10 Rock Bands That Got Banned For Stupid Reasons

It's almost funny looking back on how seriously people took the PMRC back in the day. In an attempt to get safer music for their kids, a couple of higher-ups in Washington D.C. started coming up with material that would advise parents of the offensive material that their children might be purchasing with an album. The entire censorship dispute seemed almost infantile, and Dee Snider was more than ready to go to war on behalf of heavy metal.

While Twisted Sister was by no means the most popular metal band in the world, the arrival of Dee Snider in Washington saying his piece to his accusers was nothing short of amazing. Assuming that he would just be a standard rock burnout, many of the suits were tugging at their collars when they realized how well-spoken Dee was, as he went to bat for everything that heavy metal stood for.

Among the bans were Sister's video for We're Not Gonna Take It, which they claimed was designed to be abusive towards parents. This accusation ends up getting funnier and funnier as the years go on, with most of the "abuse" the father takes in the video feeling much more in line with a Looney Tunes episode than any actual harm. The PMRC may have gotten their way in the end, but that Parental Advisory sticker became a borderline advertisement for any kid to listen to something that was a bit more off the rails.