Tape Tax" passed. Zappa here referred to the Home Audio Recording Act, which would levy a 10-15% tax on home taping and give royalties to the recording industry for sales of tape recorders and blank tapes. The Home Audio Recording Act is the proposed bill H.R. 2911 and is sponsored by the RIAA (Gray 1989a:154). Zappa noticed that Senator Strom Thurmond ran the committee responsible for legislation, and that his wife was affiliated with the PMRC (Roldan 1987:231). Zappa also alluded to the fact that three Senators on the Committee had their wives in the PMRC, and therefore later in the hearings stated: "I dont think this is private action" (quote from Frank Zappas song "Porn Wars", which includes several samples of the Senate Hearing testimony; not in transcripts). Finally, Zappa indicated the danger of the stigmatization effects for the musicians that might result from the label system, and the fact that voluntary labeling could lead to "opening the door to an endless parade of moral quality control programs based on things certain Christians do not like" (p.54). The next musicians witness was John Denver. Somewhat more moderate than Zappa, Denver stated that he had unfortunately been the victim of censorship following the release of his song "Rocky Mountain High" which, Denver stated, "was banned from many radio stations as a drug-related song. This was obviously done by people who had never seen or been to the Rocky Mountains" (p.65). Denver acknowledged the concerns raised by the PMRC, but attacked the attempts to suppress ideas and the spoken word in a democratic society, drawing a comparison with Nazi Germany. The last musicians testimony was provided by Dee Snider, lead singer of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister. Snider referred to his Christian beliefs and that fact that all his songs were written in that spirit. He specified that all of Twisted Sisters songs the PMRC had condemned as containing references to sadomasochism, b...
