The images of thugs dancing around fires at Woodstock '99 were on the news worldwide.

The concert, held on the thirtieth anniversary of the original music festival of peace, love and understanding, featured several hard rock bands and ended in riots, looting and fire.

Over the following days, analysts from MTV to CNN appeared on TV to offer a potential explanation for the anarchic explosion. One reason offered: the music made them do it.

Days after the music festival, new, more alarming reports surfaced. An unknown number of females went to police claiming they had been raped at Woodstock '99. One even alleges being raped in the mosh pit, in broad daylight, during a performance.

Did the music make them do it?

Since Elvis gyrated his hips on television, the effects of music have been an issue in American homes. Rock and roll, a symbol of rebellion for half of the 20th century, has entered the open ears of children and been blamed for countless problems and troubles.

The advent of Music Television (MTV) in the early '80s fanned the flames. Songs with messages of violence, sex, hate, rebellion and anarchy were accompanied by moving pictures.

In the wake of the Columbine shootings in April 1999, in which two high school students gunned down 12 fellow students, a teacher, then shot themselves, the issue of the effect of violent lyrics and music resurfaced. Two industrial rock bands were prominent in the collections of the teenage gunmen, and prompted a response from Washington lawmakers.

Unlike movies, TV and video games, which have ratings systems, music is lumped into two categories. The majority of albums available are unrated, with no label. Those that contain violent, profane or explicit lyrics wear a sticker labeled "Parental Advisory -- Explicit Content." Anyone can buy any album, regardless of whether it possesses the sticker.

Readily available at stores in every mall, on MTV and its offshoots, and now on the Internet, any child with piqued curiosity can listen to vulgar, violent, vicious music. Often, this can go on behind parents' backs or, thanks to headphones, directly under their noses.

The Perpetrators
Elvis wiggled his hips on the Ed Sullivan show 40 years ago, in an act considered to be vulgar. Two years ago, singer Marilyn Manson, appeared on MTV dressed as a woman singing about anarchy. Manson, who is a platinum-level artist, titled his million-selling album "Antichrist Superstar."

Limp Bizkit, the band made up of angry 20-year-olds most commonly blamed for the Woodstock '99 riots, shouted statements during their performance such as "Let's start some s--t" and "Break stuff." Rapper Ice Cube made waves in 1991 with a controversial songs called "F--k the police" and "Cop Killer," telling a detailed (fictional) story of murdering a police officer in Los Angeles. 2 Live Crew, a Florida rap group, released an album in the late '80s that pushed vulgarity and sexism to new limits.

As America became more desensitized, the quotient of shock value was raised. In early 1999, white suburban rapper Eminem released a song that received heavy radio play including a lyric "Raping lesbians/While they're screaming 'let's just be friends.'" The song, "My Name Is" also contained statements about decapitating various female celebrities, slashing a father's neck with razor blades, attacking a teacher and heavy drug and alcohol abuse. The song reached the top 5 of the Billboard charts.

MTV contained its share of offenders as well. Madonna, the posterchild of the music television age, caused controversy in 1989 with the attempted release of an ultra-risqué video to her song "Justify My Love." Eventually banned from MTV, it made profits from video sales.

Dr. Dre's 1994 video for his song "Nutin' But a G Thang" contained images of gang violence, drinking, drugs and sexual harassment. In one scene often used as an example of sexual degradation in videos, a man sneaks up behind a woman playing volleyball and pulls her bikini top off. She playfully chases him around, as everyone on camera laughs.

A 1994 study by Dr. Michael Rich for the journal of Pediatrics found that over 22 percent of a large sample of MTV's videos contained violence. Of these videos, the study also found that black men were overwhelmingly the perpetrators of violence, and almost half of the victims were white women. In addition, half portrayed the aggressors in a positive light, frequently being the artists themselves.

What Parents and Kids Think

"My girls mostly listen to, you know, girl kinds of music," says Dee Dee, mother of three daughters. "My youngest loves Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys -- that kind of stuff."

"My son likes dance music," says Beth, mother of a ninth-grade boy and a seventh-grade girl. "My daughter is all Backstreet Boys. Backstreet Boys are harmless, but if I ever saw my son with something a louder or meaner, I'd check it out."

"My older son has gone through a lot of phases," says Roger, father of two teenage boys. "He liked heavy metal at one point, rap at one point, grunge, even swing. My younger son listens to a lot of rap." But Roger says he never listens to the music his kids like. "I don't buy into that stuff."

"My parents don't know about some of the music I have," says Keith, a 15-year-old high school student. "The parent advisory label is on the plastic wrapping of a CD. I just take it off before my parents see."

"I don't really listen to anything that I wouldn't want my parents to hear," says 14-year-old Stacy. "But my friends who do just sneak around."

These parents agree that parental involvement and attention, not censorship, is the optimal way of keeping children level headed.

"If they're embarrassed to listen to it with you, there's a problem," Dee Dee says.

"Listening responsibly is the key," Beth offers. "Watch what your kids are listening to, and make sure that you discuss it with them."