Can a country’s level of freedom be measured by how their government censors punk rock music? Because punk rock music is very political in nature, certain governments have chosen to censor the music by over-policing live shows and monitoring musicians and fans. They label these bands as government extremists. Although we don’t always hear about these occurances, there have been recent situations with punk supporters who are in fear of being prosecuted for participating in the scene.
Alexia Nokonov, lead singer of Russian punk band PTVP, has been dragged offstage and arrested for singing songs with anti-government themes. The band has come to expect vehicle surveillance and government monitoring of their internet activity. This is a successful attempt by the Russian government to censor the independent music scene without making an official ban.
Although we have a lot of freedoms in the United States,
I would not be surprised if censorship started occurring in our local music scene. Americans today are more willing to give up their rights for securities. I could see our news channels airing stories about these small but dangerous punk show that promote violence and anarchy. All that stuff ended with GG Allin though.
You make a very strong point here. After I read this I thought about how a lot of people hate 'radical' music, or any music that goes against the norm. I think it has come in more shapes than one. People hated some music in the 70's because it spoke out against the government and the war, but now looking back it's viewed as revolutionary music and an important movement. I think America gets a lot of crap for the things our music says or the acts that some of our celebrities do but its that freedom that formed this country. Could you imagine if our government pulled Bob Dylan off the stage and arrested him? We would freak out! We may not like what some people say but they should always have the right to say it and we will always have the choice of whether or not to listen.
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