Note: Alexis "Lex" King de Azevedo (born
January 14, 1943 in Los Angeles, California, the son of Alyce King of The King
Sisters) is a famous LDS musician, but he is also a famous American composer,
songwriter, pianist & singer known primarily for his film scores and his
work on "The Swan Princess," of which one of his songs was nominated
for a Golden Globe Award. De Azevedo
served as a musical director for The Sonny & Cher Show, Michael Jackson and
the Jackson Five, and The Osmonds. He
also produced the music for the LDS musical, Saturday's Warrior.
This
article was written in 1985, however, the points made are just as valid in
today's world and very worthy of our consideration.
A Closer Look at Popular Music
It was one of those no-win situations. I’d
been asked to speak at a stake fireside on the subject of pop music and
morality, a highly sensitive topic at best. Unfortunately, the previous evening
a member of the stake presidency had closed down the stake youth dance. In his
judgment, the music and the youth had gotten out of hand.
I could feel the emotional intensity in the
air as the young people filed in to sit on one side of the chapel and the
adults sat on the other. No one wanted to hear a lecture; they wanted to air
their thoughts about last night’s dance. I was bombarded by questions and
comments from both sides:
“I’m sure the Lord is displeased when our youth
dance to that loud, vulgar music in his own house.”
“You think it’s loud
and vulgar because you don’t like it. Your parents probably thought your music was loud and vulgar.”
“Why don’t you kids
learn to appreciate real music—classical music—instead of idolizing those immoral rock
stars?”
“You think rock singers are immoral? Did you
ever read about Wagner or Lizst?”
“But that’s different. Their music is
beautiful and uplifting. It is good.”
“Boring might
be a better word for it!”
One elderly brother stood to settle the whole
matter. “I can’t always make out the words, but whenever I hear the sound of
that electric gee-tar I know they’re singing about dope!” And with that he
dropped back into his seat as if he had solved every issue.
A few nodded in agreement.
Others snickered or laughed out loud. I was tempted to chuckle myself until I
realized that he had made the most profound comment of the evening. He was
literally right. To him, every song with an electric “gee-tar” was associated with dope. In his mind and memory, the electric “gee-tar” and
dope were inextricably connected.
In each of our minds, certain kinds of music
are tied deeply to our own experiences and emotions. Our favorite music has an
intensely personal meaning to us. Memories of our childhood, first date, first
love, youth conferences, prom night, testimony meetings, marriage, and old
friends may all be tied to a certain kind of music in one way or another. Thus,
when someone attacks our music, we may feel that they are also attacking our deepest,
most treasured experiences.
Because our response to music is so intensely
personal, it is difficult to be objective when discussing music and morality.
Most discussions, in fact, fail to focus on the moral issues at all. Instead,
they quickly degenerate into arguments about individual tastes in which we
ascribe moral qualities to those things we like. In short, that which we like
we call “good,” and that which we don’t like we call “bad.”
Parents and leaders of youth would do well not
to point the finger at broad categories, such as “hard rock,” “pop,” or
“country and western” for two reasons: (1) Categories are vague and mean
different things to different people. (2) To discuss categories is to miss the
entire point. Moral and immoral songs exist in nearly every kind of music, and
attacking a specific category may lead a person to feel justified in listening
to immoral music of another type.
For those confused by
the issues involved in any discussion about music and morality, let me assure
you that there is a way out of the confusion. Itis possible to understand music’s incredible
power, consider the moral issues raised by that power, and then look at the
music of today in light of its moral consequences.
I’m not one to quickly
condemn the music of our day. Popular music is my profession, and it’s one of
the greatest enjoyments of my life. I come from a long history of involvement
in popular music. My mother, Alyce King, was one of the four singing King
Sisters. I began my musical training early. While I was in college I traveled
with the King Sisters as their arranger and accompanist. Later I worked as the
musical director for the Four Preps. In 1965 I began work with Capitol Records
as a record producer. A few years later I was hired as an arranger and
rehearsal pianist for The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour on CBS television. In the seventies I created
the music for Saturday’s Warrior, The Order Is Love, and My Turn on Earth.
Throughout all these years in the music
business, I’ve learned that music has great power, both for good and for evil.
And I’ve become increasingly concerned that that power is being used for evil
in much of today’s popular music.
The Power of Music
Music is so powerful that it affects even our
physical beings. Who hasn’t had the experience of tapping his toe to a certain
song—without even realizing he was tapping until after the fact? Many ancient
peoples recognized the power of music on the body, and some used music as a
healing agent. In many mythologies, the god of music is also the god of
medicine.
In recent years,
studies have substantiated these ancient ideas, demonstrating music’s effect on
a myriad of bodily functions: pulse rate, respiration rate, blood pressure,
galvanic skin responses, brain-wave impulses, muscle responses, finger
coordination, and reading speed and comprehension. 1 One
study suggests that certain rhythms actually have a weakening effect on the
muscles of the body. 2
A force so powerful that it can influence our
hearts, our glands, and our muscles is a force to be reckoned with. The
influence is significant enough that we should take care what kind of music we
allow into our homes.
Music also has great power on our emotions.
Music has been called the universal language because it speaks directly to our
emotions. And our emotions and feelings influence our actions.
The power music has to
communicate feelings was made dramatically clear to me while I was writing the
musical score for the film Where the Red Fern Grows. While working on that project, I encountered a
serious problem: the entire story was built around a boy’s love for his dogs,
but that love wasn’t being communicated through the film itself. I composed a
tender love theme to fill that void, and suddenly flat images on strips of
celluloid had emotional life. The audience wept.
Music also has great effect on words. I like
to use this example of a popular poem from the early 1960s:
She
Loves You
You think you lost your love.
Well, I saw her yesterday—
It’s you she’s thinking of,
And she told me what to say.
She says she loves you,
And you know that can’t be bad;
Yes, she loves you,
And you know you should be glad.
Whoooo.
She loves you,
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
She loves you,
This text is almost humorous when read alone;
it is far from award-winning poetry. Yet, when these words were set to a
free-swinging, infectious tune, they created an irresistible force. Fans rushed
out to buy more than three million singles of this record. How many copies of
this text would have sold had it not been set to music?
Usually, music gives a song its emotional
power, while lyrics tie that power to a concrete idea. Generally, lyrics appeal
to the head, while music captures the heart.
The lyrics of “She
Loves You” are rather innocuous, but the situation becomes serious when
questionable or immoral words are wedded to an appealing melody. This was never
clearer to me than when I was hired to make an instrumental version of another
popular song. I didn’t care much for the tune and cared even less for the
words. In order to take the melody and harmony off the record, though, I had to
play it at least a dozen times. Even though I was making an instrumental
version and wasn’t interested in the words at all, I couldn’t get the melody or
the words out of my mind for days afterward. Hard-to-remember words stick in
the mind easily when combined with catchy, easy-to-remember melodies. That song
kept returning to haunt me. Ironically, I didn’t even like the song. What if I hadliked it?
Music is the sugar coating that makes “bitter”
lyrics palatable. We may become so infatuated with the rhythm, melody, or
singer of a song that we transfer this emotion to the words, not caring what
they really say. Even if the words are drug-oriented, erotic, violent, satanic,
or just plain silly—when tied to a “hit” tune, they sneak past the screening
mechanism of the brain to be stored in the subconscious, and to affect the
listener accordingly.
And that’s one of the real problems with
popular music today, one that adds to the confusion in discussing it. It comes
down to a lack of control: We can’t control the lyrics attached to memorable
music. We can’t control what the music and lyrics do to us. And much of the
time we can’t even control what we listen to. For example, most radio
stations—rock, pop, country, whatever—generally broadcast music indiscriminately.
A moral song will be followed by a song about sex or violence, and unless we
are constantly at the radio dial, we listen to both. Record albums often have a
similar mix; we could skip the objectionable songs, but that’s often too much
trouble.
The Morality of Pop Music
Much of our confusion
about music can be cleared up by becoming moreconscious of the music we are listening to and of its
effect on us. Once we recognize what the music is doing to us, we are in a
better position to screen out the bad and enjoy the good.
We should look at the music we allow into our
homes and ask, “Is this music, with its lyrics, conducive to the Spirit of the
Lord? Will it exercise its power in a positive or negative way?”
Certainly in popular music today there is
music that is acceptable and worthwhile. In the last few years, for example, we
heard some popular performers sing of the virtues of married love and of the
love between parent and child. Two others recorded a song expressing the hope
that all people would learn to live “in perfect harmony.” Another performer
made the charts with a song specifically about doing right. Other songs have
praised such laudable goals as peace, equality, sharing, and freedom.
Of course, all the music performed by the artists who
recorded these songs is not uplifting. I am only pointing out that there have
been some uplifting pop songs through the years. But let’s be honest—one of the
reasons these songs stand out is that they are so rare in the music business
today. The vast majority of today’s songs do not promote morality. Often they
promote immorality. Satan is using much of today’s music to preach blatantly
degrading messages. Obscene lyrics find their way into Church dances and into
the homes of Church members. Words we would never permit to be spoken or read
in our homes are played, sung, and repeated dozens of times—merely because they
are set to music.
Many people who listen
to popular music claim that they never listen to the lyrics and that the
messages never affect them. Research, however, shows that our brains are
marvelously perceptive; they pick up almost any message within sight or sound,
whether we consciously know it or not. Those subconsciously received messages
may have as much an effect on us as the messages we consciously seek out. 4
While many songs are bad because they stress
the trivial and selfish things of this world (such as fame, wealth, and cheap
thrills), the most objectionable of all focus on illegal drugs, illicit sex,
violence, and satanism. Let’s look at these four aspects of popular music,
taking examples from recent rock music simply because that’s what most young
people today listen to.
Music about Drugs. Beer-drinking songs have been around for centuries. But in the
mid-sixties, a new kind of song appeared. Mystical lyrics with obscure words
sang of the pleasures of a different kind of artificial stimulant. Songs about
illegal drugs, from marijuana to LSD, began to appear on the pop charts.
At first, society wouldn’t tolerate an open
endorsement of illegal drugs, so double entendre and hidden code words were
used to spread the gospel of drug usage to an ever-growing underground. Later,
references to drugs became more open. Some groups even named themselves
after—and built their entire image on—drugs and drug-related terminology.
With the prevalence of drug songs over the
past twenty years, I can’t help but wonder: Has the popular music of our time
helped to lead the children of this generation to their widespread
experimentation with drugs? It may be impossible to scientifically prove a
cause-effect relationship, but I think common sense leads us inescapably to
that conclusion.
Music about Sex. Over 70 percent of all popular songs are about love. At least,
that’s what certain studies have shown. 5 But
actually, many of those songs are about lust, the counterfeit of love. To make
a list of groups who sing about lust and illicit sex is almost to list the
who’s who of rock music.
A concerned adult leader once wrote me a
letter about a half-hour ride with teenagers in a car. As they rode, the youth
listened to their normal radio station. “This station was not an adult, or even
college-age or punk-oriented FM station,” she wrote. “It was the most popular
AM station in town.” Then she described the songs the station played. Out of
nine songs in that half hour, eight were about premarital or extramarital sex.
“What particularly disturbed me about these songs,” she wrote, “was the fact
that I knew the very young listened to them over and over and over, many times
every day of the year.”
Songs and poems of adultery and fornication
are nothing new; every generation has had its fill of them. But in order to
make their product more and more exciting—and sell more songs—record producers
have gradually added additional perversions to their traditional preoccupation
with illicit sex. Today, songs containing references to homosexuality,
transvestism, sodomy, masturbation, sadomasochism, rape, prostitution, venereal
disease, child abuse, and incest have all been added to the musical menu.
Many groups use sex and nudity on album covers
to help sell records. Some base their name and image on sexually descriptive
words. Some groups and singers openly admit to sexual deviation. They seem to
glory in their decadent image.
Sexual immorality and drug usage have always
gone on in secret, but never before in our society have they been the openly
admitted and accepted norm. Within the last ten to twenty years, we have
experienced a revolution in the values our society deems acceptable. Today,
almost all former sexual taboos are considered light humor in most television
shows and movies. Without ever subjecting these vital issues to a rational
debate, many people have allowed their attitude toward sin to change from
hatred to endurance to pity to embracing. I am convinced that of the many
factors which aided this revolution, music has been a major one.
As for the future, it may safely be said that
although the lyrics, titles, and names of the groups will change from month to
month, illicit and immoral songs will continue to be made as long as they sell.
Songs of Violence. Much of the folk rock of the sixties and seventies carried a
heavy political message; it was based on a certain youthful idealism, with
ultimate goals of racial equality, peace, and love. But that love soon turned
into open sex, nudity, and drugs, and the messages of peace increasingly became
messages of violence.
The antiestablishment
tone of those earlier days has experienced a rebirth lately in the musical
styles of new wave and punk rock. Unfortunately, many of these groups have
picked up where the last generation left off. Violence and sex are their major
messages. A member of a group that has been called “America’s foremost
sex-and-violence band” told a nationwide television audience: “Rock ’n roll has
always been sexual. Rock ’n roll has always been violent. It has teeth. It will
scratch your face off. That’s why I like it.” 6
Rock music may have always been violent, but
it has become increasingly so in recent years. At concerts of one rock band,
for example, dark-hooded characters performed mock acts of violence onstage,
imitating child abuse. During another number, the band endlessly chanted, “We
don’t need no education,” as children came onstage to destroy school desks and
mannequins of teachers.
Album covers of
various “power rock” groups present people smoking pot and engaging in street
brawls. One performer likes to taunt his audiences with what he calls “combat
rock.” He claims, “Rock is a perfect primal method of releasing our violent
instincts.” 7
Many other groups also sing of violence and
use it in their acts. Murder, child abuse, and torture are common themes, and
concerts have become increasingly violent.
Satanic Songs. Moroni 7:17 [Moro. 7:17] tells us that anything that persuades us to do evil (such as
the songs referred to in the previous sections) is ultimately “of the devil.”
But, unfortunately, several groups have progressed beyond merely trying to
persuade us to do evil. By their own boasting, many have become heavily
involved in the occult, in witchcraft, in black magic, and in Satan worship
itself. Such groups use their music and their lyrics to spread this mysticism
and demonology to their listening public.
Symbols of witchcraft,
cult worship, and sacrilegious imagery appear on album covers as well as in
lyrics: One group dedicated its hit to an ancient Welsh witch, and a singer in
concert has dedicated songs to “all the witches in the world.” 8 Another
group has built its entire career on “Satan rock,” using satanic symbols on
T-shirts and album covers and holding altar calls to Satan before some of their
concerts.
Some who have spoken out about today’s popular
music have sounded like extremists or alarmists. That’s unfortunate, because
the problem is real. I have purposely referred only to major groups in this
discussion—these are not obscure singers no one has heard of.
Music is one of the Lord’s greatest tools in
helping us build spirituality. But it is also one of the adversary’s deadliest
weapons. Using it, he creates sugar-coated poison that can slowly destroy all
our brightest dreams and leave us spiritually wounded.
The irony is that we take this deadly
spiritual poison voluntarily into our homes, schools, and churches. We share it
with our loved ones. We pay millions of dollars a year for the privilege of
exposing ourselves to it. Like foolish Trojans, we open the gates of our
strongholds and let the enemy in.
When a person eats unhealthy food, he often
senses very little immediate effect. But the body is affected nevertheless, and
if that diet is continued, the effect can be severe. Our physical bodies are
the sum total of the foods we consume. The same is true of our minds and
spirits. We are living in a telestial world, complete with telestial arts and
entertainment which can fill our minds with telestial images. Those telestial
images often stimulate telestial thoughts, which, if not rejected, will lead to
telestial behavior. The eventual result can be a telestial person. We would be
more healthy spiritually if we never consumed any evil. Every bit harms us.
The prophets of the
Lord understand this process and have given us this sharp admonition: “Come ye
out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things.” (Alma 5:57.) I believe that much of today’s music can be counted among
these “unclean things.”
When we consider music’s impact on us, and how
many thousands of hours we listen to it throughout our lives, it seems wise to
choose for ourselves and our families music which builds up our spiritual
reserves rather than that which continually wears them down.
Setting Musical Standards
It’s easy to see that
much of today’s popular music has a detrimental effect. But it’s not so easy to
help family members want to listen
to something else. Here are some suggestions for parents:
1. The first thing is to become truly aware of
what you and your children are listening to. Do the songs you have on the radio
or record player promote or describe immorality in any of its forms? It may be
that there is no problem in your home—or you and your children may indeed be
deeply attached to harmful music.
In evaluating the situation in your home,
realize that most teenagers feel a great deal of peer pressure to be
knowledgeable about the music scene—it answers some of their need for
self-esteem and gives them the security that comes from identifying themselves
with “the group.” Many teenagers use rock music as an escape from fears,
problems, feelings of inadequacy, or boredom. Perhaps what you are seeing is
only a symptom of the problem.
2. Teenagers are often
unaware that music can have a harmful spiritual effect. If you feel concerned
about the music your teens are listening to, it may be helpful to explain what
effect immoral music can have on our spirits. Teens are at a time in their
lives when they particularly need the guidance of the Holy Ghost, and some kinds of music can deaden their receptiveness to
spiritual promptings. Rather than simply establishing rules about what your
youth can or cannot listen to, explain why you are concerned. Then encourage them to
govern themselves.
3. In a spirit of cooperation,
sit down together and set some limits. For example, stations A and B are
totally off limits because they play an overabundance of offensive material;
other stations can be listened to only between the hours of _____ and _____ P.M., and the volume must not be so loud that you
can hear it through a closed door and down the hall; the stereo belongs to the
entire family and we must take turns. Limits like these are only fair to the
other members of the household—and they help the teenager become more
accustomed to the idea of controlling his listening habits.
4. Keeping the lines of communication open is
much more important than any short-term success you might have in trying to
alter your teenager’s listening habits by being hard-nosed. Be careful not to
ruin your relationship with him by attacking his music. Instead, unemotionally
discuss the moral issues with him, tactfully making it clear what you think is
right and wrong and giving him ample opportunity to express his opinions.
Hopefully, as you reason with him, your
teenager will come to share your concerns about offensive music and will be
willing to moderate his listening habits. If not, keep communicating. Having a
good relationship with him will bring more lasting benefits than forcing him to
change music.
5. The Lord has
counseled, “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.” (D&C 121:45.) Accordingly, then, our abandonment of immoral music is only
half the battle. Cultivating a taste for uplifting and encouraging music
in our homes is the necessary other
half.
In trying to help your children develop a
broader base, expose them to a variety of the world’s great music. To create a
small library of good music, talk to a music teacher or a knowledgeable
neighbor; ask for a list of popular classics that are especially appealing to
children and young people. You might also introduce Primary songs, hymns, the
emerging LDS popular music, and serious sacred music into the home. This not
only provides an alternative to the telestial music of the world, but it also
tends to focus the mind on celestial concepts, encouraging celestial desires
and behavior.
Don’t surrender your stereo to your teenagers.
As parents, take your turn enjoying your favorite music from the family record
and tape collection.
If possible, provide your children with formal
training on a musical instrument. Take them to local performances of good
music. They will particularly enjoy a concert featuring music they have already
learned to appreciate with you at home. Sing together regularly as a family,
especially on family nights, holidays, and special occasions. The object isn’t
to make musical geniuses of your children, but rather to enlarge their understanding
and appreciation of good music of all styles.
It’s not always easy to change musical habits.
But if a certain form of music is hampering our spiritual health and
development, in whatever subtle and quiet way, it must be given up in favor of
music that will build spiritual strength. That doesn’t mean we must give up all
popular music. But we must be willing to seriously control our listening—and
shun the groups, songs, and music that are spiritually harmful.
Music is such an important—and powerful—part
of our lives that we should consider our listening habits thoughtfully and
prayerfully. If we remember our eternal goals, we will seek out music that will
help us, rather than hinder us.
[photos] Photography by Michael Schoenfeldt
Lex de Azevedo, a
music composer and producer, serves as second counselor in the California
Arcadia Mission. He and his wife, Linda, are the parents of eight children.
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