If you’re not familiar with the prolific Frank Zappa featured above, here’s a brief history lesson. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works, directed feature-length films, music videos and even designed album covers. Equally impressive, is that he produced almost all of the more than 60 albums he released with the band The Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. But what I truly love about Frank Zappa, is that on September 19, 1985 he testified before the United States Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the Parents Music Resource Center – a music organization co-founded by Tipper Gore, wife of then-senator Al Gore. The PMRC was founded to address the issue of song lyrics with!252?id=216340sexual or satanic content. Naughty naughty. Zappa (quite rightly) saw their activities as on a path towards censorship, and called their proposal for voluntary labeling of records with explicit content “extortion” of the music industry. Soon after he became the voice of anti-censorship & freedom of creative expression – which lead to his iconic appearance on “CNN’s Crossfire” show where he debated that music videos, songs and recordings about remain uncensored. I’ll let the man and his views speak for themselves in the footage from that show – but simply put, I agree 110% with him.
