/ MUSIC LYRICS AND COMMERCE
4, EN 2/3; 103-1 12
RTNOS
sic Lyrics and Connerce* Serial H. . .
BEFORE THE
SUBCOmilTTEE ON
COMMERCE, CONSUMER PROTECTION, AND
COMPETITIVENESS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
ENERGY AND COMMERCE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
FEBRUARY 11 and MAY 5, 1994
Serial No. 103-112
Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
82-668CC WASHINGTON : 1994
For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office
Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402
ISBN 0-16-044889-1
7
Y MUSIC LYRICS AND COMMERCE
4. EN 2/3:103-112
sic Lyrics and Connerce, Serial H. . . ^JA-ll^l ^JTO
cEFORE THE
SUBCOmnTTEE ON
COMMERCE, CONSUMER PROTECTION, AND
COMPETITIVENESS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
ENERGY AND COMMERCE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
FEBRUARY 11 and MAY 5, 1994
Serial No. 103-112
Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce
'"'em
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
82-668CC WASHINGTON : 1994
For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office
Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402
ISBN 0-16-04A889-1
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
DINGELL, Michigan, Chairman
CARLOS J. MOORHEAD, California
THOMAS J. BLILEY, Jr., Virginia
JACK FIELDS, Te:(a8
MICHAEL G. OXLEY, Ohio
MICHAEL BILIRAKIS, Florida
DAN SCHAEFER, Colorado
JOE BARTON, Texas
ALEX McMillan, North CaroUna
J. DENNIS HASTERT, Illinois
FRED UPTON, Michigan
CLIFF STEARNS, Florida
BILL PAXON, New York
PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio
SCOTT KLUG, Wisconsin
GARY A. FRANKS, Connecticut
JAMES C. GREENWOOD, Pennsylvania
MICHAEL D. CRAPO, Idaho
JOHN D
HENRY A. WAXMAN, Cahfornia
PHILIP R. SHARP, Indiana
EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts
AL SWIFT, Washington
CARDISS COLLINS, lUinois
MIKE SYNAR, Oklahoma
W.J. "BILLY" TAUZIN, Louisiana
RON WYDEN, Oregon
RALPH M. HALL, Texas
BILL RICHARDSON, New Mexico
JIM SLATTERY, Kansas
JOHN BRYANT, Texas
RICK BOUCHER, Virginia
JIM COOPER, Tennessee
J. ROY ROWLAND, Georgia
THOMAS J. MANTON, New York
EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York
GERRY E. STUDDS, Massachusetts
RICHARD H. LEHMAN, California
FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey
CRAIG A. WASHINGTON, Texas
LYNN SCHENK, California
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
MIKE KREIDLER, Washington
MARJORIE MARGOLIES-MEZVINSKY,
Pennsylvania
BLANCHE M. LAMBERT, Arkansas
Alan J. Roth, Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Dennis B. Fitzgibbons, Deputy Staff Director
Margaret A. Durbin, Minority Chief Counsel and Staff Director
Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Competitiveness
CARDISS COLLINS, Illinois, Chairwoman
EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York CLIFF STEARNS, Florida
JIM SLATTERY, Kansas ALEX MCMILLAN, North CaroUna
J. ROY ROWLAND, Georgia BILL PAXON, New York
THOMAS J. MANTON, New York JAMES C. GREENWOOD, Pennsylvania
RICHARD H. LEHMAN, Cahfornia CARLOS J. MOORHEAD, Cahfornia
FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey (Ex Officio)
JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan
(Ex Officio) '.
- -â– David Schooler, Staff Director / Chief Counsel
Angela Jackson, Counsel
Eddie T. Arnold, Special Assistant
'*- Douglas F. Bennett, Minority Counsel
Mary-Moore Hamrick, Minority Counsel
(II)
CONTENTS
Page
Hearings held on:
February 11, 1994 1
May 5, 1994 73
Testimony of:
Barrow, Andrea, co-host, In The Mix, WNYC TV, New York City 86
Coleman, Marvin J., outreach coordinator. In The Mix, WNYC TV, New
York City 76
ComeUus, Don, president, Don Cornelius Productions, Inc., Los Angeles
CA 19
Eley, Paris, senior vice president, Motown Records 128
Evans, Fred S., principal, Gaithersburg (MD) High School 141
George, Nelson, journalist 34
Glickson, Melanie, co-host. In The Mix, WNYC TV, New York City 84
Harleston, David, president, Rush Associated Labels 38
KeUey, Robin D.G., professor of history and Afiican American studies.
University of Michigan 143
Madison, Joseph E., syndicated talk show host, TPT News, Inc., Washing-
ton. DC 24
Riley, Tammy W., artist manager. Flavor Unit Management, Jersey City,
NJ 143
Rose, Tricia, assistant professor of history and Africana studies, New
York City University 145
Rosen, Hilary, president, Recording Industry Association of America 129
Singleton, Ernie, president, Black Music Division, MCA Records 36
Tucker, C. DeLores, chair. National Political Congress of Black Women ... 4
Waters, Maxine, a Representative in Congress from the State of Califor-
nia 63
Whitaker, Yolanda "Yo Yo", recording artist. East West Records 40
Material submitted for the record by:
Lipsitz, George: Statement 152
Warwick, Dionne: Statement 70
ail)
MUSIC LYRICS AND COMMERCE
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1994
House of Representatives,
Committee on Energy and Commerce,
Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer Protection,
AND Competitiveness,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room
2123, Raybum House Office Building, Hon. Cardiss Collins (chair-
woman) presiding.
Mrs. Collins. This hearing of the Energy and Commerce Sub-
committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Competitive-
ness will come to order.
Our first panel today will consist of Dr. C. DeLores Tucker, who
is the chair of the National Political Congress of Black Women. We
had invited the Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, IH, pastor of the Ab-
yssinian Baptist Church, but I understand he will be unable to at-
tend.
We have Mr. Don Cornelius, president of Don Cornelius Produc-
tions, Inc., Los Angeles, California; and we believe that Mr. Joseph
E. Madison, syndicated talk show host of TPT News, Inc., is on his
way.
Won't you come forward, please.
We are going to begin with you. Dr. Tucker. Let me say that the
subcommittee operates under a 5-minute rule. I think all of you
should be aware of the fact that you are given approximately 5
minutes to give your oral statement, with the full knowledge that
your entire statement will be made a part of the record.
Let me say this — prior to that time, we will have our opening
statements. The testimony rules are that each panelist is given 5
minutes in which to give an oral statement, which should really be
a summary of the full written statement. After that period of time,
the question-and-answer session begins. Anything you may not
have been able to say on the record at the time of your oral state-
ment may still become a part of the record because some things
you might have wanted to say may come out during the question-
and-answer period.
Good morning and welcome to today's hearing, which will be the
first in a series of hearings on the production, sale and distribution
in interstate commerce of music which contains sexually explicit,
violent and misogynistic lyrics. I am not here to legislate morality,
but I do believe that this series of hearings will raise the moral
consciousness of the country.
(1)
Parents and others have been questioning music lyrics for ages.
In fact, when I was 7 or 8 years old, I remember my grandmother
calling me an infidel because I was singing the lyrics of a Bessie
Smith song called "In the Dark." I didn't have any idea what those
lyrics meant, but I happened to have liked the music, so I was
singing it.
During the 1950's, I remember a song called "Work with Me,
Annie", by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, which was changed
to "Dance With Me, Annie", because the title was considered too
suggestive.
And of course, who can forget "Louie, Louie", banned because of
its alleged vulgarity.
Now, things are more serious. Rock and gangsta rap lyrics are
facing increasing scrutiny as concerned people and young people
themselves question the extent to which a whole generation of chil-
dren are being exposed to music that degrades women and pro-
motes violence and other antisocial behavior.
Some women are concerned about the extent to which the artists'
rights under the First Amendment are affecting their rights not to
be sexually harassed. In fact, the National Political Congress of
Black Women, Inc., requested these hearings.
Legislation to curtail the accessibility that minors have to music
with so-called "obscene or erotic lyrics" has been introduced in over
20 States. In 1987, the State of California brought the first "por-
nography rock" case when a parent complained to authorities that
her 14-year-old daughter gave her 11-year-old son a copy of the
Dead Kennedy's album that contained graphic depictions of various
sexual acts.
More recently, 2 Live Crew's album was the first recording de-
clared obscene by a U.S. District Court. This was later overturned
by the Court of Appeals. It is my understanding that some of to-
day's recording artists such as Flava Flav, Tupac Shakur and
Snoop Doggy Dogg have found themselves in legal trouble for en-
gaging in the behavior about which they sing.
Many of you here probably remember the Senate Commerce
Committee's 1985 hearings on rock music lyrics. Frank Zappa, Dee
Snider of Twisted Sister, and John Denver testified. Those hearings
brought unprecedented attention to and documented the morally
offensive, sexually explicit and satanic lyrics of rock music.
Today, we will explore the morally offensive, sexually explicit,
violent and misogynist l3rrics of gangsta rap. Parents, teenagers
and other concerned citizens are outraged about the references to
women — particularly Afro-American women — in profane, deroga-
tory and foul language. They are concerned about the gratuitous vi-
olence — ^which typically shows people as perpetrators of violence
against women and otners. They are concerned about the sexually
explicit and graphic language.
The National Political Congress of Black Women, Inc. and others
have picketed local retailers and gathered signatures for petitions
to be submitted to the recording companies. Some radio and tele-
vision stations have decided not to play this music and some retail-
ers will not sell these recordings to minors.
People are complaining, yet no one in the industry seems to be
listening and taking the complaints seriously.
Congress is listening.
Make no mistake, hip hop and rap are very important forms of
music. We can't forget that this music has given a voice to a large
number of young people. It has greatly increased the number of
young Americans working in the recording industry. Hip hop and
rap music generally are not the focus today. At issue today is that
subcategory of rap called gangsta rap.
No one is arguing that recording artists should not express their
views concerning the world around them. However, when an end-
less stream of negative images reaches your children, there is a se-
rious problem.
It has been reported that some artists find it necessary to resort
to vulgarity and sexually explicit lyrics in order to obtain contracts
with recording companies. When positive rappers cannot get re-
cording contracts unless they become gangsta rappers, there is a
very serious problem.
When there is more emphasis on making money from negative,
degrading and demeaning images than presenting the positive mes-
sages that rappers want to send, there is, again, a serious problem.
As a response to the 1985 rock lyrics controversy, the recording
companies started voluntarily labeling some of the explicit record-
ings. This was an important, commendable step. Yet, I cannot help
but point out the fact that 9 years after Senate hearings, policy-
makers are being forced to revisit the issue of negative lyrics be-
cause citizens are incensed, and it is clear that more needs to be
done.
While we must ensure that all citizens are free to exercise their
First Amendment rights, we must also remember that the govern-
ment has legitimate interests in protecting its youngest citizens.
Policymakers take this responsibility very seriously. Currently,
Congress has been investigating the access that children have to
television violence and video game violence. Many States prohibit
the sale of pornographic magazines to children and the Federal
Communications Commission can require that television and radio
programs that contain indecent speech be regulated for broadcast
during hours when children are unlikely to be listening to the me-
dium.
I invite the recording industry to enter into a dialogue with this
subcommittee and other citizens about voluntary measures that
can be taken to ensure that both First Amendment rights are pro-
tected and children are protected from music that may not be ap-
propriate for certain age groups. I encourage the industry to exer-
cise greater responsibility in this area.
In future hearings, the subcommittee will investigate the effects
of negative music lyrics on children and the views of the retailers
and broadcasters that disseminate this music. The subcommittee
will also hear testimony from the young people that listen to this
music. I am so committed to hearing from the young people, that
I have invited students from local high schools to attend this hear-
ing. I have a teen adviser sitting right behind me, giving me feed-
back on the issues surrounding this debate. His name is Thaddeus
E. Arnold.
I applaud the concerned citizens here today for bringing this
issue to national attention, and I commend them for having the
foresight to see the continuous flow of demeaning negative images
distributed to young people as a problem worthy of attack.
I want to assure the industry that the purpose of these hearings
is not to bash the recording industry. As many of you know, I intro-
duced and successfully moved the Audio Home Recording Act,
which became law last Congress. I will continue to support the in-
dustry when it is warranted, but I must also speak out about the
industry when that too is warranted.
[The prepared statement of Hon. Cliff Steams follows:]
Statement of Hon. Cuff Stearns
Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I commend you for holding this hearing. Like
many others here today, I am deeply troubled by the music lyrics which all ttw often
seem to advocate violence and sexual abuse.
I have a strong and abiding faith in the Constitution of the United States, and
I believe deeply in the First Amendment. But as Oliver Wendell Holmes said 70
years ago, "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man
falsely snouting 'fire' in a crowded theater thereby causing panic."
As I read lyrics from many popular songs and see the violence and perversion in
much of our society today, I can t help but wonder if the words and images in the
popular media aren't contributing to the moral erosion of our communities.
I had the opportunity yesterday to visit with representatives of the recording in-
dustry, most of whom are here today. They told me that because the Is^rics in much
of todia/s "gangsta rap" reflect the realities of the inner city, blaming the rappers
and producers is like shooting the messenger while ignoring the message. But
music, as we all know, is a powerful medium, and when used to advocate me deg-
radation of women or the murder of police officers, those who write and produce
such music must acknowledge that the medium, to some degree, becomes the mes-
sage.
Madam Chairwoman, I do not know what we in Congress can do to address this
problem. In Florida, we have actively sought to prosecute those who distribute ob-
scene music, just as we have with tnose who distribute pornography to our youth.
The courts overturned the verdict in the "2 Live Crew" obscenity case, yet many feel
something must be done to stop the production of violent, misogynistic material, and
they feel this way whether it's music or film or printed material.
Artists must have the right to produce freely and without fear of censorship. But
we as a people must also have the right to protect ourselves and our children fi*om
material that is obscene, brutal, and nihilistic. Perhaps we can begin a dialogue
today to help us produce a solution to this seemingly intractable problem. I hope
so, and I Iook forward to hearing fi"om our witnesses.
Thank you. Madam Chairwoman.
Mrs. Collins. I want to thank all of the witnesses who are ap-
pearing, and I look forward to hearing vour testimony today.
We will now begin with you, Dr. Tucker.
STATEMENTS OF C. DeLORES TUCKER, CHAIR, NATIONAL PO-
LITICAL CONGRESS OF BLACK WOMEN; DON CORNELIUS,
PRESIDENT, DON CORNELIUS PRODUCTIONS; AND JOSEPH
E. MADISON, SYNDICATED TALK SHOW HOST, TPT NEWS
Ms. Tucker. Thank you very much.
The Honorable Cardiss Collins and members of the Subcommit-
tee on Commerce Consumer Protection and Competitiveness, I
thank you for the opportunity to testify and to raise my concerns
for the welfare of the young people of this Nation. I speak as the
chair of the National Political Congress of Black Women, a non-
profit, nonpartisan organization for the political and economic
empowerment of African-American women and their families.
As I prayerfully prepared my testimony for this important con-
gressional hearing, which was courageously convened by Congress-
woman Cardiss Collins, I was consumed by a penetrating thought.
The thought was this. If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the moral
leader and conscience of this Nation, were alive today he would be
leading a nationwide crusade to restore the deteriorating moral
values of this Nation.
Again, it would be Dr. King who would be marching and dem-
onstrating against the glamorization of violence and its corrupting
influence, which has now become a part of our culture in the name
of freedom. This freedom, freedom from responsibility and account-
ability, is not the kind of freedom that Dr. King, Medgar Evers,
John Lewis, James Farmer, Rosa Parks and so many others risked
their lives for.
Indeed, Dr. King would be deeply saddened by those in our com-
munity who abuse and misuse the freedom of speech by dehuman-
izing, demeaning and degrading our own women. Dr. King would
take offense to have African Americans who for decades fought
against stereot3rpical "Amos and Andy" and "Aunt Jemima" images,
now be the subject of public disrespect as a result of the messages
heralded by gangsta rap.
So, Congresswoman Collins and members of this congressional
subcommittee, I come to you in the spirit of Dr. King and on behalf
of millions of African American women, women who should not be
seen as objects of disdain, but rather as grandmothers, mothers,
sisters, aunts and daughters who demand respect and who demand
that the human decency and dignity that is defended and protected
for other members of Ajnerican society should not be so freely com-
promised in our case.
Yes, images that degrade our dignity and insult our children and
families concern us too, as any other self-respecting member of so-
ciety. Even if it comes out of our own mouths, the gangsta rap and
misogynist lyrics that glorify violence and denigrate women is
nothing more than pornographic smut. And with the release of
Snoop Doggy Dogg's debut album, "Doggystyle", that includes the
graphic artwork that is in the room here today that is sold with
it.
Because this pornographic smut is in the hands of our children,
it coerces, influences, encourages and motivates our youth to com-
mit violent behavior, to use drugs and abuse women through de-
meaning sex acts. The reality of the 1990s is that the greatest fear
in the African American community does not come from earth-
quake, floods or fires, but from violence, the kind of violence that
has already transformed our communities and schools into war
zones where children are dodging bullets, instead of balls, and
planning their own funerals.
This explains why so many of our children are out of control and
why we have more black males in jail than we have in college. As
an illustration of this, let me share with you excerpts from a letter
that I received from a prisoner in Lorton, Virginia.
He said, "Rappers make it sound so good and look so real that
I would drink and smoke drugs just like on the video, thinking that
was the only way that I could be somebody. My hood girls became
ho's and bitches. What is so bad is, they accepted it, and you know
why? Because they put themselves in the video, too, and the guns,
money, cars, drugs and men became reality. But look where this
kind of thinking has gotten me — facing 25 years to life in jail."
6
Enough is enough. I am here today to put the Nation on notice
that the proliferation of violence and unacceptable sexual messages
in our youth's music is due in large part to the avarice of the
record industry. The record industry is now demanding in many of
their contracts that these messages of degradation be in the music
of the artist. The record industry is out of control.
Something must be done to stop the financing and promoting of
this cultural plague that is infecting the minds of our most valu-
able asset, our children. I am sa3dng that principle must come be-
fore profit.
For 400 years, profit came before principle as African Americans
bore the brunt of slave-masters' degradation. But even through the
middle passage and the brutality of slavery the spirit of African
American families was not broken — our sense of humanity and mo-
rality remained intact.
Today, however, our morality, which has been our last vestige of
strength, is being threatened. Lyrics out of the mouths of our own
children display no respect for African American women, and as
such, the souls of our sisters are being destroyed, and so, too, their
progeny.
Others want to argue about the First Amendment right to free
speech. They further argue these artists should be allowed to speak
about their reality and the degrading conditions of the ghetto. As
Terri Rossi of Billboard Magazine observed in her article in that
magazine, that would allow to us pound defeat into America's psy-
che and meanwhile do nothing to alleviate the degrading condi-
tions.
As I see it, there are three things that prevent gangsta rap from
being a freedom of speech issue. Number one, it is obscene; number
two, it is obscene; and number three, it is oljscene. In my view, it
was never intended by the Founding Fathers of this Nation that
First Amendment rights be for the protection of obscenities. Con-
sistent with this, in 1992, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that
it was more important to ban speech that is dehumanizing to
women than to protect free speech.
Obscenity has long been an exception to free speech. If the filth
that is depicted in the cartoon displayed in front of you is not ob-
scene, then I submit that nothing is obscene.
I am personally aware of one little girl, a fifth grader at St.
Augustine's Catholic school here in Washington, DC, who walked
into a record store and purchased the Snoop Doggy Dogg CD which
contains the pornographic artwork displayed before you on the
easel. In fact, her principal is here in the audience. It is appalling
that a child can walk into a record store and purchase this kind
of smut, which includes an 800 number that can be called 24 hours
a day for ordering Snoop Doggy Dogg pornographic merchandise.
No one — I say it again, no one has the right to poison our chil-
dren's minds and poison their values. That is why NPCBW and our
supporters, which number 8 million people from all the organiza-
tions it is endorses, will continue to demonstrate and do whatever
is iiDcessary to prevent this cultural garbage from being sold to our
children.
In closing, I wish to quote from an extraordinary and historic
editorial published by Billboard Magazine, a whole page. This is
the Bible of the industry. It said this: "No one form of popular
music is important enough to justify or excuse racism, sexual big-
otry and the endorsement of sociopathic violence. Such leads to the
death of the conscience, corruption of the spirit, and will ultimately
destroy the individual and the community."
Finally, no one and no industry should be allowed to continue
this social and psychological genocide of the women and the young
minds of this Nation. So I say to you again, the record industry is
out of control. And if it has to be regulated, so be it.
Thank you very much.
Mrs. Collins. Your time has expired. We are having trouble
with the lights up here. We are going to use this clock, so when
the bell goes off it means the time has expired. Of course, you may
finish your sentence or thought but we want to be fair to everyone.
[Testimony resumes on p. 19.]
[The attachments to the prepared statement of Ms. Tucker fol-