June 19th 2019

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Recalling a Dark Time in Music History

        On September 19, 1985, the PMRC Senate hearings took place. The hearings were founded by four women with political ties in Washington D.C. The four female founders were Susan Baker, Tipper Gore, Pam Towar, and Sally Nevius. The hearings were based on the opinion that music albums should have warning labels put on them. Although the four ladies were not successful at first, they began to lobby harder to have warning labels put on albums deemed unfit for children, and airplay. The events lead to the farce, and abuse of the freedom of expression of free speech, which lead into the Senate hearings.

        The three heroes who defended the expression, and free speech of their fellow musicians from the four horsemen of the PRMC were John Denver, Frank Zappa, and Dee Snider. Each one was from a different prospective of the music industry. The least likely member of the three to defend his music and possibly side with the PMRC was John Denver. John was known for his “clean cut, all-American image” and he gave what most thought was the most powerful message at the Senate hearings. During the hearings, Denver addressed his view on music censorship when he said “I liken this to the Nazi book burnings.”

           Dee Snider’s testimony to the Senate was probably the least spirited of the three, but still made some good points. As the Senate was arguing about how it’s the record industries job to self-label /censor the content they release from their artist to protect children, Dee Snider stated he was a parent himself, and as a father it’s the parent’s responsibility to monitor what their children view/listen too. Snider stated “Most of us rockers have families, and we are responsible parents. We don’t need the PMRC doing are jobs of protecting our kids from the harmful shit in this world.”

           Frank Zappa was probably the most vocal to testify at the Senate hearings. Zappa warned the Senate that labeling music was an infringement on freedom of speech, and would cause excessive use of censorship of musicians. The debate between Zappa, and the Senate reached a boiling point when he announced that he was a parent himself. Zappa confessed that even though he might not agree with what some of his fellow musicians did, he felt it was his right as a parent to dictate what his children could listen to or not. Zappa also stated that he thought it wasn’t the right of the government to tell children what they can or cannot listen to. Even though the four heads of the PMRC have a right to dictate what goes on in their own households it wasn’t their right to tell everyone else what they can and can’t do. Zappa regarded the use of warning labels on albums as “An ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children and promises to keep the courts busy for years.”

       The four heads of the PMRC reason to attack the music industry was because they thought music should be labeled like any other product out there. The PMRC sent letters out to the record companies with suggestions, and the hopes they would comply with their rating system. The PMRC requested that “Record companies either cease the production of music with violent and sexually charged lyrics or develop a motion picture-style ratings systems for albums. Violent lyrics would be marked with a ‘V,’ satanic or anti-Christian occult content with an ‘O.’ and lyrics referencing drugs or alcohol with a D/A. The PMRC’s view was that it was the record companies’ jobs to provide a list of what was on the records and banish songs that were unfit for TV and radio due to explicit content. The PMRC’s campaign to censor/label music was a success for them. Even to this day, the parental warning label still appears on records, and music unfit for children.  Profanity is also edited when singles from these albums receive airplay on terrestrial radio.

            Although the four heads of the PMRC changed the course of music forever, music still thrives in many underground sources which don’t follow the labeling system that was enforced by the PMRC.  Many bands lost out fame and fortune cause of the effects from the labeling system imposed by the PMRC.  Some have been blacklisted to the point that their expression of art has found few listeners. The real question is if bands that are not particularly vulgar, but have labels put on their music, have lost recognition and potential radio play of their songs because of these labels. The act of labeling/censoring art has historically never proven to be the best course for the involvement of humanity.  In my opinion, it’s up to the parents to be parents and not have our government step in and raise our kids cause we are simply too lazy to get involved in their lives. Hopefully, humanity will learn from this past mistake, and correct this wrong it has made. Everyone should the ability to enjoy the creations musical artist make for us like any other form of expression. Even though we are not mortal, our expressions that we leave are, and should be available for all to enjoy without censorship

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                                                                                                                                           Written by Eric Reames

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