Remember those Parenta l Guidance stickers on albums? We have the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) to thank for that. Led by Senator Al Gore’s wife Tipper, in 1985 the PMRC drew up a list of 15 songs they objected to, due to themes of sex, drugs, violence and the occult, with many metal bands joining the likes of Prince and Madonna. Luckily, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider was on hand to help, taking the stand at a senate committee hearing, wearing double denim and looking like he’d just rolled offstage, to fly the flag for the so-called ‘Filthy Fifteen’ and artistic expression. In the process, he even insinuated that Tipper Gore had a dirty mind.
GETTY