Swedish Toast

There's an article in the New York Times today about a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, where lawmakers, hip-hop artists and music execs are debating the presence of potentially inflammatory words in hip-hop lyrics.

However you weigh in on the issue, it is interesting to take note of the article's use of single letters to refer to certain words that are central to the debate. The article just writes "B", "H" and "N".

Now jump in the time warp and watch this episode of Crossfire from 1986, in which three fuddy-duddies try to corner Frank Zappa on the issue of censorship.

You have to watch the clip! These guys are maniacs. Frank just coasts over their lunacy (with a few lapses, like when he yells Kiss My Ass).

"How much money do you make peddling this stuff, Mr. Zappa."
"Millions of dollars, Mr. Lofton."

And then Frank says, "Could I make a statement about national defence; the biggest threat to America today is not Communism, it's moving America toward a fascist theocracy, and everything that's happened during the Reagan administration is steering us right down that pipe."

How portentous!