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It was my pleasure to meet with radio programmers and broadcasters
from all over the country this past week in Dallas. They expressed
their concern about this issue and the direction in which it
seemed to be going. They also expressed their willingness to practice
the discipline and self-restraint that I mentioned earlier, especially
when they were given direction by their listeners. I believe
this to be true, because they are in the business to please their
listening audience.
I would like to acknowledge the PMRC for bringing this issue to
the attention of not only our industry, but our Government and
our people. It is obvious that we are dealing with a real problem
which warrants our concern. I would like to point out, however,
that we address ourselves not to the problem, but to the symptoms.
I suggest that explicit lyrics and graphic videos are not so far
removed from what is seen on television every day and night, whether
it be in the soap operas or on the news, and that we should point
our finger at the recording industry while watching the general
public at a nationally televised baseball game chant in unison
"The Blue Jays suck" is ludicrous.
The problem, Mr. Chairman, in my opinion has to do with our
willingness as parents to take responsibility for the upbringing of
our children, to pay attention to their interests, to respond to their
needs, and to recognize that we as parents and as individuals have
a greater influence on our children and on each other than anything
else could possibly have.
To quote a wise old man from ancient China: "If there be
I thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, if I may add a couple of
personal words. I am a father of two children, both adopted, and I
have a lot of friends in the music business, other rock performers
who have children also, and all of them, including myself, we have
a great concern for our children. That is why I am here today.
In my experience, sir, all over the world one of the most interesting
things about the music that young people are listening to is it
gives us as adults a very clear insight as to what is going on in
their minds. We can know what they are thinking by listening to
the music that they surround themselves with.
The people that I have had the opportunity to talk with, the
troubled children, the teenagers who are considering suicide, what
they expressed to me is a real frustration in their lives, an inability
to communicate with their parents, an inability to understand or to
envision any kind of a possible future because of the nuclear threat
that we live under.
They do not see things getting better economically. They do not
see things getting better for the small businessman, for the small
farmer. They do not see a future for themselves.
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