Today marks the 50th anniversary of LIFE magazine's issue/cover story of xxx proliferation (1970). Sometimes all it takes is an article or exposé to get the ball rolling. Since naked women & fornication were first written about, few could've seen the brouhaha that would be made further down the line; that a little snowball would morph into an avalanche of wild future avenues regarding adult entertainment. With the emergence of x-rated sleaze, came media pundits, politicians, talk show hosts, feminists, psychiatrists and psychologists who would all jump in the ring to weigh in with opinions... Weekly magazines such as TIME, NEWSWEEK and MACLEAN'S had early cover stories regarding pornography as a problematic plague & scourge... Times Square in New York City was awash in hookers, strip clubs, live shows, movie houses, seedy gay bars and smut-peddling storefronts all catering to the trade... The 1980's under the uptight Reagan administration saw the Edgar Meese Commission formed to combat obscenity and advocate censorship which was used as a vanguard for the Moral Majority... Internationally, Denmark was one of the first countries in the world who were right out of the gate in making explicit uncensored content available. Holland had a thriving red-light district which was regulated and regarded as safe, as opposed to Thailand which in contrast was known for its lurid 'sex tourism' that was notorious for predators seeking out youngsters. And there was always comparison/connection to the USA's flesh industry (polluted by affiliation with organized crime capitalizing on commodity)... Whether in written condemnation or spoken defense, one narrative has always remained the same and/with its position firmly in place to continue pushing the envelope -- sex sells.

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This was IM's 15th studio album. It was their longest running time until 2015's 'Book of Souls', their longest gap between studio releases until 2021's 'Senjutsu', their last record on EMI, their last to use the modified font, and their 1st & only Grammy Award from Best Metal Performance. Happy 15th Anniversary.

40YRS AGO TODAY