Five Cent Sound 10 Year Anniversary Issue

“Rock music destroys kids.”

“Will your child be the next victim?”

“Rock music: public enemy #1” These phrases marked some of the absurdities that could be read on posters carried proudly by the herd of uniform-clad Catholic school children, planted outside the Senate hearings against rock music on September 19, 1985. On this momentous day in history, the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) successfully wormed their way onto the Senate floor and fought against the “devil’s music” in order to protect the nation’s vulnerable children from explicit music. Despite their requests being highly unconstitutional, they garnered a devout following that supported them throughout the hearings — until they didn’t.

In order to understand how all of the PMRC’s efforts came to a head on this fateful day nearly forty years ago, we need to go back to the very beginning of the organization, along with the four self-proclaimed “Washington Wives” who founded it. Susan Baker, Pam Howar and Sally Nevius came together under the leadership of the obstinate Tipper Gore, who felt outraged when she bought her young daughter a copy of Prince’s Purple Rain.

The album contained the provocative song “Darling Nikki,” which made frequent references to masturbation and other sexual content. Highly offended by the lyrics and frustrated by the lack of warning, Gore decided to found the PMRC. The group promptly released a list of the most explicit songs of the time, titled “The Filthy Fifteen” — of which “Darling Nikki” ranked at the top.

The PMRC then went on to propose a list of demands to the United States Senate, which included making a rating system much like that of movies and requiring lyrics of explicit songs to be printed on the sleeves of records.

This would allow for ample warning of edgy content by ensuring that no surprises hid from the public eye and hyperactive parents.

But here’s the catch: each of the four founding members of the PMRC held ties to prominent figures in Washington 17