Response to Michelle Webb

In Michelle Webb's entry, she asked "Can we call degrading music 'real music'?  And since anger is a popular emotion in today's music, what does that say about today's society?"  Just because a song can be considered offensive does not make it any less of a song.  If you feel that musicians are driven by their emotions while creating music, then you have to accept all types of songs, including angry, mean, or degrading.  It isn't always fun to hear an offensive or angry song, but it is still a legitimate piece of music.  

While some people can't bear to listen to angry, screaming, offensive music, others wont listen to anything else.  Why is this?  It might simply boil down to how sensitive you are.  In our society, we are encouraged to express our emotions as long as they are positive emotions.  You should tell someone you're in love with them, you should hug your friends, you should smile and laugh a lot.  But we are actually discouraged to show negative emotions.  Starting fights, getting physically aggressive, and yelling at people are all seen as undesirable behaviors; things that we would be ashamed of and probably feel like we should apologize about afterwards.  The fact that we are forced to repress our aggressive feelings could be why there is a lot of angry music.  Music is one of the few outlets that will accept these negative feelings.  When we are constantly expected to maintain a happy attitude all the time, our negative feelings don't just go away.  They linger, and they nag at us until we release them.  Music is a great way to release these feelings.  If it seems like music today is more angry than it should be, maybe it's because our society won't allow these emotions to be expressed in any other form.  

Degrading music can be offensive, but it is still music nonetheless.  It is no less "real" than something by Mozart or Bach.  We can't let our personal preferences interfere with our ability to judge music.  A song can be offensive and still a really great song.  I know there are songs that I was personally offended by, but I could still acknowledge that they were good songs.  It all comes down to personal preference, and when you take that into consideration, you are no longer judging the music objectively.

It is true that there is a lot of angry music out there.  This may seem negative, but I believe it is actually positive.  Everyone feels angry sometimes, and unfortunately, our society doesn't allow us to express this.  Music is a way to release certain emotions that aren't socially acceptable otherwise.  

Question:  Why is it more acceptable to express anger through music than in real life situations?