If you don't believe me when I say there's a connection between the PMRC and Albert Gore running for President, just call the PMRC's phone number in Washington, DC. You might be surprised to find the person answering the phone saying, "Gore for President, headquarters." The truth is that Tipper used her crusade against WASP and a lot of other metal bands as a springboard for her husband's presidential bid. To me, rock and roll has always been something more than a tool for politicians to use to attract attention to themselves.

Now, I know there are plenty of people out there who don't think the PMRC is really that much of a danger. They say, "Hey, look at the charts. Look at all the metal bands that are doing well." That may be true. But it's also true that those people are slowly eating away at the base of rock and roll. They've tried to kill off WASP and they'll try to kill off other bands as well. That's why we've put some special messages on our new album, Live... In The Raw, just for Tipper and her friends. They think they've got us on the run, but they're wrong.

You wouldn't believe some of the shit we've had to put up with over the last few years because of the PMRC. Anyone who's followed WASP knows that on the last tour we really toned things down. There wasn't any blood, and there wasn't any "Rack.'' I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but that was because of the PMRC. Yeah, they got to me. Too many people had told me that if we kept acting as outrageously as we had, it would be all over for us. They said the PMRC would make it hard for us to schedule concerts, and they'd make it hard for stores to carry our records. I believed them, but then I realized that WASP is all about intimidating others, not being
intimidated.

That's why this time everything is back the way it should be. On our next tour, The Rack will be there in all its glory. I'm also working on something I like to call the "Meat Grinder', which is even more disgusting than The Rack. If the PMRC doesn't like it, they can come after me--I'm not too hard to find. We've decided that if they want a war, we'll give it to 'em--and we don't plan on surrendering.

One of the things that convinced me to take Tipper head-on was the fact that she reprinted some of our lyrics and our artwork in her book Bringing Up Kids In An X Rated Society. She never asked our permission to do so. We were thinking about suing her, but we really don't want her money. We just want this to be a fair fight--we don't want Tipper hiding behind her husband and using the government for protection. If she wants to debate the issues, we'll be happy to do so. She just can't be the totalitarian preacher she wants to be. She's a fundamentalist, just like Oral Roberts and all those other television evangelists who want to save your souls-- for a price. Hey Tipper, what's your price?

Unfortunately, fundamentalists only see life one way--their way. If something doesn't fit into their very narrow view of right and wrong, they condemn it as wrong. I'm just waiting for the day when Tipper comes out and calls rock and roll satanic; she's come real close at times. But maybe she's too smart for that. With her husband running for President, she's probably white-washed her opinions, making them seem very safe and positive. But I'm one guy who still thinks that censorship in any form is not only wrong, it's unamerican!

I'm sure by now some of you are wondering what all this has to do with you? The fact is that it has a lot to do with everyone If people like Tipper Gore and her husband come to power, we cannot only kiss off rock and roll, but a lot of other important things as well. Those people want to ban schoolbooks that discuss evolution. They want to set us back to the Dark Ages. If we sit back and think they can't do it, they just might surprise us. I'm sure that people in Germany, before Hitler came to power, didn't think a small group of fanatics could do them any damage either. We can't forget the lessons of history--though people like the PMRC would probably prefer if we didn't read history books.

Some people have asked me why I've decided to start talking about the PMRC now. A few of them think I'm only doing it to atract more attention to WASP. Well, they're wrong. For a long time I was like everyone else; I heard about the PMRC and just assumed they'd go away as soon as Tipper and her friends found something better to do with their time. Now I see the whole sinister plot in action. With Albert Gore now running for President, I realized I couldn't keep quiet any longer--the situation wasn't going to go away. If anything it was gonna get worse.

I realized that if I kept my mouth shut, by the time we went on the road next time, no place in the country would book us. They'd be scared that some governmental agency would give them a hard time if they dealt with a rock and roll band. It's still not too late to do something about it, so I'm speaking up, and I hope you do the same.

It's kind of funny. Frank Zappa was telling me that what launched Tipper Gore on this whole anti-rock campaign was passing her daughter's room and hearing her playing Animal, Fuck Like A Beast. How she got the song, I don't know. It was never even on one of our American albums. But ever since then, WASP has been a primary target for Tipper and the PMRC. I guess she feels we're corrupting her daughter's morals. Maybe if Tipper really thought about it, she'd have realized that her daughter was telling her something--that even "good" kids from "good" families like rock and roll. It's just too bad that Tipper's Bible is stuffed so deep in her ears that she couldn't hear what her own daughter was saying.