New Jersey Prosecutor Threatens Arrests Over John Lennon/Yoko One Album “Two Virgins”
The Union County, New Jersey, prosecutor threatened to arrest record album dealers if they sold the new album Two Virgins by former Beatle John Lennon and his companion Yoko Ono.
The famous album had a full portrait of Lennon and Ono completely naked on both the front and back covers. In a separate action, members of prosecutor’s staff seized 22,300 of the album’s covers, 3,300 of which contained records. Many, if not most records stores sold the album with a special sleeve that covered all but John and Yoko’s faces.
Lennon’s problems with the law were only beginning. On March 23, 1973, he was ordered deported from the U.S. because of his political views. He was finally granted permission to remain in the U.S. on October 7, 1975.
See the covered cover and listen to “Unfinished Music” from the album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJxV0pbTPjg
Learn more: Jon Weiner, Gimme Some Truth: The FBI John Lennon File (1999)
For a great perspective on the “long Sixties:” Tom Hayden, The Long Sixties: From 1960 to Barack Obama (2009)