Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words Page #8

- Now what?

- Just do it.

- Do what?

- Go in after, you know,

"The Constitution's coming here."

You say, "And this is Frank Zappa."

- Okay.

- Porn Wars, right?

This is Frank Zappa with

tonight's edition of Porn Wars.

Has rock and roll finally gone too far?

Well, a growing number of people think so,

and today they took their case

to a U.S. Senate hearing.

Their complaint? That rock lyrics and videos

are crossing the line into trash and smut.

Some parent groups want to rate

rock records that may contain

objectionable material

the way movies are rated.

Tipper Gore, wife of Tennessee

Democratic Senator Albert Gore,

called for voluntary warning labels

on raunchy and violent rock albums.

Frank Zappa was one of the

rock stars who opposed the idea.

We now propose one generic warning label

to inform consumers in the marketplace

about lyric content.

The labels would apply to all music.

The PMRC proposal is an

ill-conceived piece of nonsense

which fails to deliver any real

benefits to children,

infringes the civil liberties

of people who are not children,

and promises to keep the courts

busy for years dealing with

the interpretational

and enforcemental problems

inherent in the proposal's design.

Zappa, whose albums are

often sexually explicit,

described Mrs. Gore and her supporters as

"the wives of Big Brother."

You're taking a very drastic step

toward national censorship.

And whenever censorship is

mentioned, these wives go wild.

You know, it's like

The Emperor's New Clothes.

"This is not censorship, no."

Censorship implies restricting

access or suppressing content.

This proposal does neither.

And the media thinks,

"Well, they're very, you know,

"they wouldn't lie, they're very cute,

they're from Washington."

Porn rock.

But if it looks like censorship

and it smells like censorship,

it is censorship, no matter

whose wife is talking about it.

It's censorship.

"Pyromania."

No question.

Burn a building.

Burn, burn, burn.

These right-wing people

have this fetish about the right to life.

What about the right

to the life of an unborn idea?

How much are you gonna miss out

on in the United States

if you won't let people think,

say what they think

and do something about it,

so that people who don't think

and are too busy doing something else

can have the benefit

of the people who think?

It is a stupid waste

of resource to take the ability

to think for yourself, or to allow somebody

who might think for you

in a positive way to generate ideas

that can turn into something...

Income for instance,

to stop that from happening.

It is incredibly short-sighted.

That's...

Yes.

You say you have four children?

- Yes.

- Pardon me?

- Four children.

- Four children.

Have you ever purchased toys

for those children?

No, my wife does.

Well... I might tell you

that if you were to go in a toy store,

which is very educational

for fathers, by the way,

it's not a maternal responsibility

to buy toys for children,

that you may look on the box

and the box says, "This is suitable for

5 to 7 years of age," or "8 to 15"

or "15 and above,"

to give you some guidance

for a toy for a child.

Do you object to that?

In a way, I do.

Because that means that

somebody in an office someplace

is telling... Making the decision

about how smart my child is.

I'd be interested to see

what toys your kids ever had.

Why would you be interested?

Just as a point of interest in this...

Well, come on over to the house,

I'll show them to you.

- Really.

- I... I might do that.

Have you ever made... Do you make a profit

from sales of rock records?

Yes.

So you do make a profit

from sales of rock records.

Yes.

Thank you. I think that statement

tells the story to this committee.

Thank you.

Crossfire.

On the left, Tom Braden.

on the right, Robert Novak.

In the crossfire,

Washington Times columnist John Lofton

and rock musician Frank Zappa.

But why do you underestimate

the power of words?

Words have consequences.

They have impact on people.

Now, I agree with you that the first line

of responsibility is the family

to stop the kind of garbage

that we're talking about here today,

but good grief, can't we call on

our government to help us

in this fight, Frank?

I mean, you have kids. Are you an anarchist?

Is it the government's role

to do nothing about this?

No, I'm a conservative,

and you may not like that, but I am.

What is the function of government, Frank,

the civil government?

Isn't it to, in part, promote

the general welfare

and to help protect families?

Does the government have

any purpose, Frank?

- Yeah, it has a number of purposes.

- What? What is it?

- Name one.

- I'm not gonna give you a civics lesson here,

- but I'll tell you one thing.

- Yeah.

We must not see eye to eye

on the idea of a government

that must forbid things

- in order to protect families.

- Really? What is the government's role?

You've told me several times

what it shouldn't do.

How about national defense

and making sure things...

Yeah, I consider this national defense, pal.

Our families are under attack

from people like you with these lyrics.

John, you don't have to bite him.

Mr. Zappa...

Could I make a statement

about national defense?

- Yeah.

- The biggest threat to America today

is not communism, it's moving America

toward a fascist theocracy.

And everything that's happened

during the Reagan administration

is steering us right down that pipe.

Mr. Zappa, do you... Do you...

Yes, Mr. Zappa.

- Wait a minute.

- In what way?

- Give me... Give me one...

- Wait, wait, wait, wait.

One example, one example

of a fascist theocracy.

When you have a government

that prefers a certain moral code

derived from a certain religion,

and that moral code turns into

legislation to suit

- one certain religious point of view...

- Mr. Zappa. Mr. Zappa.

- ...and if that code...

- Frank.

...happens to be very, very right-wing,

almost toward Attila the Hun...

Well, then you are an anarchist.

Every form of civil government

is based on some kind of morality, Frank.

Morality in terms of behavior...

- Well, of course.

- ...not in terms of theology.

Rock and roll is here to stay,

but it will never make everyone happy,

and the latest controversy involves

sexual and violent lyrics.

A number of parents groups

want warning labels on records.

Today, as NBC's Robert Hagar reports now,

the record industry

came up with its own solution.

The record industry has agreed

to a voluntary self-policing code

by which warning labels

can now be stuck on albums

with explicit lyrics on topics like

sex, drugs and violence.

But the biggest warning sticker in town

is on the new album by Frank Zappa.

He stuck it on himself

to guarantee, as he puts it,

that it won't "cause eternal

torment in the place

"where the guy with the pointed

stick conducts his business."

...friend

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