17 0 tainers Are Doing to Your Kids," the following Important message/art 0 47 0 passage was one of many that charged that de- Total 0 100 0 cent children were being exposed to obscene Number of frames 0 17 0 lyrics so that the music industry could profit: a The New York Times, Time magazine, Newsweek, President Reagan stepped into the fray in mid- U.S. News and World Report, and Reader's Digest. October, venting outrage over music's messages. b Ebony and Jet.

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"I don't believe our Founding Fathers ever in- black children was endangered by musical tended to create a nation where the rights of por- messages, the writers argued that the Ameri- nographers would take precedence over the rights can public at large would suffer at the hands of parents, and the violent and malevolent would of these listeners as a result of rap music. be given free rein to prey upon our children," the Clearly, the listener's welfare was no longer President told a Republican political meeting. the focus of concern. According to growing numbers of critics, irre- Unlike the referent images of "my daughter" sponsible adults in the entertainment business are bedazzling the vulnerable young with a siren song and "our own kids" that appeared in articles of the darker sides of life. Violence, the occult, about heavy metal, the prominent rap frames sadomasochism, rebellion, drug abuse, promiscu- referred to a very different young listener: a ity, and homosexuality are constant themes. (U.S. young, urban, black male, or more often a News and World Report 28 Oct. 1985, p. 46) group of urban, black male youths. George Will, drawing on the same images, invoked in The frame's implicit message to the reader was the Summer 1990 trial of the alleged Central that even privileged children from good homes Park rapists, wrote: were at risk from the lyrical content of heavy metal music. These arguments contended that Fact: some members of a particular age and social our own kids were endangered by this music, a cohort-the one making 2 Live Crew rich- message that was absent from the frames used stomped and raped [a] jogger to the razor edge of to discuss rap. death, for the fun of it. Certainty: the coarsening While the corruption and protection frames of a community, the desensitizing of a society will clearly emphasized the music's harmful effects have behavioral consequences. (Newsweek 30 July 1990, p. 64) on individual listeners, writers using these frames expressed little concern that the lyrics would have an unfortunate effect on other An article called "Some Reasons for Wilding," members of society. Except for a few refer- which appeared approximately one year before ences to satanic murders and abusiveness to Will's, used the same referent image of the women, articles using these two frames rarely Central Park rape. In this article, Tipper Gore mentioned the possibility that young listeners and Susan Baker stated: might violently direct their new-found rebellion, anti-authority sentiment, and heightened "Wilding." It's a new word in the vocabulary of sexuality on the society at large. teenage violence. The crime that made it the stuff of headlines is so heinous, the details so lurid as to The danger to society frame argued that make them almost beyond the understanding of changes in attitudes and behaviors stemming any sane human being. When it was over, a 28- from lyrics endangered society as a whole (i.e., year old woman, an investment banker out for a listening to lyrics that extol violence and the jog, was left brutally beaten, knifed, and raped by brutalization of women and police would lead teenagers.... It was fun," one of her suspected to rape and murder). Nearly two-thirds of the teenage attackers told the Manhattan district "harmful" frames applied to rap music were the attorney' s office. In the lockup they were danger to society frame, compared to about nonchalantly whistling at a policewoman and one-tenth of the frames applied to heavy metal singing a high-on-the-charts rap song about ca- music. sual sex: "Wild Thing." (Newsweek 29 May 1989, It might be expected that in turning their at- p. 6) tention from heavy metal to rap, media writers would have continued using the corruption In this passage, the teenagers-who from frame and would have argued that rap lyrics media accounts were known to be black and harmed young black listeners by spreading Hispanic-"non-chalantly" whistle and sing messages that would lead to self-destructive rap lyrics following their alleged crime spree. behaviors. Because most writers considered The image of listeners here (minority, urban rap lyrics to be even more explicit than the youths) differs dramatically from the listeners heavy metal messages, rap lyrics should have portrayed in articles about heavy metal (white, been framed as even more harmful to their middle-class teenagers). Furthermore, the ref- young audience. Yet, rather than warning the erent images of the threats posed by these two American public that a generation of young groups of youths also changed. Whereas "our

This content downloaded from 130.86.100.70 on Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms RACIAL RHETORIC AND CULTURAL FRAMES 763 kids" listening to heavy metal lyrics might an authentic political and artistic communica- stray off their expected social tracks because tion from the streets (the important message! of their incited disrespect for authority or art frame). Variously described in the media early interest in sex,5 listeners to rap music as "folk art," a "fresh musical structure," a were lamented not because their self-destruc- "cultural barometer," and "a communique tive activities were of great importance or from the underclass," rap was valorized as a concern, but because they would probably serious cultural form by the New York Times, travel in packs, rape women, and terrorize so- Newsweek, and Time (but not U.S. News and ciety. World Report or Reader's Digest). As suggested by other authors (Bourdieu [1979] 1984; Thompson 1990), elites, such as writers "Music Is Not Harmful" Counterframes and readers of the New York Times, seem to The arguments proclaiming that music was not have exerted a pervasive effort to adopt rap as harmful also shifted as the discussion turned an "authentic" cultural form (just as jazz, from heavy metal to rap. While the freedom of country music, and comic books had been speech and threat to authorities frames were adopted previously), but to dismiss heavy used about equally for heavy metal and rap, metal as inconsequential-the politically the mainstream press used the three remaining empty macho posturing of white males. frames (generation gap, no harm, and impor- As shown in the lower half of Table 2, the tant message/art) differently for the two important message/art frame also received genres. The generation gap frame, which de- considerable play in the two African-Ameri- rided parents for following the age-old tradi- can magazines, Ebony and Jet. Of the 10 ar- tion of disliking their children's music, made ticles published about music lyrics in these up 25 percent of the "not harmful" frames ap- magazines from 1985 to 1990, all were about plied in the discourse about heavy metal, but rap (presumably the "white" genre was not of only 3 percent of the frames used in the dis- concern to black readers' children), and all ar- course about rap. Thus, writers on the "not gued that music was not harmful to children harmful" side of the debate also detected the or society. Eight of the ten articles contained parental concerns that infused the debate about the important message/art frame. heavy metal-concerns that were largely ab- Articles in Ebony and Jet consistently valo- sent in the debate about rap. That mainstream rized rap music, assessing its lyrics as harm- writers on the "not harmful" side rarely used less and containing only positive and impor- the generation gap frame to defend rap against tant messages from and for black youths. The parental assaults is another indication of the in- African-American magazines also argued that visibility of "parents" and "our kids" in the the older black generation could learn some- discourse about rap music. thing from rap: By listening to the lyrics of Just as the generation gap frame was used the music, black adults could comprehend the disproportionately to defend heavy metal, so daily lives of their own children. the important message/art frame was used asymmetrically by the mainstream press to de- FRAMES SUGGESTED BY AND fend rap. Led by the New York Times, 60 per- IMPOSED ON THE CULTURAL OBJECT cent of the "not harmful" frames used for the "black" genre were the important message/art What accounts for the shifts in rhetoric about frame, compared to only 14 percent of the these two music genres, both of which present frames used for the "white" music form. ostensibly "harmful" messages to listeners? If Mainstream opinion writers described heavy they are both so explicit, why did the main- metal music as exaggerated, cartoonish buf- stream media frame the two genres differently foonery that posed no danger to listeners (the and use such divergent images to make their no harm frame) while they legitimated rap as claims? One plausible explanation is that the lyrics in heavy metal are radically different from those in rap, and media writers merely 5This rhetoric is similar to that used to describe reflected those differences. To examine this the danger obscenity posed to wealthy children in hypothesis, I looked at the lyrics that writers the late nineteenth century (Beisel 1990). were responding to.

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Content of Lyrics Table 3. Content of Lyrics of a Representative Sample of Controversial Heavy Metal and Rap Songs, 1985-1990 The content analysis of the lyrics of the 20 controversial songs sampled6 supports many me- Type of Song dia writers' claims that rap lyrics are more ex- Content of Lyrics Heavy Metal Rap plicit than the lyrics in heavy metal. Although both genres contain potentially offensive ele- Hard swear words 2 9 ments, rap songs tend to have a higher fre- Sex, graphic 1 7 quency of offensive themes and to be more ex- Violence or murder of police 0 2 plicit than heavy metal songs. As shown in Rebellion against teachers/parents 2 0 Table 3, two of the ten heavy metal songs and Degradation and violence to women 3 6 nine of the ten rap songs included hard swear Sex, indirect references 2 1 words (e.g., "fuck," "shit," and "dick"), one (innuendo, double entendre) heavy metal and seven rap songs depicted Grisly murder, violence, torture 1 0 graphic sex, and no heavy metal songs and two Sex, group 2 1 rap songs portrayed violence against the police. Drugs and/or alcohol 1 0 While the lyrics of controversial heavy metal songs dealt primarily with anti-authority state- Incest 1 0 ments (against parents and teachers for the Prejudicial slurs 1 1 most part) and sometimes with violent meta- Suicide 1 0 phors for sex (such as "the rod of steel in- Number of songs 10 10 jects"), the majority of rap songs in the sample alluded to violent street scenes and graphic sexual behaviors. While heavy metal songs used double entendres and thinly-veiled sym- I'm holding back, yeah I got control, bolic allusions to refer to sexual acts and male Hooked into her system. domination of women, rap made these acts Don't draw the line, more graphic and explicit. An example of Honey, I ain't through with you. graphic sex in heavy metal lyrics occurs in the In comparison, 2 Live Crew's rap song, "The Van Halen song "Black and Blue" from the al- Fuck Shop" from As Nasty as They Wanna Be, bum OU812: is more explicit: Slip 'n' slide, push it in, Bitch sure got the rhythm. Please come inside and make yourself at home. I want to fuck 'cause my dick's on bone. 6 The heavy metal song list included: You little whore behind closed doors, "One in a Million" Guns'n'Roses You would drink my cum and nothing more. "Now It's Dark" Anthrax Now spread your wings open for the flight. "Black and Blue" Van Halen Let me fill you up with something milky and "You're All I Need" Motley Crue white. "Let's Put the X in Sex" KISS "Suicide Solution" Ozzy Osbourne 'Cause I'm gonna slay you rough and painful. "We're Not Gonna Take It" Twisted Sister You innocent bitch, don't be shameful. "Eat Me Alive" Judas Priest "School Daze" W.A.S.P. As Table 3 shows, lyrics depicting rebellion "Necrophobic" Slayer against authority take crucially different forms The rap song list included: in heavy metal and rap. Two of the heavy metal "Dick Almighty" 2 Live Crew songs in the sample ("We're Not Gonna Take "Fuck tha Police" N.W.A It" by Twisted Sister and "School Daze" by "The Fuck Shop" 2 Live Crew W.A.S.P.) proclaim a strong aversion to and "Gangster of Love" Geto Boys mistrust of the older generation, while no rap "Girls L.G.B.N.A.F." Ice-T "The Iceburg" Ice-T songs in the sample state these antipathies. "Me So Horny" 2 Live Crew Heavy metal music addresses the frustrations "Put Her in the Buck" 2 Live Crew of the child against parental and teacher author- "Straight Outta Compton" N.W.A ity, as the following lyrics from "School Daze" "Wild Thing" Tone Loc suggest:

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A blackboard jungle, I toed the line the rulers artistic subversion of the stereotyped sexual made. images of black men. A whole work hell house screams at me like the Yet the discourse about these cultural objects grave. reflected not only the symbolic meanings re- Tic toc 3 o'clock I'm sittin' here and countin' siding in the objects themselves, but also the the days. social context in which the objects were pro- A 5-bell is ringin', hell, and I'd sure love to see duced and received (Griswold 1987; Pollock it blaze. 1988; Beisel 1993). In applying such markedly Burn it down! different frames to heavy metal and rap, media While heavy metal lyrics stake a claim for the writers were responding to the cultural and his- autonomy of the young person against school torical currents of the day. On the one hand, and adult officials, anti-authoritarian rap as- the media went out of their way to valorize serts independence from the authority of the "black" rap as art and, relative to heavy metal, police and white power structures in general. avoided discussing its negative side (as indi- Two rap songs in the sample by "gangster" rap- cated by the smaller number of "harmful" ar- per Ice Cube and his group at the time N.W.A ticles written about rap). Yet when they did ad- (Niggers With Attitude) depict graphic scenes dress the negative aspects of rap, their framing of anti-authoritarianism and violence against selection revealed a subtle ideological shift: police. The following lyrics from N.W.A's Mainstream writers were no longer concerned "Fuck tha Police" pose a striking contrast to about the detrimental effects of the graphic W.A.S.P.'s sentiments above: music on teenaged listeners, as they had been for heavy metal, but were concerned about the Fucking with me 'cause I'm a teenager dangers these black youths posed to the soci- With a little bit of gold and a pager. ety at large. The societal belief that black kids Searchin' my car, looking for the product, pose more of a threat to society than "our kids" Thinking every nigger is selling narcota. was reflected in the arguments about "black" Ice Cube will swarm teenagers' cultural objects. On any mother fucker in a blue uniform. Just 'cause I'm from the CPT Punk police are afraid of me. CONCLUSION Young nigger on the warpath, I argue that media writers use frames selec- And when I'm finished, it's gonna be a bloodbath Of cops, dying in LA. tively to represent the stories they tell. They Yo, Dre, I got something to say: Fuck the Police. choose from a set of social-cultural images to make their accounts convincing, compelling, and familiar to themselves and to their audiences. Although there are many different icons Framing Symbolic Expression and memories that could be used to catch read- To some extent, then, media writers on both ers' imaginations, writers choose the same cul- sides of the debate used frames based on the tural images and memories over and over again messages in the lyrics of the two genres. Writ- to relate their concerns about an issue. This re- ers on the "harmful" side frequently bemoaned peated use of certain images produces recog- the anti-authority themes in heavy metal music nizable patterns of frames, which media writ- (saying that youths would become corrupted in ers use to comment on socially important is- their attitudes about school, parents, and sex sues. from listening to these songs), and they were In the discourse surrounding the harmfulness generally outraged by the unprecedented ex- of music lyrics from 1985 to 1990, media writ- plicitness of rap (arguing that rap lyrics would ers in the mainstream press invoked different cause listeners to wreak havoc on police and frames to address the "white" genre of heavy women). Writers on the "not harmful" side, metal music than they used to discuss the meanwhile, argued that the rebellion in heavy "black" genre of rap music. They constructed metal music was absurd, exaggerated, puerile images of race and adolescence to tell separate fun, while the heightened anti-authoritarian re- stories of the dangers lurking in the cultural bellion and graphic sexual activity in rap mu- expressions of the two distinct social groups. sic indicated a serious political stance and an In doing so, they called upon memories of his-

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