Public Domain Progress: Frank Zappa was right.

Public Domain Progress: Frank Zappa was right.: "During his 1986 appearance on CNN's Crossfire, Zappa made it clear that the hullabaloo surrounding the censorship of rock lyrics was an attempt to suppress free speech. In the tradition of the late Lenny Bruce and George Carlin, Zappa said that he didn't 'believe there are any words that need to be suppressed.'

After getting steadily bashed by his counterpart, the conservative Washington Times columnist John Lofton, he turned toward him and told him to 'kiss my ass.' The program, which hadn't started out with any references to smooching, devolved to that point after an exasperated and infuriated Lofton kept accusing Zappa of refusing to condemn rock lyrics that encouraged incest.

During those early days of 'Crossfire' -- and some might argue it has remained that way until only the past few years -- the left was barely distinguishable from the right. 'From the left' was Tom Braden, who ran the C.I.A.'s covert cultural division in the early 1950's and 30 years later could barely muster up a coherent progressive thought, and 'from the right' was a younger and surprisingly less irascible Robert Novak. (To view the entire interview, see ifilm.com.)

Later, when Lofton claimed that America's families were under attack and threatened by out-of-control musicians, Zappa stated clearly that the 'the biggest threat to America is not communism, it's moving America toward a fascist theocracy, and everything that's happened during the Reagan Administration is steering us right down that path.' (For more on Zappa's life see Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)"