Parental advisory

In 1984, in the United States, a public organization, the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), was created, the purpose of which was to control what kind of music children listen to ^[3] . Shortly after its creation, in 1985, the organization created Filthy Fifteen, a list of fifteen songs that they found most challenging ^[4] . “Darling Nikki” Prince ’s composition was particularly criticized: , wife of Senator Al Gore and one of the founders of PMRC, bought the soundtrack for the film “ Purple Rain ” containing this composition in her daughter ^{[ 5]} . Initially, a rating system was proposed, based on the American Film Association's rating system , but the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) agreed to use only one general warning sign ^[6] . On September 19, 1985, a held in , during which this issue was discussed ^[7] . Musicians were also invited to the hearings. According to Rolling Stone magazine , PMRC expected to see stereotypical rock musicians, and instead “got three eloquent musicians: Frank Zappa , John Denver and [Dee] Snyder - a sober family man who can argue with senators, talk about responsible parenting and protect texts their songs from surreal PMRC interpretations. ” However, by that time, the issue of using a warning sign had already been resolved ^[8] . Two months after the hearings, the introduction of the warning label "Explicit Lyrics - Parental Advisory" was announced. An alternative was also proposed: musicians could print the lyrics on the back cover ^[9] . However, the use of such a sign was not ubiquitous, and if it was used, its appearance and wording were constantly changing ^[6] .

In 1990, 22 state legislatures were about to enact a law requiring record labels to place a similar mark in the form of a sticker on album covers, as well as imposing responsibility for the absence of such a mark. Under their pressure, most recording companies began to use the black-and-white sign “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics” (from English to “Attention to parents: explicit texts”) ^[10] . The first album marked by this sign was hip-hop group 2 Live Crew , released in July 1990 ^[6] . As of 1992, about 225 albums have been marked with this symbol ^[10] . In 1996, after one more hearing, the sign was changed to "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content" (from English - "To attention of parents: frank content"), and also became part of the cover itself, and not a sticker on top of it, in order to reduce the cost and simplify production ^[6] . In 2002, the BMG Music Group company began to use in addition to the Parental Advisory mark additional, clearer designations ^[11] . In 2011, the British Phonogram Manufacturers Association (BPI) made the Parental Advisory mark mandatory in the UK for streaming services such as Spotify and Youtube ^[12] .

There are no clear criteria for which albums the Parental Advisory sign should contain, and the decision to use it is made by the label that releases the album ^[9] . However, the RIAA and BPI have created a number of recommendations. Thus, according to the RIAA, the Parental Advisory sign should be used for albums containing “profanity, scenes of violence, sex or substance abuse to a degree worthy of the warning of parents” ^[13] . In its recommendations, BPI also calls “ racist , homophobic , misogynist or other discriminatory vocabulary or behavior”, as well as “dangerous or criminal behavior <...>, depicted in such a way that it praises such behavior or encourages imitation of it” ^[14] .

The album can also be released in a censored, “edited” ( born ed . ) Version, also called “clean” ( eng. Clean ), while the original is called “dirty” ( eng. Dirty ) ^[6] . The RIAA advises to release the edited versions simultaneously with the original ones and declares that it is not necessary to delete all disputed elements from the edited versions “in order not to jeopardize artistic creativity” ^[13] . A number of retailers, including Wal-Mart , refuse to sell unedited versions of albums ^[15] , demanding not only changing texts and renaming tracks ^[6] , but sometimes changing covers ^[16] . Edited versions are often criticized. So Keith Caulfield (editor Keith Caulfield ), editor of Billboard magazine, declares: “If you are a hip hop fan, you will not buy pure versions at Wal-Mart. They will cut too much into it. ” ^[6] According to rock musician Dee Snyder, “when a grown man or woman comes to buy a new album, they most likely will not get what the musician wanted to present to them. They will receive a version created for them by corporations ” ^[8] .

During its more than 20-year history, the Parental Advisory badge has acquired the status of a cult ^{[6] [17]} . However, he was repeatedly criticized. Critics noted its inefficiency: in the 90s, a child could ask a senior friend or seller to help him with a purchase ^[18] , and with the advent of the Internet, he could listen to any music without any help ^[6] . In addition, it was noted that the sign allows children to more easily find illegal albums in stores ^[11] . It was also noted that albums marked with the Parental Advisory sign sell better than albums without a similar mark. , a member of the group Earth, Wind & Fire , states: “In most cases [albums with the Parental Advisory] will sell better in some areas. All that needs to be done is to tell people that this is something forbidden and they all will immediately want to look at it ” ^[19] . Music critic Chris Molanfi ( born Chris Molanphy ) adds: “[Albums] many well-known hip-hop musicians constantly get [this sign], but this does not prevent them from rising to the top of the charts. Even those whom I would call middling, like Wale or J. Cole , constantly debut on the first lines. Jay-Z ranks first among solo musicians in terms of the number of albums that won first place [on Billboard 200 ], and second place among all musicians, second only to The Beatles . In addition, each album Jay-Z contained a sign Parental Advisory " ^[6] .