Court Document Reversing 2 Live Crew Obscenity Decision

2 Live Crew gained widestream notoriety after their third album As Nasty As They Wanna Be, featuring explicit lyrics on songs like “Me So Horny,” which set off a string of obscenity court rulings throughout the South. Three group members were arrested on obscenity charges after a performance in 1990. “When you get banned and you’re not part of a conglomerate and a [big record label], when you’re independent and all on your own, and you have police dogs and helicopters flying over the venue, you’re going to jail,” Campbell said. “I went to jail. Several times. When they said, ‘Don’t sing this song’ and I was going up there and singing the sh*t and saying ‘Fu*k y’all and fu*k everybody,’ they locked us up. That’s revolutionary right there.” In 1992, an appeals court overturned the obscenity ruling, saying the work had artistic merit and was protected by the First Amendment. 2 Live Crew released the 1990 single “Banned in the U.S.A.,” which was about the court case; Bruce Springsteen allowed them to include the melody of his hit “Born in the U.S.A.” in their song