Parental Advisory

The current Parental Advisory label

Parental Advisory is a message affixed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to audio and recordings in the United States containing excessive use of profane language and/or sexual references. Albums began to be labeled for "explicit lyrics" in 1985, after pressure from the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). In 2000, the PMRC worked with the RIAA to standardize the label, creating the now-familiar black and white design. The first albums to receive the label in its new form included Danzig's self-titled album, Soundgarden's Louder Than Love, Guns N Roses's Appetite For Destruction, and 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be and had the label in the form of a sticker on the cellophane wrap. The first hip hop album that received the label is Ice-T's debut album Rhyme Pays, released in 1987, whose lyrics were associated with gangsta rap, and popularized the genre. Later pressings of Danzig's self-titled, as well as many new albums with the label after 1992, had the label printed onto the artwork. To some, it has become known as the "Tipper sticker" because of Tipper Gore's visible role in the PMRC.

Some retailers (such as Wal-Mart) refuse to sell albums containing the label, and many others limit the sale of such albums to adults only, although most stores have settled on an age limit of 17 in order to buy an album containing the label. In some countries, however, such as the United Kingdom, albums displaying the sticker are available for purchase by persons of any age. While the label is mostly prevalent on rap and rock albums, it can appear on any genre of CD which the RIAA believes warrants the need for one.

Sometimes the sticker reads "Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics". Sometimes it mentions "Parental Guidance".

Logo

One of the first Parental Advisory logo as it appears on "Gotta Stop (Messin' About)" LP cover by Prince.

Originally, the sticker was a square with a dotted white line near the center of the sticker. The phrase "EXPLICIT LYRICS" was marked on the top, and "PARENTAL ADVISORY" on the bottom. The first incarnation of the logo, introduced in 1990, used a generic font and was used until late 1993, when it was redesigned with a white box in a black rectangle instead of a white bar between black bars. This continued until 1994, when the white bar between black bars design was mixed with the second iteration and "ADVISORY" started using a modified font. In 2001, the fonts for "PARENTAL", "ADVISORY" and "EXPLICIT CONTENT" were simplified, and "EXPLICIT LYRICS" was dropped entirely after being used concurrently with "EXPLICIT CONTENT" for a few years.

A variation of the sticker says Parental Guidance instead of Parental Advisory but has only been seen on a few albums, such as Fatboy Slim's Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, Miyavi's Galyuu, and some copies of Metallica's Garage Inc.

Controversies

Many albums with few to no instances of strong profanity, instances of violence, and/or sexual situations in lyrics have a Parental Advisory sticker; examples include Bloc Party's Silent Alarm, Blue October's History for Sale, Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns & Minutes to Midnight, Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown, and American Idiot, , Angels and Airwaves's We Don't Need To Whisper, Faith No More's Angel Dust, The Offspring's Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, and others. Inversely, albums with multiple uses of explicit language may not have a Parental Advisory, such as the records Antics and Our Love to Admire by Interpol, Beats, Rhymes & Life by A Tribe Called Quest and some albums/collections released by The Smashing Pumpkins. It is not a rating; there are no agreed-upon standards for a parental advisory label. It is the record company's decision whether an album needs one or not. Some albums, however, have been considered so extreme in their violent content that even the distributor of the album has put on a secondary warning next to the Parental Advisory sticker, most notably The Geto Boys by Geto Boys released in 1990.

The presence of a Parental Advisory label does not seem to mean that an album is any more profane than one without. One such example is the death metal band Morbid Angel's 1993 album Covenant. While the band was signed on with the major record label Giant Records, pressings of Covenant had the parental advisory sticker in the corner. However, when Giant Records went bankrupt and Morbid Angel returned to their old independent label Earache Records, future pressings of the album no longer contained the sticker.

But many major-label artists' CDs evade Parental Advisory, such as most albums from Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, The Prodigy, Incubus, Green Day, and The Rolling Stones. Also, The Hives' Barely Legal, Three Days Grace's self-titled debut album and One-X, Pearl Jam's Ten, Coheed and Cambria's The Second Stage Turbine Blade, and Breaking Benjamin's Saturate do not carry the sticker. Older albums often avoid being given a label even on their CD re-release, such as The Sex Pistols' 1977 LP Never Mind The Bollocks, despite its title and repeated strong language in the lyrics. Sometimes when an artist releases their albums on a smaller, more obscure label, the releases can go without the sticker: Blink-182's first two albums, Cheshire Cat and Dude Ranch, initially released on smaller, independent label Cargo Music, evade the sticker today, despite the band's multi-platinum success.

Moreover, some albums may receive Parental Advisory labels even though these albums contain no use of strong language, sexual references, or violent lyrics at all. Examples include Danzig's first four albums and EP, and Saving Abel's Saving Abel (these albums only contain mild-to-moderate profanity), as well as Gorillaz' G-Sides, Slayer's Seasons in the Abyss, and From First to Last's self titled. One particularly strange occurrence of the Parental Advisory label is Jay-Z: Unplugged. While the studio recordings of most of the songs on Unplugged feature profanity, Jay-Z used different wording during the performance to make it appropriate for the MTV Unplugged TV broadcast. Despite the self-censorship, a Parental Advisory label was still printed on the cover.

Some albums, such as Janet Jackson's All for You, Jennifer Lopez's J.Lo, Blink 182's Enema of the State, Lily Allen's It's Not Me, It's You and Godsmack's self-titled album were initially released without a label, despite extremely explicit lyrical content, then re-released with one. The former already had an edited version released in Wal-Mart stores removing one of the heavily sexual tracks, and was then released in 'explicit' (with the label) and 'clean' versions in all stores. The re-releases of the first two (All for You and J.Lo) added a new remix of the single from the album that was currently being promoted at the time. (Both of the remixes were of explicit songs, so the remixes made the albums even more explicit, explaining why the label was added). The latter album, was released normally, with no label or edited version. About a month after its initial release, it was released with a label, alongside an edited version.

Some albums do not have the label when released in the United States, but bear them when sold in other countries despite being lyrically identical. Two examples include Avril Lavigne's Under My Skin, which did not bear the label in the United States but did in Canada because of the use of the word "shit" (which alone usually does not warrant the label's use in America) and Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment, which again does not bear the label in the United States but does in some foreign markets because of the sadomasochistic sexual content of the title track and numerous sexual themes throughout (including one reference to homosexuality, which is considered extremely taboo in some cultures).

Most albums released on Sony Music's record labels (Arista Records, Columbia Records, Jive Records, LaFace Records, J Records, among others) that contain the PA sticker provide additional explanations of why the disc warrants the sticker and sometimes note that there is a clean version of said album available. On System of a Down's Hypnotize, for instance, under the label it reads "STRONG LANGUAGE, SEXUAL + VIOLENT CONTENT", and on the North American versions of Pink's albums Funhouse and I'm Not Dead, under the label it reads "STRONG LANGUAGE". Also, Radiohead's Hail to the Thief has a warning of the strong offensive language inside the CD booklet, next to the listed lyrics.

Many albums with the label have clean versions available, especially on online music stores such as iTunes or Napster. However, some of the "clean" stickers may be given to albums with no profanity, such as the case with Blur's self-titled album, which was given a clean sticker because it had three tracks within "Essex Dogs": "Dancehall", the former song, and "Intermission". Relient K had a similar case on iTunes, where they released a "clean" version of "Must Have Done Something Right", even though the band is known for not using any profanities. In 2007, rock group Garbage's "best of" collection was released worldwide through Warner Music Group, with all editions carrying a parental advisory label. A "clean" version of the album was, however, released through iTunes, yet the single instance of profanity found throughout the album (on the track "Why Do You Love Me") remained uncensored.

A few albums have a note saying that the lyrics are of an adult nature, but without the sticker: Bruce Springsteen's Devils & Dust, James Blunt's Back to Bedlam, Vanessa Amorosi's Somewhere In The Real World, Motion City Soundtrack's Even If It Kills Me, and Guns N' Roses' "The Spaghetti Incident?" (though some pressings of the latter did use the Parental Advisory sticker). The album Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chili Peppers sometimes carries a sticker claiming the record "contains language that some people may find offensive", though some copies carry the Parental Advisory sticker instead.

There have been some cases of unusual use of the label. After Frank Zappa campaigned against music censorship in 1985, the sticker was attached to his next album, Jazz from Hell, because of the title of one track, "G-Spot Tornado", although the album is entirely instrumental and contains no lyrics that could be "explicit lyrics". The designation of instrumentals as taboo, however, is nothing new; in the 1950s, the "Rumble" instrumental by Link Wray was banned from some radio stations because it could supposedly incite "juvenile violence".

In some cases, the stickers appear to have had the reverse effect to what was intended—the sticker can make an album more desirable, and the sticker has been called the musical equivalent of an "alcohol content" label. Indeed, the PAL notice itself has achieved a degree of cult status, with comedian George Carlin entitling an album Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics and numerous t-shirts, metal signs, and other paraphernalia bearing the logo.

The RIAA, however, officially states that "it's not a PAL Notice that kids look for, it's the music. Independent research shows kids put limited weight on lyrics in deciding which music they like, caring more about rhythm and melody. The PAL Notice alone isn’t enough incentive."

The label is also seen in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany, Greece, France, Finland, the Netherlands, Brazil, Denmark, South Africa, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Philippines, New Zealand, and Canada on albums of American origin. An album with the label is automatically banned in some conservative countries (such as China and Saudi Arabia). At Wal-Mart (and until recently K-Mart) stores, only a "clean" version of an album is allowed, and if no "clean" version of the album is available, the album will not be available. However, Wal-Mart's policy on carrying "explicit" versions of music albums in their stores seems to vary by country, as albums with the parental advisory label are found in Canadian Wal-Mart stores, for example. Most CDs are available at Wal-Mart in edited formats. However, some CDs are available in edited formats at Wal-Mart.com, but are not available in the stores due to controversy. In sharp contrast, retailer Best Buy only carries uncensored CDs in their physical stores, but customers can buy the "clean versions" at their website for an additional fee whereas in the retail store F.Y.E. you can buy either and clean or explicit version. A notable exception: while the Guns N Roses album Chinese Democracy carries a Parental Advisory on some online copies, physical Best Buy stores tend to carry only sticker-less copies.

Wal-Mart asked the band Green Day to censor their albums American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown in 2004 and 2009 respectively, or they would refuse to sell them. In both cases, Green Day refused.

Notable albums with the Parental Advisory label

• Take Off Your Pants And Jacket - Blink 182 very explicit, half of the album having heavy profanity, also containing songs such as "Happy Holidays, You Bastard" "The Grandpa Song" and "Fuck a Dog"
• Jazz from Hell - Frank Zappa instrumental album that includes a Parental Advisory label due to its title.
• Rhyme Pays - Ice-T - First rap album to carry the label.
• Master of Puppets - Metallica - Early pressings parody the "explicit lyrics" warnings of the time by warning that only one song (Damage, Inc.) would use profanity. Current copies do not carry any warning at all.
• Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? - Megadeth - One of the first albums to carry the label.
• In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up - Ministry A live album notable for a cut-out version of the label where on the album (and on its sister VHS/laserdisc release of the album) that can be sent to the U.S. Congress if the listener hates censorship.
• Appetite for Destruction - Guns N' Roses - Best selling album with a parental advisory and first diamond album to carry the label.
• Speakerboxxx/The Love Below - OutKast - First album of the year winner to carry the label.
• Straight Outta Compton - N.W.A - An album that brought gangsta rap into the media which proved very controversial, notably "Fuck Tha Police", for which the FBI sent a letter to the group.
• As Nasty as They Wanna Be - 2 Live Crew - An album that became so notorious for its depictions of sex it was almost banned.
• The Geto Boys - Geto Boys - One of the few albums (in hip-hop specifically) to not only bare the Parental Advisory sticker but an additional warning from the label itself bewaring the buyer about the sexist and violent content which contains descriptions of necrophilia, rape, sex and murder that appear inside the album. The secondary warning was removed from subsequent copies of the album after the original version being pulled off shelves due to an uncleared sample on the song "Gangsta of Love".
• EFIL4ZAGGIN - N.W.A - The first rap album that went to number one on the Billboard 200 charts and stood there for two weeks in 1991.
• Christmas on Death Row - Various Artists - One of only a few notable holiday albums with the label, and one of the first.
• Straight to Hell - Hank III - The first country album with the label.
• Vulgar Display of Power - Pantera - Pantera's first album to feature the Parental Advisory label. The album is said to have had a major role in defining the genre of groove metal.
• Doggystyle - Snoop Dogg's debut album, holding the record of the fastest selling solo album ever for seven years (until Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP).
• The Chronic and The Chronic 2001, both Dr. Dre albums, criticized for gangsta themes and misogynistic lyrics, and both going multi-platinum.
• Illmatic - Nas - Debut album from rapper Nas. It is considered to be a landmark album in east coast hip-hop as well as an influential album in rap history.
• Devil Without a Cause by Kid Rock and Antichrist Superstar & Portrait of an American Family by Marilyn Manson - These albums all fell under intense controversy following the school shootings of the late 1990's.
• Significant Other by Limp Bizkit - the song Break Stuff blamed for Woodstock '99 violence.
• Erotica by Madonna - The first album by pop superstar Madonna to carry the warning.
• Body Count by Body Count - Early pressings contained the notorious song Copkiller which was removed in later copies.
• Splinter by The Offspring - Also contains note "this album is labeled for eleven obscenities" in some copies.
• Hell's Pit by Insane Clown Posse Label reads "Extreme Parental Advisory"
• J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez
• All For You by Janet Jackson
• Godsmack by Godsmack labeled with a parental advisory in the wake of parents complaining to Walmart about the albums content, leading the retailer to recall the album and removing existing copies from its shelves.
• Demolition by Judas Priest - The only Judas Priest album to contain the label because some of the songs contain profanity.

See also

• Parental guidance
• Radio edit
• Censorship in the United States

External links

• Parental Advisory guide in the UK, BBC Radio 3