The Scapegoat Genres

As I read Dr. Jenkins' "A Beautiful Mind" and worked my way through much of Tupac's incredible catalog on youtube, I remembered the catalytic events that inspired my own lifelong fandom of heavy metal and punk rock.

In the mid-eighties, The Parents Music Resource Center hearings broadcast through the small, square-screened Sony television in our family den. Despite the fact that I was still in elementary school, I watched the formal proceedings with rapt attention. Frank Zappa, John Denver, and Dee Snyder took turns intelligently tearing down the gross exaggerations and misinterpretations of the "Washington Wives" (namely Tipper Gore and Susan Baker) concerned more with their husbands' political careers, no doubt, than with the need to supposedly 'save' the nation's susceptible children through the censorship of violent and sexual and profane lyrical content. As I recall Oprah suggested when she hosted members of the PMRC alongside The Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra, the censorship labels would likely draw more young fans to buying albums with explicit content. This was certainly true in my case; I used to hoard my small allowance, hop on the Free Pace Bus to Golf Mill Mall, and find older loitering teens to purchase my list of cassettes all marked with that enticing scarlet letter. Even though I was personally labeled as a headbanger, and later a punk, all of my misfit friends and I naturally welcomed gangsta rap and hip hop into our music libraries. The often controversial genres, the scapegoat genres (blamed for everything from inner-city violence to school shooting and teen suicide), reflect the underdogs in part (as JJ and Wilentz discussed), but more generally reveal the intellectual and perceptive powers of citizen-artists who are fully awake to the oppressive and suppressive systems at play in our shared society—and they're not willing to keep their mouths and eyes shut.

Here—join me in the journey through some of the PMRC-related web adventures this unit sent me on:

The PMRC Hearings: Dee Snyder

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8FbBpvoYKpc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Urban Dictionary definitions for the PMRC

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=PMRC

Dead Kennedys: "California, Uber Alles"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW8UlY8eXCk&feature=share&list=AL94UKMTqg-9CSd5U3bKUXquneynGiLDPe

Jello Biafra and Tipper Gore: The PMRC on Oprah

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/L_SiOnt_Oxo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Jello Biafra Interview: Soft Focus

http://www.vice.com/soft-focus/jello-biafra

(Elizabeth A)