Frank Zappa |
 |
|
Mon. July 15.2002 4:16 PM EDT |
||
Frank Zappa speaks out about censorshipBelow is an interview regarding his participation, a bit of his testimony, and an amusing exchange with a senator. by Jim Macnie |
||||
|
||||
 |
Frank Zappa (Publicity) |
|
||
In the mid-'80s, iconoclastic rocker Frank Zappa testified at Senate hearings regarding the stickering of record albums. The pop composer saw PMRC agenda as a threat to a citizen's freedom of speech. Below we present an interview regarding his
A 1986 Interview with Frank Zappa. By VH1's Jim Macnie Jim Macnie: It seems like the PMRC is the perfect absurdist area for your observations. What did you learn from your participation in the hearings? Frank Zappa: I learned that people in government are much smaller in real life than they are on television, and on television they're already pretty teeny. Macnie: Easy to tackle? Zappa: Sure they are. Clue number one should be this: they work for you. They live and die by your vote. They spend your tax money: that's what they eat from. They are yours, buddy, you're not theirs. They have a duty to perform on behalf of you, the citizen. Citizens should always remember that, and people in government should, too. This is not the royal family here; these are former used car salesmen wearing fancy suits, sitting in Washington, D.C. So what's there to be afraid of? I have the right as a private citizen to speak my piece and look out for my own business interests. Just like every other person in the United States does. Macnie: Have the PMRC made their statement? Zappa: Of course. And their clout has been felt. But it was really the clout of their husbands by proxy. Macnie: I read that a journalist called the PMRC looking for an interview and the person answered the phone with "Gore for president." Zappa: That's right. I said it in 1985: the whole thing looked like the groundwork for a Gore presidential run. But the fact that they'd actually answer the phone at the PMRC like that makes me wonder whether or not any of the money the PMRC collected got put into his campaign - which would be a really cheesy way to run for president. Macnie: It's fairly insidious and fairly typical that someone would use a first amendment brouhaha to grab headlines for a campaign down the line. Zappa: How else are you going to get the guy's name in the paper? Take a look at his legislative record. He introduced a bill to declare October 25 a National Mule Appreciation Day. That's real. I've got the bill in my briefcase. Macnie: Social commentary has always been the essence of your work. Zappa: Well, there's a lot of material in America; just turn on the TV and you've got it. There's so much stupid stuff going on you can't even keep track of it. The Jimmy Swaggart stuff is hilarious. We had an old song from '71 called "What's a Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This." Now I've changed the words: "What's a Girl Like You Doing in a Church Like This." Macnie: Sarcasm has been a writing tool for you. Is that how you act day and day? Zappa: Most of the stuff I do is quite mundane. If you picture me as a guy who goes around being snotty to people 24 hours a day, that's not the way it is. Frank Zappa's prepared statement before the Senate, September 19, 1985 These are my personal observations and opinions. They are addressed to the PMRC as well as this committee. I speak on behalf of no group or professional organization. The PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years, dealing with the interpretational and enforcemental [sic] problems inherent in the proposal's design. It is my understanding that, in law, First Amendment issues are decided with a preference for the least restrictive alternative. In this context, the PMRC's demands are the equivalent of treating dandruff by decapitation. No one has forced Mrs. Baker or Mrs. Gore to bring Prince or Sheena Easton into their homes. Thanks to the Constitution, they are free to buy other forms of music for their children. Apparently, they insist on purchasing the works of contemporary recording artists in order to support a personal illusion of aerobic sophistication. Ladies, please be advised: The $8.98 purchase price does not entitle you to a kiss on the foot from the composer or performer in exchange for a spin on the family Victrola. Taken as a whole, the complete list of PMRC demands reads like an instruction manual for some sinister kind of "toilet training program" to house-break all composers and performers because of the lyrics of a few. Ladies, how dare you? The establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of moral quality control programs based on "Things Certain Christians Don't Like". What if the next bunch of Washington Wives demands a large yellow "J" on all material written or performed by Jews, in order to save helpless children from exposure to 'concealed Zionist doctrine'? Record ratings are frequently compared to film ratings. Apart from the quantitative difference, there is another that is more important: People who act in films are hired to 'pretend'. No matter how the film is rated, it won't hurt them personally. Since many musicians write and perform their own material and stand by it as their art (whether you like it or not), an imposed rating will stigmatize them as individuals. How long before composers and performers are told to wear a festive little PMRC armband with their scarlet letter on it? The PMRC rating system restrains trade in one specific musical field: rock. No ratings have been requested for comedy records or country music. Is there anyone in the PMRC who can differentiate infallibly between rock and country music? Artists in both fields cross stylistic lines. Some artists include comedy material. If an album is part rock, part country, part comedy, what sort of label would it get? Shouldn't the ladies be warning everyone that inside those country albums with the American flags, the big trucks, and the atomic pompadours there lurks a fascinating variety of songs about sex, violence, alcohol, and the devil, recorded in a way that lets you hear every word, sung for you by people who have been to prison and are proud of it. Is the PMRC attempting to save future generations from sex itself? The type, the amount, and the timing of sexual information given to a child should be determined by the parents, not by people who are involved in a tax scheme cover-up. The PMRC has concocted a mythical beast, and compounds the chicanery by demanding 'consumer guidelines' to keep it from inviting your children inside its sugar walls. Is the next step the adoption of a "PMRC national legal age for comprehension of vaginal arousal." Many people in this room would gladly support such legislation, but, before they start drafting their bill, I urge them to consider these facts: (1) There is no conclusive scientific evidence to support the claim that exposure to any form of music will cause the listener to commit a crime or damn his soul to hell. (2) Masturbation is not illegal. If it is not illegal to do it, why should it be illegal to sing about it? (3) No medical evidence of hairy palms, warts, or blindness has been linked to masturbation or vaginal arousal, nor has it been proven that hearing references to either topic automatically turns the listener into a social liability. (4) Enforcement of anti-masturbatory legislation could prove costly and time-consuming. (5) There is not enough prison space to hold all the children who do it. The PMRC's proposal is most offensive in its "moral tone." It seems to enforce a set of implied religious values on its victims. Iran has a religious government. Good for them. I like having the capitol of the United States in Washington, D.C., in spite of recent efforts to move it to Lynchburg, Va. Fundamentalism is not a state religion. The PMRC's request for labels regarding sexually explicit lyrics, violence, drugs, alcohol, and especially occult content reads like a catalog of phenomena abhorrent to practitioners of that faith. How a person worships is a private matter, and should not be inflicted upon or exploited by others. Understanding the fundamentalist leanings of this organization, I think it is fair to wonder if their rating system will eventually be extended to inform parents as to whether a musical group has homosexuals in it. Will the PMRC permit musical groups to exist, but only if gay members don't sing, and are not depicted on the album cover? The PMRC has demanded that record companies "re-evaluate" the contracts of those groups who do things on stage that they find offensive. I remind the PMRC that groups are comprised of individuals. If one guy wiggles too much, does the whole band get an "X"? If the group gets dropped from the label as a result of this 're-evaluation' process, do the other guys in the group who weren't wiggling get to sue the guy who wiggled because he ruined their careers? Do the founders of the tax-exempt organization with no members plan to indemnify record companies for any losses incurred from unfavorably decided breach of contract suits, or is there a PMRC secret agent in the Justice Department? Should individual musicians be rated? If so, who is qualified to determine if the guitar player is an "X", the vocalist is a "D/A" or the drummer is a "V". If the bass player (or his Senator) belongs to a religious group that dances around with poisonous snakes, does he get an "O"? What if he has an earring in one ear, wears an Italian Horn around his neck, sings about his astrological sign, practices yoga, reads the Kabala, or owns a rosary? Will his "occult content" rating go into an old CoIntelPro computer, emerging later as a "fact," to determine if he qualifies for a homeowner loan? Will they tell you this is necessary to protect the folks next door from the possibility of 'devil-worship' lyrics creeping through the wall? Bad facts make bad law, and people who write bad laws are, in my opinion, more dangerous than songwriters who celebrate sexuality. Freedom of speech, freedom of religious thought, and the right to due process for composers, performers and retailers are imperiled if the PMRC and the major labels consummate this nasty bargain. Are we expected to give up Article One so the big guys can collect an extra dollar on every blank tape and 10 to 25% on tape recorders? What's going on here? Do we get to vote on this tax? There's an awful lot of smoke pouring out of the legislative machinery used by the PMRC to inflate this issue. Try not to inhale it. Those responsible for the vandalism should pay for the damage by voluntarily rating themselves. If they refuse, perhaps the voters could assist in awarding the Congressional "X", the Congressional "D/A", the Congressional "V", and the Congressional "O". Just like the ladies say: these ratings are necessary to protect our children. I hope it's not too late to put them where they really belong. Exchange from the original PMRC hearings: Senator Exon: Mr. Zappa, let me say that I was surprised that Senator Gore knew and liked your music. I must confess that I have never heard any of your music, to my knowledge. Frank Zappa: I would be more than happy to recite my lyrics to you. Senator Exon: Can we forego that? Senator Gore: You have probably never heard of the Mothers of Invention. Senator Exon: I have heard of Glenn Miller and Mitch Miller. Did you ever perform with them? Zappa: As a matter of fact, I took music lessons in grade school from Mitch Miller's brother. Senator Exon: That is the first sign of hope we have had in this hearing. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  |
 |
Mariah Carey Wins In Court; Plus Marc Ecko, Notorious B.I.G., Michael Vick, Lil Wayne, Smashing Pumpkins & More, In For The Record |
|
Who Does Badly Drawn Boy Think He Is? |
|
Music Industry Banks On Gore |
|
Frank Zappa |
 |
 |
 |
|
Receive Free Music News Daily Via Email |
|
Receive Free Artist Updates Via Email for Frank Zappa |
|
All news for Frank Zappa |
|
Breaking Music News |
 |
Add VH1 News to My Yahoo |
|
