Parental advisory stickers
Parental advisory stickers are labels placed on music albums to inform consumers, particularly parents, about potentially explicit or inappropriate content. The initiative for these stickers originated in the mid-1980s, spearheaded by Tipper Gore and a group of women known as the Parents' Music Resource Center (PMRC), who sought to protect children from violent and sexual themes in music. They advocated for a rating system similar to that used in movies, arguing it would offer parents essential guidance for making informed purchasing decisions. Following Senate hearings on the topic, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) agreed to implement a voluntary sticker system that simply states "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" without detailing the nature of the explicit content.
The introduction of these stickers had significant repercussions. Major retailers often refused to sell albums with the stickers, prompting record labels to produce "clean" versions of controversial albums. However, the effectiveness of the stickers remains debated. While they serve as a warning, critics argue that the vague nature of the labels may lead to insufficient parental oversight and that the stickers could inadvertently increase the allure of the music among children.
Parental advisory stickers
Identification Warnings of potentially objectionable content, affixed to recorded music
In response to pressure from the Parents’ Music Resource Center and Congress, the Recording Industry Association of America agreed to label recorded materials that contained excessive violence, strong language, or sexually explicit lyrics.
In 1984, Tipper Gore, the wife of Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, purchased Prince’s Purple Rain sound track for the couple’s daughter Karenna. Upon listening to the sexually explicit lyrics to “Darling Nikki,” which included references to masturbation, Tipper Gore decided that parents should be provided with tools that would help them in making informed decisions about the music they purchased for their children.
Gore enlisted the help of Susan Baker (wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker), Pam Hower (wife of Washington Realtor Raymond Hower), and Sally Nevius (wife of Washington City Council Chairman John Nevius). Together, the four women founded the Parents’ Music Resource Center (PMRC) in May of 1985. They also became known as the Washington Wives. Feeling that lyrics that promoted drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, and violence were contributing factors in the increase in violence and drug addiction that was facing the United States, the PMRC sought to work with the recording industry to create and implement a rating system for music similar to that adopted by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for feature films. The PMRC wanted any album that contained offensive lyrics or graphic cover art to be labeled as such with a parental advisory warning sticker, so parents would have the tools necessary to make educated choices as to what their children listened to and purchased.
The PMRC tried working with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to establish a voluntary rating system to use for the parental advisory stickers, but at first it received little cooperation. The Washington Wives published a manifesto in The Washington Post listing their demands. In addition to demanding a rating system, the manifesto stated that warnings and song lyrics should be printed directly on album covers, albums with suggestive covers should kept under counters, television and cable broadcasters should stop airing sexually explicit or violent music videos, the contracts of artists who were found to be “offensive” should be reviewed by their record labels, and an independent panel should be created to enact and enforce all these requirements.
The Senate Hearing
On September 19, 1985, the PMRC and representatives of the music industry testified in front of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation about the potential benefits and dangers a rating system could have on society and music. Paula Hawkins, Tipper Gore, Senator Al Gore, Susan Baker, Millie Waterman (vice president for legislative activities of the National Parent Teacher Association), Professor Joe Stuessy of the University of Texas at San Antonio, and child and adolescent psychiatrist Paul King urged the committee to take seriously the dangers they believed to be posed by modern rock music, especially rap and heavy metal. They cited explicit covers and lyrics and expanded on the effects that music referring to violence, drug usage, and sex had upon children and society, arguing that the increased occurrence and acceptance of these themes was linked with rises in actual violence.
Among those arguing against the PMRC were avant-garde musician Frank Zappa , folk musician John Denver, and heavy metal front man Dee Snider of Twisted Sister. They asserted that the goal of the PMRC was censorship, which they maintained should not be tolerated in the United States or any other country. They questioned the causal nature of the link the PMRC asserted between children hearing descriptions of violence and then acting violently. Further, they connected the goals of the PMRC to the passage of other bills, including H.R. 2911, a proposed tax on blank audiocassettes. They also pointed out a conflict of interest, as many of the PMRC’s husbands were involved in the committee overseeing the hearing. Finally, the opposition insisted that the proposed federally mandated parental advisory stickers would infringe upon the civil liberties of Americans who were not minors. They also claimed that any type of censorship or rating system would ultimately have the opposite effect of its intended purpose; warning stickers would increase children’s desire to hear or view the forbidden material.
Outcome
On November 1, 1985, before the Senate hearings were completed, the RIAA agreed to place voluntary stickers on albums it deemed indecent, or inappropriate for minors. All such stickers—which came to be nicknamed Tipper Stickers—would read simply, “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics.” There was to be no indication of why the content was considered to be “explicit.” Albums’ lyrics, contrary to the original demand, would not be printed on their covers. Major record labels were allowed to determine which albums would receive the sticker, while independent record labels did not have to use the sticker at all.
Impact
Many major retailers, including Wal-Mart, Sears, and JCPenney refused to carry any album that displayed the parental advisory sticker, and other stores refused to sell any recordings bearing the sticker to minors. In reaction to the boycott, many record companies began releasing “clean” versions of labeled albums that did not bear the sticker and could be sold anywhere.
Ultimately, the effects of the sticker are debatable. While the parental advisory sticker does alert parents to a potential problem, it does so in such a vague way that further investigation is warranted, and not all parents are willing to expend the time to determine why each album has been labeled. It is unclear how many people actually adhere to warnings displayed on the sticker. Many critics argue that the sticker has increased albums’ popularity precisely by making them taboo.
Bibliography
Carroll, Andrew, R. Torricelli, and D. Goodwin, eds. In Our Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century. New York: Washington Square Press, 2000. Includes excerpts from speeches by PMRC members and their opponents.
Croteau, David R., and William Hoynes. Media/Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Pine Forge Press, 2002. Thorough look at who creates media, how media products are sold, and their effects upon society.
Grossberg, Lawrence, Ellen Wartella, and D. Charles Whitney. Mediamaking: Mass Media in a Popular Culture . Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 2006. Includes a chronological history of the founding and lifespan of the PMRC.