Death Metal, Rap-hop and the devil made me do it

Satan has been in the news a fair amount over the past few days.

Krugersdorp - A schoolboy who stabbed a fellow pupil to death with a sword in Krugersdorp on Monday morning was apparently high on drugs, saying Satan had told him to kill the children...Krugersdorp councillor Alex Raubenheimer said school children on the scene told him the boy was high on drugs and was dressed like Joey Jordison, a drummer of the band Slipknot.source

I really enjoyed Chris Roper's post on the topic.I'm not sure if you've seen the movie "Primal Fear"? If you haven't, you should. Ed Norton and Richard Gere are fantastic.The basic premise of the movie is that an alter boy kills some people and uses his innocent, god-fearing "nature" to defend himself. This coupled with his apparent schizophrenia gets him off. He walks free.This isn't the same thing as stating that "the devil made me do it" ofcourse, but the premise is the same. It's the same as saying I am incapable of making decisions on my own so I blame the devil. The devil is intangible and doesn't exist therefore I need to make the concept real so I tell you that heavy metal is the devil's music. I can therefore blame the heavy metal for my actions and by association, blame the devil.{The way I see it (and I think this might ruffle some feathers) is that the devil does not exist. So in theory this is where my article should end, but for the sake of debate, let me continue.}Is this some sort of twisted philosophical logic that I just don't grasp? Why don't we blame the parents, the school system, the child, the child's friends and their influence on the child's life and actions? Why do we have to make it about themusic and single the music out as violent, aggressive and possible of warping a perception so much so that the child becomes warped in action?Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that an under-age child should be listening to music or watching films that promote violence, sexual promiscuity or any other illegal or dangerous action. But that is for the parents to regulate, you can't tell the music to stop playing itself if it thinks the child is under-age. That's just ridiculous.Furthermore, music can be intense, aggressive, cutting edge, loud, banging and harsh but that doesn't mean the lyrical content reflects that. I am deep in to rock music, old, new, heavy, soft, refined and raw. I love it all. But it doesn't all dramatically influence my action, choices, decisions and life. It provides me with insight in to what other people perceive the world to be.Let's step back 50 years or 40 years or 30, 20, 10 years in our history. Think back to The Beatles, The Stones, Queen (is the name a reference to homosexuality possibly?) and heaven forbid Elvis the once banned rocker and now the king of rock 'n roll forever. These bands all faced adversity in their time. Why? Because parents, teachers, headmasters, religious pundits and many other groups couldn't take responsibility for their actions, their children or their children's actions. Basically, blame the music for the uncontrollable and rebellious nature of our children.I thought we were meant to learn from the mistakes of our past? Are we not just repeating the actions of the ignorant and blind from the past by condemning the music and inadvertently pushing our children towards the messages that we are trying to protect them from?When I was about 11 I got in to Skunk Anansie heavily. I loved them. The lead singer was a bald black woman by the name of Skin. Skin. Do you honestly think that my Greek Orthodox (then) father was going to tolerate it? Not a chance. The first song on the album featured the lyric "Yes it's fucking political". Ha! I didn't stand a chance. Or did I? I made sure that the first thing I did when my father stepped out of the house was play that song. I credit that song alone for my political interest and for my degree in politics from Rhodes University. That Damned music, it ruined my life.

Here's a Skunk Anansie cutaway:No wonder I'm so messed up. This is what I was listening to at 11/12 years old and I haven't killed, maimed, harmed anyone....yet...dum dum dum dum

All that my father's harsh actions, forced law and pushy intention did was make me crave the message, the content and the music more. Get real, kids are smarter than we give them credit for. Nothing you do is going to make them stop listening to that music.I'm not sure if you've looked around lately, picked your head up out of your bible, book, "reality" or life and noticed how liberal the world has become. Take your blinkers off. They are playing "the devil's music" in clubs nowadays, they are playing that rock-metal-death-rap-craziness on the radio. The world has moved on. So why don't you?One murder happens involving teenagers and it immediately becomes anti-religious (as if the only thing that can save our children is god/religion) and name and blame towards the musicians. I listen to Slipknot, I have 16 year old female cousins who listen to them too, they aren't suicidal, on a murderous rampage or intent on harming others. In spite of their personal lives they are actually very well balanced cousins who make me proud. The music they listen to gives them perspective on the world not insight in to the devil's mind. This was one incident that occurred amongst a sea of socially uncomfortable youths who do not choose to murder. Let's look at the one case, not clump the entire youth of SA and their music habits as satanistic.I am not saying the research doesn't oppose my argument, it might, I don't know. But to be honest I am more than satisfied with blaming myself for my actions, my societal influences, my friends, parents or experiences but not the devil and his (her) music.Last point, if you want violence, turn on Carte Blanche on a Sunday at 7pm, turn on SABC 1, 2, 3 and e-tv news at 7am or 7pm every day, listen to the radio broadcasts about war, dishonesty, crime, violence at home and abroad, cheating politicians world wide and more. Music, let me tell you, is a fraction of our problem today.