NSFW- Album Covers _ NSFW
 

You remember record albums, don't you? They were big, over a foot square, which meant they had lot's of room for art work.
Hundreds of thousands of albums were released so with all that competition the artwork had to grab your eye. It had to say "Pick Me" out of a rack of others saying the same thing.
Sometimes the quest to standout was outrageous and sometimes in questionable taste.
Even big stars were not immune.

Some made me think, man, this is desperate.

One of my father's favorite stories is how he bought the censored version of the Beatles album on the left, and went home and steamed off the new picture they'd pasted over the front so he could see what all the fuss was about. He was very proud that he'd done it so carefully, there was only slight browning on one corner from the heat.

Some were risque but made me laugh.

But my vote for #1 in bad taste goes to RCA.

Those were the days.

The Lords of Acid have quite a few winners in their catalog.

I have the album bruce noted above, as well as a few others. Scrolling through their discography I discovered that a couple of their albums and EPs have both censored and uncensored versions. The cover of Rough Sex was unremarkable, but I also have this one ...

I don't understand... how did the Scorpions get away with that cover? Tweren't no photoshop back then...

Nothing's shocking.

http://www.streamwaves.com/images/artwork/6325.jpg

Photoshop just brought graphic arts to the unwashed. The pros could do things like that for a long time.

BUT the question I have is regardless of how the picture was produced, even if the girl is a cartoon and not a real person, how'd they get away with it. Isn't Sailor Moon still porn? :confused:

Predating that Scorpions album by about 8 years was Blind Faith. :eek:
This is how it came about.

one man's "art" is another man's kiddie porn.

Bah, only a woman would say that. Men don't think like that. :lol:

How about some Van Halen?

What are the goals of the absurd covers?

Sell records, Billy.
In the US during the 60s and 70s, if you walked into a record store, you would see thousands of different records for sale. Many of them sold because the cover art grabbed the attention of the buyer rather than the music inside.
It was a time of excess, testing limits, pushing boundries and annoying the older generation. Isn't the same thing happening with the young people in China today? :)

Album covers
 

Don't think you would get away with this one nowadays

It unfolds to a large poster of this:
http://shawnd.dyndns.org/fark/THip_Fully_Cmp.jpg

tasteless?

There are no so many records in China as in the USA. I searched some covers.

Flying girls
Kungfu Guy

Don't forget the great original "Moontan" cover - of which I still have my original copy -, before it got replaced with the stupid closeup shot of a gold earring hanging from an ear.

One of my all time favorite covers was Cheech & Chong's Big Bambu. It had a huge rolling paper inside. I'm sure it might be worth some money today had I not done as I'm sure most people did back in the 70's and tried to actually use the paper. :joint:

When did they start the parental stickers? :confused:

I almost forgot the Stones...Sticky Fingers. :blush:

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/12407.jpg


The Scorpions again found their album cover stirring up controversy in the US. The album was initially wrapped in paper, then later released with a black cover and a blue scorpion instead of the scandoulous bubblegum photo.

What about Guns'n'Roses original cover to "Appetite For Destruction"?

Anthrax's "Fistful Of Metal"

Anything by Cannibal Corpse

I can't find the one of the nubile young girl sitting on the urinal, ridding the men's room of graffiti that included her name and phone number, because I can't recall the band. So here's the infamous original cover to The Beatles: Yesterday, Today, etc, as well as John and Yoko's original "Two Virgins" cover.

Old sex...New Sex...It all sells records......:eek:

According to wiki some labeling started in 1985, but that particular standardized label was instituted in 1990 with "help" from Tipper Gore.

I remember listening to this album when I was a kid. It was my mum's or my brother's, can't recall now. I have no recollection at all of any o fthe tracks on it ...but I remember very clearly listening to it a lot, using mum's super duper technologically superior, individually volume controlled headphones...I used to like the fact that I was wearing headphones and so were the chicks on the album cover ;P

Another classic...

And then there was this controversial cover to a superb supergroup album, Blind Faith...

I read the story behind that one. Seems they spotted the 14 year old that would be perfect for the picture and approached her parents with a deal. After considerable discussion, the parents decided it would be inappropriate for a 14 year old to be naked... but they could use her younger sister.

http://www.rockartpictureshow.com/im...s/ladyland.jpg

http://www.rockartpictureshow.com/cg...?F=s&ID=000174
Banned Hendrix

To keep you a breast of Hendrix' international releases we'll tell this European cover for 1968's "Electric Ladyland" was of course banned in the US. The US cover for Ladyland had only the band, no girls. Of the two covers this is the rarest which has been out of print for years.

Framed in the RAPS Record Album Frame the Cover Art is eternally collectible, this is a rare Hendrix find because there was limited European printing and it was banned here. The record is included which is among Hendrix' best releases. We can not imagine the value of this excellent condition piece diminishing, there just aren't many of these around.

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There's something not right with this album cover
gives me the creeps. Not one of their best

Now there's an understatement.

I think the contrast was set too low when it was printed.

I never knew my nephew worked with Black Sabbath.


So, with respect to Blind Faith... how is it that everybody involved, including us here looking at it, weren't thrown in the slammer?

Wikipedia has some interesting information regarding the album cover for "Born Again."

I've never listened to it, but with Ian Gillan singing, I suspect it's halfway decent. He's no Ozzy or Dio, but he's alright. I've read that the initial production was God-awful, but it was remastered not too long ago.

Ministry's "Dark Side of the Spoon" was banned from Kmart because of its cover art:

I saw Black Sabbath with Gillan as front man and it was weird Sabbath playing "Smoke on the Water" and Gillan singing "Iron Man"
Too bizarre for words..
They spent all this money on a Stonehenge stage set that was too big to fit any where they played on that tour ,what drugs and ego's can do for a band :D

Aw to be blessed with being a dumb assed redneck. I have no clue as to what you speak, but I do know about 45s, 78s and 33 1/3s.
Did you'll buy the album for the flappin cover?

If I bought an album now, it would solely be for the cover. Well, maybe I'll eventually get another turntable, because it'd be cool to listen to stuff from Miles on vinyl. But all my music is on CD or MP3 now. Album cover art is like fine art to me...and a lot of it is so cheap now.

Sounds like a scenario straight out of Spinal Tap...