50
. . .
or by regulation. Fortunately, the be-all and end-all of the
United States is not legislation that is enacted by Congress.
I think the point of the hearings is to provide a forum for airing
what a lot of people perceive of as a real problem.
Senator EXON. Well, Mr. Chairman, that may well be and that
may well be an intention of what the Congress should or should
not do. As one member of the Congress, I think that we indulge in
too many publicity events that are far beyond the scope of regulation
and legislation, which I think is our primary purpose.
The CHAIRMAN. Senator Kasten.
Senator KASTEN. Mr. Chairman, thank you. I have no questions
at this time.
The CHAIRMAN. Senator Hawkins?
Senator HAWKINS. Mrs. Baker, this is one Senator who feels that
there is no absolute right to free speech. It has been my experience
no one has the absolute right to yell "Fire" in a theater which is
not on fire.
I believe no one has the right to poison our children with the
kinds of lyrics that you have shown this committee so graphically
today.
And to get back to my original tenet, I would like to know, in
your experiences as mothers, where did your children first hear of
the record that they asked for the money to purchase? Did they
hear that on MTV? Did they see the videotape preview on MTV?
Or was it on a radio station?
Mrs. BAKER. Well, my 8 year old hears music on her clock-radio.
I mean, she does not have tapes and records at this stage in her
life, but she does listen to the radio.
Senator HAWKINS. And then from that she decides she would like
the entire album?
Mrs. BAKER. Yes, that is right.
Senator HAWKINS. So the original exposure to this kind
Mrs. BAKER. Well, Senator, I will say this, that basically most
broadcasters are very responsible. There are a few hard rock
stations that play things that are pornographic, but basically your
main stations do not play the worst offenders.
They will play a song on an album that will get into the top 40
and maybe have some violence or sexually explicit lyrics on the
album. They will not play, generally, a song that is sexually explicit.
Times are changing, though, because recently Sheena Easton's
"Sugar Walls," which is really a fairly graphic song about female
genital arousal, has been on the charts and it is played 10 to 12
times a day. That is one of our concerns, that this is becoming
more and more mainstream, and we feel this is the time to talk
about it.
Senator HAWKINS. And if the labeling took place as you have
requested, do you envision that prior to the disc jockey playing that
on the radio that he would read the label?
Mrs. BAKER. Well, I will tell you. All program directors know
exactly what they are playing on their records. They do not need a
. . .
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