Once upon a time, 30 years ago...
One
of many of the biggest problems with the Senate hearing was that the forum
was an unlawful use of the Senate. Before the hearing was even
scheduled, he says, the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA)
agreed with the PMRC to place general “Parental Advisory” labels on
albums that artists voluntarily agreed to have stickered.
“Senate
hearing and Senate committees are only to be used when something is
being discussed and considered for legislation,” Snider says. “The
committee chair, Senator Danforth, said in his opening statement, ‘We
are not considering any form of legislation.’ That means it was an
illegal use of a forum of a Senate hearing. So basically, these people
used their influence to get a hearing about something that never should
have happened. Public funds should never have been spent on this.”
The
Senate hearing, which began Sept. 19, 1985, was orchestrated by the
Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), a group headed by then-Senator Al
Gore’s wife Tipper that also included Susan Baker, wife of Treasure
Secretary James Baker; Pam Howar, wife of influential Washington realtor
Raymond Howar; and Sally Nevius, wife of ex-Washington City Council
Chairman John Nevius.
The PMRC first got together after Al and Tipper were listening to Prince’s Purple Rain
album with one of their daughters. When they heard the song “Darling
Nikki,” they noticed that it mentioned a female “sex fiend” who was
“masturbating with a magazine.”
Incensed,
Tipper Gore contacted her influential friends to talk about how graphic
and offensive popular music had become, and after researching the
issue, they came up with a list of artists whose songs contained lyrics
unsuitable for children. Realizing that the First Amendment of the
Constitution protected an artist’s right to free expression, the
Washington wives devised a system for rating records that was similar to
the way the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rates movies
R, PG-13, PG, and G.
“Had
it been kept plain and simple like that, I think a lot of people would
have said, ‘Yeah, this is common sense,’” says Judas Priest vocalist Rob
Halford, whose song “Eat Me Alive,” was listed among the Washington
Wives’ “Filthy Fifteen.”
“Of
course, it turned into this serious forum that made us, the musicians,
appear to be the bad guys,” Halford continues. “That was why we were so
furious. We were going, ‘Whoa, this is a First Amendment issue. The way
they twisted the subject had a very negative effect on some very
important, talented musicians.”
As
soon as the PMRC went public with its complaints, the media swarmed.
“These women were getting all this attention all of a sudden,” Snider
says. “Suddenly they weren’t Washington wives anymore. They were
important. They had something to say.”
bye.
r.i.p. John Denver and Frank Zappa
bye.
r.i.p. John Denver and Frank Zappa
