Cop Killer controversy
| "Cop Killer" | ||||
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| Single by Body Count | ||||
| from the album Body Count | ||||
| Released | 1992 | |||
| Recorded | 1991 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:15 | |||
| Label | Sire/Warner Bros. | |||
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| Body Count singles chronology | ||||
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"Cop Killer" is a song by American heavy metal band Body Count from its 1992 self-titled debut album.
The song's words were written by Body Count's lead vocalist, Ice-T, while its music was written by the band's lead guitarist, Ernie C. The song was written in 1990, and was partially influenced by "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads.
The song's lyrics about "cop killing" provoked much controversy and negative reactions from political figures of the time, such as President George H. W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle, as well as Tipper Gore, co-founder of Parents Music Resource Center. Others defended the song on the basis of the band's First Amendment rights. Ice-T has referred to it as a "protest record." Ice-T eventually recalled the album and re-released it without the inclusion of the song, which was given away as a free single.
Ice-T referred to "Cop Killer" as a "protest record," stating that the song is "[sung] in the first person as a character who is fed up with police brutality." Ice-T has also credited the Talking Heads song "Psycho Killer" with partially inspiring the song. "Cop Killer" was written in 1990, and had been performed live several times, including at the 1991 Lollapalooza tour, before it had been recorded in a studio.
The recorded version mentions then-Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates, and Rodney King, a black motorist whose beating by LAPD officers had been caught on videotape. Shortly after the release of Body Count, a jury acquitted the officers and riots broke out in South Central Los Angeles. Soon after the riots, the Dallas Police Association and the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas (CLEAT) launched a campaign to force Warner Bros. Records to withdraw the album.
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