I’m only 28 years old so I’m not far removed from being under my parents rules. I remember buying Hip Hop albums and hiding them from my Mother because I knew she wouldn’t approve. However, now I am a Father of 2 boys and it’s hard enough trying to raise responsible and respectable children without having to worry about them watching things like this. I don’t care what anyone says, this is impressionable on kids and is not needed.
So songs about history are worse than songs about cars and degrading women?
That being said, metal thrives on a dark image. But for the most part it is just marketing. I got into metal when I was 13 when a friend played me a tape of a band called Nuclear Assault. I was instantly hooked, and I'm sure it alarmed my mother. The album cover had a horned skull and nuclear cooling towers glowing and (somehow) spewing smoke.
So I cracked open the liner and let her read some of the lyrics. She liked them actually. Songs like “Equal Rights,” “Fight to be Free,” and “Brainwashed.” Here's a sample of Brainwashed:
Television, the idiot tube, helps to raise our children as fools
Watch the news see what they want you to see, our awareness is limited by network VPs
Moronic sitcoms and one-sided news alter your feeling give you conformist views
Why can't you get that garbage out of your head, you'd better off to read a good book instead
That's not too bad of an impression to imprint on kids, no?