with Alex Zander and JSIN Harmon
Forty years ago, a committee known as the Parents Music Resource Center made a playlist of what it deemed the most offensive music at the time, including songs by megastars like Madonna and Prince and culty underground metal groups like Venom and Mercyful Fate. The list, dubbed the “Filthy 15,” was to serve as an example of how the PMRC thought albums should be “rated,” in a way similar to the MPAA. But instead of issuing general “PG” and “R” designations, the committee — on which former Second Lady Tipper Gore famously served — suggested content-based ratings: “X” for profane or sexually explicit lyrics, “O” for occult references, “D/A” for lyrics about drugs and alcohol and “V” for violent content.
Ultimately, the Record Industry Association of America convinced labels to affix potentially offensive albums with the warning stickers the world has grown to love: “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics.” At the time, record-stickering became such a talking point that the Senate’s Committee on Commerce held a hearing on the “Contents of Music and the Lyrics of Records,” at which Frank Zappa, John Denver and Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider testified. The musicians were worried that stickering would lead to record stores refusing to carry albums, a fact that came true with Walmart.
PART 1 Song List:
Prince “Darling Nikki” (Sex/Masturbation)
Sheena Easton “Sugar Walls” (Sex)
Judas Priest “Eat Me Alive” (Sex)
Vanity “Strap On Robbie Baby” (Sex)
Mötley Crüe “Bastard” (Violence)
AC/DC “Let Me Put My Love Into You” (Sex)
The Dead Kennedy’s “I Fought The Law” (not on the PMRC list)
Twisted Sister “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (Violence)