Parental Advisory Labels

The Effects of Rock and Rap in the U.S.A

Gracie Moyer

Historical Paper

Senior Division

Word Count: 2,118

Process Paper: 499

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Process Paper

How did you choose your topic and how does it relate to the annual theme?

At first, I really did not know what to start writing about. It took me a couple minutes to

figure out that I wanted to research something based on music and its history. It took me a few

days to find resources that I thought would work in my paper. My topic relates to the annual

theme (Debate, Diplomacy, Consequences, Successes and Failures) because there are only very

few debates on this topic and there were a great quantity of failures compared to successes,

although we still use these labels in today’s society.

How did you conduct your research?

I certainly tried my best to find sources on the internet that would give me reliable

information, and things that I can tie down to the topic itself. The topic of Parental Advisory

Labels is something that was talked about a lot. After finding these, I used Gale Resources to

find more information for primary and secondary sources, but there was almost absolutely

nothing on my topic so I had to rely on the Internet for a lot of my research. I managed to find

some good sources to use, though I could have found more reliable sources if I had looked into

educational sites. I could have, but there were problems with my library card…

How did you create your project?

My project for National History Day is a paper. I created this paper by finding resources,

explaining in my own words what the debate, diplomacy, successes, failures and consequences

about this topic are. It may not be the absolute best of research, though I did try my best. At first,

I created half of a website, but then switched to a paper because of literal technical difficulties.

The website was far too difficult for me to handle, considering I’ve never used it before. I was
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told if I wanted to switch, I totally should because my paper is good, so I thought doing a paper

would be ideal for me.

What is your historical argument?

My historical argument is a debate over the affection of Parental Advisory Labels. It is

not much, though I thought it was an interesting topic to research and write about. People back

then (1980s) were extremely opinionated, so using this would be effective for only one side of

the argument, though definitely not the other.

In what ways is your topic significant in history?

My topic is significant in history as it tells the reader about the changes in behaviour, as

well as effects in the musical industries. It did take me a while to figure out if there were any

debates that included Parental Advisory Labels; so luckily there were. It is still used to this day,

and yet it does not really affect anyone anymore. Only people who believe in keeping their

children’s ears innocent, though knowing this generation, there’s no use for that.
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Parental Advisory Labels

The Effects of Rock and Rap in the U.S.A

Introduction

Modern music can be very vulgar and inappropriate to certain people; especially in the

United States. Parents would find their children listening to something they disapproved of; and

so the particular reason for this circumstance, Mary “Tipper” Gore, who is the spouse of Al

Gore, the 45th former Vice President of the United States, helped create a system in 1985 where

anything with unsuitable lyrics would have a sticker on it labelled Parental Advisory: Explicit

Lyrics. Having this could help parents and others see that a certain piece of music is explicit and

is not suitable for a younger audience. However, a few musicians (Frank Zappa, Dee Snider and

John Denver) were against this system and some testified against it. The debate and diplomacy

over Parental Advisory labels succeeded in a certain way, though with major failures, in the end

with Gore resigning from the Parents Music Resource Centre (PMRC), although making sure

that the label is still in effect1.

The Debate on Parental Advisory Labels on Teens and Adults

The debate over all genres of music has been a popular topic for over 40 years in the U.S.

Mary “Tipper” Gore is known by many in the U.S.A for being one of the founders of the PMRC,

and her main goal was to get the label on everything that she found “explicit.” So, according to

the official Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) website, “The [Parental

Advisory Label] Mark is used to help parents recognize when inappropriate content may be

present, and is applied when an artist and record company agree that there is musical and artistic
1Crabtree, Chloe Rose. “The Dirty History of Parental Advisory Labels.” Culture Trip. The Culture Trip, August 7,
2018,https://theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/england/london/articles/the-dirty-history-of-parental-
advisory-labels/
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credibility in a piece of recorded work even if the lyrics may be too explicit for mainstream

distribution2”. This is stating what the label is used for, obviously. Mary Gore’s starting goal was

to legally create something that would let adults know what certain pieces of music are too

obscene for children.

Mary Gore may have thought the process was perfect at first, but as it proceeded, musical

companies began to feel worried. Coming from Andrew LaSane, who is a freelance art and

cultural writer: “Some artists and others in the industry were worried about the effects of

censorship on the music and on sales. Despite vows by some stores not to sell albums with the

labels, fans still purchased the music and younger fans found a way to listen to it.3” This explains

that even though the Parental Advisory labels were on an album, people who liked the music still

bought it and the younger kids had their ways of finding the music to listen to. The debate of

Parental Advisory Labels was not necessarily a success, rather it was a failure from her main

goal.

Music that seems more crass is more appealing to the younger audience, as this desire

overrides older generations’ attempt to restrict their access to it. This is why Chloe Crabtree, who

is a Historical Editor, explains that “As most parents know, when you tell a child what they

cannot have, it suddenly becomes more appealing. Fans of rap music, and what the PMRC

classified as ‘porn rock’ were already drawn to the genres because of their anti-establishment

messages. PALs bolstered this identity”4. She explains that certain types of music can have an

utmost appeal to it, which has an effect of making people want to hear it more, causing more

2 Matsuoka, W. “Parental Advisory: Analysing the Effect of the Mature Content Label on the Music Industry.”
CalState Edu. (2013, Spring)
3“Attorney General.” Parental Advisory Labels for CDs | Washington State, https://www.atg.wa.gov/parental-
advisory-labels-cds
4H., Jared. “PMRC's Parental Advisory Sticker Abuse.” LedgerNote, 21 Aug. 2021,
https://ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/pmrcs-parental-advisory-sticker-abuse/
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purchases regardless if it is in stores or not.

In many cases, music has gotten to the point where the explicit meanings can affect how

people’s lives are, including violence, drugs and suicide. William Matsuoka, who was a Master

of Arts degree at California State University, Sacramento, brings up scientifically proven facts

on the way music can affect people, saying that “Violence, teen pregnancy, and substance abuse

seem to share determinants and are even used as controls for one another in separate studies,

which taken together suggest some level of simultaneous causality.”5 He is explaining that

studies have found that these listed topics have been seen as acts caused by music and mainly,

it’s lyrics. This is a great reason why Gore was at the centre of the debate, wanting to start the

label industry so parents knew what and what not to purchase for their children.

Music can certainly affect how some people live their lives. According to the Attorney

General of Washington State, Bob Ferguson,“Studies have found that the average teen listens to

music on the average of 40 hours per week. That’s almost as much time as you sleep! To date, no

studies have documented a cause-and-effect relationship between sexually or violently explicit

lyrics and adverse behavioral effects, but we all know how music can affect our emotions”6. His

work is not fully up to date, as Matsuoka’s work is. There have been loads of studies shown from

the 1990’s to this day on how music can negatively affect people, mainly teenagers, and their

behavioural patterns. For example, a study done by Donald F. Roberts, Peter G. Christenson, and

Douglas A. Gentile on October 16th, 2003, clearly illustrates that “it is important to note that

heavy metal and rap fans report much higher levels of interest and attention to lyrics than do

teens in general.”7 Heavy metal and rap fans are certainly more interested in these sales rather

5Cownley, Emma. “Lucifer Unleashed! the Satanic History of the Parental Advisory Label.” Loudersound, Louder,
15 July 2021
6H., Jared. “PMRC's Parental Advisory Sticker Abuse.” LedgerNote, 21 Aug. 2021,
https://ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/pmrcs-parental-advisory-sticker-abuse/
7H., Jared. “PMRC's Parental Advisory Sticker Abuse.” LedgerNote, 21 Aug. 2021,
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than just all teenagers. Teenagers who listen to these genres of music are more likely to purchase

records since heavy metal and rap are two of the most popular genres to have a Parental

Advisory label on the front of their records.

To sum up everything that has been stated so far, these sources have explained some of

the causes and effects of music on teenagers and even adults; although in some cases, it could

come to unexpected outcomes.

Failure in the Diplomacy of Parental Advisory Labels

The diplomacy over Parental Advisory labels had a few rough turns, though it has

eventually come to be a product of everyday music in the modern times. “Overall, I do [not]

think labels adversely [a]ffected sales,” Danny Goldberg, President of GoldVE Entertainment,

told NPR. “Since kids—even before the Internet—were able to get what they wanted. It ended

up being a way for certain retailers like Walmart to brand themselves as 'family friendly'—at

least to families who did not like profanity on records.”8 This shows that there were some

disagreements about the labels on the music covers, considering that some huge stores would just

not accept anything with the label. Though, this did not lead to financial loss. With the Parental

Advisory label on the cover of explicit albums, the PMRC does succeed at keeping violent music

out of stores.

In August 1985, a senate hearing involving Frank Zappa, Dee Snider, and John Denver

took place in Washington, D.C. There were a few reasons for these artists coming in and

demanding a state hearing about the usage of Parental Advisory labels and why they opposed

them. So, according to Andrew LaSane, “[A group] demanded that all lyrics be printed on album

https://ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/pmrcs-parental-advisory-sticker-abuse/
8Lipson, Charles, and Tefere, Gebre. “Does the Parental Advisory Label Still Matter?”, Zach Schonfeld , 10 Nov.
2015, https://www.newsweek.com/does-parental-advisory-label-still-matter-tipper-gore-375607
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covers, that explicit covers be relocated to behind store counters, and that labels ‘reassess

contracts’ with musicians who create explicit content.’”9 This whole quote is explaining that

even though the RIAA wanted to only use the label on explicit records, the PMRC wanted more.

They demanded the lyrics be printed on the back of the album, or they use the label. They had

also demanded for albums with the label to be forced to put behind counters, and that labels have

to form a contract with the musician of the album. These demanding rules made some people

irritated with the musical companies. Some people would not really care, but then there are the

people who would do anything just to figure out a way to get an album that had the label,

considering big stores refused to take any kind of music that had it.

Regardless of the type of music, Gore would want to slap a label on there if it had

anything that she did not like. According to Emma Cownley, who is a freelance copywriter and

blogger for the B2C retail industry, “[The PMRC] promised to protect innocent ears from the

lure of drugs, violence, sex, and the occult. The PMRC was founded in 1985 and led by Tipper

Gore. Once up and running, they wasted no time”10. Gore’s main goal was to prevent ‘‘innocent

ears” from hearing anything that she thought was bad, even if it really was not; along the lines of

how she presumed a song called “Under the Blade” as referring to sadomasochism, bondage, and

rape. "Under the Blade" was inspired by a band member's surgery and was about the fear he

imagined one would experience undergoing surgery, announcing that "the only sadomasochism,

bondage, and rape in this song is in the mind of Ms. Gore."11 To sum all of this up, the labelling

industry has been very successful since the label itself is still being used to this day, regardless of

how artists think about it, yet the only real success has to be the promised protection for younger

9Lasane, Andrew. “8 Uncensored Facts about Parental Advisory Labels.” Mental Floss, 26 Apr. 2016,
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/72223/8-uncensored-facts-about-parental-advisory-labels.

10Lasane, Andrew. “8 Uncensored Facts about Parental Advisory Labels.” Mental Floss, 26 Apr. 2016,
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/72223/8-uncensored-facts-about-parental-advisory-labels.
11 RIAA. “Parental Advisory Label.” RIAA, https://www.riaa.com/resources-learning/parental-advisory-label
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children.

Consequences of the Parental Advisory Labels’ Passing

There were a great handful of consequences after the passing of the label. An owner,

editor, lead author, and web designer of LedgerNote named Jared explains one of the

consequences of the passing. In his view, he states: “So why was slapping Parental Advisory

Stickers on the fellows above a big blow against them? Because even to this day, a ton of stores

will not carry albums that feature the sticker”12. He is explaining that some stores would simply

not accept anything with the label. This made artists think that since no one can buy their

albums, their income will slowly fall. This was most definitely the case.

Jared has added a small detail to the income part, as well. He said that “Those artists are

taking a hit to their income. You [would] think correctly that that's also a hit to the record label's

income too, but it’s miniscule”13. He is saying that the record label’s income is not falling as

much as one would expect. Musicians did not lose income, nor did they gain any. A band called

30 Seconds to Mars produced a platinum album and sold over 2 million records, but “never made

a dime out of it.”14 Meaning, this has been a problem because the RIAA has always been in the

business of not paying musicians.

Gore wanted a specific rating rule in the beginning, before the label was ever thought

about. The first labels would be labelled as: “‘Violent lyrics... marked with a 'V,' Satanic or anti-

Christian occult content with an 'O,' and lyrics referencing drugs or alcohol with a

12 Masnik, Mike. “Why Even Major Label Musicians Rarely Make Money from Album Sales.” Techdirt., 13 July
2010, https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100712/23482610186.shtml.
13Krochmalny, Elizabeth. “Eastern Michigan University Digitalcommons@Emu.” "We're not gonna take it": An
Examination of Congress and Controversial Music, January 2017. https://commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1556&context=honors.
14 Roberts, Donald F., Peter G. Christenson, and Douglas A Gentile. “The Effects of Violent Music on Children
and Adolescents.” Iowa: Praeger Publishing, October 16, 2003.
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'D/A.'”(Lipson)15. This information is explaining what the label could have been if they never

changed the broad idea. There eventually was a new label created for anything else deemed

inappropriate.

In some cases, there have been albums that have been deemed illegal. According to

LaSane, “In 1990, a federal district judge ruled that an album by the group 2 Live Crew, titled As

Nasty as They Wanna Be, was obscene. The project was deemed illegal, so when the group

decided to perform the songs anyway they were arrested. The ruling was later overturned, and

there were two versions of the album released: a clean version titled Clean As They Wanna Be,

and the uncensored version which featured the PA label”16. This actively demonstrates why it

was so bad in the beginning that in June of 1990, U.S. district court Judge Jose Gonzalez had

three artists from 2 Live Crew arrested because of how inappropriate he thought they were. Yet

in the end, they were released after one year with a paid fine and released a clean version of the

album.

Conclusion

In the end, the only success was that it informed parents on what their children were listening to.

It is still used today, but since there is now more technology, there are tons of different ways to

get music that you cannot get in stores. This includes finding the music online and downloading

it, finding someone who is selling it on CD, etc. The failures of this sticker include aggressive

marketing and forbidden sales to people under 18. Though Mary Gore’s main goal to protect

young children from violent music backfired, it is still a good thing to use to this day since

15Purdy, Elizabeth R. Tipper Gore. Accessed February 4, 2022.

https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1268/tipper-gore.

16https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2010/10/29/130905176/you-ask-we-answer-parental-advisory---why-
when-how
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people have their own beliefs and think the sticker is perfect for their childrens’ listening

protection.
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Annotated Bibliography

Primary Sources

Deflem, Matthieu. “Popular Culture and Social Control: The Moral Panic on Music Labelling.”

BlogSpot, July 24, 2019. https://deflem.blogspot.com/2020/03/music-censorship-

labeling.html.

This article has very useful information on the topic of Parental Advisory labels. This

man explains the history of the labels in depth, and how they’ve come to be over the

years of when it started. It is a very specific article, considering the entire history of the

label and the people who’ve made it.

Krochmalny, Elizabeth. “Eastern Michigan University Digitalcommons@Emu.” "We're not

gonna take it": An Examination of Congress and Controversial Music, January 2017.

https://commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?

referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1556&context=honors.

This is an article on the Eastern Michigan University ‘Senior Honors Theses & Projects”

by Elizabeth Krochmalny. This is a thesis about the controversy on music and talks about

congress. It was made by a University student, though it has credible and useful

information that I have used on footnote 10. It has many broad statements on music and

it’s controversial properties.

DeRiso, Nick. “The Parents Music Resource Centre's 'Filthy Fifteen'.” Ultimate Classic Rock,

September 19, 2015. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/pmrc-filthy-fifteen/.

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This source has information about the famous “Filthy Fifteen,” which are the very first

songs that the PMRC deemed as inappropriate. Most of them are truly inappropriate,

while some of them really aren’t. The purpose of the Filthy Fifteen is to campaign for

stronger censorship in music. The specifications in this article are solely based on the

Filthy Fifteen list.

Gore, Tipper. Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society. Bantam Books, 1988.

This book was written by the creator of the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Centre) in

1987. Obviously everything in this book is legible work, yet Gore had her way of doing

things. She would make things up just to get her way with the labelling rule. She would

deem non-sexual content as terrible and extremely rated R, even though the music would

have nothing to do with anything related to that. She once deemed a song about rape,

though the song was really about a man falling in love. She would try to force people to

think her way about the music, which most likely wasn’t even bad at all. Everything in

here has a broad statement wanting to be made by Gore, but that doesn't mean it’s all

true.

H., Jared. “PMRC's Parental Advisory Sticker Abuse.” LedgerNote, August 21, 2021.

https://ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/pmrcs-parental-advisory-sticker-abuse/

This article has a lot of facts and details about the origin of the PA label. It contains

words about the people who argued against it, people who went to court for the argument,

and people who wanted the labels on anything and everything they thought was terrible.

It is a broad article, straightforward, and tells us what is what. This discussion features

anyone who is against and for the labels.

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Masnick, Mike. “RIAA Accounting: Why Even Major Label Musicians Rarely Make Money

from Album Sales.” TechDirt, July 13, 2010.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100712/23482610186.shtml.

This article explains why musicians do not make much money from album sales. It’s

information has statistics about the sales, information from various artists and their sales

on albums. 30 Seconds to Mars sold over 2 million records, but did not make a single

cent. They also owe 1.4 million dollars in debt from the sales. It doesn't make any sense.

So, the information this site has is incredibly useful when talking about sales’ income.

“Music Censorship in America.” PMRC, April 6, 2003.

https://web.archive.org/web/20071018043759/http://www.geocities.com/fireace_00/

pmrc.html.

This is an archive of a topic about Parental Advisory Labels, though it does include very

useful information; it was written in 2003. Sure, it isn’t as updated as it would be if it

were written in 2022. Since it was written 19 years ago, it’s information is only credible

up to 2003. That’s about 17 years: 1985-2003.

“Parental Advisory Label.” RIAA. Accessed February 4, 2022. https://www.riaa.com/resources-

learning/parental-advisory-label.

This article is from the official website of the RIAA. This is a primary source because it

is official, so their information has got to be true. It contains information on the origins of

the label, who participated in creating it, and much more. It is straightforward and gets to

the point of the header.

Pruden, William H., III. "Parents Music Resource Centre (1985–)." In Political Groups,
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Parties, and Organisations That Shaped America: An Encyclopaedia and Document

Collection, edited by Scott H. Ainsworth and Brian M. Harward, 751-753. Vol. 3. Santa

Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2019. Gale eBooks (accessed February 2, 2022).

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX7947500200/GVRL?u=san49095&sid=bookmark-

GVRL&xid=428e832b.

This is an actual book written about the Parental Music Resource Centre. It includes what

I believe to be trustworthy information. It has credible sources from where they got their

information from, and includes great information I can use. The discussion is about

important events of what’s happened in the creation and process of the Parental Advisory

Label making.

Purdy, Elizabeth R. Tipper Gore. Accessed February 4, 2022. https://www.mtsu.edu/first-

amendment/article/1268/tipper-gore.

This whole article has very useful information that I can use in this paper. It has a broad

statement, as well as very good information about Mary Gore and the label itself. The

layout is in a timeline form, which is very helpful with details.

Roberts, Donald F., Peter G. Christenson, and Douglas A Gentile. “The Effects of Violent Music

on Children and Adolescents.” Iowa: Praeger Publishing, October 16, 2003.

This is a PDF of research three contributors have made into a book of some sort. It has statistics

and great researched information that I can trust. They cited 23 sources, so that is how I

know it is reliable. There are many broad statements and can be used for good

information in this paper.

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Secondary Sources

Ferguson, Bob. “Attorney General.” Parental Advisory Labels for CDs | Washington State.

Accessed February 4, 2022. https://www.atg.wa.gov/parental-advisory-labels-cds.

This reference shows that music can have tolerable effects on people, which is why the

Parental Advisory label was created in the first place. This overview is not as broad as it

would be if it were published by someone who is truly shaken by the existence of the

label itself. The discussion is of a single topic; Parental Advisory labels and their effects.

Cownley, Emma. “Lucifer Unleashed! The Satanic History of the Parental Advisory Label.”

LouderSound. Louder, July 15, 2021. https://www.loudersound.com/features/lucifer-

unleashed-the-satanic-history-of-the-parental-advisory-label.

This article explains the satanic views of music and how it affects religious people, or

people who simply do not like music under that “category.” I do not believe in satan or

god like that, therefore nothing religious like that will get to my head and anger me. This

article has both specific and broadness written within it and the topic is about all of the

people who think music or music genres are “satanic.”

Crabtree, Chloe Rose. “The Dirty History of Parental Advisory Labels.” Culture Trip. The

Culture Trip, August 7, 2018.

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/england/london/articles/the-dirty-

history-of-parental-advisory-labels/

This source provided a nice informative piece for perhaps qualified research. It brings the
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topic of “porn rock” into play. With this genre being a thing, the creators of the RIAA

and PMRC are very angry. They want to slap the labels on, regardless of whether or not

they will be allowed to be sold in stores. This topic is not as specific as it should be, but it

does help with some nice and useful information.

LaSane, Andrew. “8 Uncensored Facts about Parental Advisory Labels.” Mental Floss, April 26,

2016. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/72223/8-uncensored-facts-about-parental-

advisory-labels.

This website has very useful information about the Parental Advisory labels. As usual, it

is about the labels, who created them, and the outcome of using them on musical albums.

There are no new questions that have come up in my mind yet. This unofficial article has

only a few specifications on the topic.

Schonfeld, Zach, Ellis Henican, and Alice Stewart. “Does the Parental Advisory Label Still

Matter?” Newsweek, October 11, 2015. https://www.newsweek.com/does-parental-

advisory-label-still-matter-tipper-gore-375607

This article is straightforward about the topic; which lies in the title. Does the parental

advisory label still matter? Does it? No one will look at it on the front of an album and

think, “Wow, my kid really does not need to listen to this because this label is on it.” No

one will think anything about it. The label really didn't help anyone who was against

inappropriate music. Everything about this article is specific about what it’s talking

about; connecting it all to the article’s essential question, which lies in the beginning of

this paragraph.

Matsuoka, William M., Terri A. Sexton, and Jonathan D. Kaplan. 2013. “Parental Advisory:
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Analysing the Effect of the Mature Content Label on the Music Industry.” https://csus-

dspace.calstate.edu/bistream/handle/10211.9/2031/Final.pdf?sequence=8.

This is a written work by William Matsuoka, and it represents the entire origin of the PA

label, along with the causes and effects going with it. This goes along with my research

because it really does give me some information I need with what the topic is. The

information is written by someone who works at Cal State University, which makes me

uneasy about the specifications or broadness of the article.