Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

2-3-90 . . . Everyone is talking about the American Music Awards that were televised live by ABC. During the ceremony, the rock band Guns ’N’ Roses won a couple of awards. Two members of the band, including the guitarist Slash, walked to the stage to accept the award. They carried drinks and cigarettes and gave every indication of being drunk or high. Slash, whose long curly hair obscures his eyes, leaned down to the microphone and said something like “This is fuckin’ great”. The network immediately cut to a commercial. (I happened to be watching.) Later, as I understand it, the same two musicians went to the podium and swore some more. More than 500 people called the ABC affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth to register their disgust at Slash’s conduct and language. “We tuned in to watch wholesome people and ended up hearing filth.” Obviously, Slash’s language doesn’t offend me. I can tell by the way he talks that words like “fuck” and “shit” are important parts of his vocabulary. What this shows is the gulf between popular musical culture and mainstream America. In locker rooms, on playing fields, in bars, and in their backyards, people use so-called gutter language. But on television all is pure and antiseptic. Slash is probably amazed that anyone would be offended by his language, so normal is it for him. Television is the last bastion of prudery in this country—the repository of etiquette, tradition, and decorum. Slash was on alien turf.