What do John Denver and Eminem have in common?

"You know, if a bomb hit this place right now, John Denver would be #1 again."
Paul Simon, while amongst the star-studded ensemble gathered to record "We Are the World."

Personally, I have always been a fan of the late John Denver. His melodious, easy-going lyrics made for some great music.

While browsing the music section of a local Border’s book store this evening, I came across one of John Denver’s greatest hits CDs. I decided to indulge in such classics as “Thank God I’m a Country Boy”, “Annie’s Song”, “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, etc.

Upon scanning the CD to listen to a few tracks, I received a rather peculiar audio message:

The preview of the CD you are about hear may contain explicit content. Please continue at your own discretion.

HUH???!!!

John Denver? Explicit content? Certainly the wrong bar code must have been affixed to the CD.

No sooner had that thought crossed my mind when I suddenly heard Denver’s voice crowing “You fill up my senses like a night in a forest.” No doubt I had the right music choice.

It was then I suddenly remembered Denver’s appearance before the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) in 1985. The PMRC wanted to introduce a parental warning system that would label all albums containing offensive material. The system was to include letters identifying the type of objectionable content to be found in each album (i.e. O for occult themes, S for sex, D for drugs, V for violence, etc). Denver's testimony most famously includes describing how his song “Rocky Mountain High” was dropped from radio stations because it was assumed to be about drug use.

So is that the reason for the warning message I heard? Hmm. I find that to be a bit of a stretch.