Texas Let Me See Some ID

Many a parent has been shocked and offended by the lyrical excesses of heavy- metal and rap music. Now Western Merchandisers Inc., an Amarillo-based record-store chain that operates 119 outlets in the Southwest, has taken a drastic step to ensure that albums like As Nasty As We Want to Be by 2 Live Crew do not fall into the hands of minors. Since June 8, the chain has been slapping little green stickers reading 18 TO PURCHASE on sexually explicit records and requiring customers to present proof of age before they can buy them.

The policy began after police filed charges against a Dallas branch of the record-store chain for selling harmful material to a minor. The store sold to a 13-year-old boy a rap album containing a graphic tune about a grotesque sex act. Though the charges were eventually dropped by a grand jury, the chain decided to be more prudent about prurience. "We feel we have an obligation to the customers and the communities we are in to police our sales," says Walter McNeer, an executive vice president at Western Merchandisers. "We do not want to be censors."