Zappa To Debate Rock Lyrics At Harvard

Rock musician Frank Zappa will bang heads at Harvard's IOP Forum next week with the founder of a parents group over the morality of rock music lyrics and videos.

Zappa, whose avant garde music has consistently freaked out generations of rock fans, will defend the right of musicians to express themselves freely without the threat of censorship, said David C. Michael '87, vice-chairman of the Student Advisory Committee of the Institute of Politics.

The recent brouhaha over rock lyrics has largely been the result of lobbying efforts of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), a coalition of parents who advocate the implementation of a rating system like that is used to rate the suitability of movies for children and teenagers.

The PMRC's co-founder Sally Nevius will represent the group at Tuesday's forum.

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, in a highly-publicized series of hearings on rock lyrics, last month heard rock musicians and anti-porn advocates debate the merits of warning labels for obscene rock records.

Many of the music industry's record companies have agreed in recent weeks either to label their albums with the warning, "Explicit Lyrics-Parental Advisory," or to print the song lyrics on the album jacket, the Associated Press reported last night.

Participants in the forum, entitled "Caution: Rock and Roll May be Hazardous to Your Health," will include Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsberg, general manager and co-owner of V-66, a 24-hour music video television station; and Dr. Thomas Radecki, chairman of the National Coalition on Television Violence, according to the chairman of the Projects Committee of the SAC Derek A. West '87.