The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, March 30, 1990, Image 12

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    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
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