History Main / TheNewRockAndRoll

* Political correctness, ironically enough, is seen as a corrupting force by reactionaries (hence the trope PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad). Rather than make people turn to debauchery, however, the drive to not intentionally offend by their logic leads to a slippery slope of censoring everything on the off chance somebody might take offence to it. Any changes made to media, no matter how minor or unnoticeable, is seen as kowtowing to unreasonable {{Moral Guardian}}s and {{Soap Box Sadie}}s, leading to a culturally and socially sterile society. On the other hand, the people who ''do'' see it as leading to debauchery reasons that political correctness heralds a slippery slope of permitting absolutely ''everything'', including obviously harmful lifestyles such as pedophillia, bestiality, and grooming (whether in a sexual or a militaristic context), on the off chance that people get offended by their lack of inclusion.

* The Tritone, a.k.a. ''[[RockMeAsmodeus Diabolus in Musica]].'' On a piano, choose your 'Do', and then add the note a half-step (half-tone) up from 'Fa'. It's called a "tritone" because it comprises three whole intervals. In the Middle Ages, it was banned (depending on who you ask) from church music/entirely because it sounds dissonant/[[SpeakOfTheDevil SUMMONS THE DEVIL!]] Ties into other music entries as you can find it in a lot of Blues music and (deliberately) in early Music/BlackSabbath.

[[TvTropesWillRuinYourLife TV Tropes is corrupting our youth!]] [[WeAllLiveInAmerica America]] [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed is doomed!]]

UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000 is another expression of this, resulting in the perception video games are MurderSimulators. NewMediaAreEvil is related, as is NostalgiaFilter, EveryoneIsSatanInHell, RottenRockAndRoll, and RockMeAsmodeus. Compare BannedInChina. The appearance of TheMoralSubstitute is a possible result of this trope. Subtrope of both PublicMediumIgnorance and the SpotlightFallacy. Compare and contrast ALittleSomethingWeCallRockAndRoll, when it's treated as a curious novelty rather than a dangerous influence.

UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000 and MurderSimulator are other expressions of this. NewMediaAreEvil is related, as is NostalgiaFilter, EveryoneIsSatanInHell, RottenRockAndRoll, and RockMeAsmodeus. Compare BannedInChina. The appearance of TheMoralSubstitute is a possible result of this trope. Subtrope of both PublicMediumIgnorance and the SpotlightFallacy. Compare and contrast ALittleSomethingWeCallRockAndRoll, when it's treated as a curious novelty rather than a dangerous influence.

** late 1980s - mid 1990s: GangstaRap, anything that aired on Creator/{{MTV}}, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'', ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', video games (especially the violent ones),

[[TvTropesWillRuinYourLife TV Tropes is corrupting our youth!]] [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed America is doomed!]]

** late 1970s - early 1980s: PunkRock and anything that could be linked to Satanism, including HeavyMetal music and ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. Slasher movies and violent Hollywood action m
** ovies were also frowned upon.
** late 1980s - early 1990s: GangstaRap, anything that aired on Creator/{{MTV}}, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'', ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', video games (especially the violent ones),

UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000 is another expression of this. NewMediaAreEvil is related, as is NostalgiaFilter, EveryoneIsSatanInHell, RottenRockAndRoll, and RockMeAsmodeus. Compare BannedInChina. The appearance of TheMoralSubstitute is a possible result of this trope. Subtrope of both PublicMediumIgnorance and the SpotlightFallacy. Compare and contrast ALittleSomethingWeCallRockAndRoll, when it's treated as a curious novelty rather than a dangerous influence.

Just study a tape of [[Music/{{NWA}}]].

** Even white rappers were subject to this, experiencing racism by association as well as pushback based on the homophobia and misogyny of their lyrics. Music/{{Eminem}} was arguably the focal point of this particular branch of the controversy after releasing ''The Slim Shady LP''. AlterEgoActing as the AntiRoleModel Slim Shady, Eminem rapped lyrics that, while violent and shocking, were also silly and laced with MetaGuy disclaimers pointing out that the songs were all {{kayfabe}}. However, his whiteness led to him having significantly increased influence amongst white kids compared to many of his peers, resulting in concern over the use of misogynistic and homophobic slurs in his music that, while legitimate in many ways, also involved taking the lyrics out of context. Eminem was also caught in the crossfire of anti-black racism - many white critics were appalled that a white man would lower himself to making black music, inducting white suburban teens with a culture that they viewed as inherently violent and thuggish and representing the downfall of white society. His beef with the media forms the spine of ''Music/TheMarshallMathersLP'', in which virtually every song satirises the idea that rap music causes real life tragedy - from claiming responsibility for every contemporary violent news story (''"it's too late/
I'm triple platinum and tragedies happened in two states"'') or worse (''"I invented violence!"''), telling cautionary tales about how you shouldn't believe anything he says (''"And what's this shit you said about you like to cut your wrists too? I say that shit just clowning dog, come on, how fucked up is you?"''), or ironically baiting his listeners to take drugs or commit suicide. On "White America", on ''The Eminem Show'', he mocks the fact that he's viewed as an enemy due to his popularity with white children ("Erica loves my shit!"), and on his Music/DrDre collaboration/ghost-writing effort, "Forgot About Dre", he suggests he became violent due to listening to GangstaRap:

And strangled him up in the parking lot with his Karl Kani

** Even white rappers were subject to this racism by association. Music/{{Eminem}} was arguably the focal point of this controversy after releasing ''The Slim Shady LP''. AlterEgoActing as the AntiRoleModel Slim Shady, Eminem rapped lyrics that, while certainly violent and shocking, were also satirical, comic-book-ish in tone and laced with MetaGuy disclaimers pointing out that the songs were all kayfabe. In fact, his lyrics are nowhere near as graphic or nasty as many of his contemporaries. However, his whiteness made him a target, partly due to the increased visibility and commercial success that his white skin allowed him to experience, but also due to anti-black racism - many white critics were disgusted that a white man would lower himself to making black music. His beef with the media forms the spine of ''Music/TheMarshallMathersLP'', in which he satirises the idea that rap music causes real life tragedy by claiming responsibility for every contemporary violent news story (''"I invented violence, you vile venomous..."'') or making similar outrageous claims (on "Forgot About Dre" he claims that the audience should listen to Music/{{NWA}} in order to become a violent killer, like he did).

** It's also worth noting that a lot of criticism of rap/hip-hop has racial undertones to it, in the case of conservative commentators.

* Deconstructed in Webcomic/GoblinHollow when Penny calls out the new priest for using sob stories about kids who were 'corrupted' and snapped to fund his (non-religious) organization and control the local area. At first it looks like she's just ranting, but then she explains in sordid detail (with real-life statistics) how teenagers have learned self-control (compared to the priest's generation) and how the system tortures these kids, waits for one to snap, and uses the violent outburst as an excuse to tighten the system even MORE. And then we learn that [[spoiler:a different priest did this and ended up indirectly causing a friend of Penny's to commit suicide, and he got to reap the benefits by blaming rock music]].

* The game ''Videogame/HuniePop'' was briefly taken off of Steam (as well as various visual novels) following a campaign of concerned parents led by a group known as the "National Center on Sexual Exploitation" (NCOSE) as part of a move to ban all games featuring sexually explicit or implicit content with the stance that such content incentivizes real-life acts of sexual assault, or that all of the content on the platform is sexual violence in some serious shape or form. While ''[=HuniePop=]'''s dev began asking users to help reverse the decision, NCOSE initially ran a congratulatory article about Steam finally removing all sexual content from the platform, and even wrote two follow-up articles further patting themselves on the back while calling out tweets from upset Steam users over what they saw as censorship by NCOSE. Not even a full month later, Steam went on record reversing its decision after serious backlash from the community, deciding to curate basically no content from the site that wasn't explicitly criminal sexual assault, and NCOSE became incredibly upset and ran several articles claiming Steam was now "welcoming" sexual violence. Given ''[=HuniePop=]'''s popularity amongst streamers and youtubers at the time, the news spread much faster across Steam and quickly gained traction, and thanks to this ''[=HuniePop=]'' was reinstated back to the store with no changes made. NCOSE has never forgiven Steam for the reversal, and runs regular articles attacking Valve for their stance.

* The game Videogame/HuniePop was briefly taken off of Steam (as well as various visual novels) following a campaign of concerned parents led by a group known as the "National Center on Sexual Exploitation" (NCOSE) as part of a move to ban all games featuring sexually explicit or implicit content with the stance that such content incentivizes real-life acts of sexual assault, or that all of the content on the platform is sexual violence in some serious shape or form. While [=HuniePop=]'s dev began asking users to help reverse the decision, NCOSE initially ran a congratulatory article about Steam finally removing all sexual content from the platform, and even wrote two follow-up articles further patting themselves on the back while calling out tweets from upset Steam users over what they saw as censorship by NCOSE. Not even a full month later, Steam went on record reversing its decision after serious backlash from the community, deciding to curate basically no content from the site that wasn't explicitly criminal sexual assault, and NCOSE became incredibly upset and ran several articles claiming Steam was now "welcoming" sexual violence. Given [=HuniePop=]'s popularity amongst streamers and youtubers at the time, the news spread much faster across Steam and quickly gained traction, and thanks to this [=HuniePop=] was reinstated back to the store with no changes made. NCOSE has never forgiven Steam for the reversal, and runs regular articles attacking Valve for their stance.

* PunkRock has a funny cyclic pattern to it. First, the original '77 punk (Music/TheRamones, Music/SexPistols, Music/TheClash et al.) were seen as promoting crime, drug use, anarchy, [[ClusterFBomb profanity]], and all other things that scare the old people. Music/SexPistols were so controversial that their hit single "God Save The Queen" caused moral outcry, death threats, and Johnny Rotten being beaten up and slashed with a knife in the streets. The BBC denied that the song was number one on the charts and the band was even shadowed by the British intelligence service under the suspicion that they might be a Soviet plot. The reason that most people were frightened of punks had to with their appearance. Out of all the youth movements associated with rock music, they looked the most degenerate, filthy, diabolical, and dangerously aggressive. The "pogo" dance was aggressive, too, to the point where clubs would eject patrons for dancing that way. Their nihilistic attitude and use of shocking imagery (swastikas, gay pornographic art, images of KarlMarx, ripped clothes, safety pins) also outraged older generations. When people started noticing the social message in the music, it became more acceptable. This led to the creation of HardcorePunk, the DarkerAndEdgier version, as it were, which shocked people for a good decade. In TheNineties, the new moral panic came from two sources: first, the punk scene's association with radical environmentalist and [[AnimalWrongsGroup animal rights groups]], and second (and quite confusingly), the UsefulNotes/StraightEdge subculture (whose followers are devoted to a lifestyle of ''not'' using alcohol, tobacco, or drugs -- celibacy and veganism optional), which was considered a gang activity.

** Let's not forget the ''non-''Japanese attitude towards anime. When anime started becoming popular in places like the US, a few people attacked it for being violent and inappropriate (leading to [[AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentacles a trope summarizing this misconception]]). Some people even claimed that ''children's'' anime like ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' [[EveryoneIsSatanInHell was the work of Japanese Satanists]]. This can mostly be based on [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer not doing the research]], though. (It doesn't help that the AnimationAgeGhetto was definitely prevalent during times like this.)

** late 1970s - early 1980s: PunkRock and anything that could be linked to Satanism, including HeavyMetal music and ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. Slasher movies and violent Hollywood action movies were also frowned upon.

* Any "people trend," in chronological order: [[TheFlapper Flappers]], Swingers, Teddy Boys, {{Beatnik}}s, [[GreaserDelinquents Greasers]], [[NewAgeRetroHippie Hippies]], Mods, UsefulNotes/{{Punk}}s, {{Goth}}s, [[GangstaRap Gangstas]], [[EmoTeen Emos]], {{Hipster}}s, {{atheist}}s. In general, any subculture that focuses on disaffected youth will likely draw the scorn of the MoralGuardians. Sure, we've all seen it for hippies, punks, and goths, but as ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' proves, there were actually movies about the moral scourge posed by... '''beatniks'''.

* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' is also no stranger to controversy as a card game with various themes across its monsters. From fiends to dragons, Egyptian iconography and angelic depictions, the cards drew ire from various Christian sources during its initial release. Thanks to its heavy theming of Egypt in the anime, the card game was demonized during the first year of its run, but thankfully felt significantly shorter and less extreme backlash due to the Pokemon TCG having been out much longer and already having gone through this debacle. While there are still Christian organizations that denounce it for its themes of sorcery and occultism, most have, over time, simply spoke of it as any other vice: dangerous if overindulged and harmful if you cannot recognize that it is just a game.

* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' has also [[http://kotaku.com/5172152/mainstream-media-animal-crossing-mayor-could-be-a-sexual-predator had its share of critics]], who say that no adult would be [[AnimationAgeGhetto playing a cute social game because they actually enjoy it]]. It's even more ironic since the character pointed out in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xAK-X0RA5o the video clip]] as the "[[PaedoHunt potential pedophile]]" is Mayor Tortimer -- [[EpicFail an NPC]].

* A rather shocking [[AvertedTrope aversion]] of this is the Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei series. Despite its blatant use of GodIsEvil and demon summoning (some have described the series as "everything the pastors thought ''Pokemon'' was in the 90s"), the games have attracted very little if any controversy. This is probably because the series is almost unheard of in the West, even among gamers. As for Japan (where it is one of the most popular franchises, right alongside ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', the ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'', and ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''), they are much more laid-back, religiously speaking. It helps that many western gamers had their start with SMT through the ''Persona'' spin-offs, which don't refer to demons as such, but as... well, 'personas'. Even the personas that are ''demons'' in the main series. This most probably helped it slide in under the radar. Wonderful, what a simple renaming will do. That said, while it managed to fly under the radar of Christians, the depiction of Lord Krishna in ''IV Apocalypse'' [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2016-02-04/lord-krishna-in-shin-megami-tensei-iv-final-gets-negative-reception-from-hindu-statesman/.98302 did receive some criticism from Hindus]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the early 1990s the show came under attack for supposedly encouraging kids to imitate Bart (never mind that [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids it's not really a kids' show]] in the first place). That, of course, and all the other subversive stuff, including [[MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting criticism of the United States]], critique of [[CorruptChurch (organized)]] [[BeliefMakesYouStupid religion]] and [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar adult references (smoking, drugs, sex, politics,...) that children should not be exposed to at their young age]].

* A Christian talk show from Canada complained about Music/BillieEilish for being a bad role model for her target audience of teenage girls because of some of her lyrics (especially the pre-chorus of "Bad Guy," where she describes herself as the "might seduce your Dad type") and the fact that she put a tarantula in her mouth in a music video. The same talk show complained about Music/{{Marshmello}} simply for cross-promoting his music through ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}''.

* The page image is from "Angels?", a [[ComicBook/ChickTracts Chick Tract]] where a ChristianRock group hooks up with an agent named [[LouisCypher Lew Siffer]], who explains to them how he developed rock as a way to foment decadence among young people. Jack Chick previously explored the topic in an issue of his full-color comic ''The Crusaders'', with some extremely bizarre claims: rock is based on ancient {{Druid}} beats and melodies used to summon demons (with Music/TheBeatles as the ones who exported them into the mainstream), and before they're released, all rock albums get blessed by naked witches at a ceremony, where they summon one of Satan's chief demons. He places a curse on the music that leads all listeners to get possessed by evil spirits. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No]], ''[[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer really]]''!