Sheena Easton's "Sugar Walls” and The Filthy Fifteen

[luisam]

Browsing the internet about my favorite singers, I came upon the information that Sheena Easton's "Sugar Walls" was released on April 13, 2019 as a 12' single picture disc by RT Industries for 2019 "National Record Store Day".

"Sugar Walls" was composed by Prince under one of the pseudonyms used by him, as Alexander Nevermind. It is the second single from Sheena Easton's 1984 album A Private Heaven. It spent 16 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, nine of which were in the top 40. It reached #9 overall, as well as #3 on the R&B chart and #1 on the Dance chart. The song failed to chart well in Easton's native UK.

The song title is presumed to be a euphemism for the lining of her vagina, which was perhaps sufficiently subtle by itself, but the general content was considered suggestive enough to qualify the song for the "Filthy Fifteen." Although Easton's music video for "Sugar Walls" did not in itself feature any controversial visual content, some broadcasters refused the video airplay because of the sexual imagery of the song's lyrics.

The so-called “Filthy Fifteen” were 15 songs declared obscene in the US about 30 years ago. The designation of a Filthy Fifteen was part of a backlash campaign that ended with the imposition of stickers on albums warning of “explicit lyrics”. Yet the controversy over these “dangerous” songs remains a cultural talking point.

It started when Tipper Gore, wife of Senator Al Gore, bought a copy Purple Rain, the groundbreaking album released by Prince, for her 11-year-old daughter. She described her ensuing outrage in her book “Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society”, describing what happened when mother and daughter listened to the track ‘Darling Nikki’, which includes a line about a “sex fiend masturbating with a magazine”. Gore wrote: “The vulgar lyrics embarrassed both of us. At first, I was stunned, but then I got mad.”

Together with three other prominent conservative housewives – Susan Baker (wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker), Pam Howar (wife of Raymond Howar, a real-estate developer who was active in the Republican Party) and Sally Nevius (whose husband, John, was appointed Washington City Council Chairman by President Nixon) – Tipper formed the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). The PMRC eventually grew to include 22 participants before shutting down in the mid-to-late 1990s.

They compiled the Filthy Fifteen: a list of songs they found most objectionable. Prince topped the list. "Sugar Walls" was the second. Funny, also by Prince!

The Filthy Fifteen             
 

# Artist Song title Lyrical content 1 Prince "Darling Nikki" Sex/Masturbation 2 Sheena Easton "Sugar Walls" Sex 3 Judas Priest "Eat Me Alive" Sex/Violence 4 Vanity "Strap On 'Robbie Baby'" Sex 5 Mötley Crüe "Bastard" Violence/Language 6 AC/DC "Let Me Put My Love Into You" Sex 7 Twisted Sister "We're Not Gonna Take It" Violence 8 Madonna "Dress You Up" Sex 9 W.A.S.P. "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)" Sex/Language/Violence 10 Def Leppard "High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)" Drug and alcohol use 11 Mercyful Fate "Into the Coven" Occult 12 Black Sabbath "Trashed" Drug and alcohol use 13 Mary Jane Girls "In My House" Sex 14 Venom "Possessed" Occult 15 Cyndi Lauper "She Bop" Sex/Masturbation

The PMRC lobbied hard and rallied support among PTAs in school. By August 1985, 19 record companies had agreed to put “Parental Guidance: Explicit Lyrics” labels on certain albums. The PMRC even devised its own “porn rock” rating system, with an “X” for profane or sexually explicit lyrics; “O” for occult references; “D/A” for lyrics about drugs and alcohol; and “V” for violent content. Cyndi Lauper’s song ‘She Bop’, for example, had the PMRC’s knickers in a twist because of the suggestive lyric about “picking up good vibration”.

On 19 September that year, the Senate’s Committee On Commerce, Science And Transportation held a hearing about the need to put warning labels on albums. The PMRC put forward their case and three musicians provided testimony. Frank Zappa said, “If it looks like censorship and it smells like censorship, it is censorship, no matter whose wife is talking about it.” Dee Snider, lead singer of heavy metal band Twisted Sister, argued that it was a straightforward infringement of civil liberties.

The third musician was folk rock musician John Denver, who stated stated he was "strongly opposed to censorship of any kind in our society or anywhere else in the world", and that in his experience censors often misinterpret music, as was the case with his song "Rocky Mountain High". In addition, Denver expressed his belief that censorship is counterproductive.

Snider recalled: “Gotta give John Denver credit. His testimony was one of the most scathing, because they fully expected – he was such a mom’s, American pie, John Denver Christmas special, fresh-scrubbed guy – that he would be on the side of censorship. When he brought up, ‘I liken this to the Nazi book burnings,’ you should’ve seen them start running for the hills. His testimony was the most powerful in many ways.”

Despite Denver’s intervention, the PMRC got their way and stickers were introduced. However, it didn’t necessarily work out the way they wanted. Heavy metal bands on the list received a sales and publicity boost, and the sort of lyrics that followed in rock, rap and even country music suggests that the group were fighting a losing battle.

Not that they see it that way. Susan Baker recently told Time magazine that it still gives her a smile when she sees a Parental Advisory sticker and knows she helped make that happen.

The campaign did a lot of good, she insisted. Perhaps. Or perhaps all that Tipper and her gang ultimately achieved was curating an awesome mixtape for rebellious teenagers of the late 80s.