Controversy

Album art doesn't just effect the individual, it can have an effect on many, especially if it is controversial. So for this post I wanted to look at controversial album art and unpick what makes it an issue. There are different types of controversy, like:

Nudity and sexuality

Religion

Copy right

Being too macabre

These subjects can cause an album to be banned or censored.

Nudity is an obvious source of controversy, not just the traditional anti-feminist objectivity of women but also homosexuality and what verges on child pornography.

Some examples of nudity and sexuality on album covers are:

John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1968 Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins:

The cover features Lennon and Ono frontally nude and the back of the album shows them nude from the back. Because of the blatant nudity and apparent disregard for how it would be received, distributors opted to sell the album in plain brown wrappers instead, classing it as obscene.

Dead Kennedys 1985 Frankenchrist album:

This cover depicts a shriners parade, but the controversy for this album came from a poster of H. R. Giger's Landscape #XX or Penis landscape inside the cover. The picture is of rows of penises during intercourse:

Because of this image the band was brought to trial for distributing harmful matter to minors and while no convictions were made, their record label (Alternative Tentacles) was driven almost to bankruptcy.

Scorpians' 1976 Virgin Killer album:

The title is supposed to reference time as the killer of innocence, but obviously a fully nude prepubescent girl with cracked glass barely covering her pubic area is taking it too far. So because this image is potentially illegal under the Protection of Children Act 1978 the album was given a different cover in some countries.

Religion has always been a touchy subject, people can be easily offended by anything that challenges their beliefs or could negatively effect the beliefs of their children. Many album covers have been banned or censored because of religious slander, some examples of these are:

Dio's 1983 Holy Diver album:

This cover offended churches for obvious reasons, it clearly depicts a large god-like demon killing a preist. By now I have noticed that the album covers that are the most controversial appear to be from heavy metal or alternative metal/rock bands, bands known for being anti-establishment and explicit.

Aerosmith's 1997 Nine Lives album:

This cover was offensive to Hindus, the artwork was taken from Hindu imagery but changed by having a cat's head. The band didn't understand the offense of the dancing figure, they were unaware of the source of the artwork and so they and their record label apologized for it and changed it.

Deicide's 1995 Once Upon the Cross album:

The original cover for this album showed a disembowled Jesus which ofcourse would have been way too controversial for churches so the record label changed it to having a bloody sheet over him.

Another form of controversy is copy right, and this is one that causes the most recalls of albums.

An interesting one I found was Richard Prior's 1968 comedy album:

This cover was designed by Gary Burden, and after its release he said "As a result of the Richard Prior album cover, which I loved doing, I got two letters: One was a letter from the National Geographic Society's attorneys offering to sue me for defaming their publication. The second letter was a Grammy nomination for the best album cover."

(http://tokyo-zion-noiz.blogspot.com/2010/11/controversial-album-covers-ii-pt-1.html)
This is a good example of the success of controversy.

Finally, people can find macabre imagery too controversial, especially for children. The perfect example of macabre imagery is Cannibal Corpse's 1992 album Tomb of the Mutilated:

This extremely graphic image of a corpse performing cunnilingus on another is highly disturbing, and it is supposed to be. The album features concepts of necrophilia and sadism, reviewer Jack Murray said "It's a very clever idea concerning the rape and murder of a young girl with a large knife, and continuing to rape the corpse until orgasm."

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_the_Mutilated)

But because of the explicit imagery a censored version was issued:

This alternative cover supposedly depicts a third corpse watching the other two with adoration.

What I've noticed from looking at this art is that it is quite old, what was unacceptable back then is just seen as normal now, so it will be interesting to see what will be normal in the future.