With A Shout

Like lyrics, the characteristic sounds that make up a musical style also tell a story. Take, for example, punk rock. Even if you could remove all the singing from a punk album, a characteristic sound would still remain. And, in the case of punk, this characteristic sound is the sound of scorn and resentment. Similarly with rap music. Strip away the words from your typical rap album and what’s left over is a pattern of rhythms that comes very close to the sound of crude physical threat (oddly, this often holds true even of rap songs that are supposed to be about love). In both cases, when you put the lyrics back in, the message does not change — it just becomes more literal and obvious. When considering the morality of music, in other words, the total product — performance, lyrics, and style — must be taken into account.