The song was the only single released from Raise Your Fist and Yell. It did not chart in the US when released in late 1987; however, it reached #50 on the UK charts in early 1988. The single's B-side in both countries was the album track "Time to Kill".
"Freedom" is aimed at the Parents Music Resource Center, co-founded by Tipper Gore in 1985, who published a "Filthy Fifteen" list of morally objectionable songs and stuck Parental Advisory stickers on albums with explicit lyrics.[3]
"I wrote the song 'Freedom' instead of a letter of complaint to let the PMRC and everyone they stand for know what I think about them. This group mustn't be taken too seriously. Really, they are just four old ladies in Washington who try and get as much publicity as possible for their husbands, who are all influential politicians. Since the main man behind the PMRC, Albert Gore, has admitted himself that he used to smoke pot and listen to loud rock music when he was a kid, the movement won't last long anyway."
Music video
The music video, made to promote the single, features a large metal tower being lowered on a concert stage. Alice Cooper appears and sings as his band plays around him.[citation needed]
