By John Ruch
Today marks the 30th anniversary of a notorious U.S. Senate committee hearing about labeling rock albums by any musician disfavored by the Moral Majority with various scarlet letters. This came courtesy of the Parents Music Resource Center, a bipartisan cabal of delusional right-wing Christians seeking to impose junk science and theocracy in the name of "the children"; its most notable figurehead was Tipper Gore, the then-wife of then-Sen. Al Gore. Despite being illegal under the First Amendment and posing as a theoretical debate, the hearing successfully and directly inspired self-censorship and government censorship alike. Very few musicians had the guts to fight back, and even fewer were allowed to testify before the Senate committee. One of them, Dee Snider, recently celebrated the anniversary with his own insightful and hilarious essay. The other two--avant-garde weirdo Frank Zappa and wholesome folkie John Denver--have since died and, just as the censors of the 1980s so desired, can no longer speak for themselves. The mild-mannered Denver turned out to be the most ardent warrior for free speech. John, Frank and Dee fought the good fight, and while they didn't completely win, they did help radicalize an entire generation of free-speech advocates from across the political and musical spectrums. The following is an article I wrote upon Denver's death in 1997, when even many fans had already forgotten his free-speech fight and the Internet was too new to archive it easily. His efforts remain little known...censors moved on to hip-hop, video games and the Internet...and pop music is now more watered-down, stupid and generally afraid than ever.
Folk musician John Denver, who died in a plane crash Oct. 12, will probably be remembered for some dated songs and a few bad movies.
I'll remember him for all that, but also for his lesser-known role as one of the country's most insightful defenders of free speech.
In 1985, Tipper Gore's Parents Music Resource Center managed to get the Senate to hold hearings on the evils of heavy metal and punk records. Three musicians were allowed to testify: Denver, Frank Zappa and Twisted Sister's Dee Snider.
Not surprisingly, Denver was the most articulate witness. Surprisingly, he was also the one most strongly opposed to record labeling and censorship of any kind.
He had experience facing down hysterical bigots who tried to ban his song Rocky Mountain High and his movie Oh, God! But it never made him cynical about the promise of democracy.
The following are some of Denver's words from the Senate hearing transcripts ("Mr. Chairman," by the way, is Albert Gore):
"Mr. Chairman, the suppression of the people of a society begins in my mind with the censorship of the written or spoken word. It was so in Nazi Germany. It is so in many places today where those in power are afraid of the consequences of an informed and educated people...
"I suggest that explicit lyrics and graphic videos are not so far removed from what is seen on television every day and night, whether it be in the soap operas or on the news, and that we should point our finger at the recording industry while watching the general public at a nationally televised baseball game chant in unison, 'The Blue Jays suck' is ludicrous. The problem, Mr. Chairman, in my opinion has to do with our willingness as parents to take responsibility for the upbringing of our children, to pay attention to their interests, to respond to their needs, and to recognize that we as parents and individuals have a greater influence on our children and on each other than anything else could possibly have...
"The people that I have had the opportunity to talk with, the troubled children, the teenagers who are considering suicide, what they expressed to me is a real frustration in their lives, an inability to communicate with their parents, an inability to understand or to envision any kind of a possible future because of the nuclear threat we live under...
"What concerns me, aside from potential legislation which might be enacted, which we have heard today is not going to be the case, is that the whole presentation made by the PMRC comes from in my experience a foundation of fear.
"The only thing we have to fear, as President Roosevelt said, is fear itself. I am not afraid of anything. I am not afraid of what my children might see. I am not afraid of anything that might be shown them or done in their presence that would lessen my influence on them or their opportunity to grow, to be fine upstanding adults, and perhaps some day serve in this very august body."
South Carolina Senator Ernest Hollings then snipped, "Well, most respectfully, President Roosevelt never heard these records."
Denver's response: "I think the things he heard were far worse, sir."
Hollings still sits in the Senate, making our laws. And now we're fresh out of John Denvers.
Today marks the 30th anniversary of a notorious U.S. Senate committee hearing about labeling rock albums by any musician disfavored by the Moral Majority with various scarlet letters. This came courtesy of the Parents Music Resource Center, a bipartisan cabal of delusional right-wing Christians seeking to impose junk science and theocracy in the name of "the children"; its most notable figurehead was Tipper Gore, the then-wife of then-Sen. Al Gore. Despite being illegal under the First Amendment and posing as a theoretical debate, the hearing successfully and directly inspired self-censorship and government censorship alike. Very few musicians had the guts to fight back, and even fewer were allowed to testify before the Senate committee. One of them, Dee Snider, recently celebrated the anniversary with his own insightful and hilarious essay. The other two--avant-garde weirdo Frank Zappa and wholesome folkie John Denver--have since died and, just as the censors of the 1980s so desired, can no longer speak for themselves. The mild-mannered Denver turned out to be the most ardent warrior for free speech. John, Frank and Dee fought the good fight, and while they didn't completely win, they did help radicalize an entire generation of free-speech advocates from across the political and musical spectrums. The following is an article I wrote upon Denver's death in 1997, when even many fans had already forgotten his free-speech fight and the Internet was too new to archive it easily. His efforts remain little known...censors moved on to hip-hop, video games and the Internet...and pop music is now more watered-down, stupid and generally afraid than ever.
Folk musician John Denver, who died in a plane crash Oct. 12, will probably be remembered for some dated songs and a few bad movies.
I'll remember him for all that, but also for his lesser-known role as one of the country's most insightful defenders of free speech.
In 1985, Tipper Gore's Parents Music Resource Center managed to get the Senate to hold hearings on the evils of heavy metal and punk records. Three musicians were allowed to testify: Denver, Frank Zappa and Twisted Sister's Dee Snider.
Not surprisingly, Denver was the most articulate witness. Surprisingly, he was also the one most strongly opposed to record labeling and censorship of any kind.
He had experience facing down hysterical bigots who tried to ban his song Rocky Mountain High and his movie Oh, God! But it never made him cynical about the promise of democracy.
The following are some of Denver's words from the Senate hearing transcripts ("Mr. Chairman," by the way, is Albert Gore):
"Mr. Chairman, the suppression of the people of a society begins in my mind with the censorship of the written or spoken word. It was so in Nazi Germany. It is so in many places today where those in power are afraid of the consequences of an informed and educated people...
"I suggest that explicit lyrics and graphic videos are not so far removed from what is seen on television every day and night, whether it be in the soap operas or on the news, and that we should point our finger at the recording industry while watching the general public at a nationally televised baseball game chant in unison, 'The Blue Jays suck' is ludicrous. The problem, Mr. Chairman, in my opinion has to do with our willingness as parents to take responsibility for the upbringing of our children, to pay attention to their interests, to respond to their needs, and to recognize that we as parents and individuals have a greater influence on our children and on each other than anything else could possibly have...
"The people that I have had the opportunity to talk with, the troubled children, the teenagers who are considering suicide, what they expressed to me is a real frustration in their lives, an inability to communicate with their parents, an inability to understand or to envision any kind of a possible future because of the nuclear threat we live under...
"What concerns me, aside from potential legislation which might be enacted, which we have heard today is not going to be the case, is that the whole presentation made by the PMRC comes from in my experience a foundation of fear.
"The only thing we have to fear, as President Roosevelt said, is fear itself. I am not afraid of anything. I am not afraid of what my children might see. I am not afraid of anything that might be shown them or done in their presence that would lessen my influence on them or their opportunity to grow, to be fine upstanding adults, and perhaps some day serve in this very august body."
South Carolina Senator Ernest Hollings then snipped, "Well, most respectfully, President Roosevelt never heard these records."
Denver's response: "I think the things he heard were far worse, sir."
Hollings still sits in the Senate, making our laws. And now we're fresh out of John Denvers.