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Frank Zappas's Testimony On Labeling Music

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Frank Zappas’s testimony on labeling music (specifically rock) that is explicit to listeners was definitely unforgettable. His argument was vague and unrelated to the issue of labeling explicit music. His testimony was off topic at times, and only helped ruin his argument along with his constant attacks against the PMRC. It’s actually hard to pinpoint what Mr. Zappa did well because for every positive argument, he made a negative attack that lessened his credibility. Repeatedly, Frank Zappa destroys his argument over and over until the very end of his testimony. Mr. Zappa seemed to have no filter on his words and spoke on everything he thought was wrong with the PMRC and its founders. The PMRC itself was not the main reason that the court case was being held so, …show more content…

Zappa said, “ladies, please be advised – the $8.98 purchase price does not entitle you to a kiss on the foot from the composer or performer in exchange for a spin on the family Victrola. Taken as a whole, one complete list of PMRC demands reads like an instruction manual for some sinister kind of “toilet training program” to house-break all composers and performers because of the lyrics of a few. Ladies, how dare you?” (Zappa, 1985, 4:59). This is an example of a generality and an appeal to fear. The generality is when he says the PMRC with its rules is trying to house break all performers and composers(all is an overly vague term) and the appeal to fear is when he tries to scare artists into seeing how horrible the PMRC is with its sinister rules. However, this statement and others in his testimony only made the senate see Frank Zappa as nothing more than irrelevant with his disrespectful language. Throughout his entire testimony, Frank Zappa constantly went off topic along with verbally attacking and being disrespectful towards the PMRC and congress. For example, he says, “The major record labels need to have H.R. 2911 whiz through a few committee’s before anybody smells a

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