Bill Of Rights Of Rock and Roll
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared December 15 as “Bill of Rights day” in honor of the first ten amendments officially becoming part of the Constitution of the United States.
In honor of this moment in history, we imagined what the Bill of Rights of Rock and Roll would look like, and we came up with these 11 amendments, because, naturally, it goes to 11.
First Amendment
Freedom to rock and roll all night and party every day.
Second Amendment
Right to bare arms. (For real, tank tops/muscle shirts are awesome and the ideal way to show off your tattoo sleeves.)
Third Amendment
Right to assorted pyro when performing live or making a music video.
Fourth Amendment
Freedom to experiment with world music, even if it’s misguided. (Also referred to the “Hanging out with Ravi Shankar phase” amendment, per Wayne’s World.)
Fifth Amendment
Right to wear sunglasses indoors.
Sixth Amendment
Right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury. (Considering some of rocks most notorious moments, we’re just going to keep the Sixth Amendment as is.)
Seventh Amendment
Freedom to alter hotel rooms as you see fit.
Eighth Amendment
Right to have ridiculous demands on your tour rider to make sure the promoter read your contract. (Thanks, Van Halen.)
Ninth Amendment
Freedom to open up, preferably in the form of a tell-all book.
Tenth Amendment
Freedom to license band logos/imagery to create crazy merch.
Eleventh Amendment
Right to crank things to 11 at all times. Noise ordinances be damned!
Erica Banas is rock/classic rock news blogger that loves the smell of old vinyl in the morning.
