WEBVTT - Was the PMRC censorship in disguise? 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:13.399 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:16.000 Clark with Charles W. Chuck Bryant and Jerry over there, 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.440 and this is stuff you should know. And we're going 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:20.599 to mind our p's and ques because this is a 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:25.640 family show, So everybody don't get all excited like we're 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:29.400 gonna drop the S word or anything like that. So 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:35.239 next or not, Yes, just said it. Oh, we're going 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.600 to keep it clean. But we are talking about some dirty, 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:41.360 dirty stuff, stuff that should never be uttered by anyone. 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:44.040 And uh, I for one would like to tip my 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.120 hat to tip her Gore for being an American hero 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:51.040 of all time. What Actually, it's funny as I was 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:53.680 reading some of this and this is we're talking about 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.400 the p MRC. As everyone will soon find out, UM 0:00:56.440 --> 0:01:00.520 and Ed put this one together. UM and he points 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:02.920 out that yes, if you look at this the stuff 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:05.560 that they were trying to do the Parents Music Resource Center, 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.760 they were basically saying, like we need to be able 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.720 to have a heads up that this record album has 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:15.040 UM lyrics on it that we wouldn't want our little 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:17.759 eight year old kid to listen to. That's really all 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:21.440 we're asking for. The thing is that's not all they 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:24.240 were asking for, And it's a slippery slope of doing 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:29.640 that where you're you're basically ringing the dinner triangle for 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:33.600 anybody who's got a beef with any dirty lyrics or 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:37.640 any worldview that opposes theirs to come out and say, yeah, 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:40.080 I like that idea, and while we're at it, let's 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:43.360 put him in jail if they don't comply. And you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:45.120 but it's too late. The cats out of the bag. 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:49.400 And this all happened in real life in the eighties, which, 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:52.440 by the way, I'm on record is saying the seventies 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.600 were the greatest decade of all time. I think the 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:59.480 eighties were one of the most interesting. At least, A 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:01.800 lot of icky still pent down in the You got 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.920 the Satanic panic, Yeah, the whole backmasking thing that was 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:08.800 kind of part of it. You've got this, um A 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:12.200 bunch of other stuff happened in the eighties too. Uh, 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.040 spatial program was going pretty strong, there was a shuttle 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:20.239 disaster even I mean like it was an interesting, provocative decade. 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:23.160 So there you have a chuck. There's the intro Yeah, 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:26.600 this is uh, this was a commissioned piece because I 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:30.519 remember very distinctly, uh, all of this going on when 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.040 I was younger and paying pretty close attention as a 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:37.320 music fan what was happening, and not getting as a 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:41.560 kid that it was it meant more than an explicit 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:44.840 lyrics label, right, you know, there was more at stake. 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:48.680 But also as a kid, you probably were exclusively like, 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:50.799 hey man, they can't do that. That's not cool, that 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:55.280 censorship without understanding the nuance of that the other position 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.959 as well. Right, Uh, No, I was too young to 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:02.040 spout so see things like that. Right, so you're just 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:05.120 like flipping off, like newspaper pictures of Tipper Gore in 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.320 your bedroom. No, I mean I was I was little. 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:11.200 I mean I was like eleven or twelve. I wasn't. 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:14.880 I wasn't a discerning reader of the newspaper. I didn't 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.359 know who Tippergore was. You didn't know, are you? Yeah? 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:23.440 I knew who eight years old, and yeah, I mean 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:25.840 she was on like Donna Hue and all these shows 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:27.960 like it was a big deal. She was the face 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:29.840 of this whole thing. Yeah, I knew who Tipper Core was. 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:32.520 Not to imply that I was anymore discerning than you 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.000 were as far as reading newspaper. And I knew her name, 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:37.480 but I certainly had no idea who she was or 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:39.520 what any of this meant at that age. Well, some 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:44.000 people say knowing her name and by proxy her husband's 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:45.800 name was the whole point of all this, but we'll 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:50.720 get to that later. Yeah. So the Parents Music Resource Center, Um, well, 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.000 I mean it was sort of an extension of the 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:58.080 grand tradition of adults saying that new music is bad 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:01.680 for kids, and that's and happening since there's been music. 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:08.680 It's this chamber music amadeus. Maybe it's quite possible, I mean, 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:11.640 it's it all we we should do an episode just 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.640 on that. I'm being threatened by of with getting old, 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.360 threatened by youth, I guess, yeah, But I think it's 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.280 you're projecting onto youth where you're really threatened by your 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:26.440 your imminent mortality is what it is, Yeah, and you're 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.159 just projecting it onto the next generation because it's weird 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.680 and strange and you're being pushed out of the out 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.400 of control. Well, this we can find the origins of 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:40.240 the PMRC in this case. Uh In nine, when Tipper 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:44.720 Gore's daughter. I think she was eleven. Um turned on 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:48.840 her new Prince album and the song very awesome song 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:53.680 Darling Nikki came on with the very famous line about masturbation, 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.640 and uh, I I remember being a young church kid 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.000 thinking like, WHOA, I probably shouldn't be listening to Yeah, 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.520 it was a dirty, dirty song. Did you keep listening? Uh? Yeah, 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:06.520 because it's a it's a great song. It is a 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.360 great song. Yeah. And if you put it even further, 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:11.560 it's a great song on its own. But in context 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:16.280 with the movie Purple Rain, that song shows up because 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:21.480 Prince is trying to humiliate his girlfriend who he's just struck, um, 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:24.920 because he found out that she was working for Morris Day, 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:28.000 which was Prince's rival in Purple Rain. So like it's 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:30.920 a it's a song to humiliator. Right on its own, 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:34.719 it's a great song. It is a racy song, but 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:38.400 it also has context that Tippergore didn't have at her 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:40.960 fingertips when she listened to that song. Yeah, and she 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:43.160 wrote a book a few years after that. Um, and 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.359 I don't remember I didn't own this book. You didn't 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:46.960 read that book when you were left And I write 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.520 it when I was eight, No, I was sixteen by 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:53.240 this point, but I remember I had it for some reason. 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:56.760 I might have done a some sort of school thing 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:00.640 on this on the PMRC, the whole thing. I definitely 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.400 had a copy of this book. And it wasn't like 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:06.080 because I was like, this is great and awesome, like 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:08.480 I read it for some school project. But it's called 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:12.320 Raising PG Kids in an X Rated Society and uh. 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.960 In it, she talks about how not only was she 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.200 worried and afraid for her kids, but she was afraid 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:21.960 herself about just these images that she was seeing on 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:26.280 MTV an Ozzy Osbourne crawling out of a swamp as 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:30.000 a swamp beast, and instead of laughing at that like 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:33.400 everyone else on the planet, it scared her or just 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:36.599 taking it as part of the your formative years that 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.920 you eventually grow out of and don't do, aren't aren't 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:43.080 brought to worship or hail Satan as a result. Yeah, 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:45.480 because she was a drummer. I mean she was and 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:48.960 an all all women band called the Wildcats. Yeah, so 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.320 she Uh, I don't know, it's kind of a lot 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:54.120 of this is surprising. It is very surprising, and it's 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:57.640 not like she was, you know, just a Democrat. Yeah, 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:02.280 you know, well, so here's the thing. The from what 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.919 I've seen, if you were on the industry side of this, 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:10.040 the opposing side to the p MRC at the time, UM, 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:12.240 you were pretty convinced. And I think some people still 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.120 are that the the whole thing that Yes, Tipper Gore 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:17.520 was like, this is this is terrible. I can't believe 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:19.240 I listen to this is my eleven year old and 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:22.200 said something to some other some other people sees friends 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:24.600 with around Washington, and they were like, you know, we 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:27.880 should do something about this. It would probably help Owl's 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.040 um exposure to the nation and get them ready for 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:33.960 a run at the presidency. And that that was actually 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:39.520 like this, the the impetus for this whole quagmire was 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:43.840 to make al Gore a prominent national figure. That's what 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:47.360 a lot of people think this And whether that was 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:50.040 Tipper and Owl's idea or whether they were kind of 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.320 led into it depends on you know who you are. 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:57.280 But that's um, that's that's very much out there in 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:00.320 the zeitgeist that that was the whole basis of the 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:04.800 entire thing. Huh, well, I don't buy that, um. And 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:10.000 in fact, that the pre PMR c uh and Cincinnata, Ohio. 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.440 There was a school PTA group that Delshare Elementary School 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:18.400 p t A who also heard Darling Nikki and also 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:21.880 didn't think that it was just a great jam, and 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.680 they got all up in arms about it and drafted 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:30.520 a statewide association letter that basically said, Hey, Recording Industry 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.280 Association of America, we're just gonna call it the r 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:36.360 i A A probably on this show, but um, maybe 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:39.640 you should have a voluntary system of ratings. Uh, kind 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:41.040 of like movies too with the m p a A. 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:43.560 What's the big deal, right, And they're like, call us back, 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:45.600 we want to talk about it, and I are a 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:47.760 A never called them back. Yeah, they said, we'll get 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:50.480 right on that. Yeah, exactly because they don't they want 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:52.200 to do that. They were scared of this idea to 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:55.240 begin with. They were really worried it was gonna hurt sales. 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:59.079 If you have, like a an album that specifically says 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:02.200 this is not kids, there are some stores in some 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:04.560 parts of the country that just won't carry that album, 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:06.320 and you want to be able to sell those albums. 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:09.280 You want to either have albums that a store would 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:11.320 be happy to sell, or at least slide it in 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.400 underhand at least, so the stores don't know what they're 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.520 selling and just the kids do. UM. So they were 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.360 afraid of this kind of idea, but they also, I mean, 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.320 it's the music industry in the eighties, like they could 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.800 afford to be like be quiet, Cincinnati School District, we're 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:29.040 not listening to you. When Tipper Gore came into the 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:33.199 mix with some of her friends from Washington, UM, the 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.559 dynamics of it changed for a number of reasons, not 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:39.400 just because they were connected to government, but because the 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:43.160 R A R I A A and government specifically UM 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:46.480 had something going on. Yeah, So they formed the PMRC 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:50.719 in UH on May fift They got a grant from 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:54.559 Mike Love of the Beach Boys, which is just further 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:58.000 cements him as one of the leading jerks and the 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:00.520 history of music. So what why is he jerk? Because 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:02.000 I saw that, I was like, what was my clove 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:04.040 doing that? And I know, I know he wasn't the 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:06.120 Manson one. That was Dennis. Wasn't it the one who 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:07.760 hung out with the Manson family for a little while. 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.600 That was Dennis Wilson. Okay, why is my clove a jerk? 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:14.920 Because God made him that way. He's just that way. No, 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:17.320 I mean he's he's he's a notorious I mean, I 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.000 can't use words that I want to use, but he isn't. 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:25.440 Just google Mike Love jerk and go down the rabbit 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:28.840 hole of of stories about this guy. Does he yell 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:31.640 like at basketball players courtside and stuff like that kind 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:34.680 of jerk? He's just you just go read some articles. 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:38.280 He's just he's just a jerk. I wish I had already. 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:40.720 Uh So, it does not surprise me that he gave 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:45.719 five thousand dollars to kick off the PMRC. But what 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:48.800 you were talking about is is the tape tax, which 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:53.920 was very interesting at the time. The recording industry was suffering, 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:56.440 or not suffering, but they were just beginning to struggle 0:10:56.480 --> 0:11:00.560 a bit with the fact that UM cassette tapes were 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:04.320 pretty inexpensive. UM or they could be super cheap if 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:07.080 you got really crutty ones. Yeah, but the the neon 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.160 C through ones, those are expensive. The Maxels, Yeah, I 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.240 had the black Maxels, but do you remember like the 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:14.360 C three ones they had like kind of fluorescent and 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.760 neon colors to them, like the kind that Emilia Westevez 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.960 and Charlie Sheen find and men at work? No, I 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:23.720 haven't seen that either. You never saw men at work? 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:28.040 It's a good one, is it? Okay? Um? Yeah, so 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:30.000 they people were. You know, if you grew up in 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:32.960 the eighties, you made tapes. You've recorded stuff off the radio, 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:36.240 you made mix tapes. If your friend had a tape, 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:38.120 you would dub that tape you had, set it in 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:41.200 front of your speaker and record your albums. Do you 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:43.959 remember figuring out how to record tapes that have been 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:48.280 made so you couldn't record them? There was like a 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:50.600 way that you could break off a tape. They were 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:52.439 like these two things and if they were broken off 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:54.760 while there were two tabs on top, if they were 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:57.679 broken off, then they couldn't be either recorded from or 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:00.199 recorded onto. I can't really means you can't record over 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:02.000 what's there. So if you make a tape you really 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:05.640 wanted to keep, you snap those tabs there for yeah, okay, 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:08.199 but you can put tape over those things in full 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.360 whatever sense them, and that you can record right over 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:13.840 it again, that's right. But do you remember being a 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:16.280 kid and wondering if you were going to get in 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:18.760 trouble for recording a song from the radio, like knowing 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:21.880 that you were in some gray legal area that you 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:26.240 weren't quite really. Yeah, yeah, I didn't worry about it. 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:28.640 I worried about getting in trouble for it. Not from 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:32.360 my parents because they clearly didn't care, but my my 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:38.360 local law enforcement officers. Games. Yeah, you come to your house, 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:39.840 come to your house and play you out of your 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:44.319 upstairs bedroom. Uh. So that the tape industry, the cassette 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:47.880 tape industry, was UM putting a dent in record sales, 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:51.520 and they were really threatened by it, and basically went 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.960 to Congress and said, hey, listen, I'd like you to 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:58.080 pass an act, the Home Audio Recording Act, that UM 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:02.000 puts a pretty heavy tax on these cassettes, on these 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:05.560 tape to tape decks that everyone's buying these days. And 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:08.720 then we want all that money, like hundreds of millions 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:12.000 of dollars a year. And the in the music industry 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:15.040 was like, and we've got a great system worked out. Um, 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:17.200 ten percent of all that is going to go to 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:19.560 all the artists and is going to go to the 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:23.000 record labels. Some thing's never changed, right, So UM they 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:25.600 had this thing there was it was a house bill 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:30.440 HR eleven, and it was in the Commerce Committee, and 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.199 the Commerce Committee was going to decide whether the R 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:36.200 I A A got this text money, a special text 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.040 just for the music industry to kind of offset some 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:45.400 of these perceived albums sale losses. Um that same committee, 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:50.160 the Commerce Committee or this committee, and I'm sorry the Yeah, 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:54.679 the Commerce Committee. UM also was decided to hold the 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:58.360 hearing on the p m r c UH and it's 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:04.280 it's desired to start labeling records as explicit. So was 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.719 I mean that was a senatorial hearing? Was that the 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:10.040 Commerce Committee specifically? Yes? Okay, because I thought the conflict 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:14.000 was the fact that members of the PMRCY were married 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.720 to people on that committee. I didn't know that was 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:25.200 an actual Commerce Committee hearing. Yeah, I guess it wouldn't 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:27.680 have been because it was HR twenty nine eleven, so 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:29.760 that would have been the Commerce Committee then would have 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:34.120 been in the in the House. And you're right, this 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:39.440 was a Senate hearing. So yeah, no conflict whatsoever, totally fine. Well, 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:41.440 like I said, the conflict was the fact that four 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:44.560 members of the PMRCY were married to Congressman, right, So 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:48.520 there was a conflict there. Basically, the record industry wanted 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.920 something from Congress, and Congress now all of a sudden 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:56.120 wanted something from the record industry, which was to label 0:14:56.280 --> 0:15:02.920 their records as potentially offense of two whomever, which is 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:06.400 a big deal. And some people say that if the this, 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:09.440 if the record industry hadn't been greedy and wanted the 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:13.880 HR eleven out of Congress, they probably would have fought 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:16.040 this tooth and nail. And a lot of people in 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:18.880 the industry stood up and said, we're not going to 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.000 take it to make a lot more sense in a 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:24.800 couple of minutes, and UM pushed back and like did 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:26.800 a lot of media tour and did a lot of 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:29.600 interviews and spoke out about this, and rallied like their 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.280 listeners to say, like, this is wrong, and they may 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:36.119 have successfully fought it had they not had the industry 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:41.240 ultimately wanted hr UM eleven to pass, this tape tax 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:44.160 to pass, and so they decided that they were going 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.960 to play ball. Yeah, and this was before the very 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:50.120 famous hearing even happened. Nineteen record labels got on board 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:53.080 and said, yeah, well we'll do this. We'll figure out 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:57.040 a good system. And so the very famous hearing on 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:04.880 September uh with strange collection of humans, John Denver, Frank Zappa, 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:09.640 and Dee Snyder twist its sister. It was moot at 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.400 that point. So let's what before we get into the hearing, 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:13.880 and we gotta back up a little bit. Let's take 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.040 a break real quick. He wants to ye, okay, we'll 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:40.160 be right back. Everybody, don't go anywhere, and things chop stop, shot, shot, 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:50.600 all right, chuck, So we should say, I gotta amend 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:53.000 something I just said. I can't believe this is so dumb. 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:57.320 It's It's possible the record industry would have fought this 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.440 a lot harder than they did had that ape Tex 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:04.040 not been in existence as a proposed bill. But that's 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:07.200 not to say necessarily that they did. Because we've got 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:09.080 to give a little more background on the p m 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:11.120 r C and what they did. One of the things 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:13.840 that they were able to do because of their connections 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:19.200 and because of their visibility, was a media blitz. Over 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:21.960 just a handful of months. They went from meeting in 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:24.680 the in a church in Washington, d C. I think 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:28.200 they were originally like nine members or something, to being 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:33.360 on Donahue, The Today Show, um editorials across the country. 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:37.520 They just they made this a topic of national They 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:41.720 made a national conversation about explicit lyrics on album on 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:44.520 on albums and whether the recording industry should do something 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:47.440 about it. Out of overnight, they made it a thing. 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:53.800 So as a result of that, um legislation in state 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:59.440 among the states started to pop up saying, forget why 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:00.919 the federal m is going to do it or not, 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:02.800 we can do this ourselves. If you want to sell 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:05.080 that record here in our state, you have to put 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:07.080 a label on it. And I think they're at least 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:09.919 a dozen states over over a very brief period of 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:14.600 time that that came up with legislation proposed legislation for this. 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:17.640 So the the R I A A would have had 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:22.120 a hard time of fighting this off once the Once 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:24.000 the cat was out of the bag from the p 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:27.560 mr c UM, they could have still tried to fight it. 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:29.880 The A c l U was like, we're writing right here, 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.800 you guys, go ahead and pass one and see what happens. 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:36.159 But it still would have been just a huge enormous problem. 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:38.159 So the p MRC did start this and some of 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.719 the states took it up. So whether it was just 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:43.159 the tape text or not, or whether it was to 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:48.280 try to stem off this legislation. Um, the the r 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:50.760 I a A Said okay, we'll play ball, And like 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:53.760 you said, they said, okay, we'll do this, and then 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:56.760 they still held that sentence hearing hearing, which I think 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.400 goes to further the idea that this this was to 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:02.639 to bolster al Gore's image because he was on that 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:06.760 signate hearing. Yeah. So what the PMRC called for, um, 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:11.919 it was forced explicit tags UH rated X and just 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:13.400 you know, they kind of followed the m p a 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:16.840 a's example of movie ratings, which we did a great 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:18.640 episode on that too. Yeah, that was a good one. 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:22.840 UM rated X for explicit sex or foul language, uh 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.480 D A for drugs or alcohol, V for violence, oh 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:28.239 for a cult, which meant anything that's not you know, 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:33.280 good strong Christian values, anything weird. Uh. And so to 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.240 to illustrate this, they trotted out what is now known 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:40.520 as the Filthy fifteen UM and I think we should 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:44.320 go through these. It's a list of fifteen songs and 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:47.560 what they were tagged for. We can't say all the titles. 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:51.479 Darling Nikki of course, UM was tagged for for sex 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:53.639 at the top of the list. From what I understand. 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:56.679 Oh yeah, I think this is the accurate list, and 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:58.680 I think like it may have been in some sort 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:01.040 of order. I don't think, hey, we're ranked. Is like 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:04.440 this is the dirtiest of them all. I don't know. 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:07.639 This is the one that got tipper uh Shena Easton's 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:11.360 sugar Walls. You remember that tune? No? And I went 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:15.280 back and listened in Cherry's nodding, and uh I I 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:17.600 didn't recognize it at all. Yeah, this was her big 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:21.199 image change song because she was sort of not all 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:23.600 American because she wasn't American, but you know, just sort 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:25.520 of that clean image. And then she came out with 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:28.200 sugar Walls, and everyone's like, you know what that's about? Right? 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:34.600 Easton knows about sex? Uh, judas priests eat me alive. 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:38.440 That's sex and violence depending on who you're talking to. 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:41.800 But all right, if it's if it's consensual sex and 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:45.000 violence and is it really violent? Uh? I haven't heard 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:47.920 a bunch of these. Actually, strap On Robbie Baby from 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.840 Vanity and I've never heard that one. I haven't either, 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:55.720 but I can guess what it's about. Motley Crue song 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:59.680 Bastard for violence in language. I didn't know the song, 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:01.879 but I looked up the lyrics. It is a rape 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:05.520 revenge song. Oh really, Yeah, it's about a woman like 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:08.680 killing a man who tried to rape her. That raises 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:11.800 a really good point here, Chuck, and we'll get into 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:13.560 this a little more. But I just want to point 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:15.760 this out to everybody listening right now. I can't wait 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:18.879 any longer. One of the great things about the p 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:22.280 mr C is that they provided endless amounts of entertainment 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:27.159 to people who were opposed to them by grossly misinterpreting 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:30.359 the lyrics of songs and and that that's a really 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:33.000 good example, Yeah for sure. Um and there are a 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:35.639 few examples of that. Um. A C. D C has 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:38.440 let Me Put My Love into You. That's sweet song 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:42.480 about love. Let Me put my Love into You, Open 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:46.480 your heart to my love. Twisted sisters, we're not going 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:49.560 to take it, which it says violence for that that 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:52.200 that is hysterical because there's nothing violent in that song, 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:55.840 not at all. And zero. The Snyder at the Senate 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:59.720 hearings was like, apparently somebody saw the video and with 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:03.160 the guy from Animal House, yeah, and mistook this cartoonish violence. 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:05.760 If you if you want to know this was I 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:09.560 collect cartoons, and every single one of those acts of 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:12.320 violence was taken from some of my favorite cartoons of 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:16.119 all time. So there's nothing in the song. So what's 0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:18.080 the what are you talking about here? Why would there 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:22.680 be explicit an explicit lyrics warning on my album when 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:26.080 there's no explicit lyrics and it's cartoonish violence in the 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:30.040 video this but this was on the list of fifteen 0:22:30.119 --> 0:22:32.600 that they used to say this is a good example 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:34.560