Remember when we bought CD's? Let's take it back even further, remember when we bought tapes!? The year was 1985 and Gangsta Rap was reaching it's heights with groups like N.W.A and artist like 2pac. A group known as "Washington Wives" met in a church in Washington and got the ball rolling on what would become the "Obscenity Was".
The group consisted of Tipper Gore (wife to then-Senator Al Gore), Susan Baker (wife to former Secretary of State James A. Baker), Pam Howar, and Sally Nevius. Their goal was to restrict content like music, movies they felt were inappropriate. The group wanted lyrics printed on album covers and if there was an explicit cover it needed to be moved to the back of the store.
Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) was not ready to go to that extreme so the "happy medium" was the Parental Advisory Sticker added to music deemed inappropriate for underage consumers.
During the process 2 Live Crew released the album "Nasty as I Wanna Be". A judge ruled the album was so obscene it was illegal. The group performed the lyrics anyway and were arrested. The ruling was later overturned, and there were two versions of the album released: a clean version titledClean As They Wanna Be, and the uncensored version which featured the PA label.