{{{What's up guys, here's a cool story about Prince, Darling Nikki and the PMRC from the Orlando Sentinel. Here's the link and copy, you need to register to view the story online. Also look for the top 15 nasty songs on the side column. Prince has quite a presence on the list! http://www.orlandosentine...-headlines}}}

Toxic yesterday, ho-hum today

Time heals all wounds -- and it's a great antidote for the poison lyrics of the past.

"Darling Nikki" came back, but no one really noticed.

Maybe we were too busy ogling the Paris Hilton video.

In case you don't remember, "Darling Nikki," is a song about a "sex fiend" and the dirty things she does in a hotel lobby with a magazine.

It was pretty racy stuff in 1984, when Tipper Gore heard her young daughter listening to the original version on Prince's Purple Rain. Because of Nikki, she started the Parents Music Resource Center in 1985 and a movement that eventually succeeded in putting content labels on albums.

Two decades later, the new "Nikki" has made nary a ripple on rock radio, where young listeners are surprised to learn that the Foo Fighters version isn't the first.

"It's been met with some interest from listeners," says Pat Lynch, program director and afternoon jock on Orlando's Real Rock 101.1 FM (WJRR). "Some know that it's a cover, but my vibe is that most of them do not."

Nikki still likes to grind, but it doesn't sound that shocking anymore. Besides, the world is full of real-life Nikkis -- Paris and Britney and Christina, for starters.

Pornography is a mammoth and legitimate business. Violence and sex have been transformed into critically acclaimed art on HBO's The Sopranos or low-brow farce on Comedy Central's The Man Show.

The old girl is more of a nostalgia act now, which is just the way it goes.

"Every generation's mores shock the previous generation," says Ken Paulson, executive director of the First Amendment Center, a free-speech advocacy organization based at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. "Just look at Cole Porter, who wrote that a 'glimpse of stocking was once thought of as shocking.' That's a song written 70 years ago about how shocking the new generation is.

"That's what happens with popular culture, so it's really important to maintain a sense of perspective. The song 'With a Little Help From My Friends' was denigrated by Vice President Spiro Agnew in a speech in Las Vegas, in which he told the audience that the Beatles were trying to subvert kids through code.

"Now that song is in elevators and in frozen-food sections."

Though Gore was maligned by some corners of the media and by rock stars -- rapper Ice-T wrote a song about wanting to sodomize her nieces -- Paulson says he has no quarrel with her instincts as a concerned parent.

But he doesn't think the PMRC was ultimately good for the record industry or free speech.

"The moral of the story is that today's dangerous music is tomorrow's Muzak," he says. "It's just the rhythm of life."

Where's the outrage?

Gore stepped down from the PMRC when her husband became vice president in 1992, and the group maintained a low profile in the 1990s. She couldn't be reached for comment, but other organizations are still busy monitoring an exponentially expanding media landscape that is still pushing the boundaries of taste.

Everything from rapper 50 Cent to the language and situations on TV reality shows to Internet porn vindicates Gore's foresight two decades ago, says a 10-year staff member of the conservative advocacy group Focus on the Family.

"Tipper was definitely on the right track all along," says Bob Waliszewski, manager of Focus on the Family's entertainment-review department. "I'm not sure if the culture as a whole is ready to accept that. If we were, there wouldn't be this collective yawn right now over 'Nikki.' "

Waliszewski says that, in 1984, "Nikki" was "kind of the worst thing that was out there, and now this kind of stuff is way too commonplace, but that doesn't make it right. What it does say is that parents have been desensitized and have delegated that area of child-raising to kids themselves."

As a CD reviewer for Focus on the Family's Web site, Waliszewski praises groups such as Lifehouse, Creed, Train, Jimmy Eat World and singer Michelle Branch, but says that he can't endorse the vast majority of music he hears.

"When Eminem speaks of raping his mother, or when Trent Reznor sang a few years back that he wants to 'blank' you like an animal, it's all about perverse sex. Where is the outrage? It shouldn't be just from conservative groups like Focus on the Family. It should come from women's groups, men's groups, parenting groups, PTAs. This should be your mechanic in the local garage saying, 'What is this garbage?' "

Even if such images are shocking, there's no evidence that outrageous or profane lyrics have ever permanently scarred young listeners, says writer and radio commentator Eric Nuzum, author of Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America ($15, Harper Collins), a book on the rise of the PMRC. Nuzum was 18 when Gore first heard "Darling Nikki" and was outraged by the congressional hearings that called stars such as Frank Zappa, Twisted Sister's Dee Snider and pop star John Denver to defend their music.

"There was a widespread belief at that time that rock musicians were Satanists and worshipped the devil. My girlfriend remembers a lecture that she had in her junior-high class about the evils of satanic rock musicians, so it was a very mainstream belief at that time. One of the most terrible things about the PMRC was that it legitimized that for the first time."

Heavy-metal bands were a major focus of the PMRC, but it was another form of pop music that ultimately was more affected, says Paulson.

"Hearings about heavy-metal rock 'n' roll actually had modest impact on rock 'n' roll and had maximum impact on music of African-American hip-hop and rap performers. In 1991, Wal-Mart decided it wouldn't carry stickered CDs, and that has affected a disproportionate amount of music from African-American performers. So, sometimes, the target is not the one that gets hit."

To get around the roadblock, artists and record labels release both "clean" and explicit versions of labeled albums, which dilutes the credibility of the advisories.

The Foo Fighters' "Darling Nikki," a B-side to the band's "Have It All" single, does not carry a label.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that society has become more shock-proof in the intervening years, says Paulson. He says that there are many groups lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to tighten the constraints on language and situations on television.

Still, Paulson says, the explosion of media in the last 20 years will make it harder for any group to wield the influence once carried by the PMRC.

"For outrage to build, it takes one guy saying to another guy at the water cooler, 'Hey did you see that last night?' More often than not today, the answer is 'No.' "

"A program like The Man Show wouldn't have existed 20 years ago. It wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes on network television, but you build a niche audience through excess, and that means there's not a consensus of outrage. The person who tunes into The Man Show is not the person who will call the FCC."

Politics, religion

The most powerful forces affecting content now are economic, Paulson says.

In the 21st century, the new dirty words are politics and religion.

"The most censored group of this past year was the Dixie Chicks, and it had nothing to do with sexuality or profane words," Paulson says. "It had to do with politics."

The multiplatinum country trio found itself shunned by country radio after singer Natalie Maines made remarks critical of President Bush to a London concert audience. There were rallies at which the band's albums were burned, and the group was vilified by some corners of the media. Singer Toby Keith, who had a hit with the jingoistic "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" projected images of the Chicks to spark boos at some concerts.

The Chicks aren't alone. Bruce Springsteen incurred the wrath of New York City's Fraternal Order of Police for performing "American Skin (41 Shots)," a song that decried the controversial police shooting death of Amadou Diallo. Singer-songwriter Steve Earle was called a traitor for "John Walker's Blues," his song that went inside the mind of the American Taliban.

So, while sex sells, politics often is bad business.

"There's a reluctance in the record business and the radio industry to embrace a song that actually makes a point about anything," Paulson says. "When was the last time you heard a popular song that said anything about the human condition, injustice or political change. Contrast that to the 1960s, when seemingly every song was on one side or the other and recording artists were free to express themselves politically in music.

"No one wants that anymore. They are afraid of boycotts."

It's equally rare to hear a mainstream hit that alludes to faith.

"Did they stop writing those songs? Or did they just decide they aren't particularly good for business?" Paulson says. "There's no question there's a market for Christian music, but it's not on mainstream radio. Anything that might divide us gets left out of the mix."

So until she makes a political endorsement, Darling Nikki fits right in.

What was the top 15 nasty songs? I can't be bothered signing up. :ERR:

Help U'reself:
What's offensive? Here's the original "filthy 15," a list of objectionable songs presented by the Parents Music Resource Center in 1985:

"Darling Nikki," Prince.

"Sugar Walls," Sheena Easton.

"Eat Me Alive," Judas Priest.

"Strap on Robbie Baby," Vanity.

"Bastard," Motley Crue.

"Let Me Put My Love Into You," AC/DC.

"We're Not Gonna Take It," Twisted Sister.

"Dress You Up," Madonna.

"Animal," W.A.S.P.

"High 'N Dry," Def Leppard.

"Into the Coven," Mercyful Fate.

"Trashed," Black Sabbath.

"In My House," The Mary Jane Girls.

"Possessed," Venom.

"She Bop," Cyndi Lauper.

I agree with the reasoning for the "decline" of pop culture. I remember those days of "satanic rock bands" and playing things backwards to find this devil message hidden in the song.

It really was sickening. The religious assholes deserved what they got. They thought they could control what we all see and hear.

FABpolska said:

Is it sick or perverted that I'm totally thrilled that so many of the songs on this list are Prince songs?

Nothinbutjoy said:

2 out of 15? I expected better.

And I'm shocked that "Strap On Robbie Baby" by Vanity made it. It wasn't a single, was it??? Even "Pretty Mess". the single from the same album was barely heard.

Yeah baby!!!

Hey...Foo Fighters isn't the only "Darling Nikki" cover. I looked on iTunes for Foo Fighters and while I didn't find them, I found a group called "Mucky Pop" from the compilation Crust-O-Matic.