V
                                  SUMMARY

A. We know that music affects behavior.  Anyone who says, "I listen to heavy
   metal, hut it doesn't affect me"  is simply wrong.  Granted, it affects
   different people to different degrees and in different ways.  The healthy,
   stable, mature personality may, in fact, be minimally affected by heavy
   metal.  But many, especially teenagers and pre-teens, are still shaping
   their self-identities.  They are malleable, beset by internal and external
   conflicts about authority (especially parents), drugs, sex, theology, edu-
   cation, etc.  They are in the process of defining who and what they are.
   At such a time, heavy metal's influence can be significant.

   What should we as a society do to protect minors from the negative, often
   outright pornographic influences of heavy metal?  What can we do?  Parental
   awareness (and hopefully resultant counter-influences) is a desirable first
   step.  But this can be ineffective.  By his very nature, the teenager often
   does exactly the opposite of what the parent suggests.  Anything stronger
   than suggestion (such as outright control) often leads to full-scale
   rebellion (especially if heavy metal music has already pounded its message
   in).

   Can society in general (through its elected officials) help?  Maybe.  But
   what about the first amendment to the Constitution?  While we must protect
   our first amendment freedoms, we must also protect minors from the abuse
   of those freedoms.  The first amendment is not a blank check!  There are
   legal, constitutional limitations.  Any freedom carries responsibilities.
   Use of the public airwaves for pornographic and immoral purposes, especial-
   ly when aimed at minors, must be controlled somehow.  Open retail availability
   of pornographic records should be treated just as any other retail of por-
   nography (books, "adult" movies, etc.).

   Given the American philosophy, we have awarded the so-called creative
   artist a wide berth.  We have given them more than the proverbial inch;
   and they have taken more than the proverbial mile.  Indeed, our prior
   liberality may go a long way toward explaining how we have arrived at this
   unhappy point today.

   Somehow we must send a strong message to the recording and radio industries:
   "Enough is enough!  You have gone too far."  Parents, teachers, ministers,
   and civic leaders are fighting this scourge all over the country.  We plead
   for help from city councils, radio stations, advertisers, retailers, and
   the record industry itself!

   I hope that this committee will find a way to send a message to the industry:
   "Clean up your act or we will do it for you!"  In the words of Twisted
   Sister, "We're not gonna take it anymore!"