Politics
Now, this is a subject that has always been a fierce battlefield when it comes to metal. Ever since metal was manifested, it has been a political target. It is constantly seen as a threat to society. And there are a couple of major events that pit Metal vs. Politics.
The first major event, is the
case of Dee Snider of the band Twisted Sister, defending his music at Congress.
Now, this all happened because a group called the PMRC (Parental Music Resource Center) made a list called “The
Filthy Fifteen”, where they listed songs that were, in their opinion, well,
filthy. They would label the songs with letters such as “D” for Drugs or “V”
for Violence or “O” for songs relating to the Occult. And so the PMRC wanted a
congressional hearing regarding censorship, and they called upon Dee Snider to,
as Dee said, “Carry the flag into battle”. And
on the day of the hearing, Mr. Snider came in, dressed in a denim cut-off
jacket, a tight ink shirt, tight jeans, and his hair very big, and poofy. In an
interview, Dee said “I went in their in my
cut-off denim, big hair, and I wasn’t going to dress up for nobody. I’m a dirt
bag and I’m proud of it. And so they’re (congress) looking at me, thinking “oh
boy” (he laughs). I got my speech that I worked on for days, folded up in my
pocket, and I took it out, and was flattening it out on the table, like a bad
kid bringing in his homework, and just, really deliberate.” . Knowing that the
congressmen didn’t expect much from him, he said he had “Mentally, set them up
for the kill”. And boy did he. The congressmen were trying to say that “We’re
not going to take it” was violent, and Dee
stated that “it’s no more violent, than the Declaration of Independence”. Mrs.
Gore (founder/president of PMRC) said that the song “Under the blade” was about
sadomasochism and bondage. Snider proclaimed that “it was about my guitar
player’s throat operation”. A member of Congress replied “It’s not a wild leap
of the imagination to think that that song is about more than a surgical
operation”. Dee quickly struck back, saying “No
it’s not, as I’ve said before, songs allow the listener to put their own
thoughts, feelings, and dreams into them. Mrs. Gore was looking for
sadomasochism and bondage, and she found it. A person looking for surgical
references would have also found them.” And at the end of the day, it was
decided that all music albums released from then on were to contain the
“Parental Advisory” label we have, by now, all seen. So in short, the labels
exist because of metal.A picture of the label is above. And a short video of the hearing is provided below.
Another famous case of Metal vs. Politics is the band Judas Priest going on trial for being responsible for two teens taking their lives. It all started when two teen metal music fans were found after they committed suicide. One of the teens wrote a suicide note blaming the music of Judas Priest for them taking their lives. The parents of the teens took the band to court, where the band could be held responsible. Now, if you’re thinking “what, were the teens hanging around the band, and they convinced the teens to take their lives?”. Well, the answer is no. Apparently, the song “Better for you, better by me” was responsible. Now, the lyrics say nothing about suicide, and the Plaintiff’s lawyer knew this, and he also knew that blaming the lyrics made a weak case, due to the fact that it was a direct attack of 1st amendment rights, so he decided to dig deeper. He decided to use what he thought was a subliminal message saying “do it”, as evidence to find them guilty. After a long trial, Judas Priest was acquitted of all charges. A picture of Rob Halford (Lead singer of Judas Priest) is below.
