Stains of the PMRC Unfortunately Linger in Our Collective '80s Music Education

If you're old enough to remember how laughably frightened some people were of '80s heavy metal prior to the menace-ectomy administered to the genre by the reign of hair metal, then you probably have some examples of your own that may have made you think twice about satanic possession and what-not. Consider the atmospheric, Black Mass stylings of Metal Church, King Diamond and Helloween, for example. Still, while in a way I can look back with some fondness at my own gullibility about such matters, on the other hand the way cautionary fear-mongering from the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) and other moralistic '80s special interest groups infected not only parents but sometimes even the kids the music was meant for still has the power to infuriate me. After all, one of my most vivid memories of '80s music is being in science class in high school (I don't remember which specific subject, as I had too many musical questions to ponder) and discussing as if it were fact the real-life demonic nature of both Mr. Diamond himself and his unsettling musical flourishes.

Much has been said over the years about the so-called genuine evil of hard rock acts from Gene Simmons to Marilyn Manson and back again. Ultimately, it's not so much that we entertain and mull over these notions (to a certain extent, that's healthy use of imagination); it's that we're so quick to swallow these myths with such speed and ease. So what's the legacy of '80s metal's foray into theatrical, mostly playful obsessions with evil, darkness and fear? Probably the undeniable truth that the goat in these situations is not the one about to be sacrificed by your favorite hard rock frontman but the one needed by your friendly neighborhood fearmongers to oversimplify the very real problems in society.

Album Cover Photo Courtesy of Roadrunner Records