The 50 Most Controversial Album Covers Of All Time
03-20-08, 09:59 PM
#5
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Originally Posted by Hiro11
Not only that, keeping it to one cover per page is torture.
But Arctic Monkeys? Seriously?
03-20-08, 10:13 PM
#7
DVD Talk Gold Edition
I'd post the list If I had time to get through it all. I spent 15 minutes just getting to #40 (the list goes in reverse). If the damn site didn't load so slow, I might be willing to look further, but even I don't have that kind of time to waste.
03-21-08, 01:07 AM
#11
DVD Talk Gold Edition
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50. Bloodhound Gang: – ‘Hefty Fine’ Bloodhound Gang’s latest album caused a bit of a stir with artwork featuring an overweight nude in a cardboard box. The gentleman in question doesn’t look too happy about it, either.
49. Arctic Monkeys: ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ - Featuring the band’s close friend and brother of The Reverend, Chris McClure, the Arctics landed into hot water after anti-smoking groups complained about the cigarette in McClure’s mouth. NHS for Scotland even said it hammers home the viewpoint that “smoking is okay” for impressionable young people.
48. The Rolling Stones: ‘Sticky Fingers’ – The Stone’s 1971 release provided entertainment for anyone that ever had a wet dream about getting into Jagger’s pants: the cover featured a working zipper on a Warhol image of a denim clad crotch. Family-orientated record shops refused to stock it, but that didn’t dent the album’s ability to bring a whole new meaning to the album’s title.
47. The Beautiful South: 'Welcome To The Beautiful South' - If you thought that anti-smoking lobbies are relatively new things, then think again. Back in 1988, Woolworths of all people banned this album due to the smoking figures on the front page. The artwork was then altered for the store.
46. Lords of Acid: ‘Pussy’ – The controversial image on the cover of this Belgian electronic outfit’s 1998 release was banned by several stores for causing offence. It might have offended a few, but here at Gigwise we much prefer this cute little crotch-cat to graphic gore and sexual perversion!
45. Roxy Music: ‘Country Life’ – The fourth and perhaps most accomplished of all Roxy Music albums featured two seductive and slippery semi-naked models on the cover. Bryan Ferry is said to have met the girls in Portugal and persuaded them to pose for the shot. Later copies of the album showed only the leafy background.
44. David Bowie: ‘Diamond Dogs’ – The half-Bowie, half-dog on this 1974 concept album caused controversy due to the exposed genitalia of the creature, painted by Guy Peellaert. The offending member was rapidly airbrushed in time for the 1974 mainstream release, making the few that did slip through the censor’s net some of the most expensive and sought after Bowie records of all time.
43. Aphex Twin: ‘Windowlicker’ – Most blokes have probably spent a bit of time fantasising about having their own pair to fondle at some point… an idea Richard D. James took one step further with the cover of his 1999 EP, ‘Windowlicker.’ He looks pretty pleased with himself, anyway!
42. Roger Waters: ‘The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking’ – This 1984 concept album about a man’s midlife crisis featured a cheeky hiker in red heels by the side of a grey road, waiting for a ride. The controversial nude might have been a happy middle-aged fantasy for Waters, but the public weren’t quite as easily convinced of the cover’s mainstream suitability.
41. The Rolling Stones: ‘Beggars Banquet’ – Though it hardly seems shocking now, the original yellowed, graffiti-ed toilet chosen by the Stones for their 1968 release was rejected by both Decca and London Records due to its inappropriate imagery. In a show of defiance, Jagger and the band withheld the album for several months before finally relenting and allowing a replacement to be printed.
40. Poison: ‘Open Up And Say… Ahh’ – It was only in 2006 when the re-mastered CD release of this 1988 glam metal album escaped the censors unscathed. Back in the eighties the image of model ‘Bambi’ dressed as a demon with a huge protruding red tongue had to be censored, obscuring nearly all of the figure’s offensive face.
39. Nirvana: ‘In Utero’ – The collage of foetuses and body parts on a bed of orchids and lilies that featured as the back cover of Nirvana’s third studio release was creation of Cobain himself. Photographer Charles Peterson reported that one Sunday afternoon Cobain called him up, saying “hey, I want you to take that picture, now.” Combined with the second single release, Rape Me, the cover enraged numerous feminists.
38. Guns N Roses: ‘Appetite for Destruction’ – MTV originally refused to play any of Guns N Roses videos until they agreed to change the cover of their debut album. The original art, based on the Robert William’s painting ‘Appetite for Destruction’ showed a robot attacking a partially undressed woman. Eventually this was included in the inner sleeve.
37. Black Sabbath: 'Born Again' - The cover of Black Sabbath's cult eighties album shows the birth of a pop art demon on a purple background. It was designed by Stephen Joule, in a deliberately brash attempt to get rejected from the design commission as he was already tied into the design of Ozzy Osbourne's album covers at the time. To Joule's surprise the design was accepted, despite fierce reservations from some.
36. Jimi Hendrix: ‘Electric Ladyland’ – Despite Hendrix’s own hand-drawn instructions to his label that the cover of his 1968 album should picture the band posing with children at the foot of a statue of Alice In Wonderland were expressly ignored: instead he got a gaggle of naked girls brandishing vinyl for this controversial UK release.
35. Serge Gainsbourg: ‘Histoire De Melodie Nelson’ - The cover for this album, showing a young girl naked from the waist up clutching her clothes about her, might be shocking, but it’s no match for the content of the album! Gainsbourg’s magnificent 1971 concept album depicted, in just under half an hour, the Lolita-esque lust of a middle-aged man for his pubescent nymphet muse.
34. The Strokes: ‘Is This It’ – Ranked as one of the greatest album covers of all time, the image of a leather-clad hand pressed into a woman’s behind was banned from the US and had to be replaced with a photo of particle collisions in the Big European Bubble Chamber. The content was controversial too: ‘New York City Cops’ had to be replaced with ‘When It Started’ to avoid causing offence after 9/11.
33. The Black Crowes: ‘Amorica’ – The sexually ambiguous pubis on show in the cover of The Black Crowes’ 1994 album Amorica caused trouble for the band’s label, Universal, who later changed it for a blacked out image.
32. Ministry: 'Dark Side Of The Spoon' - Yet another controversial cover from an industrial metal band came from Ministry in 1999. K Mart refused to stock copies of the album, apparently believing that the crinkly overweight figure apparently was wearing a white KKK hat.
31. Jane’s Addiction: ‘Nothing’s Shocking’ – This frankly bizarre cover went for overblown impact so outrageous that it ends up being ironic. Naked siamese twins with their heads on fire? Lovely.
30. John Lennon & Yoko Ono: ‘Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins’ – Lennon decided to go ahead with this album cover despite Paul McCartney’s advice to the contrary. It had to be sold in a brown paper cover and in some US states copies were even impounded for obscenity. Lennon joked that the controversy was over the photo showing “two slightly overweight ex-junkies” rather than its explicit nudity.
29. Birth Control: ‘Operation’ – This carnivorous cretin caused such controversy that the album was banned in several countries. Even more scandalous: on some copies an image of the Pope was shown cheering the baby-eating bug on.
28. Millie Jackson: ‘Back To The Shit’ - If the obscene title wasn’t enough to get the censors all hot under the collar, the toilet humour on the cover certainly is. The striking soul singer got it all wrong with this unflattering image of her straining on the loo – not to mention some terrible track names including ‘Love Stinks’ and ‘Muffle That Fart.’
27. King Diamond: ‘Give Me Your Soul Please’ – Based on a painting titled ‘My Mother’s Eyes’, Diamond is said to have based this themed album on a story of two dead children, murdered by their father, relating their story to him.
26. Dio: Holy Diver – Dio’s defining debut, ‘Holy Diver’, caused a scandal due to cover art that appeared to show a priest being attacked by a demon. Not one to bow to controversy, Dio responded to criticism by suggesting that appearances could be deceiving: how are we to know that the image doesn’t show a demon being attacked by a priest?!
25. Minus: ‘The Great Northern Whale Kill’ – Quite inoffensive on an initial glance, as it merely looks like an overweight woman. However, the Icelandic rockers have in fact opted to put a hideously obese eight year old boy on the cover, which puts a totally different spin on things.
24. The Residents: ‘The Third Reich & Roll’ - Avant-garde rock stars, The Residents, generated scandal with the cover of their second studio album. It featured television entertainer Dick Clark in a Nazi uniform, holding a carrot while surrounded by swastikas and dancing Hitlers. The cover had to be heavily censored before it was exported to Germany in 1980!
23. Anthrax: ‘Fist Full Of Metal’ – The thrash metaller’s debut record in 1984 featured a metal fist (naturally) smashing into the face of some unsuspecting image. Thankfully, it’s just a cartoon image – otherwise this would have been much further up the list.
22. The Five Keys: ‘On Stage!’ – An unintentional photography slip resulted in a bit of a scandal when fans mistook Rudy West’s hand for a penis on the cover of this 1957 album. The phallic finger was subsequently airbrushed out for later editions.
21. Black Flag: ‘Family Man’ – The punk ethos manifested itself in a good few nasty-looking album covers. Among them, Californian outfit Black Flag chose a suicidal father, gun-to-temple, for the release of the 1984 LP, ironically titled ‘Family Man’. Presumably the family man in question wanted to get the job done before social services saw the state of his children.
20. The Beatles: Yesterday and Today – Carnivorous controversy surfaced over the odd ‘Butcher’ cover of this 1966 album, which showed the Liverpudlian lads brandishing hunks of raw meat and decapitated baby dolls. Unsurprisingly for the times, the cover was swiftly changed; on many copies the tamer substitute was simply pasted over the offending original image!
19. Ice Cube: ‘Death Certificate’ - In an affront to patriotic Americans everywhere, the cover of Ice Cube’s 1991 album showed the rapper presiding over Uncle Sam on a mortuary gurney. Perhaps an allusion to the death of the American dream, the album was nonetheless condemned Stateside and suffered severe retail boycotts.
18. Megadeth: ‘Youthanasia’ - More heavy-metal inspired controversy features on the cover of Megadeth’s sixth album Youthanasia. This Boosh inspired Nanageddon entails a murderous granny pinning babies by their ankles to a washing line that extends as far as the eye can see. Rather oddly, the little ones in question don’t seem overly perturbed by their fate.
17. The Exploited: ‘Jesus Is Dead’ – The Exploited concocted a cartoon reworking of the death of Christ for their 1986 EP, complete with a badly-coiffed zombie girl in heels to overlook the torrents of blood spurting from the crucifix. Tasteful.
16. Marilyn Manson: ‘Holy Wood’ – The third instalment of Marilyn Manson’s concept album trilogy featured a rotting Christ-like figure from the torso-up. The corpse’s mutilated face showed Manson with his teeth bared in a typical display of gothic headline-grabbing. The album was especially controversial as it was released in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre, of which Manson had been lazily blamed by sections of the press for inciting hatred in the young offenders prior to their crime.
15. Jane's Addiction: ‘Ritual de lo Habitual’ – Jane’s Addiction were forced to replace the cover of their 1990 album showing male and female nudes so that stores like Walmart could stock it. Though the front of the replacement simply listed the album name, band, and First Amendment in black text on a white background, the back contained a statement that suggested Hitler’s rise to power began with the suppression of freedom of speech.
14. Mortad Hell: ‘There’s A Satanic Butcher In Every One Of Us’ – If the mullet on this blood-thirsty cretin isn’t controversial enough, the featured festering alien has a few controversial tricks up his sleeve, including self-mutilation and abundance of bloody gore. No hands though, sadly, as they’re the first to suffer the butcher’s wrath.
13. Nurse With Wound / Whitehouse: ‘150 Murderous Passions’ – A weird cut-and-paste of a whole load of distasteful ideas featured on the cover of Steven Stapleton’s fifth full-length release. The combination of body parts being born into the pinned-open eye of an unlucky onlooker shocked more than a few when it appeared on record store shelves in 1981.
12. Regurgitate: ‘Carnivorous Erection’ – As if goregrind wasn’t already distasteful enough, Swedish band Regurgitate’s album ‘Carnivorous Erection’ featured exactly that… a mean looking little fella munching on the extended tongue of a lady friend.
11. Royal Trux: ‘Sweet Sixteen’ - American rock duo Royal Trux decided on a little toilet humour for the cover of 1997’s ‘Sweet Sixteen’, The image shows the results of a serious scientific study on the average student toilet after three years of constant partying in the wake of a toilet cleaner shortage.
10. Slayer: ‘God Hates Us All’ – Though their album title suggests that this thrash metal outfit aren’t afraid of a little religious controversy, even they turned against the cover art. The record company chose an image of the bible spiked with nails and covered in blood in an effort that, according to guitarist Kerry King, “looked liked a seventh-grader had defaced the bible."
9. Rammstein: ‘Sehnsucht’ – German industrial-metal band Rammstein went for all-out gore on the cover of this album – the only album sung entirely in German to go platinum Stateside. Fans were treated to a fold out featuring the heavily mutilated faces of the six band members including blacked out eyes, rotting flesh, metal implements and pincers in a Freddy Kruger-esque dentistry nightmare.
8. Blind Faith: ‘Blind Faith’ – This British supergroup were still looking for a name when they decided on a picture of a pubescent girl holding an aeroplane for their 1969 eponymous debut. The photograph was created by photographer Bob Seidemann, a personal friend and former friend of Eric Clapton, the band’s singer. The name of Seidemann’s image – Blind Faith – later became the name of the band itself
7. The Coup: ‘Party Music’ – In an entirely coincidental faux-pas, The Coup planned to release 2001’s ‘Party Music’ with a cover showing band members Pam the Funkstress and Riley standing in front of the World Trade Centre. Riley is shown pushing the button on his guitar tuner as the towers explode beneath them. The album’s release was planned for just a few weeks after the attacks took place – and the cover art was hastily changed!
6. Mom’s Apple Pie: ‘Mom’s Apple Pie’ – This unsuspectingly filthy cover shocks precisely because it appears so innocent on first glance. Seventies American rock band Mom’s Apple Pie weren’t talking about their mum’s favourite baked puddings, as closer inspection of the missing slice in this kindly lady’s pie will reveal.
5. Brujeria: ‘Matando Gueros’ – The debut album from this Mexican metal outfit showed a hand holding up mutilated, decapitated head against a white background. This, along with content that talked mostly of killing white Americans and crossing the border, resulted in the album being banned in many stores.
4. Chumbawamba: ‘Anarchy’ – Anarcho-punk outfit Chumbawumba chose to front their 1994 album with an explicit picture of the birth of a baby. Like earlier controversial releases, it was initially sold in a brown paper wrapper, although the new arrival appeared on the shelves uncensored in later reissues.
3. Type O Negative: ‘The Origin’ – Brooklyn band Type O Negative were forced to change their album artwork to a green and black image of dancing skeletons after the close-up of a sphincter, reportedly that of lead singer Peter Steele, unsurprisingly caused controversy. (We’ve tastefully edited out the offending arsehole).
2. Scorpions: ‘Virgin Killer’ – The image of a naked prepubescent girl on later editions of ‘Virgin Killer’ was replaced with a cover featuring a picture of the band due to the controversy it caused. Even the vocalist from this German heavy metal outfit admitted to feeling shocked when he first saw the image, but claims that the band were pressed into doing something controversial by their label.
1. Mayhem: ‘Dawn Of The Black Hearts’ – On one of the most bootlegged metal albums of all time, Norwegian band Mayhem decided to use a photograph of their deceased frontman, Dead, shortly after his suicide. The cover pictured the singer slumped beside a shotgun and a knife after taking his own life in an unparalleled display of glory-hunting, suicidal gore.
Some glaring omissions on that list - where's Big Black's Headache(head bifurcated by shotgun blast), PainKiller's Guts of a Virgin(pregnant autopsy subject - artwork was confiscated and detroyed by British Customs and Excise), or The Residents' Baby Sex(woman fellating infant)?
49. Arctic Monkeys: ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ - Featuring the band’s close friend and brother of The Reverend, Chris McClure, the Arctics landed into hot water after anti-smoking groups complained about the cigarette in McClure’s mouth. NHS for Scotland even said it hammers home the viewpoint that “smoking is okay” for impressionable young people.
48. The Rolling Stones: ‘Sticky Fingers’ – The Stone’s 1971 release provided entertainment for anyone that ever had a wet dream about getting into Jagger’s pants: the cover featured a working zipper on a Warhol image of a denim clad crotch. Family-orientated record shops refused to stock it, but that didn’t dent the album’s ability to bring a whole new meaning to the album’s title.
47. The Beautiful South: 'Welcome To The Beautiful South' - If you thought that anti-smoking lobbies are relatively new things, then think again. Back in 1988, Woolworths of all people banned this album due to the smoking figures on the front page. The artwork was then altered for the store.
46. Lords of Acid: ‘Pussy’ – The controversial image on the cover of this Belgian electronic outfit’s 1998 release was banned by several stores for causing offence. It might have offended a few, but here at Gigwise we much prefer this cute little crotch-cat to graphic gore and sexual perversion!
45. Roxy Music: ‘Country Life’ – The fourth and perhaps most accomplished of all Roxy Music albums featured two seductive and slippery semi-naked models on the cover. Bryan Ferry is said to have met the girls in Portugal and persuaded them to pose for the shot. Later copies of the album showed only the leafy background.
44. David Bowie: ‘Diamond Dogs’ – The half-Bowie, half-dog on this 1974 concept album caused controversy due to the exposed genitalia of the creature, painted by Guy Peellaert. The offending member was rapidly airbrushed in time for the 1974 mainstream release, making the few that did slip through the censor’s net some of the most expensive and sought after Bowie records of all time.
43. Aphex Twin: ‘Windowlicker’ – Most blokes have probably spent a bit of time fantasising about having their own pair to fondle at some point… an idea Richard D. James took one step further with the cover of his 1999 EP, ‘Windowlicker.’ He looks pretty pleased with himself, anyway!
42. Roger Waters: ‘The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking’ – This 1984 concept album about a man’s midlife crisis featured a cheeky hiker in red heels by the side of a grey road, waiting for a ride. The controversial nude might have been a happy middle-aged fantasy for Waters, but the public weren’t quite as easily convinced of the cover’s mainstream suitability.
41. The Rolling Stones: ‘Beggars Banquet’ – Though it hardly seems shocking now, the original yellowed, graffiti-ed toilet chosen by the Stones for their 1968 release was rejected by both Decca and London Records due to its inappropriate imagery. In a show of defiance, Jagger and the band withheld the album for several months before finally relenting and allowing a replacement to be printed.
40. Poison: ‘Open Up And Say… Ahh’ – It was only in 2006 when the re-mastered CD release of this 1988 glam metal album escaped the censors unscathed. Back in the eighties the image of model ‘Bambi’ dressed as a demon with a huge protruding red tongue had to be censored, obscuring nearly all of the figure’s offensive face.
39. Nirvana: ‘In Utero’ – The collage of foetuses and body parts on a bed of orchids and lilies that featured as the back cover of Nirvana’s third studio release was creation of Cobain himself. Photographer Charles Peterson reported that one Sunday afternoon Cobain called him up, saying “hey, I want you to take that picture, now.” Combined with the second single release, Rape Me, the cover enraged numerous feminists.
38. Guns N Roses: ‘Appetite for Destruction’ – MTV originally refused to play any of Guns N Roses videos until they agreed to change the cover of their debut album. The original art, based on the Robert William’s painting ‘Appetite for Destruction’ showed a robot attacking a partially undressed woman. Eventually this was included in the inner sleeve.
37. Black Sabbath: 'Born Again' - The cover of Black Sabbath's cult eighties album shows the birth of a pop art demon on a purple background. It was designed by Stephen Joule, in a deliberately brash attempt to get rejected from the design commission as he was already tied into the design of Ozzy Osbourne's album covers at the time. To Joule's surprise the design was accepted, despite fierce reservations from some.
36. Jimi Hendrix: ‘Electric Ladyland’ – Despite Hendrix’s own hand-drawn instructions to his label that the cover of his 1968 album should picture the band posing with children at the foot of a statue of Alice In Wonderland were expressly ignored: instead he got a gaggle of naked girls brandishing vinyl for this controversial UK release.
35. Serge Gainsbourg: ‘Histoire De Melodie Nelson’ - The cover for this album, showing a young girl naked from the waist up clutching her clothes about her, might be shocking, but it’s no match for the content of the album! Gainsbourg’s magnificent 1971 concept album depicted, in just under half an hour, the Lolita-esque lust of a middle-aged man for his pubescent nymphet muse.
34. The Strokes: ‘Is This It’ – Ranked as one of the greatest album covers of all time, the image of a leather-clad hand pressed into a woman’s behind was banned from the US and had to be replaced with a photo of particle collisions in the Big European Bubble Chamber. The content was controversial too: ‘New York City Cops’ had to be replaced with ‘When It Started’ to avoid causing offence after 9/11.
33. The Black Crowes: ‘Amorica’ – The sexually ambiguous pubis on show in the cover of The Black Crowes’ 1994 album Amorica caused trouble for the band’s label, Universal, who later changed it for a blacked out image.
32. Ministry: 'Dark Side Of The Spoon' - Yet another controversial cover from an industrial metal band came from Ministry in 1999. K Mart refused to stock copies of the album, apparently believing that the crinkly overweight figure apparently was wearing a white KKK hat.
31. Jane’s Addiction: ‘Nothing’s Shocking’ – This frankly bizarre cover went for overblown impact so outrageous that it ends up being ironic. Naked siamese twins with their heads on fire? Lovely.
30. John Lennon & Yoko Ono: ‘Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins’ – Lennon decided to go ahead with this album cover despite Paul McCartney’s advice to the contrary. It had to be sold in a brown paper cover and in some US states copies were even impounded for obscenity. Lennon joked that the controversy was over the photo showing “two slightly overweight ex-junkies” rather than its explicit nudity.
29. Birth Control: ‘Operation’ – This carnivorous cretin caused such controversy that the album was banned in several countries. Even more scandalous: on some copies an image of the Pope was shown cheering the baby-eating bug on.
28. Millie Jackson: ‘Back To The Shit’ - If the obscene title wasn’t enough to get the censors all hot under the collar, the toilet humour on the cover certainly is. The striking soul singer got it all wrong with this unflattering image of her straining on the loo – not to mention some terrible track names including ‘Love Stinks’ and ‘Muffle That Fart.’
27. King Diamond: ‘Give Me Your Soul Please’ – Based on a painting titled ‘My Mother’s Eyes’, Diamond is said to have based this themed album on a story of two dead children, murdered by their father, relating their story to him.
26. Dio: Holy Diver – Dio’s defining debut, ‘Holy Diver’, caused a scandal due to cover art that appeared to show a priest being attacked by a demon. Not one to bow to controversy, Dio responded to criticism by suggesting that appearances could be deceiving: how are we to know that the image doesn’t show a demon being attacked by a priest?!
25. Minus: ‘The Great Northern Whale Kill’ – Quite inoffensive on an initial glance, as it merely looks like an overweight woman. However, the Icelandic rockers have in fact opted to put a hideously obese eight year old boy on the cover, which puts a totally different spin on things.
24. The Residents: ‘The Third Reich & Roll’ - Avant-garde rock stars, The Residents, generated scandal with the cover of their second studio album. It featured television entertainer Dick Clark in a Nazi uniform, holding a carrot while surrounded by swastikas and dancing Hitlers. The cover had to be heavily censored before it was exported to Germany in 1980!
23. Anthrax: ‘Fist Full Of Metal’ – The thrash metaller’s debut record in 1984 featured a metal fist (naturally) smashing into the face of some unsuspecting image. Thankfully, it’s just a cartoon image – otherwise this would have been much further up the list.
22. The Five Keys: ‘On Stage!’ – An unintentional photography slip resulted in a bit of a scandal when fans mistook Rudy West’s hand for a penis on the cover of this 1957 album. The phallic finger was subsequently airbrushed out for later editions.
21. Black Flag: ‘Family Man’ – The punk ethos manifested itself in a good few nasty-looking album covers. Among them, Californian outfit Black Flag chose a suicidal father, gun-to-temple, for the release of the 1984 LP, ironically titled ‘Family Man’. Presumably the family man in question wanted to get the job done before social services saw the state of his children.
20. The Beatles: Yesterday and Today – Carnivorous controversy surfaced over the odd ‘Butcher’ cover of this 1966 album, which showed the Liverpudlian lads brandishing hunks of raw meat and decapitated baby dolls. Unsurprisingly for the times, the cover was swiftly changed; on many copies the tamer substitute was simply pasted over the offending original image!
19. Ice Cube: ‘Death Certificate’ - In an affront to patriotic Americans everywhere, the cover of Ice Cube’s 1991 album showed the rapper presiding over Uncle Sam on a mortuary gurney. Perhaps an allusion to the death of the American dream, the album was nonetheless condemned Stateside and suffered severe retail boycotts.
18. Megadeth: ‘Youthanasia’ - More heavy-metal inspired controversy features on the cover of Megadeth’s sixth album Youthanasia. This Boosh inspired Nanageddon entails a murderous granny pinning babies by their ankles to a washing line that extends as far as the eye can see. Rather oddly, the little ones in question don’t seem overly perturbed by their fate.
17. The Exploited: ‘Jesus Is Dead’ – The Exploited concocted a cartoon reworking of the death of Christ for their 1986 EP, complete with a badly-coiffed zombie girl in heels to overlook the torrents of blood spurting from the crucifix. Tasteful.
16. Marilyn Manson: ‘Holy Wood’ – The third instalment of Marilyn Manson’s concept album trilogy featured a rotting Christ-like figure from the torso-up. The corpse’s mutilated face showed Manson with his teeth bared in a typical display of gothic headline-grabbing. The album was especially controversial as it was released in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre, of which Manson had been lazily blamed by sections of the press for inciting hatred in the young offenders prior to their crime.
15. Jane's Addiction: ‘Ritual de lo Habitual’ – Jane’s Addiction were forced to replace the cover of their 1990 album showing male and female nudes so that stores like Walmart could stock it. Though the front of the replacement simply listed the album name, band, and First Amendment in black text on a white background, the back contained a statement that suggested Hitler’s rise to power began with the suppression of freedom of speech.
14. Mortad Hell: ‘There’s A Satanic Butcher In Every One Of Us’ – If the mullet on this blood-thirsty cretin isn’t controversial enough, the featured festering alien has a few controversial tricks up his sleeve, including self-mutilation and abundance of bloody gore. No hands though, sadly, as they’re the first to suffer the butcher’s wrath.
13. Nurse With Wound / Whitehouse: ‘150 Murderous Passions’ – A weird cut-and-paste of a whole load of distasteful ideas featured on the cover of Steven Stapleton’s fifth full-length release. The combination of body parts being born into the pinned-open eye of an unlucky onlooker shocked more than a few when it appeared on record store shelves in 1981.
12. Regurgitate: ‘Carnivorous Erection’ – As if goregrind wasn’t already distasteful enough, Swedish band Regurgitate’s album ‘Carnivorous Erection’ featured exactly that… a mean looking little fella munching on the extended tongue of a lady friend.
11. Royal Trux: ‘Sweet Sixteen’ - American rock duo Royal Trux decided on a little toilet humour for the cover of 1997’s ‘Sweet Sixteen’, The image shows the results of a serious scientific study on the average student toilet after three years of constant partying in the wake of a toilet cleaner shortage.
10. Slayer: ‘God Hates Us All’ – Though their album title suggests that this thrash metal outfit aren’t afraid of a little religious controversy, even they turned against the cover art. The record company chose an image of the bible spiked with nails and covered in blood in an effort that, according to guitarist Kerry King, “looked liked a seventh-grader had defaced the bible."
9. Rammstein: ‘Sehnsucht’ – German industrial-metal band Rammstein went for all-out gore on the cover of this album – the only album sung entirely in German to go platinum Stateside. Fans were treated to a fold out featuring the heavily mutilated faces of the six band members including blacked out eyes, rotting flesh, metal implements and pincers in a Freddy Kruger-esque dentistry nightmare.
8. Blind Faith: ‘Blind Faith’ – This British supergroup were still looking for a name when they decided on a picture of a pubescent girl holding an aeroplane for their 1969 eponymous debut. The photograph was created by photographer Bob Seidemann, a personal friend and former friend of Eric Clapton, the band’s singer. The name of Seidemann’s image – Blind Faith – later became the name of the band itself
7. The Coup: ‘Party Music’ – In an entirely coincidental faux-pas, The Coup planned to release 2001’s ‘Party Music’ with a cover showing band members Pam the Funkstress and Riley standing in front of the World Trade Centre. Riley is shown pushing the button on his guitar tuner as the towers explode beneath them. The album’s release was planned for just a few weeks after the attacks took place – and the cover art was hastily changed!
6. Mom’s Apple Pie: ‘Mom’s Apple Pie’ – This unsuspectingly filthy cover shocks precisely because it appears so innocent on first glance. Seventies American rock band Mom’s Apple Pie weren’t talking about their mum’s favourite baked puddings, as closer inspection of the missing slice in this kindly lady’s pie will reveal.
5. Brujeria: ‘Matando Gueros’ – The debut album from this Mexican metal outfit showed a hand holding up mutilated, decapitated head against a white background. This, along with content that talked mostly of killing white Americans and crossing the border, resulted in the album being banned in many stores.
4. Chumbawamba: ‘Anarchy’ – Anarcho-punk outfit Chumbawumba chose to front their 1994 album with an explicit picture of the birth of a baby. Like earlier controversial releases, it was initially sold in a brown paper wrapper, although the new arrival appeared on the shelves uncensored in later reissues.
3. Type O Negative: ‘The Origin’ – Brooklyn band Type O Negative were forced to change their album artwork to a green and black image of dancing skeletons after the close-up of a sphincter, reportedly that of lead singer Peter Steele, unsurprisingly caused controversy. (We’ve tastefully edited out the offending arsehole).
2. Scorpions: ‘Virgin Killer’ – The image of a naked prepubescent girl on later editions of ‘Virgin Killer’ was replaced with a cover featuring a picture of the band due to the controversy it caused. Even the vocalist from this German heavy metal outfit admitted to feeling shocked when he first saw the image, but claims that the band were pressed into doing something controversial by their label.
1. Mayhem: ‘Dawn Of The Black Hearts’ – On one of the most bootlegged metal albums of all time, Norwegian band Mayhem decided to use a photograph of their deceased frontman, Dead, shortly after his suicide. The cover pictured the singer slumped beside a shotgun and a knife after taking his own life in an unparalleled display of glory-hunting, suicidal gore.
Some glaring omissions on that list - where's Big Black's Headache(head bifurcated by shotgun blast), PainKiller's Guts of a Virgin(pregnant autopsy subject - artwork was confiscated and detroyed by British Customs and Excise), or The Residents' Baby Sex(woman fellating infant)?
Last edited by Luther Heggs; 03-21-08 at 01:20 AM.
03-21-08, 02:49 AM
#12
DVD Talk Legend
Or any cover by Maniak XXX? Yikes. Hell, two of their album names:
I Shit On Your Face
Harvesting the **** Nectar
I won't post the covers here, but you can find them on Google.
= J
I Shit On Your Face
Harvesting the **** Nectar
I won't post the covers here, but you can find them on Google.
= J
03-21-08, 08:48 AM
#14
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Lynard Skynyrd : Street Survivers (came out at the same time of the plane crash showed the band surrounded by flames and was pulled)
Dream Theatre : Live Scenes From NY (depicted the NY skyline with the twin towers prominate and the background in flames, It was released on Sept 11 and was pulled immediatly)
Dream Theatre : Live Scenes From NY (depicted the NY skyline with the twin towers prominate and the background in flames, It was released on Sept 11 and was pulled immediatly)
03-21-08, 10:06 AM
#16
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47. The Beautiful South: 'Welcome To The Beautiful South' - If you thought that anti-smoking lobbies are relatively new things, then think again. Back in 1988, Woolworths of all people banned this album due to the smoking figures on the front page. The artwork was then altered for the store.
03-21-08, 10:11 AM
#17
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Two covers originally censored for U.S. release:
Scorpions-Love Drive. Shows the guy stretching the girl's tit like bubblegum in back seat of limo. U.S. version just showed a scorpion. When I bought an import copy it came in opaque red shrinkwrap. CD has original cover.
Golden Earring-Moontan. Has female nudity. Changed in the U.S. to an ear with an earring. Still that way. There is a import cd with original cover.
Scorpions-Love Drive. Shows the guy stretching the girl's tit like bubblegum in back seat of limo. U.S. version just showed a scorpion. When I bought an import copy it came in opaque red shrinkwrap. CD has original cover.
Golden Earring-Moontan. Has female nudity. Changed in the U.S. to an ear with an earring. Still that way. There is a import cd with original cover.
03-21-08, 11:08 AM
#18
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I would have figured Slayer's cover for Reign in Blood was more controversial than God Hates Us All.
Kudos for them including Type O Negative's Origin of the Feces at #3. I have that CD, which took me forever to find, and it is a disgusting image.
Kudos for them including Type O Negative's Origin of the Feces at #3. I have that CD, which took me forever to find, and it is a disgusting image.
03-21-08, 11:43 AM
#21
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Apparently they never saw any Cannibal Corpse covers. 
03-21-08, 12:07 PM
#22
DVD Talk Special Edition
I thought Bon Jovi's original cover for 'Slippery When Wet' would make the list. That was pulled within the first week of release or so...
