13
Featured Events
2004In an Australian radio interview, Gene Simmons of Kiss states of Islam: "This is a vile culture, and if you think for a second that it's willing to just live in the sands of God's armpit you've got another thing coming... they want to come and live right where you live and they think that you're evil." After a flood of angry calls from Muslims, Simmons claims he was speaking only of extremists.
1974An unlikely riot occurs at tonight's Jackson 5 concert at RFK Stadium in Washington DC when impatient fans begin smashing bottles in the parking lot. 50 fans are injured; 43 are brought to jail.
1970The Beatles documentary Let It Be makes its theatrical debut. It would be the last Beatles movie.
1955Elvis Presley's performance in Jacksonville, Florida, is the first Presley show at which a riot ensues. After Elvis tells the audience, "Girls, I'll see you backstage," he has some of his clothes ripped off, but escapes unharmed.
1950Stevie Wonder is born Stevland Morris in Saginaw, Michigan.
13
In Music History
2016Tower of Power play a California prisonwith former lead singer Rick Stevens, who served 36 years for a 1976 drug-related triple homicide.
2012Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass guitarist for Booker T. and the MGs) dies in his sleep at age 70 while on tour in Tokyo.
2008Frank Sinatra gets his own stamp 10 years after his death. Featuring a young Sinatra in a snappy suit and fedora, it's a 42 cent stamp.
2008The Turtles' Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, better known as "Flo and Eddie," sue Capitol Records for allowing Ice Cubeto sample the group's 1972 song "Buzzsaw" for Cube's 1992 hit "Jackin' For Beats."
2008Rapper Remy Ma is sentenced to eight years in prison for assault, weapon possession and attempted coercion in conjunction with the shooting of a woman outside a Manhattan nightclub.
2007Queen's Brian May is put on a round-the-clock watch after a schizophrenic leaves a letter at the guitarist's home blaming him for his mental illness, claiming himself as the real Brian May, and marking the guitarist for death.
2006Johnnie Wilder Jr. (lead vocalist of Heatwave) dies at age 56 of complications from paralysis (due to a 1979 car accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down).
2006Ryan Vandeberghe announces that the Suicide Machines have broken up after 15 years.
2003Tommy Chong of Cheech & Chong pleads guilty to selling drug paraphernalia over the Internet.
2003Michael Jackson sues Motown records for alleged nonpayment of Jackson 5royalties and unauthorized usage of the group's music in TV commercials.
2002Eddie Money appears on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens in the aptly titled episode "Eddie Money."
2002Dionne Warwick is arrested at Miami International Airport for possession of marijuana when screeners find 11 marijuana cigarettes inside a lipstick container. Charges are dropped after she does an anti-drug public service announcement.
2000Britney Spears is the musical guest and the host on Saturday Night Live, appearing in four sketches.
1988Jazz trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker dies at age 58 after falling from a second floor window at a hotel in Amsterdam, Netherlands. An autopsy reveals traces of heroin and cocaine in his body, and the death is ruled an accident.
PMRC Rallies Support For Labelling Offensive Music
1985
The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) holds a meeting in a Washington church where they foment support for their agenda: a ratings system for albums and concerts like those used for movies, and also to keep offensive album covers out of view in record stores. Their efforts lead to warning stickers on albums with offensive lyrics.
The National Parent Teacher Association brought the issue to a head by sending letters not just to politicians, but to their wives, three of whom organized the PMRC in April. They are:
Tipper Gore, wife of Senator Al Gore and a mother of four. She gets fired up after hearing her 11-year-old daughter listen to the Prince song "Darling Nikki."
Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker, whose moment of outrage comes when her 7-year-old daughter asks her to define the word "virgin" after hearing the Madonna song "Like A Virgin." A devout Christian, she likes classical music and country.
Pam Howar, a former ad agency owner who is married to the powerful construction company owner Raymond Howar. She has been hearing offensive lyrics in the music played at her aerobics class, and becomes concerned when she notices her daughter listening to this music with "this punk look about her."
Along with two other "Washington Wives," they send out letters to about 2000 policial movers and shakers culled from their Christmas card list, and also send copies to the media. The letter states: "Rock music has become pornographic and sexually explicit, but most parents are unaware of the words their children are listening to, dancing to, doing homework to, falling asleep to. Some rock groups advocate satanic rituals, the others sing of open rebellion against parental and other authority, others sing of killing babies."
As examples, they cite "Darling Nikki" and also "Sugar Walls" by Sheena Easton, "Eat Me Alive" by Judas Priest, and "Animal (F--k Like a Beast)" by W.A.S.P. The letter hits the mark, getting a story in the Washington Post and other news outlets that mention the May 13 meeting to discuss "porn rock."
The meeting, held at St. Columba's Episcopal Church, is attended by about 400 people, many of whom lend their support. The PMRC adds 17 more politically connected wives to their board, giving them enough clout to force a Senate hearing on the issue, which takes place September 19. John Denver, Frank Zappa, and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister testify in opposition to any kind of labeling, making the case that any kind of regulation could lead to censorship.
In November, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which represents most record companies, agrees to voluntarily place warning stickers on albums deemed offensive, fending off legislation. The first stickers are small buttons that read, "Warning: Tone of this record unsuitable for minors." Over the first three years, only about 50 albums get stickered. It's not good enough for the PMRC, which threatens more action. In the summer of 1990, the RIAA changes the sticker to read, "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics," which is later changed to "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content."
The stickers succeed in keeping laws off the books regulating the music, but many stores, including Sears, J.C. Penney and WalMart, refuse to carry albums with the stickers. It becomes common practice for labels to release "clean" and "dirty" versions of albums, and also a marketing tactic: 2 Live Crew issue their As Nasty As They Wanna Be album in edited form as As Clean As They Wanna Be - most buyers opt for the nasty. Album covers also get less offensive, with Bon Jovi scrapping their wet T-shirt album cover of Slippery When Wet in favor of one with a wet garbage bag.
In the digital age, there are no stickers but albums and tracks are clearly labelled as "explicit" on services like iTunes and Spotify.
Tipper Gore, wife of Senator Al Gore and a mother of four. She gets fired up after hearing her 11-year-old daughter listen to the Prince song "Darling Nikki."
Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker, whose moment of outrage comes when her 7-year-old daughter asks her to define the word "virgin" after hearing the Madonna song "Like A Virgin." A devout Christian, she likes classical music and country.
Pam Howar, a former ad agency owner who is married to the powerful construction company owner Raymond Howar. She has been hearing offensive lyrics in the music played at her aerobics class, and becomes concerned when she notices her daughter listening to this music with "this punk look about her."
Along with two other "Washington Wives," they send out letters to about 2000 policial movers and shakers culled from their Christmas card list, and also send copies to the media. The letter states: "Rock music has become pornographic and sexually explicit, but most parents are unaware of the words their children are listening to, dancing to, doing homework to, falling asleep to. Some rock groups advocate satanic rituals, the others sing of open rebellion against parental and other authority, others sing of killing babies."
As examples, they cite "Darling Nikki" and also "Sugar Walls" by Sheena Easton, "Eat Me Alive" by Judas Priest, and "Animal (F--k Like a Beast)" by W.A.S.P. The letter hits the mark, getting a story in the Washington Post and other news outlets that mention the May 13 meeting to discuss "porn rock."
The meeting, held at St. Columba's Episcopal Church, is attended by about 400 people, many of whom lend their support. The PMRC adds 17 more politically connected wives to their board, giving them enough clout to force a Senate hearing on the issue, which takes place September 19. John Denver, Frank Zappa, and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister testify in opposition to any kind of labeling, making the case that any kind of regulation could lead to censorship.
In November, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which represents most record companies, agrees to voluntarily place warning stickers on albums deemed offensive, fending off legislation. The first stickers are small buttons that read, "Warning: Tone of this record unsuitable for minors." Over the first three years, only about 50 albums get stickered. It's not good enough for the PMRC, which threatens more action. In the summer of 1990, the RIAA changes the sticker to read, "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics," which is later changed to "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content."
The stickers succeed in keeping laws off the books regulating the music, but many stores, including Sears, J.C. Penney and WalMart, refuse to carry albums with the stickers. It becomes common practice for labels to release "clean" and "dirty" versions of albums, and also a marketing tactic: 2 Live Crew issue their As Nasty As They Wanna Be album in edited form as As Clean As They Wanna Be - most buyers opt for the nasty. Album covers also get less offensive, with Bon Jovi scrapping their wet T-shirt album cover of Slippery When Wet in favor of one with a wet garbage bag.
In the digital age, there are no stickers but albums and tracks are clearly labelled as "explicit" on services like iTunes and Spotify.
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