National Music Review Council

From The Real Frank Zappa Book (1989) - "More Initials to Watch Out For" - Governmental agencies and groups like the PMRC find promotion easier when their bullshit is concealed behind an acronym. The 'aura' these organizations hope to generate from the use of the acronym could be scientifically described as 'The Acro-Nymbus' -- and any person believing that such an 'aura' certifies competence could be scientifically described as an 'Acro-nymbecile.' William Steading is the founder of the NMRC, the National Music Review Council. He runs two radio stations, one in Dallas and one in Salt Lake City, owned by the Mormon church. I received a flyer in the mail from this group, talking about their idea for cleaning up lyrics. The PMRC wanted to put The Scarlet Letter on offensive LPs; the NMRC wanted to put an "Attaboy" sticker on albums, indicating that it contains nothing objectionable. At Steading's stations, when a new record came in, someone would listen to it, decide what he didn't like, transfer the record to tape, edit the tape and play the 'clean' tape on the air instead of the record. That was rather deceptive. Some unsuspecting listener hearing the Steading Version might think it was a harmless little ditty, go out and buy the record, only to find out later it was about some leather weasel getting cornholed. The NMRC plan gets it both ways: a station can play supposedly 'hot music' without worrying about losing its broadcast license to the FCC.