I’d like to take a moment and bask in the idea of Frank Zappa, Dee Snider and John Denver not only sharing the same ideological makeup, but just being in the same room together. *ahhhhhh*
A few interesting tidbits I wasn’t able to hit:
– “Darling Nikki” contains a backwards message — another delightful topic ripe for the tackling — that’s a shout-out to Jesus. Excellent.
– “Strap On Robbie Baby” was written by Vanity’s boyfriend at the time, Robbie Bruce. So he basically wrote a pop single about how he liked to get pegged. Go, man, go.
– Cyndi Lauper designed “She Bop” to produce enlightenment in the listener as they got older. To a kid, it’s just a bunch of dumb singalong syllables, but adults know what’s up.
What strikes me out of this list is that yeah, there’s a lot of focus on the typical cock rock of the time, but the PMRC had a lot of problems with sexually liberated women as well. How DARE you enjoy yourselves, ladies. I myself would not want to be a parent in this time, having to explain why *I* can listen to Snoop Dogg and Queens of the Stone Age, but you can’t. “You see, son/daughter/nonidentifying child person, Mommy knows these guys are raunchy scumbags, and can internalize them accordingly. You, too, will one day see.”
Discussion ¬