In the latest in a series of three articles on the album cover art, let's look back a few controversial album covers.

It seems that a major retailer in the U.S. has great power and influence. When "John Cougar Mellencamp" released his 1996 album called "Mr. Happy Go Lucky" a photo on the cover of Jesus and the devil had to be changed. It does not affect the music and not the design of the cover, Mellencamp obliged and changed the cover to appease to major chain stores listed above.

Rapper Ice-T joined the raid of their critically acclaimed release album 1991 called "Death Certificate." It seems an album cover that shows Uncle Sam in a mortuary slab and violent lyrics Ice-T, led to a state (Oregon) to enforce a state ban on displaying the image of the rapper in retail stores.

Alternative rockers Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell, caused quite a stir in 1991 also. When he submitted his original artwork for the sophomore album from the band, "Ritual de lo Habitual," his record label (Warner Brothers), they were unhappy. He was released and the sparks flew, and under pressure from businesses, the group relented and replaced Farrell's artwork with a plain white cover and text of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which guarantees freedom of expression.

In 1997, "Aerosmith" released their new album "Nine Lives", which features a dancing figure with a cat's head. The work of art, taken from Hindu imagery, aroused the anger of some Hindus and the band and record company apologized, and then changed the artwork.

Alternative grunge giants, "Nirvana" raised the ire of the two retail giants (Wal Mart and K Mart) in 1993 with his album art cover and a song on their album "In Utero". The cover version was changed to "Waif Me" instead of the actual title song "Rape Me." Despite the band's insistence that the lyrics of the song were in fact anti-rape, these retail giants insisted on the change in wording. The retail giant also refused to sell the album for its artwork (which included an anatomical figure and model fetuses), so a "doctored" version of the back cover was made for them.

The band "Beautiful South" released an album in 1989 called "Welcome To The Beautiful South" and the original version of a photo image of a woman with a gun in his mouth and a picture of a man who was smoking a cigarette. The cover of this album was banned by the retailer Woolworth's, because, in its reasoning, it could cause people to start smoking. The album cover was replaced imaging of a rabbit and a teddy bear.

The band also has the snuff of the "Arctic Monkeys" in trouble with the "censorship" in 2006, because of the cover to his release, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not". The breadth of cover depicting a friend of the band smoking a cigarette, was criticized by the NHS in Scotland. They claimed that the band was "reinforcing the idea that smoking is OK", a charge disputed the band. In fact, the image on the CD itself is a picture of a full ashtray and product manager for the band said: "You can see in the image smoking is not doing him the world of good."

In a sad tale of irony, the band "Lynyrd Skynrd" had her album called "Street Survivors" (1977) pulled by executives after three band members died tragically in a plane crash. You see, the first album cover is a photo of the band surrounded by flames. The album was released a week before the plane crash that killed singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines. The cover is removed quickly and the replacement coverage, an image of the band without the flames, quickly became. CD reissues have restored the original cover.

With an increase in sales of vinyl record albums and a renewed interest in art of the album cover, we must, and we can expect more censorship, controversial album cover art and album covers legendary return to be part of rock and roll tradition.

About the Author:

Author Robert Benson writes about rock/pop music, vinyl record collecting and operates http://www.collectingvinylrecords.com, where you can pick up a copy of his ebook called
"The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting."
Contact Robert at robert@collectingvinylrecords.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Historic and Controversial Album Covers-part Three

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