BRADLEY TAKES A STAND AGAINST LYRIC CENSORS

Mayor Tom Bradley, flanked by executives and members of the recording industry, Monday criticized “would-be censors” who support a rating system for music lyrics.

“Censorship doesn’t work, it’s un-American . . . next where do you go, to labeling books?” Bradley asked. The way to deal with offensive lyrics, he said, “is to have the parents exercise the kind of control that the average parent is expected to impose on his or her child.”

Bradley, who has long had heavy political support from the entertainment community, was joined at a Los Angeles City Hall press conference by several others who are fighting the proposal to regulate music lyrics.

Those attending the press conference included Danny Goldberg, president of Gold Mountain Records; Irving Azoff, president of MCA records, and recording artists Michael Des Barres of Power Station and Kim Carnes. Azoff said he believed Bradley was the first elected official to publicly oppose any type of lyric-rating system.