Round two of the

right-wing war against rap music began Thursday (May 30) when Empower America

co-director Bill Bennett, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and extremist C.

Delores Tucker urged record companies to halt delivery of what Lieberman

labeled "prepackaged, shrink-wrapped nihilism." Hear at ATN, we thought that

perhaps Epitaph Records might want to hire Lieberman to write ad copy for them.

You know, "NOFX's Heavy Petting Zoo, the latest in prepackaged,

shrink-wrapped nihilism." Well anyway, the target of the three politicos

misguided attack are five entertainment conglomerates that traffic in the

dreaded rap music: Time Warner, Bertelsmann Music Group, Polygram, Thorn EMI

and Sony. Strangely absent from the list, MCA, which recently bought a 50%

interest in Interscope Records, the company that releases albums by some of

Bennett's favorite rappers including Tha Dogg Pound and 2Pac. It couldn't help

but cross our mind that perhaps Tucker or Bennett own some stock in the

company. Just a thought. Keeping his cool during the press conference, Bennett

confirmed our own long-held convictions about the power and importance of rock

& roll and rap music when he proclaimed that "nothing less is at stake than

civilization." Clearly, when such spokespeople for the youth generation as

Snoop Doggy Dogg and Marilyn Manson speak, senators and their associates now

listen. To save civilization from the barbarians that would tear it apart,

Empower America is going to pay for a $25,000 radio ad campaign to collect

petitions from listeners who want the record companies to "stop spreading this

vicious, vulgar music." Let's see now, does that mean that these ads will be

running on Modern Rock and Urban stations. We'd love to hear the radio segment

in which NIN's "Closer" (you know, with the line, "I want to fuck you like an

animal") is followed by the Empower commercial, which would segue right into

Prince's "Head." Lieberman protested that the lyrics "celebrate some of the

most antisocial and immoral behaviors imaginable." Tucker, who chairs the

National Political Congress of Black Women, cited numerous references to murder

and misogyny in "gangsta rap" and claimed "these companies have the blood of

children on their hands. ... We protect owls. We protect whales. We must

protect children." The trio had with them a "Worst Hits" compilation of songs

from popular acts such as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Tha Dogg Pound, 2Pac, the

Notorious B.I.G., Gravediggaz and Ol' Dirty Bastard. We suggest that some smart

company get that collection into recorc stores pronto. Strangely, while MCA was

not on the list of offending mega-corporations, Tucker said, "We must keep our

attention [on MCA] " She called one of ATN's favorite albums of the past year,

Marilyn Manson's Smells Like Children the "dirtiest, nastiest porno

record directed at children that has ever hit the market." Hmm. Maybe

Interscope should hire Tucker to write their ad copy.