Thou Shalt Not Make Unto Thee Any Graven Image—Any Likeness Of Anything In Heaven Above, Nor In The Earth Beneath, Nor In The Water Under The Earth

FZ:

Well, it's as simple as this: the PMRC goes to the record industry and extorts them, ok? You have a bill that's got to go to Thurmond's committee—you either do this or something bad is gonna happen. You know, it wasn't printed out like that on an invitation, but you know they do give you the "nudge, nudge, wink, wink," and, you know, you're supposed to be, "Hey, well, I'm a sophisticated adult individual, I get the picture." It's extortion!

All right, so, presto, here comes the generic label (BORN AGAIN) "Parental Guidance/Explicit Lyrics," whatever it is. They think it's mild. I think it's hideous, because it's taking my rights. Nobody called me up and said, "Hey, Frank, how would you like to help make a number of major record companies a little richer by giving up your rights?" And here's what the fallout of this has been in terms of the retailer, because, you know, who's talking about the retailer here? Look what happened to the retailer.

In a discussion with Mark Puma, Twisted Sister's manager—so I've talked to him and he tells me that he had a conversation with the guy from the Camelot chain—Camelot is a retail outlet for records, 400 stores, something like that, in malls across the United States. With no legislation, with no sticker yet, they have already been told by the mall owners association, "If you rack a hard rated album you're gonna lose your lease." Okay?

And at the California Copyright Conference the other night, when I was speaking, I met a guy from Capitol. He told me that people in his sales department had already been told by major retail chains, "We won't rack an album with any sticker on it."

So, what do you think is gonna happen? Just because they gave in on the sticker. What records will go into the store? I'll tell you what records will go into the store. If the rule is, "No record with any sticker in the store," there is only one kind that gets to go in, and that's country & western. Because they have said they don't want to rate country & western music. Even though it talks about sex, violence, alcohol, the Devil, everything they complain about in rock 'n roll. And mixed in such a way that you can hear every word and sung to you by people who've been to prison and are proud of it. Okay?

They don't want to rate this music. Now, why? You have a husband and wife team from Tennessee. This is a major industry in Tennessee. It's the Nashville contribution. Can you help us all out down here? If everybody else's record goes off the shelf, what are you stickin' on? A lot of Dolly Parton, right? There it goes!