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The music industry. A seemingly innocent and sugar coated industry, in reality, is a dark shadow that can cast over and entice the minds of the young and innocent. As this generation's musical taste is going down the drain, lingering on topics of profanity, obscenity, promiscuity, and several other negative topics, it seems like it would be a no brainer for parent's to censor what their children listen to.

Back in what seems like the old days now, songs used to dwell on topics like innocent love and good times were the number one sellers. However, as time went by, so did the quality of the topics songs linger on. It's almost scary to see some of what is coming up on the number one hits these days. Nearly every top album has the label "explicit", and even the clean version fail to clean up the overall message that their sending kids.

Let me make this clear right now; I am a teenager. I'm not just one of those elderly people preaching how bad music is nowadays; I see firsthand the effect it has on students. On my peers, on my friends. Several people blow off music as just that; music. However, music is becoming more and more prevalent in our society; we listen to it almost constantly. Just like a violent game can desensitize you to blood and killing, a low morals song can desensitize you to whatever topic it lingers on.

Have you noticed how often, and early, this youngest generation has begun to cuss? I firmly believe this is because of music. Think about it. If you were to take one look at the top 100 songs on iTunes, right now, you'd more than likely find that at least a quarter of them are explicit. Even more so, some songs that are clean still have cuss words!

Children are being exposed to cussing and negative topics in larger quantities, at a younger age. I don't know what's more sad; that the media thinks putting all those topics out in the open is ok, or that we tell them its ok by buying it. Teach your child the importance of keeping their mind clean, and slowly but surely begin to take away music that is negative. This can mean making a change yourself; but in the end its worth it. You'll find that your child will, in the long run, learn to be more moral without the influence of negative music.

That may seem a bit dramatic, but let me tell you first hand, music does influence our day to day lives, no matter how insignificantly, or sometimes even drastically. Music can change people. I knew a sweet, innocent girl, but when she started to listen to the wrong types of music, she made some dramatic changes. She went from a near perfect child to a near nightmare child! She grew an attitude, openly began cussing, and grew resentment for almost everything.

So, when I was near her by a softball game once, I asked if I could look through her iPod. Shocking enough, her songs all consisted of cuss words, profanity, dark topics, etc. People don't realize it, but music is serious. Music is almost like the friends your child has; your child will develop some of their characteristics. If the music they "hang around" is bad, they'll develop a slightly darker personality, or in extreme cases, become dark.

Music and teens go hand in hand. However, that doesn't have to be a negative thing. With a little guidance from parents, you'll find that there are tons of songs out there that not only are musically good, but have high moral values. You won't regret taking the leap into censorship, even if it may be hard at first

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