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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1990)
Page 2 Thumbs Mp Thursday, March 29, 1990 KIMBERLY FREY Kimberly is a graduate—studying Equine Science from Denison. Kimberly spends free time with her horses and enjoys photography. Sponsored by Amber's Swimsuit from Gadzook's. Photo by Peter Rocha. !, tvs."-. HI— ; Hi m — H Hi I KAYLA FONTENOT Kayla is a sophomore Interdisciplinary Studies major from Anahuac. Kayla enjoys singing, playing the piano, dancing and water-skiing. b Sponsored by Sneakers Swimsuit from Dillard's. Photo by Peter Rocha. Pop music’s war of the word, ... and of the warning labels By Tom Moon special to Thumbs Up Like 13-year-olds cranking up the stereo to send a message to bickering parents, those involved in the escalating debate over re cord labeling are doing whatever it takes these days to make them selves heard. In the last year, as labeling leg islation has gone from conserva tive pipe dream to serious con sideration in at least 10 state- houses, everyone has become an expert on the subject of song lyr ics. Especially those found in rap and heavy-metal music. And even before a single piece of labeling legislation becomes law, these "experts” are having an effect on what we are hearing. Record retailers are experts. Worried about the passage of labeling bills that would differ from state to state, several re gional record-store chains are removing from their racks any al bum that could possibly offend. At other chains, officials have formulated lists of titles no longer for sale to customers under 18. Radio programmers are ex perts. Sensing a shift toward stricter interpretation of obscen ity guidelines by the Federal Communications Commission, many no longer feel safe pro gramming music with “adult” lyr ics, even in the late evening. Thus they ponder their playlists, decid ing what to censor. Even the governor of Florida is an expert. Expressing outrage over the sexually explicit lyrics of Miami rappers 2 Live Crew, Gov. Bob Martinez — whose knowledge of pop music had previously gone unnoticed — last month sug gested that the group’s recordings might be criminally obscene, making their distribution illegal under federal racketeering sta tutes. The music failed to meet the state definition of obscenity, but local courts in Florida are in vestigating whether community standards have been violated. Some retailers have responded by pulling the albums. That some lyrics might give parents pause is not in dispute. Over the last few years, explicit themes and rough language have given pop music — particularly rap — a gritty street realism. Pennsylvania state Rep. Ron Gamble, D-Allegheny County, author of mandatory-labeling leg islation under consideration in Harrisburg, says he seeks merely to provide “simple consumer in formation” for those who wish to avoid such music. Equally indisputable, however, is the specter of censorship such legislation poses. Songs with po tentially offensive lyrics do exist, rocker Don Henley last month told reporters at the Grammy Awards, but that “(doesn’t) mean we should cast aside the U.S. Constitution and go back to (the witch hunts of Salem).” Proponents of mandatory label ing “are saying that (popular) mu sic exists outside the spectrum of protected speech, which of course is not the case,” said Dave Marsh, editor of Rock and Roll Confiden tial magazine. "The people who want to label records are fright ened by the loud and distinct voices of groups like (rappers) NWA, and if they win even this one battle, then degree by degree, we will lose our free-speech rights.” Since December 1985, when they signed an agreement with the Parents’ Music Resource Cen ter (PMRC) — the group founded by a number of well-connected Washington women — the coun try’s major recording companies have voluntarily affixed warning labels to their more provocative releases. At the gathering of the National Association of Record Merchandisers two weeks ago, plans were discussed for the six majors to adopt a uniform label that would read: "Parental adv isory: explicit lyrics.” But the industry’s attempt to defuse the debate is proving coun terproductive. The 119-store Disc Jockey chain and its wholesale arm, known as WaxWorks, have announced that they no longer will order recordings that bear warning labels. In regions where Disc Jockey dominates the mar ket, the result is de facto censor ship. “We’ve always predicted that (even voluntary) stickering would create too many problems for re tailers,” Bill Adler, of rap-oriented Rush Artist Management, told Billboard last month. "And that some of them would eventually respond by declining to carry stickered albums at all.’ It’s doubtful that eve; PMRC could have foresee; predicament in which there §P^ ing industry now finds Its tlie with labeling legislation pt P er in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Ion homa, Arizona, Maryland SC T Rhode Island, Delaware, 1 Cf Virginia and Tennessee,ancS^ 11 ^ lar bills being considered Ida and Alaska. Spearhesc su ’ Tipper Gore, wife of Sen. Jig "" Gore Jr., D-Tenn., mePMK^ irr tinues to advocate vokHr^ labeling rather than labeling ° ! But last fall, the debate: sa * cord labeling intensified hailstorm of rhetoric fromarf esi ■vf the clergy, free-soeech adwA^ child psychologists andothe:| ^ 1 At that time, Gamble's t| ‘ the Pennsylvania House,® ^ had been defeated when® sidered on its own, was arctjlc^ onto broad anti-drug legisMf That bill, SB938, was passtmS 1 the House in December bya of 198-2. It is before the Per; vania Senate Rules Come No hearings have beensched: Critics of the Gamble leg tion, which has been cited a influence on bills in severalti states, charge that its prop used sensationalism andseltt fact-gathering in presentingHV 1 plan to the House. Gamble’s amendment w g lv mandate that any albumconti [ lv( ing “objectionable" material Please see Labelir: Brownies Cookies Muffins Cakes Pies Birthdaj Cakes TEMPTATION Ne: sto I ter sin the the ch ha we sar “B Wc "E Ro Ea 404 University ■ 3. Tue».-Pri. 9-6 pm 693 7381 Sit. 10-3pH I ♦ You've picked the right girl... now pick the right diamond. c A. 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