Washington State Targets ‘Erotic’ Music Lyrics : Pop music: Legislators extend a ban on the sale of sexually oriented material to minors to include lyrics. Many urge the governor to veto the bill.

Just at the time Washington state is making a splashy name for itself in the world of rock, the Legislature here has plunged headlong into that fractious controversy over banning the sale of sexually oriented music to minors.

By overwhelming votes and with no committee testimony against it, the state Senate and House of Representatives passed a bill recently that would add music lyrics to Washington’s 1969 law forbidding the sale of “erotic” printed material, photographs or film to persons under age 18.

If the measure becomes law, the statute would be the first in the nation to try to forbid the sale of certain music to minors, although the industry itself has adopted a parental-advisory labeling code.

The measure went to Democratic Gov. Booth Gardner on March 3. He has until April 1 to decide whether he will sign it into law.

Since the bill arrived on the governor’s desk, however, there has been an uproar of opposition urging a veto. Musicians, young music fans and civil libertarians have rallied at the Capitol and flooded the governor’s office with faxes and calls, arguing that the proposed new law is heavy-handed, vague and capricious.

Indeed, the terms of Washington’s 1969 law on the sale of erotic materials to minors allows for interpretation. The process requires that first someone, like a parent, has to complain to a local prosecutor. The prosecutor then reviews the material and decides whether to seek a court hearing. A judge then rules whether to order an adults-only label.

Only after such a finding would future sales be affected. Those who then sold the material to minors would face up to six months in jail and a $500 fine. Repeat offenses would bring up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

The 1969 statute defines erotic this way: “The dominant theme of which, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interests of minors in sex; which is patently offensive because it affronts contemporary community standards related to the description or representation of sexual matters or sadomasochistic abuse, and is utterly without socially redeeming value.”

The votes in favor of the legislation were 96-2 in the House and 35-9 in the Senate.

A spokeswoman said Gardner has not indicated his leanings one way or another.

However, it was noted by Capitol wags that the second paragraph of the governor’s 1992 State of the State Address revealed his enthusiasm for the national fame reaching Washington state’s young rockers. “I am the governor of the state with the number one college football team. I am the governor of the home state of Nirvana, the hottest new rock band in the country,” Gardner said.

On the other hand, the governor’s personal music tastes are decidedly un-hip. In a 1984 political questionnaire, Gardner said his favorite song was “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (in Perfect Harmony),” the spin-off of the 1971 Coke commercial.

Chris Novoselic, bass player for Nirvana, appeared at a recent Capitol rally urging music lovers of Washington state to speak out against the bill. And they surely have. More mail, calls and faxes have been received on this issue in the last two weeks than anything else during the 1992 legislative session except for health care reform, according to the governor’s office. And “virtually all” of the messages it has received were from people opposed to the bill.

Among others covering the story has been a news crew from MTV. With Nirvana and other up-and-coming bands like Pearl Jam, and regional record companies, Seattle has risen to new prominence in the rock music scene.

“And now, right in the middle of it all, we have an overzealous government taking over parenting. Parents should be responsible for this, not the government,” said Barbara Dollarhide of C/Z Records, a local alternative music label. “Even in Louisiana, such a bill was killed. And this is Washington where our music industry is thriving.”

Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer vetoed a lyric bill in 1990 after the measure passed both the state Senate and House of Representatives.

The sponsor of pending Washington state legislation is Rep. Richard King, a Democrat from Everett, who said a constituent came to him complaining there was nothing she could do when a record store sold her nephew a 2 Live Crew recording, which was then heard by her 4-year-old son. She argued for the recourse to keep such records out of the hands of children.

King then listened to the rap group’s “As Nasty as They Want to Be Part II” and took up the cause.

“I thought about it a long time but decided to act only after I listened to this rap music, which seemed to me offensive, especially its references to violence against women.”

In a celebrated case last autumn, 2 Live Crew was acquitted by a Florida jury of violating that state’s obscenity statutes in a nightclub concert.

2 Live Crew’s “As Nasty as They Wanna Be” was ruled obscene by a federal Judge in Ft. Lauderdale in June, 1990. The case is on appeal. A Florida retailer who sold the 2 Live Crew record to an undercover officer was convicted of distributing “obscene” material in October, 1990.

King said he was not surprised by the opposition, only that it has taken them so long to get organized. “I called the governor’s office and told them that if they wanted we could get the other side going and get him a lot of letters from churches and others. . . . I’m satisfied that the overwhelming majority of the people in this state--70% or 80%--will support this law as written.”

The recording industry has not sounded overly alarmed by the proposed new Washington state law. Michael Cover, the director of state legislative affairs for the Washington D.C.-based Recording Industry Assn. of America, said the change in law was actually minor, despite its symbolism.

He noted that the 1969 Washington state law already specified that minors could not be sold erotic printed materials, photographs and “other materials,” suggesting that music was effectively covered by law here.

“Of course, we would rather that bill had not passed,” he said.

The music industry was successful this session in the defeat of two other legislative proposals that were even stricter, Cover said.