No No Honey Singh: Profanity in Music

They say change is the only constant. Everything changes, from the colour of the sky to the colour of your hair. Remember when I told you about generation gap? How things, likings and tastes change over the years. Speaking of change of colour of hair, it occurs in many scenarios, like you’re bald when you’re born, then you grow out your natural hair, in my case, the colour’s black. Then as the years advance and you step into your teens, your hair colour changes as you apply streaks & highlights, and I’m talking about boys too! It isn’t just girl stuff apparently. Now afterwards when you grow up, you grow mature, you sport a more sophisticated hairdo, with your natural colour back into play. In the later years when old age shows its effects on eyesight and body, your head looks like a field of silver grass. Then very slowly, it all reverts to the stare when you were born, i.e. baldness.

Now during this all phenomena, along with your hair colour, a lot of things change in your life. Your eating preferences, your clothing preferences, your physical appearance and what not! We’ll just be discussing your music preferences here. Music, everybody loves it, right? Everyone has their favourite song, their favourite singer or band, a special tune they like to hum when they are alone. You know why? Because music is what speaks not to you, but it speaks to your soul. Some wise man once said that music is independent of language. It is not bound to any specific dialect, accent or tone of speech.  That’s the beauty of music.

Music tastes too, change with age. For example, when I was little I listened only to Bollywood songs, they were my universe. Then in my teen years I was introduced to Rock and Hip hop. I was 16 when I first listened to ‘In the End’, the iconic song of Linkin Park. Nowadays I listen to mainly classical rock, some blues and Jazz, and I’m pretty sure in my 40s I’d switch to Sufi music, much like my dad who can listen to Wadali brothers anytime of the day.

Music is the voice of the generation; it is a highly powerful tool of communication with the target audience. But if used in a wrong way, consequences will be pretty much bad. For e.g., take today’s Indian Pop music scene for example, the music & so called raps of Yo Yo Honey Singh have pretty much a misogynistic opinion in their lyrics. We all know how the now so famous Yo Yo Honey Singh started off. That was pretty depressing and highly offensive material. Such music has given rise to other artists who glorify the Punjabi & Jatt community as a gun wielding, masochistic and highly violent community, which is quite the contrary. But who is to blame? Putting a cap on the artists would be attacking their artistic ability and imagination, however profane it may be.

When eminent lyricist Prasoon Joshi was asked about the profanity in Bollywood songs, here’s what he said, “I feel you need to understand that language is a contribution of a lot of people and it is easy to abuse. My problem is that most of the abuses are about female anatomy. They tell you about the psyche of a certain kind of dominance. I don't have a problem with abuses, but with sanctioning a certain hierarchy in the system. Secondly, we have to protect our children. I have no problem with adult content. But it should be a conscious choice. It should not catch you unawares.”

It’s not just Bollywood music that’s profane, but English music too. Now I’m not saying that every song that contains even a hint of profanity is bad, but the profanity, or the suggestive elements should not overpower the music & its nature. For example, two of Nirvana’s greatest hits, ‘Rape Me’ & ‘Where did you sleep last night’ do contain some suggestive elements, but they don’t overpower the song, and hence makes it pleasant to listen. On the other hand, Katy Perry in "E.T." insisted her alien lover "Infect me with your love and fill me with your poison. ...Wanna be a victim, ready for abduction."

According to an NPR music critic Ann Powers, "Pop has hardly just developed this pretty potty mouth. But never have so many artists spilled profanity so blissfully or embraced salaciousness with such ease. There's a sort of carefree, cheerful quality about such naughtiness now." Can anyone imagine a parent being grateful for having to explain to a grade-school child what Katy Perry meant by "melt your Popsicle"? Sleazy pop songs might be a conversation starter, but as a warning about how not to speak or behave. There's no happy talk that can avoid this fact: The music industry slides lower each year into the gutter, interested only in making a quick buck through our lowest common denominators.

Frequency of 'F***' appearing in titles of songs

Initially uncensored music that many listen to is getting to the younger generation .We all know that children are our future .What happens a majority of the time when a juvenile hears a new word ,they use the new word right? Eventually most children will be using profanity .The real question is, how will our society be in ten years from now?

So what do we need to do? Censor music? No. That isn’t the solution. In fact, what we need to do is stand up to our self and renovate our music library. If we decide to listen to proper music which handles the appropriate amount of profanity in a tasteful way, then music labels will only make such songs. Demand creates supply, right? Plus, the drop in such “Yo Yo” songs will nip this MTV wanna be rapper generation in the bud. You wanna be a rapper? Look at Eminem, look at Mike Shinoda, they have talent, they don’t depend on profanity to make their videos a hit unlike Yo Yo Honey Singh.

You are what you listen, as it unknowingly drives your conscious.