Sometimes a trip down memory lane can provoke musings about
the difference between past and present cultures. Hearing Johnny
Maestro singing "Sixteen Candles" triggered memories of
how riveted I was with music and how it consumed my daily life. I
prepared for school listening to the top 40 blasting away on my
little transistor radio. Homework was done with music blaring
away in the background. I can't bear listening to what passes for
popular music today.
The Brooklyn Paramount and the Brooklyn Fox had fabulous shows,
with the radio disc jockey Murray "the K" Kaufman as
host. My children found it hard to believe that I saw so many
stars on one bill, and I even started to doubt it myself. So I
contacted Peter Altschuler ofwww.murraythek.com, who kindly sent
me a program of one of the shows I attended. It confirmed that my
memory was still sound.
For just $5, I watched from a balcony seat performers who
included the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the
Miracles, the Four Tops, Little Anthony and the Imperials, the
Righteous Brothers, and Martha and the Vandellas. At other shows,
I saw Jackie Wilson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, the Platters,
and other icons of the era.
But the bargain price to see such acts was not the biggest
difference between music today and then. In those days, nearly
all the songs had something to do with love: lost love, sad love,
joyous love, puppy love, unrequited love. All of them were
innocent.
That is not what teens today are listening to.
My daughter teaches sixth grade at an inner-city parochial school
and enjoys a close relationship with her students, who are mostly
from minority groups. They tell her what music they like to
listen and dance to, and she learned that one of the most popular
hits today is a song called "The Wait" by the Ying Yang
Twins. The lyrics are obscene, and yet this is what is popular
among teenage fans of hip-hop music. Needless to say, my daughter
was appalled, not so much by the song, but by the realization
that parents simply are not monitoring what is going on in their
children's lives.
Today's entertainment culture is supersaturated with hardcore
sex, and it's not just in our music. Pornographic scenes are
hidden in the video game Grand Theft Auto/San Andreas, and that
has attracted the attention of the Federal Trade Commission and
some law enforcement agencies that are trying to restrict its
sales. That's a waste of time. The game is already rated M for
mature, yet many preteens own a copy that their clueless parents
paid for.
The problem isn't the game. It's the abdication of duty by
parents, who should be aware of what their children are doing
behind the closed bedroom doors. Why should we be surprised by
the increasing incidents of teacher/ student sexual relationships
when sex marketing is in hyper drive on movie and television
screens and the Internet? Has anybody tuned in MTV lately?
So what's the answer? Censorship? New laws? No. I think it's time
that decent, God-fearing people break their silence.
As I was sitting in a restaurant near Atlantic City, I observed a
family sitting in a corner booth. They had their heads bowed and
were saying grace. Once upon a time, that wasn't such a strange
sight. Watching them was all the impetus I needed to say some
words of thanks for my meal. We should be eternally grateful for
the blessings that we as Americans have in this bountiful nation.
Why should the term "religious right" be considered an
insult?
Why should we be intimidated by the secular forces that spew
filth to our children?
We don't need a village to run our lives. We need to take back
control of our families by controlling how we spend our
hard-earned cash.
There were enough of us to re-elect our president, so isn't it
time we unite in other ways to influence our culture as well? We
don't need laws to stop the entertainment industry from producing
garbage. It's a business, and they're in it for the money, so why
not hit it in the pocketbook? Hollywood seems perplexed by the
sluggish movie market. Fewer people are watching TV as well.
Former moviegoers like myself are not prudes, but we know the
difference between what's bawdy and what's vile.
I don't expect the sophisticated teens of today to listen to
sappy love songs like "Sixteen Candles," but I dare any
parent to read the lyrics of "The Wait" and not come
away with the same determination to end this criminal assault on
our children's innocence.