What’s going on my fellow rock n’ rollers.
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new video on my channel.
I’ve talked a lot about about the PMRC or the parents music resource centre on my channel.
They were a politically active group who wanted to censor music as the chicago times would
state by pressuring record companies, radio stations and music stores to stop producing,
playing or selling recordings it considers detrimental to children.
They are largely responsible for those parental advisory stickers that you see on albums.
A few months ago I was working in the field a lot and driving a lot as well and I’d
usually listen to Howard Stern, and Lithium.
And Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello has a show called one man revolution
where he plays some of his favourite songs..
Sometimes on the show he would have his 97 year old mother on, who would talk about her
activism, her life and just music and one of the things he revealed, which I didn't
know about her was that she headed a group called Parents for Rock and Rap.They were
the anti-PMRC group and today i am going to talk about their story..
The PMRC was founded in 1985 by four women known as the "Washington Wives" – whose
husbands were prominent politicians in Washinton D.C.
At the end of the day through their extensive lobbying they were able to convince record
labels to put advisory stickers on their albums.
Keep in mind there is no law in the united states that requires record labels to put
parental advisory stickers on the albums.
They agreed to put them on voluntarily.
But let's face it, the whole plan would backfire, Record store owners would evenadmit that having
a parental advisory sticker was a powerful selling tool for artists.
Sprouting up two years after the PMRC was the anti-censorship group Parents for Rock
and Rap The group was founded by Tom Morello’s then 62 year old mother at the time Mary Morello
and it was based out of her own apartment.
Up until this point, Mary had been working as a high school teacher in Chicago when she
quit her job to start the organization.
The anti-censorship group would campaign for rock and rap artists not just in the United
States, but all around the world.
You guys are maybe wondering, why did she decide to start the organization?
Well ]she would tell the chicago tribune "I'm a free person,""And I really believe in freedom.""The
purpose of music is to be enjoyed, not censored.
Young people should be able to listen to any music they like, regardless of their age.
I always tell them that if you want to keep listening to the music that you enjoy, starting
today you have to learn to fight back.
If you don't fight for your own freedom, no one's going to give it to you" she'd say.
One of the biggest fights For the organization would start in 1990 when she started a campaign
on behalf of rap group 2 Live Crew.
The novelty of an old white women campaigning for a black rap group wasn’t lost on her.
And \at that time the rap group was heavily criticized for being sexist with their music.
The state of Florida even considered banning their 1989 album as nasty as they wanna be
because it was deemed too obscene to even warrant a parental advisory sticker.
I’ve done a whole video on this if you wanna check it out.
The link is down below.
As part of her campaign she would appear on a local Detroit radio station to speak against
censorship of the rap group.
As Mary’s profile rose she began to send out newsletters on the topics of censorship
and even teamed up with other groups fighting for free speech.
By the mid 90’s membership in her group had grown to almost 1000 people and had members
in countries outside of the united states.
As the Chicago Tirbune would report in the mid 90's, many of the group’s members were
younger adults who didn’t have children.
The organization soon turned their attention to other groups apart from the PMRC who they
campaigned against, which included the American Medical Association, The parent teacher association
or PTA and of course congress.
To summarize, all these organizations and groups were in favor of music censorship in
some way and were concerned about the impact of music on America’s youth.
One of the Morello’s biggest foes would be presidential candidate Bob Dole who slammed
the entertainment industry for and i quote “ the marketing of evil through commerce.’
Dole pressured the entertainment industry to focus more on family friendly content.
And he would run for President in 1996 before he lost to incumbent Bill Clinton.
Just like the PMRC which seemed to really die down in the mid 90's, the same seems like
it can also be said for Mary Morello's group.
For all the work that Mary Morello did over the years she would win the Hugh M Hefner
First Ammendement Award in 1996
So that does it for today’s video guys.
Thanks for watching and we'll see you guys again tomorrow on Rock N' Roll True Stories.
Take care.