They Fought The Law: 6 Artists Whose Videos Have Been Stopped by the Police

By Jason Newman Posted Apr 7th 2010 08:00AM

Earlier this week, singer Erykah Badu was fined $500 and issued a disorderly conduct citation by Dallas law enforcement for her guerrilla-style video for 'Window Seat,' which saw the singer strip naked in the city's Dealey Plaza. While the directors of the controversial video admitted to MTV that everyone had one eye on police lookout and had collected bail money in advance, Badu was able to make her point and get out without any legal interruptions (on that day at least).

Other musicians haven't been as lucky. We look back at half a dozen artists who probably aren't getting invites to next year's Policeman's Ball.

U2 - 'Where the Streets Have No Name' (1987)

On March 27, 1987, Los Angeles radio stations reported that the Irish band would take to the rooftop of Republic Liquor Store later that afternoon to record the video to their third single off 'The Joshua Tree.' The meta-filled video featured "cameos" by LAPD officers, referencing phrases like "Attack Alert" and issuing stern warnings that the shooting would get shut down if it got out of hand. Given that it's U2, it quickly got, well, out of hand, forcing police to shut down the shoot but giving the band enough material to cobble together a video and win a Grammy for Best Performance Music Video.

Rage Against the Machine - 'Sleep Now in the Fire' (1999)

In an ideologically perfect union between band and director, Los Angeles hard rock group Rage Against The Machine (or "The Machine Rages On" as one clueless politician called them) teamed up with Michael Moore to shoot video on the steps of the New York Stock Exchange. In a move that surprised absolutely no one, police quickly came to break up the shoot and detained Moore for over an hour, despite the director having the proper permits to shoot on-site (how he was able to get that still baffles us).

D-12 - 'Fight Music' (2001)

In an homage to the cult gang movie 'The Warriors,' Detroit hip-hop group D-12, along with guests Ice-T, Fat Joe and Juvenile, ran around the streets and subways in New York for their video to the second single of their debut album. Just like the massive gang meetup in the movie, the video shoot was temporarily shut down by police, forcing the crew to eschew a public area in the Bronx in favor of a private location. Depending on who you ask, the group either didn't have the proper permits or they were revoked by a hip-hop hating police sergeant.

Fat Joe - 'Hey Joe' (2009)

While filming the video to his Jimi Hendrix-sampling single 'Hey Joe,' rapper Fat Joe was forced to stop shooting in Spanish Harlem due to excessive crowds. Don Cartagena and crew were able to get 20 minutes of filming done before police shut down the set for good and dispersed the crowd.

Matt and Kim - 'Lessons Learned' (2010)

Indie pop duo and Erykah Badu inspirer Matt and Kim took to the streets of Times Square earlier this year to slowly disrobe and, presumably, shock many out-of-towners hoping to see the Naked Cowboy or the ghost of Carson Daly. Despite nobody getting arrested, Kim Schifino (aka "Kim") told Pitchfork that the police tackle at the end of the video wasn't staged. To receive the proper permits, the group said, the application used the heavily understated statement "Tourists walk through Times Square inappropriately dressed for the weather."

Megadeth - 'The Right to Go Insane' (2010)

While recently shooting the video for the second single to their twelfth album, 'Endgame', metal gods Megadeth proved you're never too old to piss off cops with loud music. For some reason, California authorities didn't take too kindly to the band bringing in a live tank to use in the shoot and interrupted production on the video. Said co-founder Dave Mustaine, "I'm here at the video shoot in South El Monte. We just got done filming some footage of a M60 Abram Tank, which was fantastic, and the cops are here, so pretty hairy video shoot."

Honorable Mention: The Beatles - 'Get Back' (1970)

While not technically a video, the group faced legal troubles of their own during a memorable live concert on the rooftop of the group's Apple Building in London. Performing tracks from what would become their final album, noise complaints brought the now-legendary concert to a halt mid-show.

Tags: D-12, Erykah Badu, Fat Joe, matt and kim, megadeth, rage against the machine, the beatles, u2

Comments

(8)

Wednesday 07 April

By dpaul9291966

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Since mtv died years ago who still makes videos or who even cares about music videos anymore?

By BD

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wud u like to be caught in traffic for hours cuz some cokehead decides 2 run a vid?

By r

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when you have no talent you have to take your clothes off for attention

By junebug

You are exactly right!!! Actually so is dpaul.

By Ali

U2 PWNS!!!

Thursday 08 April

By misfit1970

i agree no talent and videos died off in 1999 2000 officially and who cares ....except for the BEATLES that wasnt a video that was a mini movie. and you think about it where are the artist that did those gorilla style videoes now except u2 how patheticly sad !!!!!u2 suxs rage is dead erica suxs big joe yeah right d12 like Em remebers them get more tallent instead of wasting air time on a dead art form .learn to pruduce a album with some tallent or least a album with 2 average songs on it todays artist cant even play a instrument or produce or heck write there own material gorilla style says hey i have no tallent lets me make a bad video with nudity and piss the cops off...try this make a album with a least 8 songs on it that have substance or hit makers not stupid crap like most artist in todays society or music world

By KEnny

Do you want a band with some serious talent? Check out After Midnight Project. This is a band with some serious talent. Jason Evignan can play any instrument and is an amazing songwriter. His talent and vocals speak for themselves. This band is the real thing.

Thursday 26 August

By Dubliner

U2 is awesome, one the greatest bands ever with the Where The Streets Have No Name video being iconic from the amazing Joshua Tree album. The best band since The Beatles.

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