ABSTRACT
At grown-up parties, playing music with F-words in it is a lot like leaving a dead cat in the punch bowl. Most of the discussion of obscene music has focused on over-the-top gangster rap and nihilistic hard rock. But it is worth focusing on the first, small steps toward the breaking of norms in mainstream music—the casual insertion of a few obscenities, making them seem normal and unobjectionable. If Wal-Mart does not wish to be part of the offensive-music market, well that is the way the system works. Wal-Mart says its stores would not carry CDs with degrading, violent or obscene lyrics. Since Wal-Mart's announcement, the air has been thick with charges of censorship and violations of artistic freedom. The cry of censorship is a tiresome reaction to decisions like the one made by Wal-Mart. It is a form of pressure intended to coerce someone to remain part of the problem.
