Back in the mid 80’s, the PMRC published a list called The Filthy Fifteen, which were the top 15 songs they wanted banned due to objectionable lyrics suggesting violence, sex, drugs, alcohol or the occult. They petitioned for lyrics to be printed on the album jackets and no one was safe–heavy metal acts were right there alongside the pop stars — AC/DC, Madonna, Motley Crue, Mary Jane Girls, Judas Priest, Prince,, W.A.S.P., Mercyful Fate, Vanity, Def Leppard, Cyndi Lauper and Twisted Sister all made The Filthy Fifteen list. In November 1985, the RIAA agreed to put “Parental Advisory” labels on selected releases at their own discretion.
The Filthy Fifteen App features exclusive interviews by the artists whose artistic freedom was directly impacted in 1985 after Tipper Gore and a group of influential Washington housewives started the PMRC (The Parents Music Resource Center) which pressured the record labels to put “Parental Advisory” stickers on albums with explicit lyrics.
Highlights of the App include never-before-seen images from world-renowned photographer, Mark “Weissgy” Weiss. The visual power of Mark’s iconic images helped define the music and aesthetics of the Decade of Decadence. Weiss is proud that his photographs of The Decade That Rocked are an integral part of music history.
Please visit filthyfifteen.com for more information.
6 Responses
Looking back, the “Filthy Fifteen” are tame by today’s standards. It was hilarious that Dee put Al Gore in his place and pissed him off by telling him the reason Tipper found S&M references in “Under The Blade” was because that’s what she was looking for, even though the song is actually about surgery. Dee was great at those hearings.
And one thing was accomplished with the Parental Advisory stickers: It made it easier to find albums that had “explicit content”. I’m sure that actually benefited a lot of bands who may have sold more albums simply because of that sticker. So what the PMRC saw as a victory for them was actually one for the bands and artists whose albums had stickers on them.
Yep. It was pretty much a road map to the “forbidden” stuff for young people like myself at the time to buy.
Frank, Dee, and John Denver did their best. Remember this bullshit well. What a stupid Reaganesque time it was in America…
Dee Snider should put out an app to thank Tipper Gore and the PMRC. If it weren’t for his spat with the PMRC 30+ years ago, Dee would be remembered as nothing more than a two-hit wonder. The guy has spent the last 30 years making it sound like he was some Hair Metal Joan of Arc who fought and defeated Rock & Roll McCarthyism. The PMRC was nothing more than a few senators’ wives promoting their dopey little pet cause and Dee flinging his frizzy hair around at a Congressional hearing (see: YouTube footage of his silliness) deluding himself into thinking that he was saving rock & roll. In retrospect, he looks even sillier than the PMRC because they’ve all moved on to other things….Dee is still talking about it (oh yeah, and airing out his jealousy of Paul Stanley) like some senile old guy sitting in a barber shop reminiscing about “the war.”
Give Dee credit, he’s made a lifetime of memories over approximately 19 minutes of music and PMRC news. Nikki Sixx actually had better quotes at the time. But Dee gets the credit cause he was the one who talked about it years later. Ironically everything he currently has in his life isn’t due to the success of Twisted Sister, but because of Celine Dion.
It’s debatable whether Snider even had the last laugh, because he ended up endorsing Gore in 200.