If Senator Bill Ratliff’s budget rider becomes law, the state’s pension fund will have to sell all of the stock it owns in the companies listed below; each company is followed by a partial list of its subsidiary record labels and a more or less random sampling of artists whose material may be found offensive under the Ratliff rap rider.
SEAGRAM COMPANY LTD.
Geffen Records
Hole, Bloodhound Gang, Snot, White Zombie
MCA Records
Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Who
Interscope
Universal Studios, a Seagram subsidiary, owns half of Interscope, which distributes recordings for other indie labels including Death Row (Tupac Shakur, Snoop Doggy Dogg), Nothing (Marilyn Manson), and Aftermath (Dr. Dre)
TIME WARNER INC.
Atlantic Recording Corp.
Lil’ Kim
Elektra Entertainment Group
Metallica, Pantera, Motley Crue
Warner Bros. Recording
Prodigy
PHILIPS ELECTRONICS
PolyGram
Ass Ponies, Chuck D, Public Enemy, Redman, P.J. Harvey
(PolyGram subsidiaries include Island, Polydor, Motown, A&M)
THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY
Hollywood Records
Danzig, Insane Clown Posse
SONY CORPORATION OF AMERICA
Columbia
Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Iggy Pop
Epic
Pearl Jam, Merle Haggard
This article appears in March 20 • 1998 and March 20 • 1998 (Cover).