Retroactive

‘s 1986 debut, 2 Live Crew Is What We Are, left little doubt as to what this act was. Smack-dab in the middle of the Reagan administration and only a year after the Parents’ Music Resource Center hearings, the Crew assaulted the pop-culture collective with extremely graphic sexual content, including a track titled “We Want Some Pussy.” Naturally, outrage only added to the band’s popularity — especially after the album’s sale to minors was prohibited. And Luther Campbell and company were just getting started. Even though the group’s next disc, 1989’s As Nasty as They Wanna Be, was equally offensive and spurred even more controversy, parental-advisory stickers and radio’s refusal to play “Me So Horny” didn’t prevent it from breaking onto the Top 40 charts. As history would have it, 2 Live Crew was soon one-upped by N.W.A. in the obscenity department, and subsequent efforts never matched the success of those first two releases. But the nasty boys are still at it, and they’ll be getting down and dirty this Friday, May 7, at Avalon. Booty call!