Look Back At What Was Considered Offensive Music in 1985 With The PMRC’s Filthy Fifteen List

Look Back At What Was Considered Offensive Music in 1985 With The PMRC's Filthy Fifteen List

Back 40 years ago, a group called the Parents Music Resource Center formed a bipartisan government committee, led by Tipper Gore, wife of then-Senator Al Gore, which would ultimately lead to “Parental Advisory” stickers being placed on record album covers to help inform parents of music that contained what they deemed to be objectionable material.

The outcry from music artists was bold, and many, including Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, Frank Zappa, and even John Denver, appeared before the committee and spoke out against unnecessary censorship.

Nevertheless, the committee was able to push the RIAA to voluntarily place a “Parental Advisory Sticker” on their albums at their own discretion. In many cases, both the artists and the teenage music buyers suggested that the labels only made the kids want the albums more and actually increased the sales of those artists.

Below is the list that the PMRC called their “Filthy Fifteen” wanted list for objectionable content. Oh, if only they could have seen the future, this all seems pretty tame compared to most of what’s allowed in today’s music.

You can listen to each of the songs on the list below:

Artist

Song

Rating And Reason

Judas Priest

“Eat Me Alive”

X – Profane Or Sexually Explicit

Motley Crue

“Bastard”

V – Violence

Prince

“Darling Nikki”

X – Profane Or Sexually Explicit

Sheena Easton

“Sugar Walls”

X – Profane Or Sexually Explicit

W.A.S.P.

“(Animal) F**k Like A Beast”

X – Profane Or Sexually Explicit

Mercyful Fate

“Into The Coven”

O – Occult

Vanity

“Strap On Robbie Baby”

X – Profane Or Sexually Explicit

Def Leppard

“High N’ Dry”

D/A – Drugs Or Alcohol

Twisted Sister

“We’re Not Gonna Take It”

V- Violence

Madonna

“Dress You Up”

X – Profane Or Sexually Explicit

Cyndi Lauper

“She Bop”

X – Profane Or Sexually Explicit

AC/DC

“Let Me Put My Love Into You”

X – Profane Or Sexually Explicit

Black Sabbath

“Trashed”

D/A – Drugs Or Alcohol

Mary Jane Girls

“In My House”

X – Profane Or Sexually Explicit

Venom

“Possessed”

O – Occult

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