Re: Sinful music

[katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Kansas City)]

Chris here,
    OK, I confess. I wrote the Tipper piece and sent it through a friend's
account. I made a mistake in editing his .login file and his name appeared
on the post. I hope people found it amusing or at least a tiny bit thought
provoking. We were watching CNN and watched a story about the latest attempt
on the first amendment by the Parent's Music Resource Center. It seems that
they want warning stickers to specifically mention what they and their
hench(wo)men find offensive about the record in question. Here is the
contents of the sticker in Pennsylvania:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                 WARNING:
                 This recording may contain lyrics descriptive
                        of or advocating one or more
                            of the following:
suicide
incest
bestiality
sadomasochism
sexual activity in a violent context
murder
morbid violence
illegal use of drugs or alcohol

                                 PARENTAL
                                 ADVISORY
------------------------------------------------------------------------------               The words "warning" and "parental" "advisory" are
             5" by 1" each on a sticker the same "railroad orange"
            color that credit card companys use for "final demand"
                  notices. The entire sticker is 6" by 9".


   I watched this and I thought, hey, they've just described a large number
of Kate songs! So I grabbed my handy-dandy copy of "The Complete Kate" (no
home should be without one) and went through it with a nosy, suspicious,
hateful attitude, just like a PMRC staffer would. I don't know if many Kate
fans have thought about Kate in terms that the PMRC would. On her first album
she had themes of incest, murder, supernaturalism and lots and lots of sex.
Now most of the sex in Kate's work is loving and non-violent, I don't count
on the PMRC seeing it my way. I don't trust these people to understand, for
instance, that the "Hounds of Love" are metaphorical. They would just see a
woman lying on a bed snuggling up to two large dogs. And I'm not to clear on
what sort of violence they would consider "morbid". Would "The Wedding List"
count? I'm just pointing out that these self-appointed censors are not noted
for their sensitivity to musical nuances. They don't know Heavy-Metal from
Punk, Rap from Hip-Hop, or Kate from Kylie. _No one_ is safe.

                               Chris Williams of
                                  Chris'n'Vickie of
                                     Kansas City, Mo.
                                        katefans@world.std.com

 A postscript on the traffic that this post generated.

  Susan L. Cecelia Harwood writes:
> Tell me, oh *please* tell me this is a joke.

  Nate Hess replies:
> If you re-read the ostensible signature on the last line of that post,
> you'll find that he already did tell you.

.ica.fib. I stole it from Chevy Chase.

  Bob Rogers writes:
> Much stuff deleted... This person must have too much time on thier
> hands. While this is obviously a joke it depicts a wierd sense of
> humor. Is this someones relative?

 I may have too much time on my hands, but it only took an hour to write.
I have a weird sense of humor. I am related to a lot of people. I have
a good spell-checker.

  Meredith Tarr writes:
> That list of "sinful music" HAS to be a joke.  Tipper Gore wouldn't know a
> computer keyboard if it jumped out and screamed obscenities at her.

  Meredith, I wouldn't dismiss the possibility of Tipper being computer
literate out of hand. Her husband Albert Gore is one of the more
technically astute Senators around. I like his stand on home satellite
viewing rights. Just wish his wife had a different hobby.

 cs225ax@UX1.CSO.UIUC.EDU (Ken.")
> This is obviously a slam on the stupid (IMHO) warning label stuff flying
> around. A+ for a joke, though.  The label thing really rubs me the wrong
> way.

 Thanks. Glad someone got it. I guess my humor is too dry or warped for
most folks. Oh well.