 ron | 5 Excellent Moments From the Senate’s 1985 Rock-Lyrics Hearing This year will mark the 30th anniversary of a very strange day on Capitol Hill: September 19, 1985, when a group of well-connected Washingtonians addressed the US Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation about what they saw as out-of-control rock music lyrics. Frank Zappa, Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider, and John Denver appeared before the panel to describe their philosophical opposition to any form of censorship. … Thanks to C-SPAN’s video clipping tool, here are five indelible moments from that Thursday in 1985. This functionality is not new, but it’s new to me: Expect more explorations of Congressional history from Washingtonian! Here’s the full hearing if you want to really get into it. THE US SENATE WATCHES “HOT FOR TEACHER” Senator Paula Hawkins of Florida has brought along a couple of videos she said “are representative of the kind of presentation which have caused the furor.” After a moment, Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher” appears on a woodgrain TV set. Hawkins’ fumbling introduction of the band came too late to give them much joy–David Lee Roth had quit the group earlier that year. … |
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