LA080590-0120 257443

August 5, 1990, Sunday, Home Edition

Calendar; Page 8; Calendar Desk

2625 words

ANTI-GAY MESSAGE GOES UNCHALLENGED;

SHOULD THE RECORD INDUSTRY'S REACTION TO GAY-BASHING BY RAP AND HEAVY-METAL GROUPS MIRROR ITS REACTION TO RACIAL AND ETHNIC SLURS?

By CHUCK PHILIPS

When Elton John called comedian and sometime rocker Sam Kinison a "pig" on the recent "International Rock Awards," gay activists called John's statement a long overdue response to what they say is "gay-bashing" in pop music.

The pop charts have too often been a forum for artists engaging in anti-gay hatred, at a time when violent incidents against homosexuals are on the rise, activists interviewed by The Times say.

Songs and comments by heavy-metal bands Guns N' Roses, Skid Row and Cinderella top the list of offensive statements. The comedy of Kinison, whose last two comedy albums have included heavy metal send-ups of rock classics such as "Wild Thing" and "Mississippi Queen," has raised the ire of gay groups more than once.

Even pop artists generally considered to be politically aware have come under attack. Songs such as "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler and "On Any Other Day" by the Police also have been criticized.

Rap artists Ice-T, Big Daddy Kane, 2 Live Crew, Heavy D, Slick Rick, Chuck D., Professor Griff, Schoolly D and Kool G Rap also have been accused of promoting anti-homosexual messages on records and stage or in interviews, according to black gay and lesbian groups.

Frustrated by increasing anti-gay song lyrics and remarks and by record company executives' tacit approval of anti-gay attitudes, activists argue that the industry consistently fails to react to performers' homophobia the way it frequently does when presented with racial and ethnic slurs.

If performers substituted racial or ethnic expletives for the anti-gay terms "blithely" used in pop songs, "the industry would react with vocal outrage," says Adam Block, rock columnist for the Los Angeles-based Advocate, the nation's most prominent gay magazine.

"On the one hand, this is a country which believes in artistic freedom," said Alan Bell, editor and publisher of BLK magazine, a Los Angeles-based national black gay and lesbian publication. "But on the other, we don't believe in bashing minorities. So what do you do?"

Last January, in response to charges of anti-Semitism and other forms of racial insensitivity and bigotry surrounding ethnic slurs in an interview with Public Enemy member Professor Griff, CBS Records chief executive Walter Yetnikoff sent a memo to more than 7,000 CBS employees asking for a dialogue on what the company policy should be in this area. The move was widely applauded by other label chiefs, some of whom said they intend to follow suit.

But gay activists maintain that little has been done.

"Let's face it, it's open season on gays," Block said. "Look at Skid Row or Guns N' Roses -- how much of a career killer is it when pop music artists verbally bash gay people in public?"

Homosexuals were the targets last year of more than 7,000 anti-gay incidents ranging from verbal abuse to violence, according to a recent report from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Carol Anderson, outreach chairwoman for the Los Angeles branch of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) maintains that explicit bigotry abounds in rock 'n' roll.

Founded six years ago in New York, GLAAD now has nine chapters across the country, including the Los Angeles chapter, which processes about 500 calls a week on a local hot line for comments about the presentation of gays in the popular media.

GLAAD studies reveal that the typical gay-basher tends to be a white male between 16 and 25 years of age, the same demographic to which heavy-metal music appeals, Anderson points out.

Here are some incidents involving heavy-metal music and alleged homophobia frequently cited by the activists:

* Sebastian Bach, lead singer of the Atlantic Records band Skid Row, was chastised by gay groups after a heavy-metal magazine ran a snapshot of him wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan: "AIDS kills (gays) dead."

* Cinderella, a best-selling band that records for PolyGram Records, irked gay activists after drummer Fred Coury espoused anti-gay opinions during an interview in a heavy-metal magazine earlier this year.

* Guns N' Roses came under fire last year after writing and recording "One in a Million" for Geffen Records, an angry rock narrative replete with slurs against gays and blacks. During subsequent interviews and live performances in which lead singer Axl Rose attempted to defend his creative intentions, his statements only upset activists more.

Last year, when the band was removed from the line-up of a Gay Men's Health Crisis AIDS benefit, David Geffen, the president of their record company, resigned as chairman of the event.

Geffen, an AIDS philanthropist, explained his position in an interview in Entertainment Weekly: "I don't care what their record was," he said. "If you need a blood donor and the only person who can give you a transfusion is Hitler, you take the blood."

Block, the Advocate columnist, says he finds the anti-gay attitude promoted by metal acts particularly offensive.

"Metal music is a medium which targets young males at a point in their lives when they feel sexually confused and ambiguous," Block said. "In order to allay any fear that they may be gay themselves, metal creates these fantasies of gay-bashing and power over women -- it's part of the musical ethos."

But heavy metal hasn't cornered the market on homophobia, gay activists say. Block notes that some of the same macho, anti-gay bragging prevalent on the heavy-metal circuit exists in rap music too.

A song by the group Audio Two contains this passage:

I can't understand why you're lookin' this way

What's the matter with you boy, are you gay?

Yo, I hope that ain't the case

'Cause gay mothers get punched in the face.

-- from Audio Two's "Whatcha' Lookin' At?"

In recent issues, BLK, the Los Angeles-based, national black gay and lesbian publication, has reported a number of anti-gay, rap-related incidents:

* Ice-T angered activists during a concert on a recent Australian tour when he allegedly gave his approval to "bash poofs," according to BLK magazine.

* Big Daddy Kane's song "Pimpin' Ain't Easy" came under fire for lyrics such as: "The Big Daddy law is anti-(gay). That means no homosexuality."

* Activists also point the finger at Heavy D for his song "More Bounce," which states he is "extremely intellectual, not bisexual" and that his listeners can "be as happy as a (gay) in a jail."

Walter Williams is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Southern California in the Program for the Study of Women and Men in Society. He teaches a class at USC called "Gender and Sexuality as an Issue in American Public Life."

Williams notes that the sudden onslaught of anti-gay pop music and comedy mirrors the ambiguity that exists in American society regarding the emergence of a public and vocal homosexual community.

"This is a homophobic culture and the kind of hateful messages we're concerned with here are a reflection of the nervousness that society feels about gay people," Williams said.

"The problem is that artists who perform this type of material not only reflect and reinforce what the society already thinks, they select and escalate the saturation of such thoughts in the culture."

Williams said he wished that artists and record companies that promote anti-gay messages in their work would realize that they are not operating in a social vacuum.

"Record companies understand the limits of what is right and wrong," Williams said. "I don't think Sam Kinison would be caught ridiculing black people. I don't hear anybody putting out songs about beating up blacks.

"Artists have to start factoring in other realities. For instance, the question of violence," Williams added. "Right now there are a lot of hate crimes going on against specific minorities, gays included. I really do believe that there is the possibility that hate material may incite violence."

Two weeks ago, following a performance by Arista recording artists Snap at a Boston gay nightclub called Buddies, Turbo Harris, the rap group's singer, allegedly shouted anti-gay remarks, choked Dennis Moreau, the club owner, and kicked club employee Kevin Riley in the ribs, according to Buddies manager Mark Eacobacci. The anti-gay incident has set off a boycott of Snap's music at radio stations and clubs throughout the Boston area.

Larry Jenkins, senior director of national publicity for Arista Records, said the group has apologized to the club owner and offered to perform a benefit concert at Buddies, the proceeds of which are to be donated to the fight against AIDS.

"This incident was the result of a misunderstanding," Jenkins said. "Turb B is not anti-gay."

Eacobacci acknowledged that a spokeswoman for Arista apologized to the club, but said that Buddies' management has no intention of allowing Snap to perform at Buddies again.

Most of the artists who have allegedly been criticized for anti-gay expressions declined to be interviewed by The Times. Representatives for Guns N' Roses, Skid Row, Cinderella, Audio Two and Ice-T all turned down repeated requests for interviews. In addition, executives from PolyGram, Atlantic, A&M, Arista, Capitol and Geffen Records declined repeated requests for interviews for this story.

Rap artist Heavy D was unavailable for comment, but his manager, Steve Lucas, said the rapper was sorry for any unintentional slap at gays.

"What Heavy D said was meant to be playful, not derogatory," Lucas said. "He is not into gay-bashing. If we offended anybody, we apologize."

Big Daddy Kane also described his "Pimpin' Ain't Easy" as a gag. "Rap songs don't always have to have a message," Kane said. "They can be done for pure entertainment or just to get a laugh. This was not meant to offend anyone."

But Rich Miller, manager of Fresh Fruit Records, a San Francisco-based company that markets albums by gay musicians and comedians, says he finds such humor in poor taste.

"It's one thing for gay songwriters or comedians to poke fun at gay people in their art," Miller said. "That's like Woody Allen making fun of Jewish customs or Richard Pryor making light of black stereotypes.

"But it is simply not acceptable for someone who doesn't understand the culture to ridicule gays in their work."

Gay activists not only criticize artists such as Kinison and Audio Two for recording what they perceive to be anti-gay diatribes, they also indict the record companies that finance and distribute such material.

Last month, GLAAD's New York chapter launched a national letter-writing campaign directed at Atlantic Records, protesting the distribution of Audio Two's album. GLAAD's Los Angeles chairwoman Anderson says record companies are as much to blame as the artists.

Bob Merlis, national publicity director at Warner Bros. Records, the company Kinison records for, said he views the debate over controversial subject matter as a First Amendment issue.

"I can understand why a significant portion of people, whatever their sexual orientation, would find parts of Sam Kinison's humor offensive and demeaning," Merlis said. "But, by the same token, it would be hard to make the case that this guy, just because he espouses comedy that people find objectionable, ought to be stifled."

Merlis portrays the record company's role as a commercial conduit between the artist and the public. If consumers find material objectionable, he says, they don't have to buy it.

But Randy Morrison, the independent record producer who initiated the Kinison protest in 1988, insists that record companies do have an obligation to monitor potentially offensive product.

"I realize that Warner Bros. artists have done outstanding work with AIDS patients, but sometimes it seems like record labels who finance albums that include hateful messages are like the companies who made the poison gas during Nazi times," Morrison said.

"They say, 'Oh, we just put the gas out. We don't kill anybody.' . . . Sometimes it seems like all these guys care about is making a buck."

Merlis disagrees.

"I'm not going to deny that we want to put out albums that sell," Merlis said. "But I take exception to anyone equating us with German munitions manufacturers. We make records and we know what they are used for. They are used for entertainment. It is our belief that record companies should not meddle in the creative process."

Atlantic Records recently issued a press release that endorsed the constitutional right of artists to voice ideas with which the company "vehemently disagrees" and may find "personally repugnant."

Richard Palmese, executive vice president and general manager of MCA Records, also believes in the right to artistic freedom, but qualified that right.

"MCA Records supports the right of the artists to free expression," Palmese said. "I will, however, always do everything within my power to ensure that our artists act responsibly and do not traffic in any kind of bigotry or hatred."

Jeff Ayeroff, president of Virgin Records, says that he would never put out any record that could be perceived as promoting bigotry. During his tenure at Warner Bros., Ayeroff refused to work on Kinison's record.

"I don't need to go to sleep at night thinking that I made my profits off the misery of any oppressed minority group," Ayeroff said in a recent telephone interview. "If somebody else can rest easy putting that kind of stuff out, let them. I'm just not going to do it."

Ayeroff denied that such a stance constitutes censorship, insisting that record company executives exercise the right to determine what is recorded on their own labels.

"This is the kind of situation where as a businessman I have the right to make decisions on how I want to earn my living," Ayeroff said. "I'm not saying the group shouldn't put the album out. I just don't want any part of it."

Why haven't gay activists been able to organize a more effective campaign against what they see as insensitive or anti-gay sentiments in the record business?

Among the reasons cited by various activists: the enormous amount of emotion and time required to deal with the AIDS epidemic, plus an age gap in the gay community.

According to GLAAD's Anderson, the older gay generation, which is more politically involved than the younger gay generation, does not usually listen to rap or metal music.

"So we don't actually hear about this kind of offensive material until long after it's been on the market," she said. "We have published articles in the gay press trying to raise the awareness of younger members regarding these issues, but I can't say that we have been terribly successful in reaching them."

GLAAD believes that the best way for record companies to counter the negative impact of anti-gay material is to finance and promote positive public service announcements denouncing anti-gay bigotry. But, so far, GLAAD's attempts to enlist the support of labels like Geffen Records in such pursuits have proven unsuccessful.

Advocate columnist Block suggests that musicians and comics need to join the fight, denouncing the work of artists who promote anti-homosexual bigotry. Independent producer Morrison thinks gays working within the music business need to speak out more frequently regarding their opposition to anti-gay recordings.

Alan Bell, editor and publisher of BLK magazine, said that the entire gay community needs to mobilize and let it be known that it won't tolerate offensive albums.

"While my feelings may not represent the gay community as a whole, I personally believe that artists should not be prevented from recording this kind of stuff," Bell said. "The appropriate response is for gays to stop buying products from companies that promote hateful messages."

Photo, 'Let's face it, it's open season on gays.' Adam Block, rock columnist for the Advocate SUSAN SPANN / for The Times; Photo, 'Sometimes it seems like all these guys care about is making a buck.' Randy Morrison, independent record producer Irfan Khan / For The Times; Photo, 'Artists should not be prevented from recording this kind of stuff.' Alan Bell, editor and publisher of BLK magazine ROSEMARY KAUL / Los Angeles Times; Photo, Skid Row, Sam Kinison, Guns N' Roses and Big Daddy Kane, clockwise from upper left, have faced criticism concerning alleged anti-gay messages.

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RECORDING INDUSTRY; HOMOSEXUALS; DISCRIMINATION; HATE CRIMES; HEAVY METAL MUSIC; RAP MUSIC; BANDS