"My Child Dresses Like A Punk...Help Me Phil Donahue"

The 80's were a time when parents began to worry how their kids were dressing. Things were getting pierced, heads were getting shaved, and clothing began to look like a weapon. A lot of parents groups became suddenly alarmed and blamed the music for the children's new sense of rebellion. Groups sprang up like the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) to give mom something to feel better about while accomplishing nothing except a dog and pony show.

1984 was an election year and Reagan along with the GOP began courting the Catholic vote and running on a family values platform shifting the focus away from the politics of the past. Following the election, the PMRC was formed by the 'Washington wives' who got a lot of attention on the lyrics and imagery of music and how it was supposedly corrupting the youth of America.

Even the talk show circuit got involved. A few months before Phil Donahue went big time with his daily talk show in New York, he had a local show taped in Chicago. It was syndicated, but this was Chicago and not New York so not many people knew Phil Donahue outside Chicago in 1984. Donahue's "Parents of Punkers" show was filmed at his Chicago studio in 1984 and sought to exploit figure out why kids dressed the way they did. The panel was comprised of tearful mothers in their best Sunday dresses telling sympathetic sob stories about how embarrassed they were with the way little Susie was looked. Donahue even invited several notable characters from the local punk scene down to defend themselves, including a guy from a local New Wave band called Ministry.

Ministry started out as a synthpop outfit in 1981 by frontman Al Jourgensen. It wasn't until the release of "The Land of Rape and Honey" in 1987 that Ministry crossed over into the forefront of industrial metal. Below you can watch the Al (Alian) Jourgensen segments from the Donahue show from 1984.

Be sure to pick up Minsty's new album, "Relapse" which is out now on 13th Planet Records.


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Tags:  Ministry, Phil Donahue, punk, Al Jourgensen 

Jason Fisher    March 29, 2012