SAT Reading 1.1 Passage Comparison

One thing that's important to note about Passage 1 is that its author is neutral on

the subject. Maybe he or she hates those evil rockers.

Or maybe the he or she has a Judas Priest tattoo on his or her...wherever.

The truth is that we don't know how the author feels...

...since the article only reports on people who thought lots of rock was bad, and doesn't

express any kind of bias one way or the other. So... we can easily eliminate choice (A),

which claims that the author is out to get Prince and other controversial musicians.

Sorry, but that just isn't the case.

(B) tries to make us think that the author is out to protect all those innocent rock

stars out there who were getting picked on by the big bad censor police.

Another swing and a miss. The passage only mentions Al Gore's wife,

Tipper, and doesn't say anything about his career. Poor Al, he never quite makes the

cut.

And neither does choice (C). Nowhere in the passage does it say anything

about where this anti-smut group got together.

We imagine it was somewhere very wholesome—like... a house made of oatmeal.

OK, that's probably a stretch. Whatever. (E) is not the correct answer.

Since the word "palatable" means "inoffensive"—literally, something you could put on your palate, or in your mouth—

...making something "less palatable" describes the efforts of a group that tried to convince

America that rock music was offensive.

Choice D is our boy.