Warning: Parental Advisory

Back in 1985, the music industry was about to get a serious shake-up. Tipper Gore’s Parents Music Resource Center—a group of disgruntled senators’ wives—vowed to warn unsuspecting parents of the filth their children were listening to. Twisted Sister, amongst others, took exception to this attempt at censorship and a battle escalated all the way to Capitol Hill. In VH1’s light take on the war on “porn rock,” we see Charlie Burner—a music industry lobbyist played by Jason Priestley—lead a group of musicians into senate hearings to fight Mariel Hemmingway’s Tipper Gore. Warning stickers hadn’t even been created yet, and the wink-wink, nudge-nudge approach helps trivilaize the issue of language in music. Conservatives blush at the F-bomb and musicians claim total innocence—while hardly lost in the madness is Dee Snider’s breathrough performance as, um, Dee Snider. That, and the chance to see “Brandon Walsh” playing air guitar to Judas Priest is absolutely priceless.