[Perndog]

When the fight was going on, there were no edited versions.

Health food stores are specialist retailers. Target is a gigantic department store chain. If Target refuses to carry any product, that product is taking a hit in sales.

If the government weren't shouting about censorship and spinning the public opinion against the music industry, Target wouldn't bother to check for content, because no one would mind if they carried explicit CDs.

Parents shouldn't need a handy little label that says "Explicit Content." Lyrics are printed in liner notes these days, and all it takes is a couple of glances at the lyrics or even just at the cover of an album for a parent to get the gist of what it's about and whether it's okay for Little Johnny. The problem with stickering is that there are now arbitrary standards on what is and isn't okay, which means government-dictated morality. Frank Zappa's INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM Jazz from Hell was stickered, and what sane parents would claim that instrumental art-rock is dangerous for their kids?

Many stickered albums today are not so because of a few swear words that can be edited out. "Occult references" and the like are also on the list, and a lot of albums are getting the ban with features that can't be removed without ruining their artistic quality. Not to mention that only uptight parents would be bothered by a lot of the standards, which is a piss-poor reason to damage the marketability of good music.