Whatever replacement device they come up with will have to provide an equal disincentive to pocket the little discs at the store.
lang was banished from some Midwestern radio stations when she did a public service spot attacking the beef industry, the Go-Gos took off their clothes for an animal rights poster, and on the 20th anniversary of Earth Day, record companies began looking for ways to eliminate the long boxes that house CDs until they find a home.
Vegetarians and environmentalists were in the news: k.d. Even rap's explosive growth was credited to its matching video's visual power to the form's verbal intrigue. Most of the year's biggest stars - from Janet Jackson, Madonna, Hammer to New Kids - were dance acts representing the triumph of choreography over musicality. Most fans probably couldn't care less: They want those MTV videos brought to life and the singing is usually the least crucial element in this new era where we no longer listen to music as much as we look at it. Lip-sync legislation was introduced in several states after some consumers and critics suggested that performances by Milli Vanilli, Janet Jackson, Madonna, New Kids on the Block and others were more Memorex than live (teen rap stars Kid 'N Play were arrested in Augusta, Ga., for hip-syncing, simulating sex on stage during a performance). Maybe O'Connor should have lip-synced the Barr version. Rap and heavy metal were the favorite whipping boys, but it was the kind of year in which even the national anthem could provoke controversy - once when comedian Rosanne Barr sang it, and once when Irish singer Sinead O'Connor refused to sing it. Soon after, a record store owner was arrested for selling the record and the Crew for performing it live assorted trials have brought both guilty and not guilty verdicts, suggesting this one will eventually wind up at the Supreme Court. Gonzales found the group's "Nasty as They Wanna Be" obscene in Broward County, turning the hitherto unsung rappers into martyrs. Bob Martinez, the Crew was suddenly elevated to America's Most Wanted list. After lawyer Jack Thompson started the banned-wagon rolling by enlisting Florida Gov. If it wasn't a great year for music, it was a good year for music lawyers, particularly if they had any connection with 2 Live Crew. Witness Judas Priest, accused and acquitted of contributing (via subliminal and backward messages) to the suicides of two Nevada teenagers. Witness Madonna, whose blunt ambition and canny self-marketing sensibilities provided constant copy for gossip columnists, editorial writers and social critics. Witness Milli Vanilli, lip-sunk when the producer revealed the duo had not sung a single note on the septuple-platinum combined debut and swan song album. It was a year in which scandal seemed more important than rhythm and looks, which already seemed more important than melody and hooks.
O'Connor, who dubbed heavy metal "a help to the devil"), and even author Frederic Dannen, whose "Hit Men" exposed shady moral and financial practices at the country's major labels (CBS Records President Walter Yetnikoff came off particularly badly and eventually resigned, though parent company Sony provided a soft landing with a $25 million parachute).
It was also an indirect verdict on this, the year of making music dangerously, a year when the loudest noise was being made by the music's critics, from conservative legislators (who at one point had mandatory labeling bills in process in 20 states), the religious right (including New York Cardinal John J.
#GETO BOYS THE GETO BOYS BANNED COPY TRIAL#
District Court Judge Jose Gonzales in the obscenity trial of Miami rappers 2 Live Crew. No, that's not a capsule history of rock-and-roll, but part of the "guilty" finding by U.S. "It is an appeal to dirty thoughts and the loins, not to the intellect and the mind."