Ongoing History Daily: The first person ever arrested for selling a record

We’re a little more chill these days, but years ago, it was possible to upset the powers-that-be so much with a song that you could find yourself being arrested. Who was the first to find themselves in jail because of a record? That would be someone who sold a record by 2 Live Crew, the hip-hop group that made a career of pushing various envelopes.

In 1989, they released an album entitled As Nasty as They Wanna Be. A few local courts in the US declared that it was far too obscene to be sold in record stores. Owners of any store that did so would be subject to arrest and prosecution.

Sting operations were set up to ensure the ban was being followed. On September 28, 1990—two days after the ban went into effect—the owner of a store in Sarasota, Florida, was arrested for selling a copy of the record to an undercover cop. He became the first person in American history to be convicted for selling a specific record.