U.S. Senate Hearings of 1985
The first good example of negative news media coverage can be found in court cases. The most famous court case happened to be the first as well with regards to heavy metal. The Senate Hearings in September of 1985 is the classic court setting with heavy metal lyrics under close scrutiny by the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
The hearings were undergone because of the the Parents' Music Resource Center (PMRC). The was the group that was likewise invited to testify before the committee. This group had great influence because of their connections. They were led by Tipper Gore (wife of Senator Al Gore) and Susan Baker (wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker) (Binder, 753). On the side of the recording industry were Frank Zappa, metal singer Dee Snider, and the famous John Denver. As a result of these hearings, the recording industry was compelled to voluntarily place labels (as seen on the right) on records having explicit lyrics (Brunner, 10-11).
For the purpose of this website however, it is not so much what actually happened that matters, but rather how the media portrays heavy metal in light of the hearings. In this case, the news media had extensive coverage on the hearings (Binder, 753). In the hearings, the PMRC concentrated specifically on heavy metal song lyrics in order to drive home their argument (Binder, 753). As a result, the news media concentrated on the same genre much like the PMRC had: heavy metal. Interestingly, the media seemed to share similar views as the PMRC even before the hearings even began. Take a look at the first few minutes of this ABC Nightline clip from 1985 to see:
Video courtesy of YouTube