SOURCE: Blabbermouth.net
In a new interview with Mane Campos of Chile’s Heavyfonía, Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P., whose single “Animal (F**k Like a Beast)”, landed at No. 9 on the PMRC‘s (Parents’ Music Resource Center) “Filthy Fifteen” 40 years ago, spoke about the importance of free speech. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): ?”Quite honestly, I think censorship is worse now than it was in the ’80s because with the Internet, you have people that are just afraid to speak.
“Censorship is an ugly thing because — the idea of freedom of speech, it’s not to protect popular speech; it’s designed to protect unpopular speech,” he explained. “And I don’t care what anyone has to say — they can come up with the craziest ideas they want. I have enough faith in my fellow man that they will determine what’s bullshit and what’s not. And you give the people the ability to decide, the majority of the time, they’re going to come up with the right ideas. So, like I said, I don’t think that trying to limit speech in any way has ever been a good idea.”
Asked if he thinks social media isa democratic way for people to express themselves or a platform for “cancel culture” and polarized views, Blackie said: “Well, it’s both. But from what I see… I don’t spend a lot of time there, so I really don’t know a lot about it, but from what I hear, the concept of being able to cancel people, that’s a scary thought.
“If you have someone like me — I don’t care what you say about me; I just don’t care,” Blackie insisted. “But the majority of the world is not like that; they’re very sensitive to what other people think. And so someone like that would be easy to cancel. Someone like myself, you cannot cancel us because we don’t care. You can only cancel someone if they care. If I believe in something that I’m doing, I don’t care if somebody believes it or not. What’s important is what I think. And I’ve spent my career telling our fans — the only thing that really matters is to think for yourself. Come up with your own ideas. Come up with your own opinions. Don’t listen to what someone next to you is telling you. Yes, you can listen, but at the end of the day, you have to decide what is right for you, and that’s really, really important. Like I said, I’ve spent my entire career talking about this one idea. So, the concept of censorship definitely fits into this.”.
Asked about his comment from a couple of decades ago where he expressed his interest in becoming a U.S. senator, Blackie said: “At the time, I was pretty passionate about that, but I think I can say more by making records for a longer period of time than I could have been if I would’ve went [sic] to Washington. So I made the right decision staying where I am, because my voice has spoken louder for a longer period of time than if I would’ve gone there and done that.”
Asked if he is “disappointed” in politics today, Blackie said: “Yeah, because you know the old expression, ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ And there’s a lot of truth to that. It’s all about money and power — that’s what politics is — and I’m the kind of person, I don’t do well in environments where people are not allowed to speak truth. I just don’t do well there. So I’m way better off doing what I’m doing now because I can say the things I wanna say without restriction. Because they say politics is the art of compromise, and I don’t do well when it comes to compromise.”
Pressed about whether he changed his mind a bit about rock and roll’s ability to change the world, Blackie said: “No, not at all, because if you look back at the ’60s and the ’70s, rock and roll helped win the war. Any time you can get people to listen to ideas, that’s a powerful thing. And that’s one of the reasons that rock and roll has always scared people, because it’s dangerous. Because it’s dangerous, because of the ideas that it talks about. And that’s what’s made it so revolutionary. And I think that rock and roll is missing that today. I wish there was more of that because when it was truly revolutionary, it was something to fear, if you were someone that did not agree with it. And I miss that today.”
Prior to launching into the closing song, “Blind In Texas”, of W.A.S.P.‘s November 16, 2024 show at Hammerstein Ballroom At Manhattan Center, the 68-year-old Lawless, whose real name is Steven Duren, addressed the crowd, saying: “We’ll do something a little different tonight. We are in the appropriate city to do this. You know, it was Shakespeare that said, ‘Some are born to greatness. Some have greatness thrust upon them.’ It was the Greek historian Herodotus who said that when it comes to tragedy and things like that, that we do not rule circumstances, circumstances rule us.”
Reflecting on his experience with the PMRC (Parents’ Music Resource Center) four decades ago, Lawless continued: “Now when I was a little kid, growing up across the bay over here in Staten Island, I never, I never ever imagined that my time would come where I would be thrust into a situation where I had no control over. Now, it will be 40 years next year, there was a situation that happened, and it was called the PMRC. And there were hearings, there were hearings done in Washington, D.C. And two days later, Frank Zappa and myself stood on a stage just around the corner here and we talked about the evils that would come about them. Because censorship is an ugly, ugly thing. And it ain’t just in music. It happens in all forms of life.
“Now, down the street here in lower Manhattan, there’s a chapel down there. It’s called the St. Paul’s Chapel. We now know it as the chapel from 9-11. But before that, when George Washington was elected the first president of the United States, after he was sworn in the federal building, he walked into that street and he walked down to that chapel and he consecrated the United States of America to God Almighty right there on that spot.
“The very first amendment of our constitution guarantees freedom of speech,” Blackie added. “Our founding fathers were genius enough to know that if you can control speech, you can control thought. And these men knew this. These were great men. Fast forward a couple hundred years, 250 almost, now we have a situation in the last six, eight years, we find censorship again rearing its ugly, ugly head. Now, this time it’s on the Internet, and it’s affecting every single one of us.”
“Now, I got two things that I’m passionate about the most. One of them is that freedom of speech,” he added. “And the other one is about being a patriot. Because I’m here to tell you, I don’t care if you’re Republican, Democrat, Independent, you need to be a patriot of this country. I am willing to die for this country. I believe in it that much. And that man next door, he believes in it too.
“I only got one more thing to say before we go. ‘Cause I’m blind in Texas.”
W.A.S.P.‘s performance of “Blind In Texas” in New York City featured Trump banners flanking the stage while the image of the then-president-elect with his fist raised after July 2024’s assassination attempt near Butler, Pennsylvania was displayed behind the band.
Back in the mid-’80s, the PMRC published a list called “The Filthy Fifteen” which consisted of the top fifteen songs they wanted banned due to objectionable lyrics suggesting violence, sex, drugs, alcohol or the occult. They petitioned for lyrics to be printed on the album jackets and no one was safe — heavy metal acts were right there alongside the pop stars. AC/DC, Madonna, MÖTLEY CRÜE, JUDAS PRIEST, Prince, W.A.S.P., MERCYFUL FATE, Vanity, DEF LEPPARD, Cyndi Lauper and TWISTED SISTER all made “The Filthy Fifteen” list. In November 1985, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America) agreed to put “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics” labels on selected releases at their own discretion.