Thank you Mr. Zappa, for keeping the First Amendment alive. You are a great American.

This was great back in the day. Al and Tipper Gore were so smug and arrogant and Denver, Snider and Zappa came in an bitch slapped them in order.

I was a young adult when all this happened and was outraged. Now watching this I long for the civility of these hearings to be present in today's politics and hearings.

Zappa owns. Period.

I love the dude freely lighting up the pipe in the background. The 80s rocked. We still had Stevie Ray Vaughan, Led Zep (a little), AC/DC... better times. (If you ignore the constant threat of nuclear war)

Amazing how this still is relevant today in 2012.

I don't like this dude's music, so I don't buy it, BUT..., I love his intelligence and his presentation. The fact that "Rocky Mountain High" by John Denver was "banned", says it all. Frank Zappa and Dee Snider were absolutely brilliant in their testimony....

1967's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by the Beatles was the first album to include all the lyrics for the songs in printed form.

Danforth is the original RINO, (or as we like to call them in missouri, "Pink elephants").

I'm sure Al's favorite Frank Z song must be "Broken hearts are for assholes"

Did anyone notice United States Senator J. James Exon, D-Nebraska smoking 🚬 a pipe during a Senate Hearing 🏛 ⚖️? How times have changed.

"Nobody's asking for legislation..." Well, of course not. That's not how it starts. But every journey begins with a single step.

Wow, hey Americans. That Al Gore thing almost became your President.

Thanks for uploading this. Important piece of history here.

@MagicPatrick2 look on CSPAN archives the entire intervies of Zappa, Denver, and Dee Snider are on there

Isn't it kind of ironic that one of the PRMC people is shown here smoking a pipe? WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!!!

The guy is just tearing them apart...DAMN!!!

Zappa opened up a whole can of whoop ass.

6:28 ---- Tipper Gore mind controlling Al Gore.

@TEMPmichaelhansen Nah, Dee Snider says 'Ms Gore was looking for sadomasicism and bondage just like someone looking for surgical references would have found those'. Or something similar.

Or possibly that Serj Tankian was modelling his looks on Frank Zappa.

John Denver even made the case before congress on these hearings. And he did a great job of conveying just how stupid the PMRC really was/is.

The guy is puffing a pipe. Back in the day when smoking was allowed.

Any album I used to buy, had the lyrics inside, including some other great material.

frank just put a clinic on!

you could just smoke a pipe in the court room? cool

@myproxyisabigpickle he did on the documentary Headbanger's Journey when he commented on the senate hearing

@MagicPatrick2 dont have video but there are transcripts online. just google "dee snider pmrc hearing transcript"

Funny how difficult it was to make lyrics of an entire album available back before the internet when it had to be printed on paper. Today they could just make a rule that lyrics had to be provided to a website where parents could check them out, or embedded into the mp3 of the songs.

Wow! Amazing stuff!

Oh how this backfired on the PMRC, lol. Good times.

These hearings were from 1985.

@Siderussianlegsweep You can find the whole video on wikipedia. It's like 16 minutes long.

Al said to Frank @ 4:24 to 4:29: "I respect you as a true original and a tremendously talented musician." Of course Al Gore would say that. Frank Zappa made that obvious.

Go get 'em, Frank!!!

Wow.... really ? SMOKING in the Senate ???

@chrisg79us thanks alot for this, i've received heaps of messages asking for this video. im gonna post it up here straight away.

@InfernalDeth6 So true!

'somebody's hobby project'!!! Ooh!! Burn!!

Lovin' that dude puffing on a pipe while Frank Zappa was talking.

Like a boss.

John Denver at 8:32! someone please post his interview also

check our serj's cover of yellow snow!!

@psichomiko amen

@funboy7979 Amen Brother

hahah at 5:20 the guy behind Gore is lighting up

that guy smoking there is the best

The guy on Gore's left is smoking a pipe. What a star.

Smells like legislation.

full dee snider video on wikipedia if you know how to find it

@TheDennisegg That's right. Rock musicians do not wish to clean up their act. Why should they? Read the Constitution.

eating out his hand haha

the two usually go hand-in-hand ;)

Zappa is completely straight forward and sticks by what he says. That's why people like him will never be any kind of power in congress, unfortunately.

Accordion fold made them laugh....

I have to watch a commercial before this.... siderussianlegsweep what the heck.

what an L for Tipper Gore, that Albert Gore was a big Zappa fan lmao

I've heard that Tipper left Al because he had Zappa on his iPod. :P

Anyone have the actual Dee Snider interview? I see the links to the Metalhead documentary with Dee tooting his horn left and right. If you can post that, I'd love you forever! Oh, and +1 to Al Gore for at least being sympathetic on the issue!

The kind of stuff that makes me ashamed of my own political party. Really, Gore? Really?

Oh America...

check out Tipper's look at 6:28 ....hilarious

Thanks to Frank Zappa, America continues to be promote creative freedoms. Al Gore a Zappa fan, yeah. ;)

@ 5:10 theres an Old Dude lighting up to Zappa

@MagicPatrick2 It's on here now. He eats them for breakfast.

does anyone else find it ironic that there's people smoking on camera given the nature of the discussion they're having?

Lyrics are dangerous.....but look at the senator at 5:13 lightin up and smokin a bowl next to gore! Nahhhh, thats not dangerous! Lol

Inconvenient truth mr. Gore?

THANK GOD Al Gore did not become President!!!

frank , dee snider, and john denver is just too smart for them. totally destroyed the entire congress that is hoping to actually "gang on them" one by one.

if somevody had to go and face the senate in name of all composers, that person had to be Frank Zappa.

When was this filmed???

thankfully artists such as Zappa, dee snider, dave mustaine and others are against the PMRC

@bozzioisgod44 hahahahha. Like a million times.

When is this from? the guy next to Al Gore is moking a pipe at a Congressional hearing.

Ron Paul!

I don't understand, vinyls do include lyrics on some albums(I don't have a very extensive collection so I don't know if it was a standard practice in the 50s-70's) but most of the vinyls I own are more modern reprints. Does this mean lyrics were never printed until this hearing?

Manbearpig is real i'm super serial

A lot of people look like them in the area of their ancestors.

Oh NO Al Gore. HAHAHHAHAHAHA

6:16 Dude smokes hash

@dollhaus1 You accidentally a word.

Funny how this problem doesn't exist anymore thanks to the internet

@erlingstoehr Yeah, he a big fan so he's nervous. Frank, can I have your autograph?

Who's side is Al Gore on anyways ? WTF ? Why the hell is he coming off like a regressive ?

Well, they said, when they were still (like for years) trying to be anti-drug, let's be anti-rock..

He's right. Just make the lyrics available.

Anyone else think Frank Zappa looks like Serj Tankian in this video?

And you're talking about a video on censorship, ironic uh?

gore is acting like he is writing notes for his counter argument like some one in an actual debate, but i think he just can't sit there and watch his projects falling apart with a strait face. h

see... and people talk about the Obama Administration but look at what they did back in the day... this has been going.

Fuck, parts 3 and 4 are blocked in Germany, that shit is annooooooyyying!!

Are you serial?

yeah its rather tame compared to todays standards

Al Gore is square af

Let me restate InfernalDeth6's comment for you, then. Personal Problem: Lyrical Interpretation.

That's borat

Just to think he also is an advocate for global warming

This is why al gore invented the internet

Came here after Patreon banned Sargon of Akkad.