Zappa, PMRC, censorship, etc.

[the captain]

I've been going back through the old Frank Zappa interviews and debates from the mid-80s and laughing...but it is partly out of disappointment that the world doesn't seem to have changed much: the same debates come and go even here about hip hop, for example.

Anybody have any particular memories of the whole PMRC thing, other music censorship or outrages, etc?

I, for one, remember when my PUBLIC high school brought in an overtly Christian pair of speakers called the Peters Brothers, who campaigned against their 10 Most Wanted rock musicians, etc. When I complained that they were inappropriately bringing religion into their arguments about the music (i.e., saying that such-and-such artist is wrong because it is against the Bible), I was just told to stop asking questions and being difficult. I think I was about 13 or 14. The specific answer--and the only one I really got--that I remember is that they said it WAS illegal to make the music because it damaged kids, just like it is illegal to yell "FIRE" in a movie theater.

I've been grumpy and cynical ever since.

[the captain]

This topic is not a hit, huh..?

[mikee]

The PRMC was formed in 1985 by Al Gore's wife Tipper.  She had been shocked into action after listening to and being offended by Prince's song "Darling Nikki" that her daughter was listening to.  She concluded that "The images frightened my children, they frightened me! The graphic sex and the violence were too much for us to handle." Gore decided that the rest of us needed government protection. Gore stated that rock music (that which she deemed offensive) was attributable to the decay of the nuclear family in America.  Families she said are "haven(s) of moral stability" which protect children from outside influences  Gore said that without the family structure, rock music was "infecting the youth of the world with messages they cannot handle". 
Using her  power as a Senate spouse she founded the PMRC, and the government swung into action.  The Senate began an investigation into the "pornographic content of rock music" with hearings commencing on Sept. 19,1985.
Before the hearings concluded, the RIAA agreed to put "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" labels on selected releases at their own discretion. The labels became known as the "Tipper Sticker".  Many record stores refused to sell albums containing the label (most notably Wal-Mart), and others limited the sale of those albums to minors.  Some politicians attempted to criminalize the sale of explicit records to minors, and others went so far as to try to ban such records.   However over the years the power of the PMRC has greatly declined.