Puritan were among the first European settlers in North America. And despite the sexual revolution and half a century rock ‘n’ roll, the USA still has a strong tradition of moral convictions.
Many musicians have tried to expand the limits of society with their albumcovers. Just to determine that society sometimes leaves back. Here are 20 most remarkable censored album cover. The reasons for their censorship range from hypersensitivity to toilets to nudity to general bizarre.
The Mamas and the Papas, “If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears” (1966)
The original cover of the debut album by The Mamas and The Papas. All four band members crowd into a bathtub (with Michelle Phillips stretching over the other three). However, since the photo was taken in a real bathroom, there was also a toilet. What was taboo. The toilet was initially covered with a text field. And later cut out completely.
The Beatles, “Yesterday and Today” (1966)
Times have changed. This picture of the Beatles in white coats, posing with meat pieces and headed baby dolls, acts today like the mildest form of provocation. The FAB Four may protest against the Vietnam War, perhaps complained that their American record label converted their albums for the US market and re-packed. Or may have gone to their black humor. In the United States, however, the counter reaction to the cover was so violent that Capitol called back 750,000 copies and had to replace the picture with a harmless photo of the band around a travel case.
Rolling Stones, “Beggars Banquet” (1968)
Toilets were still taboo in 1968. So much that the Stones record company rejected the cover photo of a bathroom wall littered with graffiti (in a Porsche car dealership in Los Angeles). And finally replaced it with a simple white cover with it italics black print in the style of a formal invitation. The album then appeared with a delay. And the original cover only appeared in the 1980s.
Blind faith, “blind faith” (1969)
The Supergroup around Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood had no name when they saw the cover for their album that photographer Bob Seidemann called “Blind Faith”. An 11-year-old girl with a naked upper body, whose innocence is contrasting to the technical toy in her hands. The Model Mariora Goschen says that a horse was promised to pose for the cover. After all, she was satisfied with £ 40. In the United States, the image of a top-without-minded man triggered outrage (although not as much as today), so that the record company also offered a version with a picture of the band.
Alice Cooper, “Love It To Death” (1971)
Alice Cooper (the band and the singer) made the breakthrough with her third album, on which “I’m Eighteen” was found. However, they came under criticism because of a childish action on the album photo. Cooper had wrapped his cloak around the body and stretched out the right thumb, so that it looked for the fleeting viewer as if his penis was hanging out. Because of this incident, his entire right arm was retouched.
David Bowie, “Diamond Dogs” (1974)
Bowie just looked creepy on the cover. It turned out that it was half of a Gatefold image of the Belgian painter Guy Peellaert. And on the back it could be seen that Bowie had the body of a dog. Completely with a striking penis. The rear part was quickly removed. With a little airbrush, Bowie’s dog ride was made smooth and blank.
Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Street Survivors” (1977)
The fifth studio album by Lynyrd Skynyrd was released on October 17, 1977. Three days later, the band’s aircraft crashed into Mississippi, with three members, including Bandleader Ronnie van Zant. As a result, the cover photo, on which the band stood against a background, looked extremely tasteless. The band did not change the title “Street Survivors” (which was already problematic in itself). However, replaced the photo of the band with another with a simple black background.
Funkadelic, “The Electric Spanking of War Babies” (1981)
Warner Bros. did not want to publish this album from Funkadelic as a double album. So George Clinton shortened it onto a single CD. They also rejected Pedro Bell’s cover, which showed a naked woman in a phallic spaceship. Bell covered most of it with a large green splash and the message “Oh look! The cover that” she “didn’t dare to print!”
Spinal Tap, “Smell the Glove” (1982)
Fictional, but certainly also at risk of censorship, this cover of the mockmentary band Spinal Tap. The group described it like this: “A great, naked woman on all four with a dog collar around her neck, and a lash and a man’s arm extended out to here holding onto the leash and push glove in her face to sniff it.”
Fictional, but classic. In the film “This Is Spinal Tap”, the album cover is rejected by the record company of England. And replaced by a simple black cover. The original idea? “An oiled, naked woman in all fours. With a dog collar around her neck, a leash and a low of men, which is stretched out to this point, the leash holds. And presses a black glove in the face so that she sniffs on it.”
Roger Waters, “The Pro and Cons of Hitch Hiking” (1984)
Old school censorship for the first solo album of the former Pink Floyd member. When people see the sight of a naked blonde who only wears red shoes and a red backpack and drives by hitchhiking, then you just stick a black bar over her butt.
Guns N ‘Roses, “Appetite for Destruction” (1987)
The title of the album comes from the painting by Robert Williams, which originally served as a cover. A robotic rapist who is held accountable by a much larger robot predator. After complaints, the band replaced the picture by presenting their five members as dead heads. The controversy could have been worse. Axl Rose originally wanted to use a photo of the explosion of the Challenger room ferry as a cover.
Poison, “Open Up and Say … Ahh!” (1988)
The original cover of Poison’s second album showed a red-skinned demon with large hair and an even bigger tongue. It was more strange than sexual or satanic. But under pressure, the band changed the cover and covered most of the picture, so that you couldn’t see much more than your eyes.
Jane’s Addiction, “Ritual de Lo Habitual” (1990)
The iconic cover of “ritual” is a photography of a diorama made by lead singer Perry Farrell. And shows him in the triangle relationship, from which he sings in “Three Days”. However, the nudity, both male and female, pushed some dealers to the head, so that the band also provided a simple white cover with the text of the first amendment.
Tad, “8-way Santa” (1991)
The amazing cover for “8-way Santa” was a find. A photo from a second-hand shop that shows a radiant couple in which a hairy, shirtless guy touches a breast of his partner. Unfortunately, the couple found the unauthorized use of their picture on the album. One of them had become a reborn Christian. They complained. And Sub Pop replaced the cover with a banal image of the band with cows.
Nirvana, “in Utero” (1993)
The song “Rape ME” was too provocative, so that they did not take into her range “in Utero”. More precisely, the title was too provocative. When the band changed him on the back in “Waif Me” without changing the music, the album for sale in the shops was released.
Pantera, “Far Beyond Drives” (1994)
Which picture chose Pantera for the cover of her seventh studio album to show her view of the modern world? Well, a drill that penetrates an anus, of course. He was quickly replaced by a drill that drills in the forehead of a person. In comparison, harmless.
Van Halen, “Balance” (1995)
This cover – Siamese twins edited on a seesaw – was just disturbing. Probably that was exactly the band’s intention, but enough people found it so strange that in some countries a version was offered with a retouched twin.
Master P, “Ghetto D” (1997)
The original title was “Ghetto Dope”. A man could be seen on the original cover who smoked a crack -pipe. To ensure a broader distribution, Master P shortened the title and designed a new cover that was an ugly digital collage with many flames.
Kanye West, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (2010)
West told the artist George Condo that he wanted an album cover that would prohibit it. Condo delivered a painting on which a naked west was spanned by a naked woman with wings, but without arms and ride with a dotted tail. Mission fulfilled. When some dealers rejected the cover, West replaced it with the image of a ballerina.
Sky Ferreira, “Night Time, My Time” (2013)
For her debut album, Ferreira rejected the advice of her record company to choose a conventional photo of himself. And instead decided on a photo of Gaspar Noé, on which she is in the shower and looks careful and vulnerable. In order to make it more tasty for the iTunes Store and similar providers, her label also published a version in which her nipple was strategically retouched.