Assistance

The American Yawp Reader

Statements from The Parents Music Resource Center (1985)

Statements from The Parents Music Resource Center (1985)

In 1985, the Senate held hearings on explicit music. The Parents Music Resource Center (1985),

founded by the wives of prominent politicians in Washington D.C., publicly denounced lyrics, al-

bum covers, and music videos dealing with sex, violence, and drug use. The PRMC pressured music

publishers and retailers and singled out artists such as Judas Priest, Prince, AC/DC, Madonna, and

Black Sabbath, and Cyndi Lauper. The following is extracted from statements by Susan Baker, the

wife of then-Treasury Secretary James Baker, and Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice

President Al Gore, in support of warning labels on music packaging.

Mrs. BAKER. The Parents Music Resource Center was organized in May of this year by mothers of

young children who are very concerned by the growing trend in music toward lyrics that are sexually

explicit, excessively violent, or glorify the use of drugs and alcohol.

Our primary purpose is to educate and inform parents about this alarming trend as well as to ask the

industry to exercise self-restraint.

It is no secret that today’s rock music is a very important part of adolescence and teenagers’ lives. It

always has been, and we don’t question their right to have their own music. We think that is impor-

tant. They use it to identify and give expression to their feelings, their problems, their joys, sorrows,

loves, and values. It wakes them up in the morning and it is in the background as they get dressed for

school. It is played on the bus. It is listened to in the cafeteria during lunch. It is played as they do

their homework. They even watch it on MTV now. It is danced to at parties, and puts them to sleep

at night.

3/31/25, 1:46 PM Statements from The Parents Music Resource Center (1985) | The American Yawp Reader

https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/29-the-triumph-of-the-right/statements-from-the-parents-music-resource-center-1985/ 1/3

Because anything that we are exposed to that much has some influence on us, we believe that the mu-

sic industry has a special responsibility as the message of songs goes from the suggestive to the bla-

tantly explicit.

… While a few outrageous recordings have always existed in the past, the proliferation of songs glori-

fying rape, sadomasochism, incest, the occult, and suicide by a growing number of bands illustrates

this escalating trend that is alarming.

Some have suggested that the records in question are only a minute element in this music. However,

these records are not few, and have sold millions of copies, like Prince’s “Darling Nikki,” about mas-

turbation, sold over 10 million copies. Judas Priest, the one about forced oral sex at gunpoint, has

sold over 2 million copies. Quiet Riot, “Metal Health,” has songs about explicit sex, over 5 million

copies. Motley Crue, “Shout at the Devil,” which contains violence and brutality to women, over 2

million copies.

Some say there is no cause for concern. We believe there is. Teen pregnancies and teenage suicide

rates are at epidemic proportions today. The Noedecker Report states that in the United States of

America we have the highest teen pregnancy rate of any developed country: 96 out of 1,000 teenage

girls become pregnant.

Rape is up 7 percent in the latest statistics, and the suicide rates of youth between 16 and 24 has

gone up 300 percent in the last three decades while the adult level has remained the same.

There certainly are many causes for these ills in our society, but it is our contention that the pervasive

messages aimed at children which promote and glorify suicide, rape, sadomasochism, and so on,

have to be numbered among the contributing factors.

Some rock artists actually seem to encourage teen suicide. Ozzie [sic] Osbourne sings “Suicide

Solution.” Blue Oyster Cult sings “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” AC/DC sings “Shoot to Thrill.” Just

last week in Centerpoint, a small Texas town, a young man took his life while listening to the music

of AC/DC. He was not the first.

…

3/31/25, 1:46 PM Statements from The Parents Music Resource Center (1985) | The American Yawp Reader

https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/29-the-triumph-of-the-right/statements-from-the-parents-music-resource-center-1985/ 2/3

← Statements of AIDS Patients (1983) Pat Buchanan on the Culture War (1992) →

Mrs. GORE. We are asking the recording industry to voluntarily assist parents who are concerned by

placing a warning label on music products inappropriate for younger children due to explicit sexual

or violent lyrics.

The Parents Music Resource Center originally proposed a categorical rating system for explicit mate-

rial. After many discussions with the record industry, we recognize some of the logistical and eco-

nomic problems, and have adjusted our original suggestions accordingly. We now propose one

generic warning label to inform consumers in the marketplace about lyric content. The labels would

apply to all music.

We have asked the record companies to voluntarily label their own products and assume responsibil-

ity for making those judgments. We ask the record industry to appoint a one-time panel to recom-

mend a uniform set of criteria which could serve as a policy guide for the individual companies.

Those individual recording companies would then in good faith agree to adhere to this standard, and

make decisions internally about which records should be labeled according to the industry criteria.

…

The issue here is larger than violent and sexually explicit lyrics. It is one of ideas and ideal freedoms

and responsibility in our society. Clearly, there is a tension here, and in a free society there always will

be. We are simply asking that these corporate and artistic rights be exercised with responsibility, with

sensitivity, and some measure of self-restraint, especially since young minds are at stake. We are talk-

ing about preteenagers and young teenagers having access to this material. That is our point of de-

parture and our concern.

[Source: Hearing Before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,

Contents of Music and the Lyrics of Records, 99 Congress, First Session, September 19, 1985, 10-

14.]

th

3/31/25, 1:46 PM Statements from The Parents Music Resource Center (1985) | The American Yawp Reader

https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/29-the-triumph-of-the-right/statements-from-the-parents-music-resource-center-1985/ 3/3

The American Yawp Reader

Jimmy Carter, “Crisis of Confidence” (1979)

Jimmy Carter, “Crisis of Confidence” (1979)

On July 15, 1979, amid stagnant economic growth, high inflation, and an energy crisis, Jimmy

Carter delivered a televised address to the American people. In it, Carter singled out a pervasive “cri-

sis of confidence” preventing the American people from moving the country forward. A year later,

Ronald Reagan would frame his optimistic political campaign in stark contrast to the tone of

Carter’s speech, which would be remembered, especially by critics, as the “malaise speech.”

… Exactly three years ago, on July 15, 1976, I accepted the nomination of my party to run for presi-

dent of the United States.

I promised you a president who is not isolated from the people, who feels your pain, and who shares

your dreams and who draws his strength and his wisdom from you.

… Ten days ago I had planned to speak to you again about a very important subject — energy. For

the fifth time I would have described the urgency of the problem and laid out a series of legislative

recommendations to the Congress. But as I was preparing to speak, I began to ask myself the same

question that I now know has been troubling many of you. Why have we not been able to get to-

gether as a nation to resolve our serious energy problem?

…

I know, of course, being president, that government actions and legislation can be very important.

That’s why I’ve worked hard to put my campaign promises into law — and I have to admit, with just

4

2

25

3/31/25, 1:46 PM Jimmy Carter, “Crisis of Confidence” (1979) | The American Yawp Reader

https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/28-the-unraveling/jimmy-carter-crisis-of-confidence-1979/ 1/4

mixed success. But after listening to the American people I have been reminded again that all the leg-

islation in the world can’t fix what’s wrong with America. So, I want to speak to you first tonight

about a subject even more serious than energy or inflation. I want to talk to you right now about a

fundamental threat to American democracy.

I do not mean our political and civil liberties. They will endure. And I do not refer to the outward

strength of America, a nation that is at peace tonight everywhere in the world, with unmatched eco-

nomic power and military might.

The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at

the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt

about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation.

The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fab-

ric of America.

The confidence that we have always had as a people is not simply some romantic dream or a proverb

in a dusty book that we read just on the Fourth of July.

It is the idea which founded our nation and has guided our development as a people. Confidence in

the future has supported everything else — public institutions and private enterprise, our own fami-

lies, and the very Constitution of the United States. Confidence has defined our course and has

served as a link between generations. We’ve always believed in something called progress. We’ve al-

ways had a faith that the days of our children would be better than our own.

Our people are losing that faith, not only in government itself but in the ability as citizens to serve as

the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy. As a people we know our past and we are proud of

it. Our progress has been part of the living history of America, even the world. We always believed

that we were part of a great movement of humanity itself called democracy, involved in the search for

freedom, and that belief has always strengthened us in our purpose. But just as we are losing our con-

fidence in the future, we are also beginning to close the door on our past.

In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in

God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no

longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things

3/31/25, 1:46 PM Jimmy Carter, “Crisis of Confidence” (1979) | The American Yawp Reader

https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/28-the-unraveling/jimmy-carter-crisis-of-confidence-1979/ 2/4

and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve learned that piling up mate-

rial goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.

The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history

of our country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five

years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The productivity of American workers is actually

dropping, and the willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other

people in the Western world.

As you know, there is a growing disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the

news media, and other institutions. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the

truth and it is a warning.

These changes did not happen overnight. They’ve come upon us gradually over the last generation,

years that were filled with shocks and tragedy.

…

These wounds are still very deep. They have never been healed. Looking for a way out of this crisis,

our people have turned to the Federal government and found it isolated from the mainstream of our

nation’s life. Washington, D.C., has become an island. The gap between our citizens and our govern-

ment has never been so wide. The people are looking for honest answers, not easy answers; clear lead-

ership, not false claims and evasiveness and politics as usual.

What you see too often in Washington and elsewhere around the country is a system of government

that seems incapable of action. You see a Congress twisted and pulled in every direction by hundreds

of well-financed and powerful special interests. You see every extreme position defended to the last

vote, almost to the last breath by one unyielding group or another. You often see a balanced and a

fair approach that demands sacrifice, a little sacrifice from everyone, abandoned like an orphan with-

out support and without friends.

Often you see paralysis and stagnation and drift. You don’t like it, and neither do I. What can we do?

…

3/31/25, 1:46 PM Jimmy Carter, “Crisis of Confidence” (1979) | The American Yawp Reader

https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/28-the-unraveling/jimmy-carter-crisis-of-confidence-1979/ 3/4

← Barbara Jordan, 1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address (1976) Gloria Steinem on Equal Rights for Women (1970) →

We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is a path I’ve warned

about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken

idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one

of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to

failure.

All the traditions of our past, all the lessons of our heritage, all the promises of our future point to

another path, the path of common purpose and the restoration of American values. That path leads

to true freedom for our nation and ourselves. We can take the first steps down that path as we begin

to solve our energy problem.

[Source: Jimmy Carter, “Address to the Nation on Energy and National Goals” (July 15, 1979).

Available online via The American Presidency Project (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?

pid=32596).]

3/31/25, 1:46 PM Jimmy Carter, “Crisis of Confidence” (1979) | The American Yawp Reader

https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/28-the-unraveling/jimmy-carter-crisis-of-confidence-1979/ 4/4