European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 21, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Music Rock n Roll How dangerous is it by Mikal Cilmore King features  if you had scripted it it would he hard to come up with a timelier or worse turn of events. For weeks a Washington d.c., group of powerfully connected concerned citizens who Call themselves the parents musical resource Center but who Are More informally and accurately known As the Washington wives had been raising a storm Over the sexual and violent imagery of Rock music and videos with the aim of pressuring record companies and National broadcasters into a collective exercise of sell censorship. Pop has gotten out of hand they claim and because much of its audience is Young and presumably impressionable it possesses a startling potential in fact predilection for corrupting the morals of its fans. Consequently the wives want All pop music perused and rated a for profane a for violent of for occult plus they want the most provoking songs yanked off the airwaves and if the music Industry won t cooperate they warn perhaps Congress will. During the same period that this movement was gathering Force and attention a killer was traversing Southern California raping bludgeoning murdering people in their sleep leaving a vast Community angry and terrified. There were few clues to this person s identity or personality except that at the scene of one crime he had left a hat emblazoned with the Symbol acc the name of an australian hard Rock band that made hedonistic music with occasional menacing overtones. As it develops the hat was t so much a clue As a for Token of Media hysteria following the arrest of Richard Ramirez the Man who is the accused night stalker reports came fast and hard that he had indeed been an acc fan and that he had been particularly affected obsessed was How most reports put it by a song called night prowler a horror movie Type account of nocturnal crime. Unfortunately this fact was made to carry More significance than was warranted local newspapers and newscasts carried features detailing the song s lyrics As if they were searching this evidence for an explanation to the stalker s horrible crimes. Some reports went further could a song like this push somebody Over the Edge asked some to reporters. What was particularly galling about All this was the surprising misinformation spread in Many of the reports. If anything it was an example of the news Media Reading the surface of a medium Rock n Roll they have Little understanding for and failing to go any deeper. Thus acc an Over the Hill but respectably rousing heavy Metal outfit became a satanist group because of such album titles As Highway to hell and a photo depicting one member in showy Devil s horns. The truth is beyond a display of sinister bravado a commonplace of heavy Metal style there in t anything genuinely menacing or satanic in either the group s stance or repertoire and reporters could have discovered that by doing More than cribbing each other s sensationalistic coverage or by simply examining the band s work a Little More carefully. But perhaps the most asinine As Well As damaging example of misrepresentation was the widely reported assertion that the group s initials stood for anti Christ Devil s child or according to another source after Christ the Devil  us hey folks acc is an electrical term the band s logo even includes an electrical Volt. These Guys play loud and powerful electric music indeed electricity is the Lifeblood of heavy Metal. Acc Means High voltage electricity get it the group has never hinted at any other possible interpretation of its name not even the is acc satanist or just Plain silly f obvious bisexual reference tha. The initials also sometimes stand for. There Are any number of bad Side effects to this kind of reportage and speculation including thai it tends to simplify the real Complex and More awful reasons a Man like the stalker would commit such atrocities. But because i am a pop critic and pop fan i have a partisan interest in the matter i think it bad raps Rock n Roll distorts its Content and Aims makes it seem like a nefarious secret world with an unhealthy maybe deadly effect. This in t to say that some heavy Metal does t brandish fairly troubling violent even Necromantic imagery nor is it to say that one should t be critical of such stupidity. But it is a great leap to divine that such music endorses or might actually inspire murder and it is a terrible thing to suggest that acc or any other group is responsible for the dementia of its fans. How Many parents came away from All these reports fearing heavy Metal almost As much As they had feared the stalker it must have seemed to some As if a terrible evil was already within their Homes. This is of course the very message that the Washington wives would have us to believe that much of Rock has become a dangerous influence and should be More actively scanned by concerned parents and by the Industry that profits from it. The wives claim they Are not seeking censorship but merely a ratings system similar to that which oversees movie releases. But if they get their wish they will in effect be limiting Rock music As it has never been limited before radio and to would be discouraged perhaps prohibited from playing a or a rated material such songs according to the Pyrc As Prince s Darling Nikki Madonna s like a Virgin twisted sister s we re not Gonna take land Bruce Springsteen s i m on fir and if anything is Plain it is that music that does not get airplay is music that  not reach an audience. In time if an artist is unable to reach an audience unable to sell a record unable under the Pyrc s guidelines even to have his or her record displayed if its cover is deemed offensive or suggestive the record companies will Stop supporting such an artist. What this Means is that we Are looking at the Prospect of a system that May face the pop mainstream to comply to regulated moral and perhaps political standards. If Only wholesome music As Pyrc activist Kandy Stroud terms it can reach an audience Over the airwaves then eventually record companies will Start cutting their losses by recording or releasing Only who Somo products. True this May not have much  on Prince or Springsteen but what about All tin future princes and Brucks vrho May never get the Hance to win their own audiences does All this sound alarmist Well consider this the Pyrc has already won major concessions from Edward Fritts president of the National  of broadcasters who at the wives request has asked record companies to furnish radio stations with Lyric sheets for All new releases. The Pyrc also has won grudging but significant acknowledgement from Stanley Gortikov president of the recording Industry association of America. He has told some record executives that Given the wives political clout the Industry must nuke some compromises. More important the wives have convinced the . Senate Commerce committee to schedule hearings on their concerns. In addition Only a few radio programmers and record Label presidents have yet gone on record opposing the wives demands. In fact As of just a few Days ago 19 major record labels had agreed to Start marking All potentially controversial new releases with some sort of warning sticker. All this May not seem so serious if you already despise the music of Prince Madonna or acc and Many Rock fans do but any movement or Power that is big enough to limit or censor Prince and acc is also big enough to do the same to Bruce Springsteen. In fact once some folks figure out that Springsteen s politics Are not the exposition of Sunshine nationalism they imagine them to be that born in the .a. Is an angrier and More pent up song than anything acc Ever conceived of Bruce May seem an especially desirable target. So if you Don t wat to have a group of priggish activists telling you v. Hat you can can t hear on radio it might not be such a bad idea to write your congressman or favorite record Label and say so. It also would t be so bad to let the Media know when they distort the meaning of your favorite artists whether it s interpreting acc As satanists or Springsteen As a jingoism. November 21,1985 stripes Magazine 17