To think that the parental advisory sticker is a modern day invention is comedic. During the 80’s, which is when the advisory label was created, we were transitioning into our most progressive era in music and culture. Drug usage was rampant and accepted as a way of life for many artists in this era, and the music was a fierce cry out for help. Hip-hop was the ‘CNN’ for Black people as rapper Ice Cube aptly described it. But ironically hip-hop artists were not the first to bear the explicit lyric warning; it was Prince’s Purple Rain in 1984.

A lot of rock music in the 80’s made the “Filthy Fifteen” list created by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), a committee formed by parents and wives of the Washington, D.C. elite to combat the issue of violence, drug use and sex in music. They argued that the music was too accessible to children, making it that much more difficult for parent’s to filter what it is they listen to. The label was created to give purchasers the option of knowing that an album has explicit lyrics. It’s intent was not to censor, but to give parents some kind of indicator for music that their children shouldn’t be listening to.

Of course, many of the artists felt it was censoring them. Frank Zappa from the band The Mothers of Invention felt it “infringed on the civil liberties” of American people and music buyers across the world that were not underage. Zappa didn’t see how this protected children. However, what Zappa failed to realize is that without these labels, I’m sure that the state of our youth today would have happened much sooner had we not had the parental advisory sticker. Children shouldn’t listen to a lot of the music we hear today at all. It’s not age appropriate and, further more, they have their whole lives to know what it is these adults are talking about.

Many of the artists that testified against Senate during the hearings to put this law in place – a law that all 19 of the major labels at the time agreed to – grew up as children not having to worry about explicit lyrics. That was mainly due to the fact that the content of music during the early 40’s and 50’s had a subtly and coyness to it and America was much more conservative. We had a respect for the general public and our society enough to not need to be so implicit in the lyrics. They were creative, as artists are meant to be, and used their music to express that. As time progressed, the filter became non-existent, and artist were lazy in their ability to express sex and relationships, or lack thereof without spelling it all out.

How are parents supposed to keep their children from being overexposed to content they have no business hearing when the option to know the lyrics contain explicit lyrics is not available to them? In no way was the PMRC controlling what it is these artists were saying. As musicians, I am fully aware that they are highly sensitive about their music and don’t like to feel like their talent is being restrained. However, it is irresponsible of them to think that advisory labels censored them. It simply filters out the music so that the appropriate ears hear it.

I couldn’t imagine a world today without that parental advisory label, and the youth of today have access to the music with advisory labels thanks to the internet. Parents have to work overtime to keep the innocence of their children even with the label plastered across an enormous amount of the musical content in our nation. So to think that it censor’s artists in any fashion is ludicrous. Artists are able to say whatever it is they want to say, but they are so detached from their listeners that they are not aware of the consequences their lyrics have.