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A Brief History of Censorship in the U.S

Nationa I A BRIEF HISTORY OF MUSIC CENSORSHIP IN THE USA The monologue by comedian George Carlin about the "seven dirty words" you can't say on the air, that was broadcast by Pacifica Radio, is the subject of a Supreme Court ruling that for the first time upholds the FCC's authority to restrict material that is "indecent' but not obscene. The number of music videos that MTV censors rises from one out of every ten in 1984, to one out of every three. MTV returns clips to the record company to edit and says that MTV will not air them unless offending material is removed. Co alition Ag a inst Censorship Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich calls for an overhaul of the 2010 Ring Festival Los Angeles, a citywide arts celebration spotlighting Wagner's 19th century opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung, because Wagner's anti-Semitic views would make the festival an affront to those who have suffered or have been Church groups in lowa organize record burning of albums by the Beatles, Ravi Shankar, the Carpenters, Peter Frampton and John Denver, among others. BIG MOUTH SPEECH impacted by the horrors of the Nazis. FREE HUT UP! PEACE DIXIE SLUTS RIOT Brave After one of the Dixie Chick singers says that she is embarrassed that President George W. Bush is from her home state of Texas, radio stations throughout the country refuse to play the band's music. In “McCollum v. CBS," the parents of a nineteen-year-old bring suit against Ozzy Osbourne and CBS Records, claiming that the singer's lyrics in his song “Suicide Solution" persuaded their son to commit suicide. The courts hold that the lyrics are constitutionally protected speech and that there is no evidence to connect the suicide to Osbourne's lyrics. PROUD AMED DDAM'S GELS John Lennon tells an interviewer that the Beatles are "more popular than Jesus." Death threats and demonstrations against the Beatles follow. Twenty-two Southern radio stations vow to stop playing Beatles music. Some churches sponsor burning of Beatles records and threaten to excommunicate anyone caught listening to Beatles music. Many radio stations refuse to play the Rolling Stones' song “I Can't Get No Satisfaction," because it is considered sexually suggestive. After the September 11 attacks, Clear Channel distributes a list of "lyrically questionable" songs to all of its radio stations. While some of the songs include references to airplanes, burning , and death, John Lennon's “Imagine" and all Rage Against the Machine songs are also included. The Weavers, a folk band, are blacklisted because of their leftist Congress enacts The Radio Act of 1927, which prohibits the use of obscene, indecent or profane language on radio. political beliefs. The group loses its recording contract and its popularity declines. The producers of “The Ed Sullivan Show" request that Jim Morrison of the Doors change a line of the song "Light My Fire" from “Girl we couldn't get much higher" to something that does not reference drugs. Morrison initially agrees but during the live performance sings the original line. The band is not invited again. A Florida judge holds that 2 Live Crew's album, "As Nasty As They Wanna Be," is obscene, and a local retailer is arrested for selling a copy to an undercover police officer. This is followed by the arrest of three members of the group after a performance in Hollywood, FL, but they are acquitted. In 1992, an appeals court overturns the obscenity ruling, and the case ends when the US Supreme Court denies further appeals. 1934 1970 1971 2000 2001 2002 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1980 1990 2010 IN FOCUS: THE FCC The FCC threatens the licenses of radio The FCC threatens a radio station with a $7,000 fine for playing Sarah Jones' rap song “Your Revolution," which criticizes hip-hop culture's portrayal of women. Jones' suit against the agency is dismissed in part because the FCC hasn't issued a final opinon. In 2003 the FCC drops charges against the radio station finding that the song is not indecent. During this period no radio station dared play the song. Congress creates the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to monitor interstate and international The FCC fines a Pennsylvania radio station over an interview with Jerry Garcia that contains references to sex The FCC fines two radio stations for playing Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady." One of the stations is fined for playing the edited "clean" version. stations for playing songs that glorify drug use or failing to exercise responsibility in selecting music. A 1973 court ruling holds that the FCC's action violates the First Amendment. The court holds that while drugs my be illegal the FCC cannot make it illegal to talk about drugs. The metal group Slayer makes its network TV debut on the Jimmy Kimmel show. The network edits out around 40% of the lyrics from the band's song "Jihad," a song written from the perspective of a terrorist and containing the lyric "God will give victory to his faithful servants//When you reach ground zero you will have killed the enemy." Elvis Presley performs on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and is filmed only from the waist up. communications. and excrement. This is the first time that the indecency provisions in the 1927 Radio Act are used to punish a radio station. Some retailers, like Wal-Mart, stop selling music bearing a universal warning sticker in their stores. In response to the threat of lost sales, some record companies pressure artists to release “sanitized" versions of their music. Tipper Gore, wife of then Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, is offended by lyrics in a Prince album she has purchased for her daughter. She helps form the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) to oppose explicit content in music. The PMRC asks the Radio Industry Association of America (RIAA) to adopt a rating system. The RIAA and the PMRC agree that a voluntary warning sticker, stating “Parental Advisory-Explicit Lyrics," will be affixed to certain albums. Each record label is given the discretion to devise its own rating standards. Two Michigan concerts of the Up in Smoke tour (staring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and Eminem) cause police intervention over violent and sexual imagery. During the concert, a video is shown featuring a robbery and partially-naked women. www.ncac.org Thanks to Eric Nuzum for helping write a large part of this timeline. 1927 1952 1957 1965 996L 1967 1978 086 1985 1985 066 066 1994 BOYCOTT 2001 HERO TRAITORS 0007 2003 6007 2007 Nationa I A BRIEF HISTORY OF MUSIC CENSORSHIP IN THE USA The monologue by comedian George Carlin about the "seven dirty words" you can't say on the air, that was broadcast by Pacifica Radio, is the subject of a Supreme Court ruling that for the first time upholds the FCC's authority to restrict material that is "indecent' but not obscene. The number of music videos that MTV censors rises from one out of every ten in 1984, to one out of every three. MTV returns clips to the record company to edit and says that MTV will not air them unless offending material is removed. Co alition Ag a inst Censorship Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich calls for an overhaul of the 2010 Ring Festival Los Angeles, a citywide arts celebration spotlighting Wagner's 19th century opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung, because Wagner's anti-Semitic views would make the festival an affront to those who have suffered or have been Church groups in lowa organize record burning of albums by the Beatles, Ravi Shankar, the Carpenters, Peter Frampton and John Denver, among others. BIG MOUTH SPEECH impacted by the horrors of the Nazis. FREE HUT UP! PEACE DIXIE SLUTS RIOT Brave After one of the Dixie Chick singers says that she is embarrassed that President George W. Bush is from her home state of Texas, radio stations throughout the country refuse to play the band's music. In “McCollum v. CBS," the parents of a nineteen-year-old bring suit against Ozzy Osbourne and CBS Records, claiming that the singer's lyrics in his song “Suicide Solution" persuaded their son to commit suicide. The courts hold that the lyrics are constitutionally protected speech and that there is no evidence to connect the suicide to Osbourne's lyrics. PROUD AMED DDAM'S GELS John Lennon tells an interviewer that the Beatles are "more popular than Jesus." Death threats and demonstrations against the Beatles follow. Twenty-two Southern radio stations vow to stop playing Beatles music. Some churches sponsor burning of Beatles records and threaten to excommunicate anyone caught listening to Beatles music. Many radio stations refuse to play the Rolling Stones' song “I Can't Get No Satisfaction," because it is considered sexually suggestive. After the September 11 attacks, Clear Channel distributes a list of "lyrically questionable" songs to all of its radio stations. While some of the songs include references to airplanes, burning , and death, John Lennon's “Imagine" and all Rage Against the Machine songs are also included. The Weavers, a folk band, are blacklisted because of their leftist Congress enacts The Radio Act of 1927, which prohibits the use of obscene, indecent or profane language on radio. political beliefs. The group loses its recording contract and its popularity declines. The producers of “The Ed Sullivan Show" request that Jim Morrison of the Doors change a line of the song "Light My Fire" from “Girl we couldn't get much higher" to something that does not reference drugs. Morrison initially agrees but during the live performance sings the original line. The band is not invited again. A Florida judge holds that 2 Live Crew's album, "As Nasty As They Wanna Be," is obscene, and a local retailer is arrested for selling a copy to an undercover police officer. This is followed by the arrest of three members of the group after a performance in Hollywood, FL, but they are acquitted. In 1992, an appeals court overturns the obscenity ruling, and the case ends when the US Supreme Court denies further appeals. 1934 1970 1971 2000 2001 2002 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1980 1990 2010 IN FOCUS: THE FCC The FCC threatens the licenses of radio The FCC threatens a radio station with a $7,000 fine for playing Sarah Jones' rap song “Your Revolution," which criticizes hip-hop culture's portrayal of women. Jones' suit against the agency is dismissed in part because the FCC hasn't issued a final opinon. In 2003 the FCC drops charges against the radio station finding that the song is not indecent. During this period no radio station dared play the song. Congress creates the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to monitor interstate and international The FCC fines a Pennsylvania radio station over an interview with Jerry Garcia that contains references to sex The FCC fines two radio stations for playing Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady." One of the stations is fined for playing the edited "clean" version. stations for playing songs that glorify drug use or failing to exercise responsibility in selecting music. A 1973 court ruling holds that the FCC's action violates the First Amendment. The court holds that while drugs my be illegal the FCC cannot make it illegal to talk about drugs. The metal group Slayer makes its network TV debut on the Jimmy Kimmel show. The network edits out around 40% of the lyrics from the band's song "Jihad," a song written from the perspective of a terrorist and containing the lyric "God will give victory to his faithful servants//When you reach ground zero you will have killed the enemy." Elvis Presley performs on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and is filmed only from the waist up. communications. and excrement. This is the first time that the indecency provisions in the 1927 Radio Act are used to punish a radio station. Some retailers, like Wal-Mart, stop selling music bearing a universal warning sticker in their stores. In response to the threat of lost sales, some record companies pressure artists to release “sanitized" versions of their music. Tipper Gore, wife of then Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, is offended by lyrics in a Prince album she has purchased for her daughter. She helps form the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) to oppose explicit content in music. The PMRC asks the Radio Industry Association of America (RIAA) to adopt a rating system. The RIAA and the PMRC agree that a voluntary warning sticker, stating “Parental Advisory-Explicit Lyrics," will be affixed to certain albums. Each record label is given the discretion to devise its own rating standards. Two Michigan concerts of the Up in Smoke tour (staring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and Eminem) cause police intervention over violent and sexual imagery. During the concert, a video is shown featuring a robbery and partially-naked women. www.ncac.org Thanks to Eric Nuzum for helping write a large part of this timeline. 1927 1952 1957 1965 996L 1967 1978 086 1985 1985 066 066 1994 BOYCOTT 2001 HERO TRAITORS 0007 2003 6007 2007 Nationa I A BRIEF HISTORY OF MUSIC CENSORSHIP IN THE USA The monologue by comedian George Carlin about the "seven dirty words" you can't say on the air, that was broadcast by Pacifica Radio, is the subject of a Supreme Court ruling that for the first time upholds the FCC's authority to restrict material that is "indecent' but not obscene. The number of music videos that MTV censors rises from one out of every ten in 1984, to one out of every three. MTV returns clips to the record company to edit and says that MTV will not air them unless offending material is removed. Co alition Ag a inst Censorship Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich calls for an overhaul of the 2010 Ring Festival Los Angeles, a citywide arts celebration spotlighting Wagner's 19th century opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung, because Wagner's anti-Semitic views would make the festival an affront to those who have suffered or have been Church groups in lowa organize record burning of albums by the Beatles, Ravi Shankar, the Carpenters, Peter Frampton and John Denver, among others. BIG MOUTH SPEECH impacted by the horrors of the Nazis. FREE HUT UP! PEACE DIXIE SLUTS RIOT Brave After one of the Dixie Chick singers says that she is embarrassed that President George W. Bush is from her home state of Texas, radio stations throughout the country refuse to play the band's music. In “McCollum v. CBS," the parents of a nineteen-year-old bring suit against Ozzy Osbourne and CBS Records, claiming that the singer's lyrics in his song “Suicide Solution" persuaded their son to commit suicide. The courts hold that the lyrics are constitutionally protected speech and that there is no evidence to connect the suicide to Osbourne's lyrics. PROUD AMED DDAM'S GELS John Lennon tells an interviewer that the Beatles are "more popular than Jesus." Death threats and demonstrations against the Beatles follow. Twenty-two Southern radio stations vow to stop playing Beatles music. Some churches sponsor burning of Beatles records and threaten to excommunicate anyone caught listening to Beatles music. Many radio stations refuse to play the Rolling Stones' song “I Can't Get No Satisfaction," because it is considered sexually suggestive. After the September 11 attacks, Clear Channel distributes a list of "lyrically questionable" songs to all of its radio stations. While some of the songs include references to airplanes, burning , and death, John Lennon's “Imagine" and all Rage Against the Machine songs are also included. The Weavers, a folk band, are blacklisted because of their leftist Congress enacts The Radio Act of 1927, which prohibits the use of obscene, indecent or profane language on radio. political beliefs. The group loses its recording contract and its popularity declines. The producers of “The Ed Sullivan Show" request that Jim Morrison of the Doors change a line of the song "Light My Fire" from “Girl we couldn't get much higher" to something that does not reference drugs. Morrison initially agrees but during the live performance sings the original line. The band is not invited again. A Florida judge holds that 2 Live Crew's album, "As Nasty As They Wanna Be," is obscene, and a local retailer is arrested for selling a copy to an undercover police officer. This is followed by the arrest of three members of the group after a performance in Hollywood, FL, but they are acquitted. In 1992, an appeals court overturns the obscenity ruling, and the case ends when the US Supreme Court denies further appeals. 1934 1970 1971 2000 2001 2002 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1980 1990 2010 IN FOCUS: THE FCC The FCC threatens the licenses of radio The FCC threatens a radio station with a $7,000 fine for playing Sarah Jones' rap song “Your Revolution," which criticizes hip-hop culture's portrayal of women. Jones' suit against the agency is dismissed in part because the FCC hasn't issued a final opinon. In 2003 the FCC drops charges against the radio station finding that the song is not indecent. During this period no radio station dared play the song. Congress creates the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to monitor interstate and international The FCC fines a Pennsylvania radio station over an interview with Jerry Garcia that contains references to sex The FCC fines two radio stations for playing Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady." One of the stations is fined for playing the edited "clean" version. stations for playing songs that glorify drug use or failing to exercise responsibility in selecting music. A 1973 court ruling holds that the FCC's action violates the First Amendment. The court holds that while drugs my be illegal the FCC cannot make it illegal to talk about drugs. The metal group Slayer makes its network TV debut on the Jimmy Kimmel show. The network edits out around 40% of the lyrics from the band's song "Jihad," a song written from the perspective of a terrorist and containing the lyric "God will give victory to his faithful servants//When you reach ground zero you will have killed the enemy." Elvis Presley performs on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and is filmed only from the waist up. communications. and excrement. This is the first time that the indecency provisions in the 1927 Radio Act are used to punish a radio station. Some retailers, like Wal-Mart, stop selling music bearing a universal warning sticker in their stores. In response to the threat of lost sales, some record companies pressure artists to release “sanitized" versions of their music. Tipper Gore, wife of then Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, is offended by lyrics in a Prince album she has purchased for her daughter. She helps form the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) to oppose explicit content in music. The PMRC asks the Radio Industry Association of America (RIAA) to adopt a rating system. The RIAA and the PMRC agree that a voluntary warning sticker, stating “Parental Advisory-Explicit Lyrics," will be affixed to certain albums. Each record label is given the discretion to devise its own rating standards. Two Michigan concerts of the Up in Smoke tour (staring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and Eminem) cause police intervention over violent and sexual imagery. During the concert, a video is shown featuring a robbery and partially-naked women. www.ncac.org Thanks to Eric Nuzum for helping write a large part of this timeline. 1927 1952 1957 1965 996L 1967 1978 086 1985 1985 066 066 1994 BOYCOTT 2001 HERO TRAITORS 0007 2003 6007 2007 Nationa I A BRIEF HISTORY OF MUSIC CENSORSHIP IN THE USA The monologue by comedian George Carlin about the "seven dirty words" you can't say on the air, that was broadcast by Pacifica Radio, is the subject of a Supreme Court ruling that for the first time upholds the FCC's authority to restrict material that is "indecent' but not obscene. The number of music videos that MTV censors rises from one out of every ten in 1984, to one out of every three. MTV returns clips to the record company to edit and says that MTV will not air them unless offending material is removed. Co alition Ag a inst Censorship Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich calls for an overhaul of the 2010 Ring Festival Los Angeles, a citywide arts celebration spotlighting Wagner's 19th century opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung, because Wagner's anti-Semitic views would make the festival an affront to those who have suffered or have been Church groups in lowa organize record burning of albums by the Beatles, Ravi Shankar, the Carpenters, Peter Frampton and John Denver, among others. BIG MOUTH SPEECH impacted by the horrors of the Nazis. FREE HUT UP! PEACE DIXIE SLUTS RIOT Brave After one of the Dixie Chick singers says that she is embarrassed that President George W. Bush is from her home state of Texas, radio stations throughout the country refuse to play the band's music. In “McCollum v. CBS," the parents of a nineteen-year-old bring suit against Ozzy Osbourne and CBS Records, claiming that the singer's lyrics in his song “Suicide Solution" persuaded their son to commit suicide. The courts hold that the lyrics are constitutionally protected speech and that there is no evidence to connect the suicide to Osbourne's lyrics. PROUD AMED DDAM'S GELS John Lennon tells an interviewer that the Beatles are "more popular than Jesus." Death threats and demonstrations against the Beatles follow. Twenty-two Southern radio stations vow to stop playing Beatles music. Some churches sponsor burning of Beatles records and threaten to excommunicate anyone caught listening to Beatles music. Many radio stations refuse to play the Rolling Stones' song “I Can't Get No Satisfaction," because it is considered sexually suggestive. After the September 11 attacks, Clear Channel distributes a list of "lyrically questionable" songs to all of its radio stations. While some of the songs include references to airplanes, burning , and death, John Lennon's “Imagine" and all Rage Against the Machine songs are also included. The Weavers, a folk band, are blacklisted because of their leftist Congress enacts The Radio Act of 1927, which prohibits the use of obscene, indecent or profane language on radio. political beliefs. The group loses its recording contract and its popularity declines. The producers of “The Ed Sullivan Show" request that Jim Morrison of the Doors change a line of the song "Light My Fire" from “Girl we couldn't get much higher" to something that does not reference drugs. Morrison initially agrees but during the live performance sings the original line. The band is not invited again. A Florida judge holds that 2 Live Crew's album, "As Nasty As They Wanna Be," is obscene, and a local retailer is arrested for selling a copy to an undercover police officer. This is followed by the arrest of three members of the group after a performance in Hollywood, FL, but they are acquitted. In 1992, an appeals court overturns the obscenity ruling, and the case ends when the US Supreme Court denies further appeals. 1934 1970 1971 2000 2001 2002 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1980 1990 2010 IN FOCUS: THE FCC The FCC threatens the licenses of radio The FCC threatens a radio station with a $7,000 fine for playing Sarah Jones' rap song “Your Revolution," which criticizes hip-hop culture's portrayal of women. Jones' suit against the agency is dismissed in part because the FCC hasn't issued a final opinon. In 2003 the FCC drops charges against the radio station finding that the song is not indecent. During this period no radio station dared play the song. Congress creates the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to monitor interstate and international The FCC fines a Pennsylvania radio station over an interview with Jerry Garcia that contains references to sex The FCC fines two radio stations for playing Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady." One of the stations is fined for playing the edited "clean" version. stations for playing songs that glorify drug use or failing to exercise responsibility in selecting music. A 1973 court ruling holds that the FCC's action violates the First Amendment. The court holds that while drugs my be illegal the FCC cannot make it illegal to talk about drugs. The metal group Slayer makes its network TV debut on the Jimmy Kimmel show. The network edits out around 40% of the lyrics from the band's song "Jihad," a song written from the perspective of a terrorist and containing the lyric "God will give victory to his faithful servants//When you reach ground zero you will have killed the enemy." Elvis Presley performs on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and is filmed only from the waist up. communications. and excrement. This is the first time that the indecency provisions in the 1927 Radio Act are used to punish a radio station. Some retailers, like Wal-Mart, stop selling music bearing a universal warning sticker in their stores. In response to the threat of lost sales, some record companies pressure artists to release “sanitized" versions of their music. Tipper Gore, wife of then Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, is offended by lyrics in a Prince album she has purchased for her daughter. She helps form the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) to oppose explicit content in music. The PMRC asks the Radio Industry Association of America (RIAA) to adopt a rating system. The RIAA and the PMRC agree that a voluntary warning sticker, stating “Parental Advisory-Explicit Lyrics," will be affixed to certain albums. Each record label is given the discretion to devise its own rating standards. Two Michigan concerts of the Up in Smoke tour (staring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and Eminem) cause police intervention over violent and sexual imagery. During the concert, a video is shown featuring a robbery and partially-naked women. www.ncac.org Thanks to Eric Nuzum for helping write a large part of this timeline. 1927 1952 1957 1965 996L 1967 1978 086 1985 1985 066 066 1994 BOYCOTT 2001 HERO TRAITORS 0007 2003 6007 2007 Nationa I A BRIEF HISTORY OF MUSIC CENSORSHIP IN THE USA The monologue by comedian George Carlin about the "seven dirty words" you can't say on the air, that was broadcast by Pacifica Radio, is the subject of a Supreme Court ruling that for the first time upholds the FCC's authority to restrict material that is "indecent' but not obscene. The number of music videos that MTV censors rises from one out of every ten in 1984, to one out of every three. MTV returns clips to the record company to edit and says that MTV will not air them unless offending material is removed. Co alition Ag a inst Censorship Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich calls for an overhaul of the 2010 Ring Festival Los Angeles, a citywide arts celebration spotlighting Wagner's 19th century opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung, because Wagner's anti-Semitic views would make the festival an affront to those who have suffered or have been Church groups in lowa organize record burning of albums by the Beatles, Ravi Shankar, the Carpenters, Peter Frampton and John Denver, among others. BIG MOUTH SPEECH impacted by the horrors of the Nazis. FREE HUT UP! PEACE DIXIE SLUTS RIOT Brave After one of the Dixie Chick singers says that she is embarrassed that President George W. Bush is from her home state of Texas, radio stations throughout the country refuse to play the band's music. In “McCollum v. CBS," the parents of a nineteen-year-old bring suit against Ozzy Osbourne and CBS Records, claiming that the singer's lyrics in his song “Suicide Solution" persuaded their son to commit suicide. The courts hold that the lyrics are constitutionally protected speech and that there is no evidence to connect the suicide to Osbourne's lyrics. PROUD AMED DDAM'S GELS John Lennon tells an interviewer that the Beatles are "more popular than Jesus." Death threats and demonstrations against the Beatles follow. Twenty-two Southern radio stations vow to stop playing Beatles music. Some churches sponsor burning of Beatles records and threaten to excommunicate anyone caught listening to Beatles music. Many radio stations refuse to play the Rolling Stones' song “I Can't Get No Satisfaction," because it is considered sexually suggestive. After the September 11 attacks, Clear Channel distributes a list of "lyrically questionable" songs to all of its radio stations. While some of the songs include references to airplanes, burning , and death, John Lennon's “Imagine" and all Rage Against the Machine songs are also included. The Weavers, a folk band, are blacklisted because of their leftist Congress enacts The Radio Act of 1927, which prohibits the use of obscene, indecent or profane language on radio. political beliefs. The group loses its recording contract and its popularity declines. The producers of “The Ed Sullivan Show" request that Jim Morrison of the Doors change a line of the song "Light My Fire" from “Girl we couldn't get much higher" to something that does not reference drugs. Morrison initially agrees but during the live performance sings the original line. The band is not invited again. A Florida judge holds that 2 Live Crew's album, "As Nasty As They Wanna Be," is obscene, and a local retailer is arrested for selling a copy to an undercover police officer. This is followed by the arrest of three members of the group after a performance in Hollywood, FL, but they are acquitted. In 1992, an appeals court overturns the obscenity ruling, and the case ends when the US Supreme Court denies further appeals. 1934 1970 1971 2000 2001 2002 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1980 1990 2010 IN FOCUS: THE FCC The FCC threatens the licenses of radio The FCC threatens a radio station with a $7,000 fine for playing Sarah Jones' rap song “Your Revolution," which criticizes hip-hop culture's portrayal of women. Jones' suit against the agency is dismissed in part because the FCC hasn't issued a final opinon. In 2003 the FCC drops charges against the radio station finding that the song is not indecent. During this period no radio station dared play the song. Congress creates the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to monitor interstate and international The FCC fines a Pennsylvania radio station over an interview with Jerry Garcia that contains references to sex The FCC fines two radio stations for playing Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady." One of the stations is fined for playing the edited "clean" version. stations for playing songs that glorify drug use or failing to exercise responsibility in selecting music. A 1973 court ruling holds that the FCC's action violates the First Amendment. The court holds that while drugs my be illegal the FCC cannot make it illegal to talk about drugs. The metal group Slayer makes its network TV debut on the Jimmy Kimmel show. The network edits out around 40% of the lyrics from the band's song "Jihad," a song written from the perspective of a terrorist and containing the lyric "God will give victory to his faithful servants//When you reach ground zero you will have killed the enemy." Elvis Presley performs on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and is filmed only from the waist up. communications. and excrement. This is the first time that the indecency provisions in the 1927 Radio Act are used to punish a radio station. Some retailers, like Wal-Mart, stop selling music bearing a universal warning sticker in their stores. In response to the threat of lost sales, some record companies pressure artists to release “sanitized" versions of their music. Tipper Gore, wife of then Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, is offended by lyrics in a Prince album she has purchased for her daughter. She helps form the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) to oppose explicit content in music. The PMRC asks the Radio Industry Association of America (RIAA) to adopt a rating system. The RIAA and the PMRC agree that a voluntary warning sticker, stating “Parental Advisory-Explicit Lyrics," will be affixed to certain albums. Each record label is given the discretion to devise its own rating standards. Two Michigan concerts of the Up in Smoke tour (staring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and Eminem) cause police intervention over violent and sexual imagery. During the concert, a video is shown featuring a robbery and partially-naked women. www.ncac.org Thanks to Eric Nuzum for helping write a large part of this timeline. 1927 1952 1957 1965 996L 1967 1978 086 1985 1985 066 066 1994 BOYCOTT 2001 HERO TRAITORS 0007 2003 6007 2007

A Brief History of Censorship in the U.S

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This infographic provides a timeline and visuals talking about music censorship in the United States. It explains laws and bans implemented on musicians and albums in the U.S.

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National Coalition Against Censorship

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