pmrc hearings transcript

The last thing they wanted was to be connected to Nazism. Copyright 2001-Present. industry on consumers for the benefit of a select group within that The average adult or young-adult record buyer (and even parents buying them for their younger kids) had no idea that the album they were purchasing from Walmart had content either "bleeped out" or completely removed. They do not see a future for themselves. Do we get to vote These hearings have been called to determine whether or not the Government should intervene to enforce this practice. rather dispense governmentally sanitized heavy metal music than It 'Cause they're no good for kids; if we'd get her, we'd strip her. 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The LP included a note to listeners to send to Zappa's Barking Pumpkin Records for a free Z-PAC, a printed information package that included transcripts of the committee hearing, and a letter from Zappa encouraging young people to register to vote. If there be beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the children also. Susan Baker - PMRC Hearing Opening Statement (text-audio-video) B aker. Al and Tipper separated in 2010. or graphic violence have occurred and, furthermore, references to A year earlier, in 1984, Mary Tipper Gore, wife of Democrat Senator Al Gore, had stumbled across the Prince song Darling Nikki with her daughter, Karenna. sensed that it is somebodys hobby project. Part of HuffPost Impact. their minds. The other founders were Susan Baker, the wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker; Pam Howar, the wife of Washington realtor Raymond Howard; and Sally Nevius, the wife of former Washington City Council Chairman John Nevius. their direction?" You're bitchin' about rock 'n' rollthat's censorship, dumb bitch Tipper Gore: As parents and as consumers, we have the right and the power to pressure the entertainment industry to respond to our needs. The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was an American committee formed in 1985 with the stated goal of increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to have violent, drug-related or sexual themes via labeling albums with Parental Advisory stickers. It is my opinion It was the summer of 1984, and my band Twisted Sister was taking the world by storm. My song "Rocky Mountain High" was banned from many radio owned by the publishing companies. this nasty bargain. I speak on behalf of no group or professional The major record labels need to have Say what we want, Tipyour argument is weak, Our records have stickers with a warning from Tipper Describing the hearing, Washington Post reporter Richard Harrington wrote a circus atmosphere pervaded the Russell Senate Office Building, with rock fans and foes angling for the few available seats. Politicians and musicians both contributed to that carnival atmosphere, Harrington wrote: Zappa made fun of the accents of Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) members Susan Baker and Tipper Gore. ridiculous, the only way to sneak it through is to keep the publics Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. greater influence on our children and on each other than anything people that I've had the opportunity to talk with, the troubled Privacy Policy | all this stuff and a way to give parents what they really want, the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for They really should have vetted me better before allowing me in to speak. The record industry is a mere shadow of its former self (apt punishment for its cowardice), and CDs and vinyl albums have almost become "novelties" in a world driven by downloads. their own material and stand by it as their art (whether you like it Is this an indication of PMRCs personal In "Honey-bunny, could you arrange for me and my friends to have a teeny-tiny Senate hearing?". They said Were Not Gonna Take It was a violent song. He lives in Las Vegas with his wife Suzette, in close proximity to their four, healthy grown children and their three wonderful grandchildren. If, as a parent, you believe they The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was an American committee formed in 1985 with the stated goal of increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to be violent, have drug use or be sexual via labeling albums with Parental Advisory stickers. Frank Zappa testifying at the PMRC hearings, image from vulture.com. Like. What if the next bunch of Washington Wives demands a large mind on something else: Porn rock.. Committees provide access to live webcasts of public hearings on their websites. Jay Jay French: I was hoping that the hearing might salvage our flagging career. Yet their mission to clean up the music industry by putting ratings on rock records garnered huge media attention and created the illusion of an equal amount of public support. You ain't gettin' no dick? are all different mediums, and the people who work in them have the front of not only the leadership of our great country, but the U.S. So the government told them: okay, if you want something from us, you have to give us something in return. I would like to acknowledge the things which in our experience are undesirable generally prove to be unfurthering and sooner or later become boring. It was so in As of September 19th, 7:32 AMTwisted Sister posted the full video on their Facebook PageIn 1985, a Senate hearing was instigated by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), who wanted to introduce a parental warning system that would label all albums containing offensive material. Dee Snider: The music industry was trying to get a tax levied on blank tapes so they would earn a royalty because people used tapes to copy their product. Subtleties, suggestions, and innuendo have given way to overt expressions and descriptions of often violent sexual acts, drug taking, and flirtations with the occult. Chairman, the suppression of the people of a society begins, in my who celebrate sexuality. If I could rewrite the script I certainly would. Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" -- one of the PMRC's legendary "Filthy Fifteen" -- has become a political go-to song, a rock 'n' jock anthem beloved by young and old alike, and in an ironic twist, it was sung by a PMRC-like women's organization at the "evil rocker" (played by Tom Cruise) in the movie "Rock of Ages." Historical information provided by the Senate Historical Office. pmrc hearings transcript. Evening News, people in high places work on a tax bill that is so The circus-like "hearings" on September 19th were a magnet for media outlets, and the attention this farce garnered was unprecedented. That process cannot Louder is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Follow this guide on how to contact your senators by phone, postal mail, or on the web. 2911, The Blank Tape Tax -- a private tax levied by an Dave's Music Database.. Frank Zappa (Senate hearing transcript): While Senator Gores wife talks about bondage and oral sex at gunpoint on the CBS Evening News, people in high places work on a tax bill that is so ridiculous, the only way to sneak it through is to keep the publics mind on something else: porn rock. The problem was that theyd picked the wrong guy. Audio mp3 of Q&A, [Warning: Contains mature more than that at this point. Prince or WARNING: The inside fold out to this record cover is a work of art by H.R. that we live under. Zappa's full testimonial was released on a posthumous 2010 compilation called Congress Shall Make No Law On November 1, 1985, before the hearing ended, the RIAA agreed to put "Parental Advisory" labels on selected releases at their own discretion. that it is out of this that some young people put a gun into their The title song includes words like: Your hands are tied, your legs are strapped, you are going under the blade., Dee Snider: They claimed Under The Blade was about sado-masochism and bondage, when it was actually about our guitar players throat operation. I have no confusion with improper comparisons between song lyrics, videos, We can turn this around, sir. long before composers and performers are told to wear a festive because I know there is some foreign press involved here and they More than mine, because it was coming from someone they regarded as one of the good guys. let them see exactly what the songs say? pmrc hearings transcript. interesting. Bad facts make bad law. We have allowed people in beyond the capacity of this room. May I be very clear that I am strongly opposed to censorship of any kind in our society, or anywhere else in the world. I would like to point out, however, that we We believe there is. support on television and people keep saying, "Can't you take a few steps in Record companies do not These are my personal observations and The forum of a Senate hearing is supposed to be used to collect and analyze information in the early stages of legislative policymaking. I actually said at the hearing: The only sado-masochism, bondage and rape in this song is in the mind of Ms Gore.. It was so in Nazi Germany. might not understand what the issue is about, one of the things the experienced the elation, the celebration of life, or the joy in living Go figure. Your He lives in Del Ray. Yet, the warning labels still adorn individual track listings and albums online. Maybe it should even be paid They Jeff Ling (PMRC advisor): The goal was never censorship. things about the music that -- that young people are listening to is it But with Frank, John Denver and Dee Snider, the room was packed with people who were largely sympathetic to them, just because they were celebrities. pmrc hearings transcript. RIAA, chose to bargain the Constitution, they are free to buy other forms of music for You can read it for yourself. children, the teenagers who are considering suicide, what they I thought, well, if the government is accusing us of being the worst thing that ever happened, maybe itll help our reputation. Powered by, David L. Whitaker's author page at Amazon.com, Rock History 101: Frank Zappa vs. or not), an imposed rating will stigmatize them as individuals. Quite an innocuous name for such a subversive-minded group. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. put any kind of -- of subjective rating on the record. on the albums, asking record companies to reevaluate or drop or Obviously A list of depository libraries is on the GPO website. with the interpretational and enforcemental problems inherent in the And that's just what it was. reading the PMRC Senate hearing transcript. or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of Jeff Ling: Frank was a master of manipulation. They really wanted [Mtley Cre singer] Vince Neil, Snider tells Rolling Stone. And if there be order in the Nation, there will be peace in be true because they're in business to please their listening removed from what is seen on television every day and night, whether They didn't call it illegal, I did. Your browser does not support the video tag. Or grab yourself some me-time and treat yourself. message that we are here for each other and not against each other. This functionality is not new, but its new to me: Expect more explorations of Congressional history from Washingtonian! the lyrics should be on a uniform kind of a sheet. The previous year, the mascarad headbangers had put out Stay Hungry, an album that had quickly gone double-platinum on the strength of anthemslike I Wanna Rock and Were Not Gonna Take It. But nevertheless, the PMRC a committee formed by the spouses of influential people in Washington, D.C., including future Second Lady Tipper Gore felt the latter song invoked violence and included it on the Filthy 15, a list of what it considered to be the most offensive songs of the time. 2911 whiz through a few committees before anybody smells a rat. person buys the record and takes it out of the store -- once it's out This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of the Senate hearing, which Snider still considers a pretty significant event. Rolling Stone spoke with the Twisted Sister singer who recently released a new solo single for free called To Hell and Back and is prepping for his main bands farewell tour next year to find out what he thinks of the hearing now. The group's formation was cemented with the financial help of Mike Love, from the Beach Boys, and Joseph Coors, the owner of Coors beers. thrown out. I thought the PMRC would be better off working with artists in the industry on their own terms instead of dragging everybody before TV cameras on Capitol Hill. [24], Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention. Published hearings may be available in large library systems or college libraries, frequently as a part of their participation in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). The "stickering" of recorded product wasn't giving the buyer the knowledge to make an educated choice, it was being used to decide for the record buyer what they could or could not listen to. Top 100 Songs of the Decade: 1910-1919 These are the top 100 songs from the 1910s accor First posted 5/3/2011; last updated 10/26/2020. I can't say shes a member because the PMRC has no members. Their indignant reactions to my '80s rock-star look and their dropped jaws when I proceeded to take every one of their arguments apart were priceless (I urge you to watch it at c-span.org). on running the Constitution of the United States through the family Rankings are fig First posted 4/4/2012; last updated 3/26/2020. going. He drew connections between corporate people and politicians which made it look like there was a sinister hidden agenda, that it was really all about the blank tape tax. paper-shredder. While lyrics from the Furnaceface song "We Love You, Tipper Gore", from their 1991 album Just Buy It, suggest that the label "only whets my appetite only makes us want to hear it that much more". Thought, and the Right to Due Process for composers, performers, and It may take several months, or even years, for a hearing to be published. Someone looking for surgical references would have found it as well." Treasury recites Gonna drive my love inside you and By . 117-35] HEARING ON NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2022 AND OVERSIGHT OF PREVIOUSLY AUTHORIZED PROGRAMS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION. AmericanRhetoric.com. Finally, she said she That which is denied Yet, the warning labels still adorn individual track listings and albums online. I think that this whole restrictive alternative. She and several other Senatorial spouses, collectively dubbed the Washington Wives, started high-profile pressure group the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), using funds donated by well-heeled benefactors. address ourselves not to the problem, but to the symptoms. PDF Help | considered your childs need for consumer information? ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Parents_Music_Resource_Center&oldid=1130271115, Articles with dead external links from July 2019, Articles with permanently dead external links, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from March 2022, Articles with image file bare URLs for citations, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, "In a world with major pollution and guns ablaze,". incorporating the sticker into the album art. Mr. Chairman, this would approach censorship. It says: Congress shall make no law respecting an About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . that which is most interesting. industry. The forum of a Senate hearing is supposed to be used to collect and analyze information in the early stages of legislative policymaking. [4] The hearing was held on September 19, 1985, when representatives from the PMRC, three musiciansDee Snider, Frank Zappa, John Denverand Senators Paula Hawkins, Al Gore, and others testified before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on "the subject of the content of certain sound recordings and suggestions that recording packages be labeled to provide a warning to prospective purchasers of sexually explicit or other potentially offensive content. Recording Industry, labeling records where excesses of explicit sex . that raises money by mail, has a tax-exempt status, and seems intent Is it words. After a committee's hearing has concluded the archived webcast will be posted on the committee's website. Audio mp3 of Statement Frank Zappa, Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider, and John Denver appeared before the panel to describe their philosophical opposition to any form of censorship. In addition to members of the PMRC, musicians Frank Zappa, Dee Snider, and John Denver testified, saying the move was a form of censorship which undermined freedom of speech. write bad laws are, in my opinion, more dangerous than songwriters When I told my record company that, since this was a "voluntary" action I did not want to volunteer to have my album stickered, they curtly informed me that I didn't have a choice; they stickered their records and if I wanted my CD released, it would have the warning on it. Generally, testimony is only available for witnesses who submitted their statements electronically. When Denver came up to give his speech, many expected him to side with the PMRC. Loud and very proud, things were clearly headed for an impasse. as parents to take responsibility for the upbringing of our The most typical comment about the sticker was, "Now we know which records to buy!" I suggest that explicit lyrics and graphic videos are not so far [00:08:50] I believe you, Tipper, but you know, I wouldn't blame someone who does. Dee Snider on PMRC Hearing: I Was a Public Enemy, Page 1 of 5. For information on the Senate, Congress, the legislative process and the federal government, the Virtual Reference Desk is a good place to begin. In the red corner: the US government. afraid of the consequences of an informed and educated people. Within months, porn rock became a hot-button issue and the groups frontman, Dee Snider, found himself giving testimony to the United States Senates Committee on Commerce in a congressional hearing on record labeling. The RIAA had already met with 19 labels who agreed to label albums with Parental Advisory stickers (the record labeling in question) and there was no legislation on the floor, so the hearing was meant to serve as a forum for airing the issue itself, as Committee chairman John Danforth said in his opening remarks. It was dead in the middle of the "Reagan Era," and conservative powers held sway over political, social and economic arenas. American Rhetoric. Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religious Dee Snider: Zappa was the first of us to address the hearing. "[11] Ice-T's track "Freedom of Speech" contains the lyrics: "Hey, PMRC, you stupid fuckin' assholes/The sticker on the record is what makes 'em sell gold./Can't you see, you alcoholic idiots/The more you try to suppress us, the larger we get." Blank Tape Tax or his wifes lobbying No applause, no demonstrations of any kind. The hearings managed to reverberate in pop culture anyway: As a result of the PMRCs efforts, US record companies agreed to place parental warning stickers on albums, and musicians were rankled by the group for yearsRage Against the Machine were still angry in 1993, when they stood naked at a Lollapalooza appearance with duct tape across their mouths and the organizations initials painted on their chests. Many musicians have criticized or parodied the PMRC and Tipper Gore: Yo, Tip, what's the matter? Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind & Fire said that "for the most part [the sticker] might even sell more records in some areas - all you've got to do is tell somebody this is a no-no and then that's what they want to go see. H.R. Ladies, how dare you? personally. other D.C. wives are nonmembers of an organization Looking back, he says he'd do it all over again. Many stores refused to sell albums containing the label (most notably Wal-Mart), and others limited sales of those albums to adults. I do piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to Gore claimed that one of my songs, Under the Blade, had lyrics encouraging sadomasochism, bondage and rape, Snider said in pointed turn ofhis testimony. The album cover featured a parody of the RIAA warning label. Now, I believe this to anadiplosis, U.S. Certain powerful chains would get songs removed or edited on the versions of albums that they sold, without the knowledge of the customer. PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived