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Hi everyone! I've really been a terrible mogger lately, I apologize for that. I've got a lot of stuff to deal with as of late, so hopefully once all this is done with and I'm back with school, I'll be posting some good stuff. Hope you're all well.
I'm leaving you with my favorite song by the fantastic artist Camille. :)
Hi! I've been very busy over the past two months which is why I haven't posted or even logged in, for that matter. Just wanted to say hello and that I hope you're all doing well.
And I leave you with a little doozy from Def Jam Poetry.
Have you ever wondered where the "Parental Advisory" label on many CDs comes from? Well, I never did. And I wasn't born until three years after the sticker was first used so I hope you will forgive me if I sound naive. I was just looking up Rage Against the Machine on Wikipedia when I came across a picture of the four members on a stage completely naked with their mouths covered in duct tape. Slightly startled, I kept reading and learned that this ocurred at a Lollapalooza appearance in 1993 in a protest against the Parents Music Resource Center.
Parents Music Resource Center? Sounds interesting. So I clicked on that and read:
The Parents Music Resource Center was an American committee formed in 1985 by four women: Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice President Al Gore; Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker; Pam Howar, wife of Washington realtor Raymond Howar; and Sally Nevius, wife of Washington City Council Chairman John Nevius. They were known as the "Washington wives"—a reference to their husbands' connections with the federal government. The Center eventually grew to include 22 directors. The PMRC claimed that popular music, especially rock music, was partially responsible for the contemporary increase in rape, teenage pregnancy, and teen suicide. The group's mission was "to educate and inform parents" about "the growing trend in music towards lyrics that are sexually explicit, excessively violent, or glorify the use of drugs and alcohol," and to seek the censorship and rating of music.
Here's a picture of these women:
I think they look suspiciously like Stepford Wives but I'm not here to judge.
Apparently one day Tipper Gore was with her daughter and they heard Prince's "Darling Nikki" and were, I guess, pretty horrified because of the lyrical content. She later said about certain music videos, "The images frightened my children, they frightened me! The graphic sex and the violence were too much for us to handle." This makes me dislike Al Gore and his entire family more than I already did but it's an amusing quote, nonetheless.
The PMRC grew in popularity and unfortunately, people started to listen to them. These are the songs they found most offensive, the "Filthy Fifteen:"
Artist - Song - Reason for making the list 1 Prince - "Darling Nikki" - Sex/Masturbation 2 Sheena Easton - "Sugar Walls - Sex 3 Judas Priest - "Eat Me Alive" - Sex 4 Vanity - "Strap on Robbie Baby"- Sex 5 Mötley Crüe - "Bastard" - Violence 6 AC/DC - "Let Me Put My Love into You" - Sex 7 Twisted Sister - "We're Not Gonna Take It" - Violence 8 Madonna - "Dress You Up" - Sex 9 W.A.S.P. - "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)" - Sex/Language 10 Def Leppard - "High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)" - Drug and Alcohol Use 11 Mercyful Fate - "Into the Coven" - Occult 12 Black Sabbath - "Trashed" - Drug and Alcohol Use 13 Mary Jane Girls - "In My House" - Sex 14 Venom - "Possessed" - Occult 15 Cyndi Lauper - "She Bop" - Sex/Masturbation
Anyway, I won't go into too much more detail because you can just read the article yourselves but eventually, the issue was brought to the Senate (and often referred to as "Porn Rock") and eventually passed. The sticker was soon being placed on many albums. Afterwards, a slew of artists protested, like Rage, and have made references to the PMRC in songs and on CD covers. Even Harry and the Potters came up with this lyric: "We won't let the Dark Lord ruin our party/just like Tipper Gore tried with the PMRC." So now you know where those labels that you all know and hate came from.
Comments
Find a cd called Frank Zappa and the mothers of prevention. It WILL be worth it!
Right. Zappa testified in Congress against the group in particular and against censorship in general. He came up with the nickname "Mothers of Prevention" to describe them.
The album you are looking for is called "Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention", released in 1985.
I think that it's kind of funny that if Tipper Gore hadn't been a lazy ass out of touch parent, the PMRC might have never been formed. I mean, letting your elementary school aged kids listen to Prince? It's not like Prince was still a nobody by the time _Purple Rain_ came out. He had been putting out quite vulgar records for about five years. What ever happened to being watchful over the content your kids have access to. Was it something not preached before the mid 80's? Maybe. But it still comes down to the same common denominator. Lazy ass parenting. Because Tipper Gore wasn't paying attention to the outside world, all of the sudden it's the artists and the labels responsibility to monitor their own content. Makes the job of a parent even easier, opening the door for more laziness. Pathetic.
And I have read 1984 more times than I can remember. Have you?
Comments
well thank you very much, it's quite nice