Ten Controversial Album Covers - Which Albums Were BANNED?
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- Опубліковано 3 чер 2024
- Rock and roll music and rock musicians are often controversial. But how about album art? Here are ten examples of album covers that caused quite a stir!
- Фільми й анімація
Seems like Spinal Tap’s Smell the Glove should get an honorable mention.
@Jon - I agree!!
Not a real band so it can’t have an offering of a real album cover.
It's such a fine line between clever and stupid
@Paul Matthew St. Pierre - I hope that you enjoyed one of the greatest and funniest rock and roll movies of all time, SO many quotable lines....
Open Up & Say Ahh by Poison as well.
Original Guns'n'Roses Appetite for Destruction cover had a robot that had just done the "business " to a chick with her panties around her ankles. It got pulled so fast!!
I have that record worth a ton that cover was only in production and for sale a few months then pulled if you look on inside of the CD sleeve with the cross on it the original cover is in the sleeve
@@jasonneuendorf6497 Hey, I have that record! I wonder if its a 1st pressing? looks like it!
@@SamHarrisonMusic the original release in 87 would all be a first pressing since they weren't for sale very long the twist is around 2015 2016 I can't remember the year they re-released the record with the original robot cover to go along with their not in this lifetime reunion tour
I had I the tape...on the inside of the cover was a pull out that had the robot and women.
I was surprised that it wasn't mentioned in the vid. I remember when I bought it thinking it might get pulled. Still have it today
For Me "Country Life" by Roxy Music, the "Butcher Block" Album cover by The Beatles, and "Electric Ladyland" by Jimmy Hendrix are the best controversial albums covers (That I own)
I was very lucky to get a BUTCHER COVER back in 1985 at a Beatlefest in Chicago. One of my friends called me up and said there was a guy in NYC that had one signed by John Lennon. I was curious and asked about it and said I would make a trade and give him a few hundred bucks. At first he said no to the deal then a few months later he said yes and made the deal to this day its still my most prized item
I remember sseing a copy of "Some Girls" for msale in a record shop, that had the "under construction" inner sleeve, but not all of the faces from the original wig add had been punched loose. They were still in place covering what was underneath.
I am guessing that more than one of these made it out of the factory to be sold, but I have never seen another one, nor have I ever seen one listed for sale in the after market.
"Moontan" - Golden Earring. Great vid, I remember all these albums.
youre videos are amazing! keep doing what youre doing, rock on!! 🤘
Thanks so much Ozzy - glad you liked this one! Feel free to share and subscribe!
In late 1982, KISS released Creatures if the Night, which had Ace Frehley on the cover, even though he had secretly left. When the album was reissued in 1985, the new cover included Bruce Kulick , who had not joined them until December of 84, and he was not on the album either.
Never thought I would hear the word “controversial” said so many times in the span of 15 minutes LOL!!
It's not even "controversial", it's controver-see-al. and it's super annoying, lol.
or am I the only one who says controvershul?
HAHA! I noticed that myself (including the weird pronunciation) when rewatching the video.
Did you not pay attention to this last presidential election 😂😂
@@forpeoplewholovemusic8922 it's all good man appreciate your videos
Controversial 15 times
Classic 21 times
Never mind the Bollocks, here's the Sex Pistols. After the release of the album, Police raided shops in the UK, forcing owner's to cover up the offending word on the sleeves and posters. It ended up in a big court case here in the UK under the obscene publications act. However, a High Court Judge eventually ruled that Bollocks (a slang term for testicles) also was an old anglo saxon word meaning nonsense. So the Bollocks are now legal in the UK.
Similar to the Lynard Skinnard album presented here, Dream Theater's Live Scenes from New York was recalled immediately after release. The cover showed the twin towers in flames (from other elements of the artwork, not the towers actually on fire) but since the album had the misfortune of being released on September 11, 2001 it was immediately pulled.
I have a copy with the original cover. Not sure how many were sold prior to being recalled.
Have put the Dream Theatre one above! Only just seen your comment!!!!
Did not know "Love It To Death" was retouched. Might be interesting to look at album back covers, also gatefold art which was censored, such as the gatefold art on the DKs "Frankenchrist".
First cover I thought of was The Black Crowes' Amorica.
I miss albums , you cant clean your seedy pot on a MP3 .........oh wait pot doesn't even have seeds any more
But you can still snort blow off of a cd or cassette case! I'm not advocating said behavior, but you can if so inclined.🙃
Here's one you missed, Mom's Apple Pie 1972 original cover was banned.
Really interesting bits of history. I noticed that on the Sticky Fingers the zipper left a bit of a mark on the vinyl too. I agree it is one of their greatest albums.
I thought Beggar's Banquet might have made this list.
I'm surprised that you didn't mention Poisons "Open Up and Say Ahh". Dream Theater also had to re-release their 2001 "Live in New York" (originally released 9/11/01) for reasons similar to Lynnard Skynyrd.
The cover of Street Survivors was changed at the request of Gary Rossington, Allen Collins and Theresa Gaines, Steve Gaines' widow, as the Flame cover showed Steve engulfed in flames. The replacement cover? MCA switched the back photo to the front, and across the back placed "this album was released with a different cover" across the back cover.
This is one of the things I miss about records. You also forgot the Black Crowes Amorica cover. Liz Phair's self titled album cover created quite a stir too.
I have the original "Hustler" cover of Amorica
This video would be much, much, much longer if we were talking about heavy metal band album covers, alone.
Cannibal Corpse
And it would be much, much shorter if he'd quit yapping and just show us the damn covers. ;-)
@@MichaelWH Slayer has some naughty covers 😁
@@JackDaniel617 The original "God Hates Us All" cover was banned at some places, and "Christ Illusion" has 2 covers
@@MichaelWH ahh man I remember when christ illusion came out around 6/6/06 or Devil's Day that year! I was in Jr High and had the cd playing all day long in every class. I had a binder with a clear cover with the cd book stuck in there and a dismembered christ sticking out like a sore thumb! Pissed off a lot of people, oh well!
You missed the Roxy Music album “Country Life” where the two young women in their scanty underwear were removed from the original version.
You noticed the word “all” isn’t in the videos title.
@@michaelmcdonald8452 No shit, Michael, but this one was more controversial than some of the others.
Not only I bought that LP (it was in the import section at the record store that I went to), I was just about to post that comment. I saw Roxy Music around the mid 80's and The Stranglers opened for them, also one of my all time favorite British bands. And I saw Bryan Ferry in 2014 and in 2017 in concert.
Only it wasn't banned. It was sold with a green opaque plastic covering it instead of clear. When I got my copy home, I was blown away when I unwrapped it.
@@peach495 It was not available in Canada.
I had the street survivors with the flames and I gave it to my friend for his birthday period and then I found another one so I still have one.
The indents from the sticky fingers lp affect the ya ya's back cover most...sometimes getting to the vinyl itself... exile followed sticky fingers...and that package had it's own issues
I say it all depends how you have 'em placed. some people will go from debut to newest, others newest and then go back.
or is there a rule to this that nobody told me about? Lol.
“All kinds of mental stress”
I think the mental stress he’s referring to is the thought that a rich band and a rich record label won’t give him any money if he doesn’t pretend to be upset about it.
Having said that, including this as a “controversial” album cover is really stressing the definition of that word.
As some others have commented, Scorpions Virgin Killer was very controversial, and I believe banned, but I still managed to get one in a minor record store here in the UK. Also the Rush album Permanent Waves, with the newspaper showing the wrong US political headline I think was changed shortly after its release
Yeah! What about the Scorpions! They had some terrible covers!!!!
After Sticky Fingers came out... when Motley Crue did their TOO FAST FOR LOVE album... they used a shot of Vince Neil's zipper for the album cover ... as a homage to Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers album.
“Homage” is such a funny concept to me.
“Didn’t they steal that from...??”
“No, No, it’s an ho-MAGE, ysee...”
When it comes to the Stones, your two picks were good, but I would've gone with the original album cover for 'Beggars Banquet' which was a graffiti covered bathroom wall, complete with toilet! It's the album cover which didn't see the light of day until a 90's CD re-release.
Country Life by Roxy Music; Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin; Captain Fantastic by Elton John are the ones I have. I'm grateful they covered John and Yoko! Just subscribed to your channel as I just discovered it today. Loved your thoughts on the album covers!
Thanks so much Tracy! I'm not familiar with Elton's "Captain Fantastic" being controversial. What's the story there? I love that album.
@@forpeoplewholovemusic8922 art on the back cover and the lyrics book. I remember my Grandmother went crazy when she saw it and wanted to throw it away, so I hid it.
I hope that you enjoy this video on controversial album covers. Please feel free to like, comment, and share!
What about the original album cover for "Smell the Glove" by Spinal Tap?
I bought a compilation album by Island records. It featured a young girl holding a stick of rock (candy stick?). It was called 'Fill your head with rock'.
VISION AND THE VOICE by KOMMUNITY FK was famously controversial, as was the original cover for the BOW WOW WOW LP LAST OF THE MOHICANS, and BLUE SISTERS SWING by FLESH FOR LULU. Most of the 80s CRASS output had cover art which ruffled some feathers.
@T Jacobs - I remember the Bow Wow Wow one quite well!!
My favorite controversial covers include the Scorpions "Virgin Killer", Golden Earring's "Moontan" and David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs",
"Blood Rock" Debut Album Cover. 1970
"Jump On It" by Montrose (Featuring Sammy Hagar)
It's funny you mention that the Blind Faith cover was different here in the U.S. I was about 10 in the mid-80s and used to see the original album cover in Caldors, often uncovered, but occasionally with the price sticker where yours showed the band name. I was too young to make the leap that the thing she was holding might be interpreted in a certain way. I had a notion of what the 60s were about and sort of saw it as was described or maybe rationalized as: some sort of commentary about nature and technology. I've read about it, the model used was hoping to get a horse out of it.
Poison's "Open Up and Say Ahh!" album is another one that could have made the list.
Also Poisons "Flesh and Blood" they removed the real blood from the tattoo
Um that was interesting and easy to watch, thanks
You left out ELP's Brain Salad Surgery which had an airbrushed penis superimposed over the throat of the model on the front cover. A lot of copies went out before someone noticed.
I own the Blind Faith pubescent girl cover, which I bought as a replacement from Amazon for the one I bought in '69. I was pretty surprised it was still around. I also own the original M&P "toilet" cover but it's in such bad shape it's not worth anything. Another controversial cover I own is the Badfinger "No Dice" cover with the babe in a gypsy or belly dancing outfit with her hand sticking through the pants. Again, it's not in good shape otherwise it might be worth something to a collector. And IIRC Mother's of Invention's "We're Only in it for the Money" Sgt. Pepper's-esque montage had (has?) a picture of Jimi Hendrix fondling a pre-pubescent girl.
It looked like carrot top
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the 2 Live Crew album "As Nasty as They Want To Be" which had the band on their stomachs between four young women who were facing away from the camera and in thongs. Many stores would not stock it because it was deemed to risque at the time. The label responded by covering up the women's bottoms with a strip that read "includes Me So Horny" on it, on the outside plastic wrapping, but the actual cover itself was not changed, ironically.
Great channel!! I am so glad that I found your awesome channel, my new friend!! (Subscribed)
Vampire Weekend got sued for using a photo w/out permission too; the album Contra
I have a excellent copy of Three Dog Night "Hard Labor" album promo without the Band-aid covering the birth of the record from a lizard chicken lady in stirrups. It's indescribable, and shocking!
@Sandy Smite - very cool! That's a great one.
*@Sandy Smith
sticky fingers original uk album had an open can of blood with fingers sticking out. the zipper idea was i think done by andy warhol and when you opened it it had life size underwear but it wasnt jaggers junk in it it was a warhol "actor" well that was the rumor anyway.
Another problem with Sticky Fingers was that the zipper was actually damaging one of the tracks, that was solved by shipping it with the zipper down. And Spinal Tap’s Smell The Glove should count.
I always thought it was about the guys Johnson erect in his jeans....
The first two albums by Exodus had artwork that was banned. Check out the original covers of Bonded by Blood and Pleasures of the Flesh.
I either have the trunk or butcher cover album. I got it from my dad years ago. I need to figure out which one it is.
Foreigner's Head Games is kind of in line with that Mamas and Papas album. Also a classic album cover.
JANE'S ADDICTION- Ritual de lo Habitual
STRYPER- To Hell With the Devil
BON JOVI- Slippery When Wet
SCORPIONS- Virgin Killer
POISON- Open Up & Say Ahh
SPINAL TAP- Smell the Glove
KISS- Creatures of the Night (not exactly banned- just reissued with a non-makeup cover)
EXODUS- "Pleasures of the Flesh"
BOXER- "Below the Belt"
HURRICANE - Slave to the thrill. CARCASS - Wake up and smell the carcass.(featuring an actual photo of JFK autopsy) GREAT WHITE - Hooked.
Supertramp - "Indelibly Stamped", full color cover.
"Smell the Glove! HAHA! That's one of the best movies ever!
Nirvana "Nevermind."
Mayhem "Dawn of the Black Hearts"
Dream Theater - “Live: Scenes from New York”. Had the unfortunate fate of being released on 9/11/01 and showed the NYC skyline in flames, prominently featuring the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
Picked up an original Blind Faith "space plane" last summer. Have most of the vinyl you featured save the John and Oko. Music first.
I thought of the original cover of the Blind Faith album, with the naked girl on it. 😀 I have the "Two Virgins" album. I paid 33-1/3 cents for it in a 3-for-a-dollar bin, many years ago.
I have Street Survivors never opened. I have the 8-Trac too but opened.
And in similar fashion to the Blind Faith album, the Scorpions' 4th album "Virgin Killer" from 1976 has a similar cover but even more risque than the Blind Faith one. Banned in the US for sure. And I can't blame them. I'd say it was a much inappropriate cover. So instead the US release has simply a band photo on the cover. But in regard to the original cover for The Beatles' Yesterday and Today , I don't think that one would be deemed as offensive today. I'd love to get my hands on a copy of that one.
What about the original album cover for Appetite for Destruction?
MCA recalled the Lynyrd Skynyrd album over concerns that the flame artwork would be considered tone-deaf
Party Music by The Coup, although I believe it was pulled before release.
my rubber soul / revolver is parlaphone
Two more from the 80's and 90's Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet" and the 1990 Poison album "Flesh and Blood" the blood around the tattoo was removed
I have closely examined "The Shmenge's Go Mod" - Yosh and Stan Shmenge - and have discovered the "hidden message" on the album. Esoteric? You decide. It is "Eat more cabbage rolls and drink more coffee..mumumum good!".
My aunt has every single Beatles album. US/UK/Ger/Japanese and yes she has the first release butcher cover. I hope I get her collection. Most are still in cellophane. Most still have the price tag. She even has MANY of them unopened.
I actually have 2 MONO copies of the Butcher cover - both are pristine in mint condition
I think frankenchrist by dead Kennedy’s should be in this list. Album cover changed by the band, but a court case ensued over the inserted poster
and the Dead Kennedys' Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables with it's orange cover and unauthorized band photo on the back...
That airplane is a hood ornament off of a 56 Chevy.
Rumor has it that the creature on the cover of Diamond Dogs is an unaltered photo of the Sovereign - Monstroso.
What about Jane's Addiction ritual de lo habitual, or Poison's open up and say ahh.........
Witchcraft emblem on Rush 2112 & Black Sabbath , Peronoid , The Who's Next by The Who ???So many Heavy Metal groups like Slip knot , Megadeath , etc ..... !
I have them all but my Beatles cover is my mono paste over copy I bought when it came out. Jim
Mom's Apple Pie 1972. The original cover is a collector's dream. It was quickly redone.
A collector's wet dream.
I have this album
@@rolandgervais9320 You are VERY fortunate. It is a collectors item for sure. I laughed my ass off the first time I saw it.
Yes.... The offending area was filled in with bricks.
The only one I still have is the Skynyrd Street Survivors
Cannibal Corpse - Butchered at Birth
Guns-N-Roses - Appetite for Destruction
The scorpians have a couple pretty controversial covers virgin killers original cover and lovedrive. The original dream theater live from New York had a pic of the World Trade Centers burning and the mother of coincidences, it was released sep 11 2001
Another rap artist did an album in spring 2001. Their actual album cover art directly invokes the actual image of an airplane as it impacts the building. The cover further shows two boys, as though they were throwing a paper airplane, throwing the jet into the tower.
I have them both...the Beatles Butcher with and without the trunk paste over....my good friend owned a record store in Ridgefield Ct, called Discobolus and he sold me an original butcher before he STUPIDLY returned them (he was all business)....which by the way even to this day he would gladly buy it from me!
FYI....some record stores simply received the Butcher stick on cove to stick on themselves....FACT....didn't work out at all!!
When I was a teenager in the 80s I wanted to be an album cover artist. Then CDs happened.
No Guns N Roses "Appetite For Destruction"? The Robert Williams artwork caused quite a bit of furor in the late 80s.
I was thinking about that one too.
Nirvana - Nevermind
Dude, the reason The Blind Faith cover was so controversial is not just the topless photo. SHE WAS 11 YEARS OLD!
Aerosmith's 'Nine Lives' cover. The original cover had Lord Vishnu with a cat head, dancing on a snake demon. This angered a LOT of Hindu people, and they had to re-release it with completely different artwork
I remember having the censored white cover cannibal corpse album butchered at birth without the lyrics.I found the real one years later with the sick cover that would make most people cringe.
I have the Unpeeled Yesterday and today
Had to go look at my copy of Some Girls…mine has Lucy and Liza….must be an early copy…..
the paste over is always worth more than a peel, Blind Faith has been reissued many times with the first cover, Street Survivors is the flame cover now, I think Rykodisc used the original Diamond Dogs, I have never seen a first issue, others that were too hot maybe just in the US, Electric Ladyland, Mom's Apple Pie with the vaginal pie slice, Scorpions Lovedrive, etc
There was a Dream Theatre album called “Live Scenes From New York” which was by pure coincidence and cosmic bad luck released on September 11th 2001, which showed a burning big apple with barbed wire around the apple! (I am not making this up!!!!)
loved it., but I thought you would have as a top 10 Jimi Hendrix -electric ladyland . nude ladies on cover. 2 later ones , Body Count- cop killers. cover had a man with cop killer on chest /new cover had cop killer removed. other one Dream Theater - live scenes from New York. cover shows the twin towers on fire, album came out right before 9-11. also Ginger Baker had said in a interview that was his daughter and saw nothing wrong with it
Pretty tame by “modern” terms, but how about
- The first album by “Free” (with the “cosmic crotch-shot”)
- The first Velvet Underground album with “Peel and See” sticker.
(P.S. Which was the early-ish Stone’s single-cover with the band dressed as women?)
A couple you didn't mention...
Supertramp's "Indelibly Stamped" from 1971 features the naked torso of a heavily tattooed young lady. I believe there were some censored and alternative covers for this one, but I've never seen one in real life. Good album, but from the era before "Crime of the Century", when they got really big, so relatively few people have heard (of) it.
Not sure if this counts, because the airbrushing occurred before the album cover was printed, but ELP's "Brain Salad Surgery" features art by H.R. Giger before he became known for his work on the movie "Alien". Truly a weird cover, it features the face of a prostitute with whom Giger was obsessed. The original artwork included, um, an erect phallus aimed for her chin, which appears on the cover as a glowing blob suggesting, perhaps, what might have been. One of their best albums and a truly memorable cover..
Animal Magnetism by Scorpions has to make the list. That girl. That dog. That cover...damn.
L7 - Smell the Magic - Instabanned as it had a guy with his head between a pair of women's thighs ...
Yeah I've seen that one
Most of the album covers were only banned in the US.
The rest of the world could handle the artwork.
@Kasper - you are so right. We can be a bit provincial here in the US.....
How about "Slippery When Wet"?
Golden Earrings album Moontan was changed from a naked woman to just a picture of an earring in the us
No Appetite For Destruction? Really??
Surprised Jimi's Electric Ladyland wasn't included
Agreed maybe he has never seen it. Especially as done without Jimmy Hendrix consent
How about “Indelibly Stamped” by Supertramp?
Not sure if it’s true but I have always heard White Rider by Skrewdriver was banned
That is one of the three definitive albums when the lyrics were composed during a PRISON sentence! The others were GG Allin's "Bloodshed & Brutality For All" (1993) and Dissection's "Reinkaos" (2006). (Interestingly, all three vocalists are now dead.)
I have the original Some Girls album with the celebrity faces, I wonder how much it is worth
You also missed Boxer - Below The Belt.
3:15
I wonder if those vintage karens also wined about the pictures of toilets in newspaper ads?
And I can only assume they covered their eyes when they seen a toilet in person.
Let’s not forget Rolling Stones original cover for Beggars Banquet. A filthy toilet in a whore house or probably a NYC shooting gallery.
_The toilet was blocked, wait... what_ 🚽
What about the original Hendrix Electric Ladyland cover?
@Rodney Elkins - that's a great one!!!
What about the Dead Kennedy's album being pulled for having the " explicit " poster of an H. R. Giger painting.
Pis Christ was controversial. This guy looked too long at album covers of his childhood. Or he just read an article about album art. Green Screen background of a record store? Ritual de Habitual or that one when Black Crows with the pubic hair bikini. Weak review.
Frankenchrist