Have you ever wanted to watch the entire testimony of Frank Zappa, John Denver and others on the PMRC hearings? Because since C-SPAN has opened its massive 160,000 hours archive of videos dating back to 1985, now you can. Say goodbye to the next five hours of your life:
Tag: pmrc
Frank Zappa And Sex
Paul Carr, who wrote earlier about the ZFT’s agressive copyright policies, has published another paper. This time, the subject is Zappa’s attitude toward sex. The essay closes with a quote from Herbert Marcuse which pretty much hits the nail on the head:
Obscenity is a moral concept in the verbal arsenal of the Establishment, which abuses the term by applying it, not to expressions of its own morality but to those of another. Obscene is not the picture of a naked woman who exposes her pubic hair but that of a fully clad general who exposes his medals rewarded in a war of aggression; obscene is not the ritual of the Hippies but the declaration of a high dignitary of the Church that war is necessary for peace.
Amen!
Zappa on School Beat, 1986
Frank Zappa debates and discusses rock censorship, the PMRC, the PTA code, the “non-binding nothingness” which the record companies and the then Washington Senator’s wives perpetrated on the American public with the assistance of the media) with Christian rock DJ, Jim Hodson (Producer/Host of Real Videos), Norma Downs (California State PTA Communications Commission), and School Beat host, Roberta Weintraub.
Continue reading “Zappa on School Beat, 1986”
Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey
Sam Dunn, a 30-year-old anthropologist and lifelong metal fan, embarks on a trip into the heart of heavy metal in Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey. His mission is to figure out why metal music is consistently stereotyped, dismissed and condemned, even while the tribe that loves it stubbornly holds its ground – spreading the word, keeping the faith, and adopting styles and attitudes that go way beyond the music. Dunn visits heavy metal landmarks as far flung as L.A.’s Sunset Strip, the dirty streets of Birmingham, and the dark forests of Norway. Along the way, Dunn explores metal’s obsession with sex, religion, violence and death, meets his heroes, and discovers some things about the culture that even he can’t defend. Part social document, part celebration of a misunderstood art form, this documentary is a window into a culture that’s far more complex than it seems.
Sam Dunn holds a BA in anthropology and history and an MA in social anthropology from York University.
View the other parts of this documentary: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10.
Filthy Fifteen
Bless MetaFilter:
In 1985, Tipper Gore’s PMRC released a list they called the “Filthy Fifteen,” detailing what they believed to be the fifteen most objectionable songs of the time, and the reason they felt each song should be censored…
Just one video that fills me with ’80s nostalgia: The Mary Jane Girls (a Prince vehicle if memory serves) – In My House:
FZ On Nightmatch
Recorded August 25, 1985, here’s yet another classic Zappa TV appearance that takes us back to the days of the PMRC and “porn rock”. Part one consists mostly of introductory stuff, so let’s skip right to part two:
…part three, part four (yes, there are four parts!)