March 18, 2026

How The PMRC Sparked A National Fight Over Music Lyrics : The Darkside Of Music

How The PMRC Sparked A National Fight Over Music Lyrics : The Darkside Of Music

Send in your music story! A tiny black-and-white sticker started as a warning and turned into one of the most powerful marketing symbols in music history. We’re digging into the PMRC fight that put “Parental Advisory Explicit Content” on albums and set off a national argument about music censorship, artistic freedom, and what parents can realistically control once a song hits the real world. We go back to 1985, when Tipper Gore’s reaction to Prince’s “Darling Nikki” helped launch the P...

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Send in your music story!

A tiny black-and-white sticker started as a warning and turned into one of the most powerful marketing symbols in music history. We’re digging into the PMRC fight that put “Parental Advisory Explicit Content” on albums and set off a national argument about music censorship, artistic freedom, and what parents can realistically control once a song hits the real world. 

We go back to 1985, when Tipper Gore’s reaction to Prince’s “Darling Nikki” helped launch the Parents Music Resource Center and its infamous “Filthy 15” list. From there, the pressure campaign escalates into the U.S. Senate hearing on lyrics, where the lineup is as strange as it is historic: Frank Zappa, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, and John Denver. We talk through why lawmakers underestimated these musicians, how Dee Snider dismantled the idea that “We’re Not Gonna Take It” promotes violence, and why Zappa’s slippery-slope warning still fits modern debates about media regulation. 

We also connect the dots to today: what the First Amendment actually covers, why consequences don’t require government involvement, and how warning labels and radio edits can backfire by making “forbidden” music more desirable. If you care about heavy metal history, rap culture, free speech, or the politics of moral panic, this story explains how we got the music landscape we live in now. 

Subscribe for more music history and true-crime adjacent chaos, share this with a friend who hunted down the explicit version, and leave a review with your take: do content warnings help families or just sell records?

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00:00 - Gloomy Weather And Warm-Up

03:00 - Why The PMRC Case Matters

08:00 - Tipper Gore And The Filthy 15

13:54 - Occult Panic And Pokemon Parallels

24:29 - Senate Hearing And Dee Snider

32:54 - Who Defends Music In 2026

44:34 - Free Speech And Real Consequences

47:34 - How The Explicit Label Backfired

56:34 - Did Censorship Create New Icons

01:00:54 - Where To Find Us And Next Ideas

WEBVTT

00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:14.560
Hello, everybody.

00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:20.399
Welcome back to another episode of The Dark Side of Music with me and Danny.

00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:22.160
Danny, how are you today?

00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:23.359
I'm doing good.

00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:39.280
It's uh a gloomy, you know, evening or after late afternoon, but like it's the perfect kind of like scenario to talk about, you know, true crime and cases and court cases and interesting stuff.

00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:42.799
Um, it is okay here.

00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:46.079
We've had some crazy weather go on in Virginia.

00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:56.960
Yeah, it's been up and down in temperatures, like it was like in the upper 70s, and then like two days later, we had freezing rain and like sleet.

00:00:57.520 --> 00:00:58.479
Yeah, yeah.

00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:05.200
And then like that afternoon, I got two inches of snow, and then by the time I left work, it was gone.

00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:07.280
Like, dude, it's wild.

00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:09.439
That's the perfect scenario for snow.

00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:17.840
Like, maybe a little more than two inches, but like if you can get like I don't know, an instant six inches, and then by nighttime it's gone, perfect.

00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:19.519
That's like a perfect snow.

00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:27.040
And then to top it all off, it was like 32 degrees that night, and the next day it was 65.

00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:30.159
Yeah, I'm like, I I don't know what's going on.

00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:40.959
Like me, my my like body and and mental capacity cannot handle this changeover if it's just gonna keep going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:48.319
Like, right, I'll take another month of winter if it means we can just have summer in like the natural progression, right?

00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:51.760
Or have spring in the natural progression like right away, type of thing.

00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:56.239
It's been wild, but today it's like 65.

00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:00.799
Um, it's been cloudy all day, so it is that gloomy day.

00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:09.039
Um, however, tomorrow they've already canceled like seven schools in our area because we're apparently getting a bunch of tornadoes.

00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:11.120
Yeah, it's gonna be nuts.

00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:14.639
Though you could I didn't know you could predict tornadoes.

00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:20.879
I well, it's it's one of those things where because I I saw this because it stretched, it was like a couple of days ago.

00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:29.199
I because I have friends like in Texas, I have friends in like the Midwest and kind of all the way up to like Chicago and Indiana and that area.

00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:44.639
It stretched from there to there, like almost the entire you know, width of or length, I guess if you're looking at a map, length of the of the country is this like storm band of just like intense storms and and wind and rain.

00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:48.000
Yeah, we're supposed to get like two inches of rain, I think, tomorrow or something.

00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:50.479
Jeez, so yeah.

00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:54.240
Well, I'm super excited today.

00:02:54.560 --> 00:03:02.960
I so it's odd that like every other episode it seems like we go from murder to to like lawsuits, yeah, yeah.

00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:04.960
That's the pattern.

00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:10.639
But this one holds a special place in my heart.

00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:18.400
Today we're talking about the PMRC versus heavy metal case, uh, the music censorship case.

00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:18.879
Yep.

00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:24.159
This is what brought along the explicit label in music.

00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:31.439
This is the the founding, like you don't get more punk rock than this case.

00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:37.680
This is literally what punk rock is, I think, supposed to fight, right?

00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:57.599
Yeah, this like this this whole case is interesting, but like the some of the the highlights in this, and I'm not gonna give stuff away ahead of time, but some of the highlights are the mix and match of people that that are you know in this case and like specifically noted in this case.

00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:10.560
It's funny to like look at that list, and then um to top everything off, this this case and um we'll get to it eventually, the Napster case with Metallica.

00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:19.920
These are my two, like this is what drove me to want to do this show was like talking about those two cases and Kirk Cobain, I guess.

00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:25.279
Um, but that was the extent of my music crime knowledge right there.

00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:35.040
Um, but this one, I mean, just just to kind of tip the scales towards what this meant for music as a future state.

00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:46.079
Without this case, you wouldn't have things like MM, you wouldn't have slipknot, you wouldn't have corn or modern metal in general.

00:04:46.319 --> 00:05:00.800
Like anything that you've heard on liquid metal or Aussie's Boneyard or uh anything besides lithium and like e Street Radio, like the those are the reasons this case exists.

00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:04.720
So uh without further ado, let's dive into it.

00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:09.839
In the mid-80s, America found itself in the middle of a cultural panic.

00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:18.319
Heavy metal punk and rap were exploding in popularity, and many parents were convinced that music was corrupting the country's youth.

00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:26.959
Lyrics about sex, drugs, violence, rebellion were suddenly being blamed for everything from teenage pregnancies to suicides.

00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:36.800
What followed became one of the most famous censorship battles in music history, the PMRC versus rock and heavy metal case.

00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:41.600
Okay, so sex, drugs, and rock and roll, man.

00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:50.560
This I mean, it's it's crazy to think about this because this isn't something we grew up in, like, type of thing.

00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:51.839
So, like, you know what I mean?

00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:55.680
Like, it's just we're we're the product, we're the product of this, yeah.

00:05:55.839 --> 00:06:05.120
But it's just it's crazy to think about that because it's like we've always had like such a crazy mix of any music and and any like thing that we want to listen to.

00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:21.360
And yes, now we have the the labels, the explicit labels on stuff, but it's just interesting that we didn't even this wasn't like even this is before us, so it's it's just like we're there are people out there right now that are like, I remember a time before this case.

00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:27.759
Oh yeah, where nothing was was regulated or like it was super scary, and I don't know.

00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:39.839
I depending, I guess, who you're who you're talking to, I I guess either we have some old like rockers or or just like a an a normal, you know, suburban family and stuff like that.

00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:48.399
They're probably their take on it is probably like the same as what was what when was it like D D was was uh like evil and stuff like that?

00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:51.040
Yeah, I think I imagine they're the same crew, yeah.

00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:53.600
I think it's gotta be the same crew, yeah.

00:06:54.319 --> 00:07:02.800
Uh I mean without without this case, the magic that is Cardi B's WAP would not exist, guys.

00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:05.279
Look, Princess stuff wouldn't exist.

00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:06.079
Oh I know.

00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:12.959
I mean, to be fair, I think we would have had princess stuff regardless, but I'm just saying that's one of them in this case.

00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:16.079
One of the reasons that this was a thing, period.

00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:16.480
Yes.

00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:21.040
So um, yeah, I dude, I'm so pumped about this one.

00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:43.439
Uh, it's just there's so many things that this case did that I feel like most people are familiar with like the basics, but people don't understand how this completely shaped not just music, but America, like culturally, so much went into this censorship case.

00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:51.439
This really was one of the biggest fights for the right to fair speech and free speech.

00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:58.720
So there haven't been very many cases of this level media-wise.

00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:01.439
Um, let's go into the beginning.

00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:05.040
The controversy began in 1985.

00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:15.600
Tipper Gore, the wife of then Senator Al Gore, we're all familiar with Al Gore, uh, purchased the Prince album Purple Rain for Her Daughter.

00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:21.839
One of the songs on the album, Darling Nikki, contained explicit sexual lyrics.

00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:31.279
Shocked by the content, Gore and several other politically connected parents formed a group called the Parents Music Resource Center, or PMRC.

00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:38.879
Their goal was to pressure the music industry to regulate what they consider dangerous or inappropriate content.

00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:47.519
Ooh, so um they're they're the ones that insisted the explicit label happened.

00:08:47.759 --> 00:09:01.039
Um funny enough, I believe the same group are the ones who pulled Eminem's um was it Slim Shady was the album, I think, off of shelves.

00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:03.519
Um I believe so.

00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:04.799
I believe so.

00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:08.480
Uh because I believe I could be wrong, I'm not positive on this.

00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:18.399
We can always fact check it later, but I believe Dick Cheney and his wife were members of the Parents Music Resource Center.

00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:26.480
Uh and uh they were responsible for moving Eminem from the the media.

00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:34.879
Uh, but now we dive into the filthy 15, which is you're gonna see these names and you're gonna be like, really?

00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:36.320
Really?

00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:40.240
It's such a good like honestly, this is just a good playlist.

00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:50.399
Like, yes, and honestly, if if anybody's listening that is part of the filthy 15, talk about the perfect time for a reunion tour.

00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:52.159
Oh, that would be sick.

00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:54.960
The filthy 15 go on reunion tour?

00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:55.759
Come on, yeah.

00:09:55.919 --> 00:10:02.320
Uh, so, anyways, the the PMRC created a list of songs they claimed were the worst offenders in popular music.

00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:04.399
They called it the filthy 15.

00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:11.039
The list included songs by major artists such as, and we got tracks for this as well.

00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:35.840
Uh, Prince's Darling Nikki, you got Motley Cruz Bastard, Judas Priest's Eat Me Alive, the band Wasp with their song Animal, uh Madonna Dress You Up, ACDC, Let Me Put My Love Into You, Twisted Sisters, We're Not Gonna Take It, Which By the Well, Um, The Most Like Tame of the Group.

00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:38.960
Like I was Yeah.

00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:45.120
Honestly, when they do these uh these lists, and and there's multiple parts of this.

00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:56.960
When they do like this list, it's like we can almost play one of these things is not like the other, and that is the one that like is like that doesn't seem offensive in any way, shape, or form.

00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:06.399
But there's yeah, there's as as we go down, there's more lists of the exact same like that was the pattern of one of these people or one of these things is not like the others, like yeah.

00:11:34.730 --> 00:12:10.650
So um, so my thing is I I I think that Twisted Sister, and and we're gonna get into D Snyder here in a little bit, but Twisted Sister, I have such a major respect for that band in general, but the fact that they um were so punk rock without being punk rock, like like there were punk rock bands, you had like um like the Sex Pistols, and like realistically the Sex Pistols are supposed to be fighting anarchy, obviously.

00:12:10.970 --> 00:12:23.610
But what real social like battle did they take on, other than putting out an album or um trying to think like even Green Day, you know what I mean?

00:12:23.770 --> 00:12:27.850
Like Green Day didn't really do anything but put out music.

00:12:28.009 --> 00:12:30.730
Where's the actual social battle?

00:12:30.970 --> 00:12:43.690
Uh Twisted Sister was never intended to be the social warrior band, it was supposed to be music for angsty teenagers to be like, Yeah, fuck you, Dad.

00:12:43.930 --> 00:12:44.570
Yeah.

00:12:45.050 --> 00:13:02.250
I mean, look, sometimes you know, not all heroes wear capes, they just needed they needed to be the people that needed to be the ones who were kind of standing up to all this, and so like that's how they you know they got pulled in to the forefront, not just pulled in to the forefront of the whole thing.

00:13:02.570 --> 00:13:17.770
So Rage Against the Machine and uh Tool, both lead singers of those two bands, have openly said Twisted Sister was a major influence on their music, and through this case, I now understand why.

00:13:17.930 --> 00:13:27.690
Yeah, but um, so the songs were accused of promoting themes like violence, sexual content, drug use, or occult or satanic imagery.

00:13:27.850 --> 00:13:36.730
That's the one that's why I was saying the DD thing, because that's exactly why they were like saying, Oh, the the DD games are evil.

00:13:36.890 --> 00:13:40.730
It's it's because the occult and satanic imagery and stuff like that.

00:13:41.050 --> 00:13:54.810
It's it's no secret that I am a giant Pokemon fan, and my wife recently showed me a video of a pastor in 1999 doing a service about how Pokemon was the devil.

00:13:56.410 --> 00:13:59.530
See, they meant everyone messed up in that.

00:13:59.610 --> 00:14:06.170
If they really wanted to get like kids to go to like Sunday school and stuff, you should have been handing out Pokemon packs.

00:14:06.330 --> 00:14:09.129
Like just like with how absolutely crazy.

00:14:09.210 --> 00:14:13.450
I mean, and still like it, it's like Pokemon's been around what 30 years.

00:14:13.530 --> 00:14:14.730
We've had 30 years.

00:14:14.890 --> 00:14:16.650
That was the anniversary this year.

00:14:16.890 --> 00:14:19.690
It had like a resurgence, like at year 20.

00:14:20.009 --> 00:14:20.810
Three times, yeah.

00:14:20.970 --> 00:14:21.930
You think three times?

00:14:22.009 --> 00:14:24.090
I would I know for sure, you know.

00:14:24.410 --> 00:14:27.610
Well, so 2016, Pokemon Go comes out in 2016.

00:14:27.770 --> 00:14:28.890
Oh, you're right, yeah.

00:14:29.050 --> 00:14:36.730
Okay, the 2020th anniversary, and then I would say the 25th anniversary had a bit of a resurgence because that was during COVID.

00:14:37.210 --> 00:14:40.330
Was that when everybody started really getting into the trading cards again?

00:14:40.570 --> 00:14:41.690
Because I feel like okay.

00:14:41.930 --> 00:14:46.410
It was like 2019, like tail end of 2019, beginning of 2020.

00:14:47.370 --> 00:14:48.650
Yeah, that's when things went nuts.

00:14:48.810 --> 00:14:57.129
Even I bought I bought uh a booster pack, I can't uh a box of boosters um during the pandemic, like oh yeah, end of 2020.

00:14:57.290 --> 00:15:19.210
I happened to know a really cool uh comic book shop owner, and he was like not fully open still, but like he had limited hours and he would like take orders like online and stuff, and I was just like, I'll buy a box, like just and I would just every day I would open one, I would just open one pack every day, type of thing, just just for fun.

00:15:19.530 --> 00:15:22.490
Honestly, like great investment strategy too.

00:15:22.570 --> 00:15:32.410
Now, now looking back, it I mean, you can't even 30 years has gone by, and everyone that was like, Why are you collecting Pokemon cards in 1999?

00:15:32.490 --> 00:15:35.850
And there were these people that kept them sealed and they're like someday.

00:15:36.090 --> 00:15:41.129
Well, sure enough, man, you can pay off a house with Pokemon cards now.

00:15:41.370 --> 00:15:43.930
So yeah, it's kind of insane.

00:15:44.250 --> 00:15:47.129
I mean, I I'm horrible at this.

00:15:47.290 --> 00:15:53.290
Like, ever I'm I'm the kid that just like I I got I played the hell out of with my toys, like you you know what I mean.

00:15:53.370 --> 00:15:57.210
Like, I got the full enjoyment out of them, but I was never the kid that could save anything.

00:15:57.290 --> 00:16:00.650
So any Pokemon cards I ever had, I don't know where they are anymore.

00:16:00.810 --> 00:16:02.650
See, I definitely had good ones.

00:16:03.290 --> 00:16:07.610
Which now I just even harder as an adult, we make our own money, right?

00:16:07.770 --> 00:16:10.009
So now I just buy two of everything.

00:16:10.250 --> 00:16:11.850
See, that's that's the solution.

00:16:12.170 --> 00:16:15.210
The problem is one, put it in a box, and then I open the other.

00:16:15.530 --> 00:16:24.170
So I have a really awesome uncle who is who is that because he makes not only adult money, he makes adult money on top of adult money.

00:16:24.410 --> 00:16:32.170
So he has the ability if he thinks something is going to be really like like important down the line, where he can buy two.

00:16:32.410 --> 00:16:35.050
I don't make that level of adult money.

00:16:35.370 --> 00:16:43.050
So I'm lucky if I can buy one of the things right, right, and I cannot stop myself from playing with them.

00:16:43.210 --> 00:16:46.730
I have all of the new Ghostbusters Has Lab stuff.

00:16:47.530 --> 00:16:51.129
I've taken all of them out of the boxes and played with them already.

00:16:51.930 --> 00:17:02.890
Um, yeah, every every time I go to the store, if if I'm buying, if I'm buying something that I think is going to have any relative value in the future, I just buy two.

00:17:03.050 --> 00:17:05.450
Like, unless it's like I have a hundred dollar cap.

00:17:05.529 --> 00:17:07.849
If it's over a hundred dollars, I'm not buying two, right?

00:17:08.009 --> 00:17:15.289
But if I go in and it's 30 bucks for like a collector's edition, whatever, it's like, yeah, throw two of them on there, throw one of them in a box.

00:17:15.450 --> 00:17:17.690
Just because I was that kid that opened everything.

00:17:17.769 --> 00:17:23.369
Yeah, and now looking back, I'm like, I really messed up.

00:17:25.289 --> 00:17:32.490
I'm also the same adult that sold the collection because I was like, what am I gonna do with all these Pokemon cards?

00:17:32.809 --> 00:17:35.289
So now I really, really messed up.

00:17:35.529 --> 00:17:37.529
I mean, here's the thing you just never know.

00:17:37.610 --> 00:17:39.529
Like Pokemon, yes, I think.

00:17:39.610 --> 00:17:48.730
I mean, it it it stood the test of time even halfway through, where it's like, yes, this is smart to like not get rid of and uh and to hold on to.

00:17:48.890 --> 00:17:50.410
Unfortunately, I lost mine.

00:17:50.490 --> 00:17:52.730
I didn't I didn't get rid of them, I lost mine.

00:17:52.809 --> 00:17:54.009
I don't know where they are.

00:17:54.250 --> 00:18:08.090
Um, but like there's there's so many other examples of things that didn't pay off, like beanie babies, like like um even now, like the the Funko Pops are are way down in value, way down, and they're going bankrupt.

00:18:08.250 --> 00:18:12.970
Yeah, I got really lucky um a few years ago at this point.

00:18:13.049 --> 00:18:15.049
I think it was almost exactly four years ago.

00:18:15.289 --> 00:18:23.450
Um I sold like a small storage bin of like some of my most expensive ones.

00:18:23.769 --> 00:18:25.930
And I got a pretty decent amount of money.

00:18:26.090 --> 00:18:28.970
Like I was like, I'm not going to do anything with these.

00:18:29.130 --> 00:18:30.569
I need to get rid of some of them.

00:18:30.730 --> 00:18:32.569
Like, I have some of my favorites, don't get me wrong.

00:18:32.650 --> 00:18:33.850
I'll always have favorites.

00:18:33.930 --> 00:18:36.970
I have a good chunk, I see them behind you on the wall.

00:18:37.130 --> 00:18:38.250
I don't have them in here.

00:18:38.410 --> 00:18:39.130
I have a couple in here.

00:18:39.210 --> 00:18:43.769
I have my Deadpool riding a unicorn because that will always be my one of my absolute favorites.

00:18:44.090 --> 00:18:50.970
But I do have like a wall in my living room where I had you know some some extra shelves and put some of my absolute favorites up there.

00:18:51.049 --> 00:18:52.970
That I'll just keep, like I don't care, right?

00:18:53.130 --> 00:19:01.850
But but yeah, I got rid of some of like my nicely expensive and I sold them to a wholesaler, so I definitely got less, but I definitely got a couple grand.

00:19:02.090 --> 00:19:05.289
So yeah, at the time, I was like, this is pretty good.

00:19:05.610 --> 00:19:07.289
Shout out to the Hook and Bridge podcast.

00:19:07.450 --> 00:19:10.330
Most of those are from fans, so everybody that's awesome.

00:19:10.650 --> 00:19:21.130
That's our music wall, and then I have in front of me um like movies and TV shows, and then upstairs in the guest bedroom is my personal collection, which is just Pokemon.

00:19:23.529 --> 00:19:37.850
Um any anywho, anywho, uh so the PMRC began pushing the warning labels, uh, like we're talking about, the explicit label, uh, radio restrictions, and even possible government regulation.

00:19:38.250 --> 00:19:49.049
Um, which again is kind of what brought on the legal battle because that is a pure attack on our First Amendment rights.

00:19:49.210 --> 00:19:49.370
Right.

00:19:49.690 --> 00:19:53.370
Um, which I mean, it's 2026.

00:19:53.610 --> 00:20:00.490
I I think uh with everything going on in the world, just in general, this is a perfect case to kind of bring up right now.

00:20:00.730 --> 00:20:16.730
Um and I think that uh no matter how you view the world today, in general, there's an attack globally on the right to speech, and there has been, I would say, for the last 20 years.

00:20:16.970 --> 00:20:31.289
Like well, I'd say as soon as you know the internet and message boards, forums, and stuff like that became easily accessible, so maybe a little less than 20 years, but like you know what I mean?

00:20:31.450 --> 00:20:45.370
Like, because now it's like you go on TikTok and find people talking about anything you want to talk about, you can go on Reddit and find a subreddit of people talking about anything from you know super innocent things to super not so innocent things, like you know what I mean.

00:20:45.450 --> 00:20:54.730
So, like it's just yeah, information all the time anywhere that you that you and I I don't think that anyone ever thought that was going to be the case.

00:20:54.970 --> 00:21:02.569
Nobody ever thought that information would just be accessible at your fingertips 24-7.

00:21:02.890 --> 00:21:06.170
Like, I sometimes I feel like we take it for granted, truly.

00:21:06.250 --> 00:21:09.769
Like, oh, absolutely, absolutely.

00:21:10.090 --> 00:21:18.009
You can sit here with your phone and just be like, anything you want to think, like look up, like every thought, it's it's wacky, dude.

00:21:18.569 --> 00:21:28.970
I will say, I was just gonna say, and and I mean, I'm more than happy to have this on me 24-7, and like if I think of like, oh, you know what would be really good.

00:21:29.130 --> 00:21:38.490
I wish I could, you know, get this, this, and this, and I put them in my cart on my app for ordering whatever I'm gonna order, and then just leave it there.

00:21:38.650 --> 00:21:45.370
But like, because my brain will forget stuff, I I luckily just can do it in 10 seconds and have it type of thing.

00:21:45.610 --> 00:21:51.049
Um, I will say though, it has dumbed me down significantly.

00:21:52.569 --> 00:21:58.890
I if you put me in a second grade spelling bee today, I would lose 100%.

00:22:00.090 --> 00:22:03.850
Don't ask me if restaurant, don't even think about it.

00:22:04.250 --> 00:22:05.450
Well, here's the thing.

00:22:05.690 --> 00:22:16.730
So I a hundred percent agree with you, but what's really worse is I know how things are spelled, but my finger, my thumbs like that.

00:22:16.809 --> 00:22:24.730
I'm texting with are just most of the time I'm hitting like the wrong letter, and so it's still autocorrecting it.

00:22:24.809 --> 00:22:27.210
So, like, I I'm not even like trying.

00:22:27.610 --> 00:22:37.769
To misspell it wrong, but it's like autocorrecting it to the right, so like my brain just gets lazy, just like you were saying, but I still know the correct spell, like it's in there somewhere.

00:22:37.930 --> 00:22:40.330
Like, I know the correct spelling somewhere.

00:22:40.650 --> 00:22:55.210
So every week, every week, I use the word interview while typing uh emails every week, and every single time I type it without fail, in my head I go I before e except after Z.

00:22:55.529 --> 00:22:56.170
Yeah.

00:22:56.730 --> 00:22:57.850
Like, dude.

00:22:58.170 --> 00:22:59.370
See, it's all still there.

00:23:00.650 --> 00:23:05.850
It's just the ease of it with your phone autocorrecting you and all the stuff all the time.

00:23:06.009 --> 00:23:11.289
It it that's what's like my phone still says restraint every time I try to say restaurant.

00:23:11.370 --> 00:23:12.730
I just say place to eat now.

00:23:12.809 --> 00:23:14.090
It's just easier.

00:23:16.170 --> 00:23:28.650
As a kid who had a lot of spelling problems growing up, that like being the ability to just do synonyms of or reconstruct a sentence based around what I can't spell.

00:23:30.410 --> 00:23:34.410
That sentence turns out into a like really well-written paragraph.

00:23:34.490 --> 00:23:38.730
Like, you're like, I'm really, really good at telling a story.

00:23:40.090 --> 00:23:42.809
I'll take you on a journey to find out where we want to go.

00:23:43.370 --> 00:23:44.170
We never know.

00:23:44.330 --> 00:23:48.330
Like, this may have been the reason why I'm able to write song lyrics and stuff like that.

00:23:48.569 --> 00:23:53.529
Because my brain had to think of four different ways to get around words I couldn't spell.

00:23:53.850 --> 00:23:56.170
So, oh man.

00:23:56.970 --> 00:23:58.330
Okay, all right, all right.

00:23:58.569 --> 00:24:01.370
So we dive into the legal side of it.

00:24:01.529 --> 00:24:09.049
So they they basically they form this organization, they start going hard into the paint trying to crush music.

00:24:09.130 --> 00:24:11.610
Like they're like, this is not gonna happen.

00:24:11.690 --> 00:24:13.289
We cannot let this slide.

00:24:13.529 --> 00:24:32.250
We're gonna go to the radio stations, we're gonna have the radio stations pull the airwaves, we're gonna go and insist that record stores uh have to put on a label that says that this music uh is dangerous to young people, um, and that it's very, very wrong that your children are listening to it.

00:24:32.410 --> 00:24:41.610
And then they start diving into the government sanctions over the media, and that is what brings us over to the actual Senate hearing.

00:24:41.769 --> 00:24:41.930
Right.

00:24:42.090 --> 00:24:44.730
The controversy exploded nationally when the U.S.

00:24:44.890 --> 00:24:49.769
Senate held a hearing on music lyrics in September of 1985.

00:24:50.250 --> 00:24:51.769
I wasn't born, Danny.

00:24:51.850 --> 00:24:54.490
You weren't born, but you're talking 1985.

00:24:54.569 --> 00:25:06.890
We're talking top of the charts are gonna be like Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, um uh, I think Devo would have been pretty darn big at that moment.

00:25:07.370 --> 00:25:08.890
Uh Bon Jovi.

00:25:10.250 --> 00:25:13.930
Yeah, I think Cure charts, but Cure was yeah, absolutely.

00:25:14.170 --> 00:25:18.890
Uh, you had uh uh 99 Loft Balloons was a huge one then.

00:25:19.289 --> 00:25:23.769
Um I forget what that band was that did that one, but that was definitely big.

00:25:23.930 --> 00:25:32.569
You had um, like I said, Bon Jovi, you had all of your hair bands, your your uh Motley Crue, Kiss was huge.

00:25:33.049 --> 00:25:35.610
So we're smack dab in the 80s.

00:25:35.769 --> 00:25:39.289
Stranger picture stranger things, but in real life, yeah.

00:25:40.009 --> 00:25:44.009
So several musicians testified in defense of artistic freedom.

00:25:44.170 --> 00:25:47.529
Among them were Frank Zappa, D.

00:25:47.850 --> 00:25:50.730
Snyder, and John Denver.

00:25:50.970 --> 00:25:51.850
This is my favorite.

00:25:52.009 --> 00:25:54.650
It's it's the list of one of these things is not like the other.

00:25:54.730 --> 00:25:56.330
It's the second part of that.

00:25:58.809 --> 00:26:09.529
It's I mean John Denver, Country Roads had to come out and be like, hey, you guys shouldn't do this.

00:26:09.769 --> 00:26:14.730
Yeah, um, so you have Frank Zappa, musician, outspoken critic of censorship.

00:26:14.809 --> 00:26:17.690
Frank Zappa, strange guy, strange music.

00:26:18.170 --> 00:26:21.130
Zappa fans, if you're listening, God bless you.

00:26:21.450 --> 00:26:28.730
Because I I dude, I have listened to four Zappa albums and I don't get it.

00:26:28.970 --> 00:26:31.210
It's like um, it's like what's that band?

00:26:31.289 --> 00:26:34.090
It's like uh uh Beav Heart.

00:26:34.330 --> 00:26:36.170
Is that the Beavheart?

00:26:36.410 --> 00:26:43.529
It's like Captain Beav Heart, I think is one that like deep music fans will be like, you're not a music fan because you don't listen to Beefheart.

00:26:43.769 --> 00:26:52.410
And I've tried and I don't ever even heard it's so Zappa's just not my not my thing, but it's cool that he spoke out.

00:26:52.490 --> 00:26:56.890
Um John Denver, the only thing I know is Country Road, same same.

00:26:57.049 --> 00:27:04.970
Well, and the the the uh line from Dumb and Dumber where he goes where he goes, that John Denver guy's full of shit.

00:27:09.450 --> 00:27:12.090
That's all I thought of as soon as I saw him on the list.

00:27:12.410 --> 00:27:14.970
I think that movie came out shortly after this.

00:27:15.370 --> 00:27:19.769
I mean, well, a few years, a few years ago in the 90s, yeah.

00:27:20.330 --> 00:27:22.330
That was probably 10 years, actually, to be convenient.

00:27:22.569 --> 00:27:23.370
Oh, true, true.

00:27:23.610 --> 00:27:25.370
Probably like 95, 96, yeah.

00:27:25.769 --> 00:27:31.930
And then you have, I believe so, and then you have D Snyder, the one and only lead singer from Twisted Sister.

00:27:32.170 --> 00:27:34.970
Did you watch any of the Sended Hearing at all?

00:27:35.289 --> 00:27:36.490
I have seen clips.

00:27:36.650 --> 00:27:43.289
I haven't watched, I didn't watch anything in prep in preparation for this, but I have seen clips from that in in the past.

00:27:43.610 --> 00:27:46.650
Did he come dressed the part?

00:27:48.090 --> 00:27:49.850
I have not seen it.

00:27:50.250 --> 00:27:57.210
He he didn't he it wasn't just like you said, it wasn't like he came out like all like what his stage persona would look like.

00:27:57.370 --> 00:28:04.090
Like he didn't, at least from what I saw, like maybe I saw interviews, maybe I didn't see the center sent Senate hearing.

00:28:04.330 --> 00:28:09.289
Maybe I saw interviews, but he looked like really well put together.

00:28:09.529 --> 00:28:09.930
Oh, okay.

00:28:10.009 --> 00:28:11.289
Yeah, I've got it pulled up here.

00:28:11.370 --> 00:28:19.930
Yeah, he I mean, he's not wearing the makeup, but like outside of that, he looks exactly like his persona.

00:28:20.569 --> 00:28:28.650
Maybe my my vision of what a normal put together person is is a little bit I I've had blue hair for 10 years, like you you know what I mean.

00:28:28.730 --> 00:28:30.970
Like, nothing wrong with that at all.

00:28:31.130 --> 00:28:32.410
I'm going blue, also.

00:28:33.049 --> 00:28:33.610
Really?

00:28:33.850 --> 00:28:37.769
Yeah, I used to rock blue hair, and I've been really wanting to go back to it.

00:28:38.009 --> 00:28:39.450
I think you should.

00:28:39.850 --> 00:28:40.890
I think you should.

00:28:41.210 --> 00:28:48.490
Also, I forgot what D Snyder looked like then because D Snyder now looks nothing like D Snyder then.

00:28:48.569 --> 00:28:50.330
That's crazy.

00:28:50.650 --> 00:28:56.009
Maybe I'm just visualizing him now because I think what wasn't he on some reality show or something?

00:28:56.170 --> 00:29:02.170
Like in my head, maybe I'm visualizing D Snyder from the reality show.

00:29:02.490 --> 00:29:07.850
Like, I bet you're you're picturing D Snyder as like the like ponytail black sunglasses.

00:29:08.009 --> 00:29:09.769
Yeah, that is him now.

00:29:10.009 --> 00:29:13.930
Back then, he had this gigantic curly yellow hair.

00:29:14.250 --> 00:29:19.130
See, I knew that as far as like stage images of him and stuff like that.

00:29:19.289 --> 00:29:25.130
So, like, I guess my brain just kind of put together two versions of him, right?

00:29:25.370 --> 00:29:33.370
And so, like, I guess I didn't see the setting here then, but I definitely saw him talking about the the uh like the case and stuff like that.

00:29:33.610 --> 00:29:44.809
So maybe I saw him doing an interview, and he was because I have like what you were saying, like when he went on the stand is up, like he he was really well spoken and and stuff like that.

00:29:44.890 --> 00:29:48.890
So maybe I just saw an interview of him talking about the actual case and stuff.

00:29:49.130 --> 00:29:50.890
Yeah, he looks awesome.

00:29:51.130 --> 00:30:02.090
I will say, like Frank Zappa, he's got like the the mustache and the the like goatee looking thing and the black hair, and then you got John Denver, short, short blonde hair with his big old glasses.

00:30:02.410 --> 00:30:03.610
Oh, every time.

00:30:03.850 --> 00:30:05.130
What the heck?

00:30:06.490 --> 00:30:13.370
Um, so anyways, they go in, they have the Senate hearing, they all give their piece.

00:30:13.450 --> 00:30:22.809
Uh D Snyder's is the most memorable because it was the most beautifully spoken, articulate, well like rounded speech.

00:30:22.970 --> 00:30:23.210
Yeah.

00:30:23.370 --> 00:30:38.490
Um, and like you said, it really did kind of show that uh D Snyder, outside of his persona, truly is like this very intelligent, well-spoken um individual that can go up against something like this of that magnitude.

00:30:38.650 --> 00:30:38.970
Yeah.

00:30:39.210 --> 00:30:44.090
Um, many politicians assumed these artists would struggle to defend themselves, but they were wrong.

00:30:44.330 --> 00:30:46.890
Uh D Snyder shocks the Senate.

00:30:47.049 --> 00:30:56.730
One of the most memorable moments was hearing uh came when D Snyder took the stand, known for his wild hair makeup, heavy metal, meant heavy metal image.

00:30:56.970 --> 00:31:01.049
Many lawmakers assumed he would reinforce their stereotypes.

00:31:01.210 --> 00:31:06.490
Instead, Snyder delivered a calm, articulate defense of his music and the first amendment.

00:31:06.650 --> 00:31:20.090
He explained that the PMRC had misinterpreted the meaning of Twisted Sisters songs, including We're Not Gonna Take It, which he said was about standing up to authority, not violence.

00:31:20.330 --> 00:31:20.970
Yeah.

00:31:21.370 --> 00:31:24.970
Which, yeah, I mean, it's pretty clear that's the messaging.

00:31:25.130 --> 00:31:34.970
Like if you listen to that song, it's quite clearly uh go against your parents' ruling as a rowdy teenager.

00:31:35.610 --> 00:31:38.170
Also, did they not see the music video?

00:31:38.330 --> 00:31:39.930
The music video is literally that.

00:31:40.090 --> 00:32:06.730
Like he's pushing the dad down the steps, and well, so I think this is like one of those cases where like if you want to twist something to kind of fit into your uh I guess agenda that you have overall, it's easy enough to to just be like, oh see, there's it's about violence, and but like if you dug for more than five minutes, I mean, let's be generous.

00:32:06.809 --> 00:32:24.890
I guess it was the 80s, so if you dug more than an hour, I guess, about the you know, the song and and and stuff like that, then then I think you would you would understand that it's not, and it is just about kind of rebelling against authority, not really like violently rebelling or violently doing anything, but yeah.

00:32:25.210 --> 00:32:28.410
This brings up a good kind of conversation topic.

00:32:28.650 --> 00:32:31.130
Um 2026.

00:32:31.769 --> 00:32:36.650
Let's say that uh music is under attack again.

00:32:37.690 --> 00:32:44.170
Who who do you think like who's our who's our D Snyder?

00:32:44.650 --> 00:32:48.090
Who that's our first round draft pick for this conversation.

00:32:48.410 --> 00:33:25.370
That's really tough because in this day and age, there are a lot of really, really well spoken artists out there, like in every across every genre, like that that you just wouldn't I don't know if you could really choose like because I don't know if you if you want to go like the biggest you can think of, or if you want to go like somebody that would be the most surprising or or what, but like there really are a lot because I I mean you could do I mean you brought up Green Day a long time ago, Billy Joe Armstrong.

00:33:25.529 --> 00:33:33.210
I mean, he's pretty well spoken when he's calm and and and doing interviews and talking about hey, this is wrong and this this needs to be, you know what I mean.

00:33:33.289 --> 00:33:54.090
So, like, I mean, even if you want to do a direct rock for rock, I mean, Billy Joe Armstrong, but like, I mean, there's there's plenty of like even like you know, rap and RB artists that are like producers and have to, you know, speak well to other artists and and and all that kind of stuff to get their points across.

00:33:54.250 --> 00:33:57.690
So they're really naturally good at you know speaking.

00:33:57.769 --> 00:34:11.289
And if it's a topic that is kind of uniting every different genre across the the music landscape, then I mean I almost say we put an all-star team together, we don't rely on one type of thing.

00:34:12.329 --> 00:34:15.449
But I think I think Billy Joe's on there, as far as I'm concerned.

00:34:15.529 --> 00:34:18.409
But like, yeah, I don't think we can narrow it down to really one.

00:34:18.569 --> 00:34:20.969
I think even narrowing it down to three would be tough now.

00:34:21.210 --> 00:34:24.329
Oh, yeah, no, you'd have a courtroom packed, yeah.

00:34:24.489 --> 00:34:40.089
Uh, but so the other issue too is not necessarily an issue, issue is the wrong word, but the one of the bigger differences is that music has become much more activism-based.

00:34:40.329 --> 00:34:48.730
Like there are very subtle hints in a lot of music towards one way or the other, some less subtle than others, yeah.

00:34:48.969 --> 00:35:00.809
Um, and exactly like you said, depending on on how your agenda is flowing and and what you believe in, um that roster can look very, very different depending on who's on it.

00:35:00.969 --> 00:35:04.809
You have you have all stars on both sides of the spectrum, yeah.

00:35:05.129 --> 00:35:18.730
Um so that that is an interesting topic in and of itself is uh do you think that music has become too free?

00:35:21.929 --> 00:35:46.569
I don't think so because I think the fact that it has become so open that you can it if you look at I mean you can look at it as you know being a musician, like in in my situation, but I'm also you know, I am a you know a fan of music in general, and sometimes you know, genres that I don't sing in, like I'm I'm fans of stuff like that too.

00:35:46.889 --> 00:36:02.889
And I think if I don't like hearing something or I don't like the way something's being expressed, there's uh still 20 different artists, you know, that are in that genre that that I could listen to instead.

00:36:03.049 --> 00:36:20.969
So I think the fact, at least as as a listener, the fact that it's so open and it's so you know vast and and free to kind of be able to express however you want, just kind of opens it to like anybody can enjoy it for any reasons that they want to enjoy it, type of thing.

00:36:21.049 --> 00:36:23.289
And I don't think I don't think that's bad.

00:36:23.369 --> 00:36:53.849
Now, I mean there's always gonna be, you know, the question of like how do you I guess not have to hear what you don't want to hear and and stuff like that, but it's like I mean it's the same with with anything because like like we've said because of our phones and our uh because of the internet and how everything can be so instantaneous, it's like you're gonna see something or hear something that you don't want to hear and or or that you don't personally appreciate as much, like you know what I mean.

00:36:54.009 --> 00:36:58.250
So it's like it's just kind of that's life now that type of thing.

00:36:59.129 --> 00:36:59.689
100%.

00:37:00.089 --> 00:37:01.529
I 100% agree with you.

00:37:01.769 --> 00:37:05.449
I I did make the joke earlier about Cardi B's WAP.

00:37:06.009 --> 00:37:18.409
I will I will say, as uh a relatively new parent, that is definitely not something that I would want my son to hear early on in life, you know.

00:37:18.569 --> 00:37:29.449
Um no, here's the thing early on, not gonna know what anything means or anything, it's just gonna be hilarious TikTok content if he does sing some of those lyrics.

00:37:29.609 --> 00:37:34.969
That is true, but but I mean I understand what you mean.

00:37:35.129 --> 00:37:39.049
Here's what I will say, only from the other side of that.

00:37:39.369 --> 00:37:53.529
Uh don't do what these people did by trying to slap stickers on stuff to make it seem like it's bad because we're only gonna want to listen to it more, yes.

00:37:53.689 --> 00:37:58.409
So and I will say too that like I'm a firm believer.

00:37:58.489 --> 00:38:05.609
So growing up, um, this case played a significant role in my childhood in my home.

00:38:05.849 --> 00:38:14.329
Um, I was forbidden from listening to anything other than country music, wow, until I was 13.

00:38:15.769 --> 00:38:23.129
So I didn't experience most of the 90s until I was 13, well past the 90s.

00:38:23.289 --> 00:38:23.849
Wow.

00:38:24.089 --> 00:38:28.569
And I didn't really experience rock music until I was 13.

00:38:28.649 --> 00:38:37.689
So I hadn't discovered Metallica or Iron Maiden or any of those like 80s metal bands or anything until later in life.

00:38:37.929 --> 00:38:42.489
Um, I didn't disc I wasn't allowed to listen to rap music until I was an adult.

00:38:42.730 --> 00:39:03.529
So I got I got to do the rock part, and then like even that had some some sort of like, hey, you can't listen to this, like couldn't listen to Disturb, couldn't listen to God Smack, couldn't listen to uh uh some Alice and Chains songs, like definitely no slipknot, like you know, anything too heavy was forbidden.

00:39:03.769 --> 00:39:10.969
Um, but I didn't really listen to uh rap music until I was an adult when I had the ability to.

00:39:11.129 --> 00:39:17.689
I always kind of snuck off with my friends and heard some stuff, but it wasn't something that you could just like access immediately, you know?

00:39:17.929 --> 00:39:22.649
Oh yeah, I I had such an opposite right, right?

00:39:22.889 --> 00:39:24.489
I got I got really lucky.

00:39:24.649 --> 00:39:38.569
My dad showed me pretty much any rock that I would classic rock, 90s rock, 80s rock, modern day rock, like everything through I remember, I don't remember like I don't remember it.

00:39:38.649 --> 00:39:46.569
I remember him telling a story of like I went through this weird period where I was like three, four, and I would just sing whatever was on the radio, right?

00:39:46.730 --> 00:39:58.169
I would just sing to it, and and my dad would be like, I don't know how he knows all the lyrics to just random stuff, but it was just like I was a sponge, I was just sucking up like all the the songs and lyrics and stuff like that.

00:39:58.329 --> 00:40:34.889
But yeah, I I pretty much heard any like I remember just like yeah, we had a wall of CDs and just anything you could think of, like from classic rock to like 90s to like grunge to like you know punk rock, like oh, and then I started then then I got to the age where I started you know diving more into punk and to punk rock into ska, and I would like every once in a while my I'd get my dad into some of it, and then I finally made it to pop punk, and then my dad liked everything pop.

00:40:35.529 --> 00:40:37.609
The other day, I I don't know if I've told you this before.

00:40:37.849 --> 00:40:46.009
The other day I I was listening to I put a playlist together and I was with my dad and we were hanging out, and this is not the other day, it was like probably two years ago at this point.

00:40:46.169 --> 00:40:50.169
Um, but uh one of the songs that comes on, and it's one of my favorite songs.

00:40:50.409 --> 00:40:53.210
It's uh Right Back at It Again from A Day to Remember.

00:40:53.369 --> 00:40:57.689
Oh and it played, and my dad goes, Oh, what band was that?

00:40:57.769 --> 00:41:00.569
And I was like, A Day to Remember, and he goes, I really like that band.

00:41:02.089 --> 00:41:06.409
Flash forward, he's like added it to his playlist and and stuff like that.

00:41:06.569 --> 00:41:17.609
Like he's got playlists that have like stories so far on it, and yeah, yeah, great, like stuff that I didn't think he was into, but he just like he would hear it from me, and then he would just start putting it on playlists and stuff.

00:41:17.769 --> 00:41:19.609
Okay, so so it's so funny.

00:41:19.689 --> 00:41:34.730
Like, I had a very similar experience with my dad when I was able to listen to rock music, but also like we also had CD, like my dad was like into Pink Floyd and the Eagles, and so like it was just I wasn't allowed, like, we had out.

00:41:35.289 --> 00:41:36.489
Oh, that's even worse.

00:41:36.569 --> 00:41:44.889
He mom loved Michael Jackson, my mom loved Prince, like, but I wasn't allowed to listen to it.

00:41:44.969 --> 00:41:46.730
Wow, so it was a weird thing.

00:41:46.969 --> 00:41:55.849
But uh when I was old enough, um, and I found Caether, uh, I showed my dad Cether, and he was obsessed with them.

00:41:56.009 --> 00:41:58.889
And then I found God Smack and he got obsessed with them.

00:41:59.049 --> 00:42:00.809
Those are his two favorite bands now.

00:42:01.289 --> 00:42:02.809
You know, it's really funny.

00:42:03.289 --> 00:42:17.129
So I uh it almost the same thing happened with and there's a ton of pop punk music and and easy core music that my dad loves that and I wasn't afraid to show him that because he doesn't care what I'm listening to, it's mine.

00:42:17.289 --> 00:42:41.289
Um but I remember getting uh the Mark Tom and Travis show, and I was terrified to let him hear that because Animal the State's one thing Mark Tom and Travis show is just so far past that, like that I and so I was terrified, and and one day and I had it on, I was listening to it, and he goes, What are you listening to?

00:42:41.449 --> 00:42:44.409
And I had headphones in and stuff, and I was like, Oh, it's blink 182.

00:42:44.489 --> 00:42:46.649
He goes, Oh, I know blink 82, they're good, I like them.

00:42:46.889 --> 00:42:48.250
And I was like, Oh, okay.

00:42:48.489 --> 00:42:52.409
He goes, Well, why don't you why don't you connect it to like the the stereo and stuff?

00:42:52.489 --> 00:42:54.730
And I was like, Okay.

00:42:55.849 --> 00:43:00.489
Is that the one with is that the one with like the picture of like the cow or something on it?

00:43:00.809 --> 00:43:03.449
No, it's the pit it's the cartoon version of all of them.

00:43:03.529 --> 00:43:05.449
It's it's oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:43:05.609 --> 00:43:10.969
It's a live concert, and so it's got everything in between and the dog song on it, yeah.

00:43:11.210 --> 00:43:24.489
It's everything, and it's got like the blowjob song on it, it's got everything, but it's awesome because it's all of my favorite, like it's so many of my favorite songs from them played like the speed that I want to hear them.

00:43:24.809 --> 00:43:28.809
Like, that's the best part about hearing them in concert because they play so much faster.

00:43:29.129 --> 00:43:35.609
So like I always want aliens to exist at that speed, I always want like my favorite songs at that speed and stuff.

00:43:35.769 --> 00:43:42.169
So, and then just having them scream like like boobies every once in a while, and I was just like, Oh, this is not gonna be good.

00:43:42.329 --> 00:43:47.449
I just remember being so nervous, and my dad is like cracking up listening to it and stuff.

00:43:47.609 --> 00:43:48.569
That's so good.

00:43:49.129 --> 00:43:49.929
Why were you hiding this?

00:43:50.169 --> 00:43:51.689
I was like, I don't know.

00:43:53.129 --> 00:43:59.929
But the crazier thing is none of that would exist, yeah, if it weren't for this case.

00:44:00.089 --> 00:44:00.409
Yeah.

00:44:00.649 --> 00:44:04.809
Um, Frank Zappa gave a far more direct speech.

00:44:04.889 --> 00:44:12.089
He argued that the government's involvement in music content was a dangerous step towards censorship, which we 100% agree with.

00:44:12.329 --> 00:44:18.329
It is a huge, huge impediment on our rights as individuals.

00:44:18.489 --> 00:44:34.089
Uh, if you feel that you want to say something, whether it be poetry or the written word or music or to your Friends, however, you want to say it, you should have that right if it's not hurting anyone.

00:44:34.730 --> 00:44:41.210
That's the thing, is like there's a difference between free speech and hateful speech.

00:44:41.449 --> 00:44:41.929
Right.

00:44:42.329 --> 00:44:45.849
And there's a very, very fine line between the two.

00:44:46.089 --> 00:44:51.369
You have the right to say anything you want, you also have to accept the consequences of the world.

00:44:51.529 --> 00:44:52.250
Exactly.

00:44:52.489 --> 00:44:54.649
That's the real point in everything.

00:44:55.129 --> 00:45:03.769
You have the First Amendment right to say something, but you also have to understand that actions have consequences.

00:45:04.809 --> 00:45:18.009
The other thing, too, that I think as a society, people uh misinterpret about free speech is your freedom of speech is only tied to the government.

00:45:18.969 --> 00:45:27.449
You cannot be prosecuted or vilified by the US government for your speech.

00:45:27.769 --> 00:45:32.730
However, everything else is fair game.

00:45:32.969 --> 00:45:59.210
Walmart can deny you service, your job can fire you, and they do, and they do, and I think that people misunderstand that specific point so often that you can do anything you want in this world, but the consequences still stand, and you cannot get upset with your employer, they are not impending your freedom of speech, right?

00:45:59.369 --> 00:46:01.449
Because that only applies to the government.

00:46:01.689 --> 00:46:10.489
If your employer heard something you said and they decided to separate themselves from you, that is their right as a business.

00:46:17.849 --> 00:46:34.329
But the more important thing is that uh Zappa described the PMRC's proposal as an ill-conceived piece of nonsense and warned that allowing politicians to regulate art could threaten free expression, free expression across all media.

00:46:34.569 --> 00:46:39.049
He believed that once censorship starts, it would not stop with music.

00:46:39.369 --> 00:46:41.609
I also agree with his point there.

00:46:41.929 --> 00:46:48.649
Once you start censoring some form of media, all media now becomes precedent.

00:46:48.969 --> 00:46:57.369
Uh, you can continue to push that boundary and push that line until finally you control media in general.

00:46:57.609 --> 00:47:00.730
Uh and that's a very dangerous, slippery slope.

00:47:00.889 --> 00:47:08.409
Um, as a result, despite resistance from musicians, the music industry agreed to a compromise in 1985.

00:47:08.489 --> 00:47:15.369
The recording labels began placing parental advisory explicit content labels on albums with explicit lyrics.

00:47:15.529 --> 00:47:19.929
Again, like we talked about, completely backfired because I agree.

00:47:20.009 --> 00:47:24.809
As soon as I saw, dude, sometimes I only bought music because it had that label.

00:47:24.969 --> 00:47:27.449
I was like, Oh, I I only want this one.

00:47:28.009 --> 00:47:32.250
Don't give me the radio edits, give me the one with the label.

00:47:32.409 --> 00:47:40.489
Yeah, don't give me the weird bleeps or the weird absence of words, or those or the the flipping around of certain syllables and and stuff like that.

00:47:40.649 --> 00:47:42.169
Yeah, I want the I want the radio.

00:47:42.489 --> 00:47:45.129
I I mean, I so really funny.

00:47:45.289 --> 00:47:46.409
Quick story.

00:47:46.730 --> 00:47:51.449
We just had to get radio edits of of my band's music.

00:47:51.689 --> 00:47:53.689
Like, because we didn't even think about it.

00:47:53.849 --> 00:48:04.329
We didn't even think about it like when we were because we were like, oh, yes, we're gonna get some physical CDs to sell at the show where we're not censoring ourselves, so that shouldn't matter.

00:48:04.489 --> 00:48:10.089
But then also it's gonna be up on Spotify and Apple Music and stuff like that, and it's gonna have the little E next to it for explicit.

00:48:10.169 --> 00:48:20.569
Like, we don't care, we didn't think about that, but we're getting asked for it for radio rotation and college radio, like that kind of stuff, like to submit it for that.

00:48:20.649 --> 00:48:24.889
That's where you need it censored, and so yeah, we had to get the radio edits.

00:48:25.769 --> 00:48:27.289
That's exciting news, though.

00:48:27.449 --> 00:48:28.489
That's huge, man.

00:48:28.649 --> 00:48:33.849
We'll we'll see what happens, but like it's just one of those yeah, yeah.

00:48:34.409 --> 00:48:45.129
Um, yeah, I I mean, I definitely like even now with with uh Spotify, Apple, um, and uh Sirius XM.

00:48:45.529 --> 00:48:50.969
I will full on change a Sirius XM channel if I hear a song that's missing a part.

00:48:51.210 --> 00:48:52.329
I'm like, nah, what are we doing?

00:48:52.489 --> 00:48:53.369
I'm not self.

00:48:53.609 --> 00:48:55.210
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:48:55.449 --> 00:48:56.329
Absolutely.

00:48:56.649 --> 00:49:00.649
I have never like I worked at Sirius XM for like eight years.

00:49:00.809 --> 00:49:04.969
I have never heard a censored oh yeah, yeah.

00:49:05.129 --> 00:49:14.569
Um, so what's the the Pop 2K station is completely radio versions of all of those songs from the 2000s?

00:49:14.809 --> 00:49:28.009
Now I will say this that is a smart business tactic for Series XM because then they can get like doctor's offices and dentists' offices and all these places that still want to have radio friendly, but still don't want to have like commercials.

00:49:28.169 --> 00:49:30.089
Yep, that's a whole new market.

00:49:30.169 --> 00:49:31.529
Like that's me, buddy.

00:49:31.609 --> 00:49:42.089
I I throw that on in the in the shop, and because I funny story, um, speaking of censorship, good reason censorship actually does exist.

00:49:42.649 --> 00:50:16.089
I was listening to my personal music in my shop, and um, somebody very, very high up in the company came unexpected, and I was out having a conversation in the lobby area with him, and my music's in my office playing, but I have it loud because I'm the only one that works there, so uh he can hear it, and I don't know if you know it, but there's a song called Gummo by Takashi69, um that I love.

00:50:16.730 --> 00:50:26.889
Um, so it comes on, and let's just say that I think there are only four words that I'm allowed to say in that song.

00:50:27.449 --> 00:50:36.009
So it's playing, and I look at him and I'm like, hey, and he goes, Yeah, can you please go turn that off?

00:50:36.329 --> 00:50:38.329
Super, super embarrassing.

00:50:38.730 --> 00:50:45.689
So I'm talking like below the owner level, like the top dog next to the owner.

00:50:46.009 --> 00:50:48.889
So I go, I go turn that off.

00:50:48.969 --> 00:50:54.169
Uh, and from that day forward, pop 2k only in my office.

00:50:54.889 --> 00:50:56.649
Look, you had a 50-50 chance.

00:50:56.730 --> 00:50:58.169
What if he was like, hey, crank that?

00:50:58.409 --> 00:51:00.250
Like, yes, yes.

00:51:00.489 --> 00:51:06.489
Then you're like most loved employee, and and it's by like the person right underneath the owners.

00:51:06.730 --> 00:51:09.689
Like, okay, that's one of those songs that I even like I like.

00:51:09.769 --> 00:51:13.289
I it could be like 700 degrees outside.

00:51:13.449 --> 00:51:16.089
I'm keeping the windows up in my car.

00:51:16.250 --> 00:51:20.569
Like, I I'll switch the song before I roll down the windows.

00:51:21.529 --> 00:51:24.409
But I love that song so much, I think it's so good.

00:51:25.129 --> 00:51:32.009
So, anyways, um, so yeah, the the result was the advisory label.

00:51:32.089 --> 00:51:37.049
Uh, the labels were intended to warn parents about potentially offensive material.

00:51:37.210 --> 00:51:40.809
Ironically, the sticker often had the opposite effect.

00:51:41.129 --> 00:52:00.329
So, uh, for many young listeners, the parental advisory label became a badge of rebellion and actually increased the popularity of certain albums, which caused its own problem in the industry because then for a period of time you had bands just be being explicit for the point of being explicit.

00:52:00.409 --> 00:52:10.250
Yeah, like there are certain songs that like when you listen to them, you're like, you didn't need the f bomb in there, you literally just did it so that they'd have to put the E next to it.

00:52:10.730 --> 00:52:20.889
So you do have that as a as a result, um but so many great things came out of it.

00:52:21.049 --> 00:52:26.649
It truly became such an important case within the music industry.

00:52:26.889 --> 00:52:31.049
Um, one of the most important cases in music history.

00:52:31.609 --> 00:52:41.849
The PMRC controversy permanently changed the music industry, the advisory label became a standard practice and remains on albums and digital releases today.

00:52:42.009 --> 00:52:53.129
The debate also sparked larger conversations about artistic freedom, parental responsibility, government involvement in media, moral panic in pop culture.

00:52:53.369 --> 00:53:01.289
It also helped uh help solidify the rebellious identity of heavy metal and rap music, which is 100% true.

00:53:01.449 --> 00:53:07.689
Yeah, so yeah, that that more or less is the case.

00:53:07.929 --> 00:53:13.449
Um, I I can't say enough how how happy I am to talk about this.

00:53:13.609 --> 00:53:34.569
Like, I love the idea of music censorship and um what it meant for the industry and what it meant moving forward and potentially what it meant for bands, like some bands wouldn't have the popularity they do today without that label, yeah.

00:53:34.649 --> 00:53:37.369
Uh, specifically, like I brought up before, Eminem.

00:53:37.849 --> 00:53:43.529
I don't think that Eminem exists in a world where that label doesn't exist.

00:53:43.929 --> 00:53:51.689
I think he kind of falls through the cracks of society simply because it'll just be another rap record.

00:53:51.929 --> 00:54:00.730
Yeah, but you have an entire group of people who just came off of the prepositive precipice of uh not having that label.

00:54:00.889 --> 00:54:02.169
It's this new thing.

00:54:02.409 --> 00:54:12.569
Eminem comes out as a white rapper in the industry, they already aren't supposed to listen to it, and now he's also a white rapper in the industry.

00:54:12.889 --> 00:54:32.809
So that storm created a phenomenon that lived on in rap music and kind of brought rap into um the forefront of American culture and allowed bands like NWA and and uh Tupac and Biggie and uh Dr.

00:54:32.969 --> 00:54:38.329
Dre and so many other Snoop Dogg to kind of shine because of that label.

00:54:38.569 --> 00:54:44.489
If it weren't for that label, I don't see that genre being what it is today.

00:54:44.809 --> 00:54:54.409
So it's it's weird because I I don't disagree with you, but it's like I almost wonder if they would if it would have found another way.

00:54:54.649 --> 00:54:59.049
Like, because there's so much talent, and and I get it.

00:54:59.129 --> 00:55:16.809
Like in and you see it being in in in bands for for so many years, you see those bands that that also just they're so good, and you see them, and you see, or you see like a specific musician in a certain band, and you're like, he is so good.

00:55:16.969 --> 00:55:21.689
I will never be that good, but for whatever reason, it just never works out.

00:55:22.649 --> 00:55:41.049
So like I wonder what it would have like I wonder what would have happened, like because I don't, like I said, I don't disagree with you that these major things kind of need to happen to kind of just put in that little spark to like to make something like go go massive on on a on a huge level type of thing.

00:55:41.369 --> 00:55:52.329
But I I wonder if there would have just been some something else because there's just you pick a genre, there's for anything you could do, you could do rap, you could do heavy metal, you do whatever.

00:55:52.569 --> 00:56:04.809
There's just too much talent in a specific genre for that to not, you know, at some point push forward and and just be like explode, like and super big.

00:56:04.969 --> 00:56:16.649
It might not happen, you know, when it did, but I'm just I'm just saying, I wonder like what how it would have played out, like type type of thing, if this whole case had never happened, right?

00:56:16.889 --> 00:56:22.409
It would have made it would have made radio way more interesting uh with us growing up and and stuff like that.

00:56:22.649 --> 00:56:43.609
But uh, but yeah, I just it it it's really interesting when you look back and think about like what if that hadn't happened, how would have things how things would have played differently, because I mean there's always gonna be that reason for music to to kind of have a a rebellious tone to it.

00:56:43.769 --> 00:56:57.529
There's always gonna be that, like it can be rebellious rebellious against you know social normities, it could be rebellious against you know politics, it could be rebellious against whatever, but there's always going to be that.

00:56:58.009 --> 00:57:04.409
So, I mean, even like the we're not gonna take it against parents, like you know what I mean, like it's always gonna be there.

00:57:04.569 --> 00:57:14.809
So, like I just wonder with this not if this hadn't happened or hadn't been on this big of a scale, what would have the like the next thing been?

00:57:14.889 --> 00:57:17.449
Like that's that's true, that's a good point.

00:57:17.609 --> 00:58:04.809
See, I I think of it in terms of um of popularity of specific genres in western music now, and you look at like how country has managed to dominate the charts for 50, 60 years, like for some reason that genre is always the top western genre, and I think without the label, I worry that those genres just would have gotten lost because of how country is still dominating today, even with everything that happened within those different genres, and and how this label really pushed sales so hard to a youth that never would have found them.

00:58:04.969 --> 00:58:10.969
I I truly think that we would have ended up becoming almost segregated within the music industry.

00:58:11.049 --> 00:58:24.889
I think that you would have seen those artists become popular globally, and I think that Western American music, like like we talked about before, if you make it in America, you've made it globally.

00:58:25.210 --> 00:58:30.009
Um, I think that you would have seen us not dominate in music.

00:58:30.089 --> 00:58:34.730
I think it would have be we would have been like Japan, if that makes sense.

00:58:34.889 --> 00:58:37.769
Okay, like you know how Japanese had a specialty, is what you mean.

00:58:37.929 --> 00:58:40.809
Yeah, we wouldn't be like the melting pot of music, right?

00:58:40.969 --> 00:58:45.129
And like that's where every genre genre can make it type of thing.

00:58:45.849 --> 00:58:55.129
We would have just been known for you know a specialty because Japan's known for well, Japan's not known for I wanted to say K-pop, but that's Korea.

00:58:55.289 --> 00:59:01.609
Um Japan, I feel like, is more known for popularizing Western music, right?

00:59:01.689 --> 00:59:06.649
Like I feel like they pull our music, and that's how Japan gets their music.

00:59:06.809 --> 00:59:25.289
I feel like we would have become that, and then like the UK maybe would have become the dominant like factor of of music globally, um because they were pretty much kind of more accepting of music during that time.

00:59:25.529 --> 00:59:31.769
Um we've always kind of battled those two countries for for dominance in music, the UK and the US.

00:59:31.929 --> 00:59:37.289
Oh, we've battled on other stuff too, but 1776, never forget.

00:59:37.529 --> 00:59:44.089
But but sorry, I definitely just lost all of our UK viewers there.

00:59:46.649 --> 00:59:49.449
Uh but anyways, no, I I agree with you.

00:59:49.529 --> 00:59:55.529
It's it's crazy to kind of think about, but that was that was our case today, man.

00:59:55.689 --> 00:59:56.889
What a great one!

00:59:57.210 --> 01:00:01.289
Yeah, and forever I I will only buy stuff that has a little e next to it.

01:00:01.369 --> 01:00:02.169
So that's right.

01:00:02.329 --> 01:00:04.009
Yeah, that's the message today.

01:00:04.250 --> 01:00:06.089
Only buy explicit.

01:00:06.569 --> 01:00:09.929
Kids tell your parents always buy explicit.

01:00:10.169 --> 01:00:10.730
Yes.

01:00:10.969 --> 01:00:16.409
And and only listen to like your streaming music so you can you can hear it whenever you want to.

01:00:16.489 --> 01:00:17.769
You don't have to worry about the radio.

01:00:17.929 --> 01:00:18.889
That's right.

01:00:20.889 --> 01:00:23.369
Uh Danny, tell the people where they can find you.

01:00:23.689 --> 01:00:29.929
You can find me anywhere that my band is on social media at just happy to be here.

01:00:30.409 --> 01:00:38.489
Um, and and you can find the other podcast, uh, that recap show that that I do where we recap TV shows and movies and have fun with that.

01:00:38.569 --> 01:00:42.649
We're gearing up for the new season of Daredevil Born Again, which is coming out later.

01:00:43.609 --> 01:00:44.969
Yeah, I'm excited for that.

01:00:45.129 --> 01:00:47.289
Um, and a couple other you know, movies and shows.

01:00:47.449 --> 01:00:48.969
This year is gonna be massive.

01:00:49.129 --> 01:00:57.289
I know we don't talk about this, but this year is just gonna be massive for TV shows and movies and and video and and and video games.

01:00:57.369 --> 01:01:02.250
I feel like we could spend another hour talking about video games, which I never get a chance to talk about either, but yeah.

01:01:02.409 --> 01:01:34.969
So um if you ever want to do an episode specifically about Jurassic Park or Jurassic World or the entire Jurassic franchise, please let me know because I will I will 110% you I will you you text me a day and time, I'm there because we do we do another thing, so we do that recap is kind of the normal ones that are happening, but then we do retro recaps, and so like we did we did Christmas ones, we did like our favorite Christmas ones, but we do just retro ones anytime, so like I'll I'll do dress parts so in, dude.

01:01:37.689 --> 01:01:39.210
Um hell yeah, dude.

01:01:39.289 --> 01:01:41.129
I can't wait, I can't wait to check that out.

01:01:41.289 --> 01:01:54.489
Um, so you can find me, hook and bridge podcast, uh, all that good stuff, and we're we're doing our normal stuff and and doing the show and doing video game stuff and all that good stuff.

01:01:54.730 --> 01:01:56.730
This has been incredible, Danny.

01:01:56.969 --> 01:02:01.289
We before before we completely sign off, you know what we should do at some point?

01:02:01.449 --> 01:02:05.210
We should we should bring this onto Twitch and play video games while we talk about it.

01:02:05.289 --> 01:02:07.929
Oh yes, we could do we gotta figure something out.

01:02:08.009 --> 01:02:16.569
We'll do video games and talk about like just off the cuff case and stuff, and then we can get the listeners and the viewers into it, they can bring up points and stuff too.

01:02:16.969 --> 01:02:17.849
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:02:18.089 --> 01:02:20.250
I think that would be a fun experience for everybody.

01:02:21.289 --> 01:02:24.089
Play some phasophobia while talking about ghosty stories.

01:02:24.250 --> 01:02:30.730
Yeah, we have to like we have to like walk outside of the of the house so we don't get murdered while we're trying to read a comment.

01:02:30.969 --> 01:02:32.009
I'm so in.

01:02:32.169 --> 01:02:32.809
Oh, I'm in.

01:02:32.889 --> 01:02:33.049
Okay.

01:02:33.849 --> 01:02:35.049
We're doing all right.

01:02:35.289 --> 01:02:36.649
That's our show, everybody.

01:02:36.730 --> 01:02:37.529
Thanks for hanging out.

01:02:37.769 --> 01:02:38.409
Bye, everybody.