Censorship battles that had been engaged in the
1980’s, ranging from the content of popular music
albums to art museum exhibits, reached degrees
of resolution during the 1990’s. Supreme Court
decisions strengthened the First Amendment by de-
fending “hate speech” and flag burning and—in
what is arguably the Court’s most significant deci-
sion of the decade—determined that the Inter-
net has the strongest possible First Amendment
protections.
Music Lyrics In 1990, the Parents’ Music Resource
Center (PMRC), cofounded by Tipper Gore, and
other groups convinced the Recording Industry As-
sociation of America (RIAA) to standardize its “pa-
rental advisory” stickers, which were first developed
in the 1980’s to warn parents about profane, violent,
or sexual lyrics. Music publishers agreed to this form
of self-censorship in order to avoid imposition of
government regulations. Some retailers refused to
sell albums that had parental advisory labels.
Hip-hop artist Ice-T’s song “Cop Killer” typified
controversies about song lyrics in the 1990’s. Pub-
lished as part of the albumBody Count(1992), the
song resonated with the deepening social tensions
that had been triggered by the videotaped beating
by white L.A. police officers of black motorist
Rodney King: “Cop killer, it’s better you than me/
Cop killer, f—k police brutality!/ Cop killer, I know
your family’s grievin’ (f—k ’em)/ Cop killer, but to-
night we get even.” Ice-T pointed out that the song
was written “in the first person as a character” rather
than as a literal threat. Others defended the lyrics as
an example of a timely political protest. However,
with the actions of pressure groups, including police
organizations, the album was reissued minus the
“Cop Killer” song. Ice-T defended his part in the de-
cision as a way to keep from being pigeonholed.
Another similar controversy was 2 Live Crew’s rap
albumAs Nasty as They Wanna Be(1989), which was
labeled “obscene” by six state legislatures. The rock
group Jane’s Addiction replaced an album cover for
Ritual de lo Habitual(1990) in response to com-
plaints from the public; the new cover featured the
text of the First Amendment. In Texas, then gover-
nor George W. Bush signed an appropriations bill
forbidding the state pension fund to invest in record
companies publishing “obscene” albums. A St. Louis
high school band was forbidden to play Jefferson
Airplane’s “White Rabbit” because of its supposed
references to drug use, even though the high school
band’s arrangement of the song was an instrumental-
only version.The Fine Arts In 1990, in the first criminal trial of
an art gallery based on the contents of an exhibition,
the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center and its di-
rector were charged with “pandering obscenity.”
The case centered on the exhibition of Robert
Mapplethorpe’s erotic photography. The jury con-
sidered Mapplethorpe’s controversial photographs
a form of protected speech, and the exhibit re-
opened.
Sensitized by many such well-publicized contro-
versies, Congress restricted the grant-making pro-
grams of the National Endowment for the Arts
(NEA) after 1990. NEA grant recipients were now re-
quired to sign antiobscenity pledges, and they were
directed to “take into consideration general stan-
dards of decency and respect for the diverse beliefs
and values of the American public.” The NEA de-156 Censorship The Nineties in America
Rap artist Ice-T explains to the media why he removed his contro-
versial song “Cop Killer” from his 1992 albumBody Count.
(AP/Wide World Photos)