Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness Against Thy Neighbor

FZ:

Well, to the record industry it means a little bit more hope for their bill—and I don't think that it's, it's not a sure thing that their bill will pass even because they bent over, because look at what the tactic was, they say, "Here's our demands." The record company says, "Well, I can't do 'em all. I'll do this one." They said, "Not good enough! So we're gonna have this hearing, and we're gonna need legislation to bring you all into line." Now, at this point, maybe, I hope that people realize that a mistake has been made.

The biggest mistake, though, is the first of these albums is already on the street. Polydor released a stickered album this week. Everybody's really anxious to bend over here. And the broadcasters have been totally fake about their responsibility in this thing. You know what they say? "We demand that the record companies put those lyrics on the record!" You know, it's like they've been tricked all along, "We never knew what Sheena Easton was saying!"

I mean, do they really think that anybody believes that a record comes in the mail to the radio station, it comes down a chute, and it's adjusted like this and just floats onto a turntable? You know, to the dismay of an unknowing disc jockey? You know, let's face it, people pay money to get things on the radio—It is not easy to get things on the radio. The playlist is very small.

Those records have been screened and screened and screened, and if they say something that you find offensive, it is a conscious decision on the part of the programmer at the station because he knows that if they play it the ratings are gonna go up and the value of that broadcast property is going to go up, and that's all the broadcasters care about. For them to pass the buck back to the record company and say, "You didn't warn us!", is totally bogus.