The P.M.R.C.

The Parents' Music Resource Center has probably been the biggest pain in the behind, as well as one of the biggest boosters, that hard rock and heavy metal music has ever had. Started in the mid-80's by, among others, Tipper Gore, wife of future Vice President Al Gore, it waved the flag of righteousness right at the heart of the U.S. - in Washington, D.C.

Do you recognize the label you see to your left? The "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" sticker on countless albums is the brainchild of the P.M.R.C. It was meant to be a deterrent, a final warning to parents that the music contained in certain albums was not "good" for their children. Always forgetting, of course, that pretty much anything their children could watch on the early evening news was worse than the content of 99% of the bands out there.

I remember very well living in San Antonio and trying to purchase Guns N' Roses Appetite for Destruction album sometime in 1988 and having to go get my mom to buy it for me! That's when I started to find out about real censorship. And something that will always be ingrained in by mind will be Aerosmith's Steven Tyler saying, during their televised acceptance to an award for their PUMP album in either late 89 or early 90, something to the likes of "Oh, and by the way, a big thank you to Tipper Gore. Your stickers have made sure that any album wearing them will at least go platinum!"

So much for the P.M.R.C.