- Title: Cover Your Ears
- IMDb: link
Narrated by Kate Moss, Cover Your Ears examines the topic of censorship in the music industry over the years for a variety of reasons including racism, culture shifts, obscenity, violence, sex, religion, politics, and protest, activism, and revolution. The film sets out to examine how music can be a mirror for the world, reflecting the good and bad of the times, and how censorship of music really only tackles a symptom pointing out a disease rather than the disease itself.
The documentary from director Sean Patrick Shaul offers plenty of examples from Billie Holiday‘s “Strange Fruit” to Marilyn Manson. Other examples offered for discussion are Elvis Pressley on The Ed Sullivan Show, and the music and marketing of various artists including Madonna, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, the Dead Kennedys, 2 Live Crew, and Body Count and the rise of both governmental and public groups censoring in a variety of ways including classifying music as obscene or inappropriate.
The structure of the film offers the typical talking heads format, including authors on the subject such as Eric Nuzum and Stephanie Doktor, journalists such as Steve Appleford, historians like Bill Brioux, and musicians including Wes Beech and Dee Snider splicing together interviews along with historical clips to add reference to events. The film works as a good jumping point for a discussion for the reasons behind censorship and how various forms have worked or failed to meet expectations over the years.
Watch the trailer