As we round the corner and get closer to the David Swartz vinyl auction on March 12-13, I think about “controversial” original album art.
This was spurred on in my mind upon writing about the original, uncensored version of David Bowie’s classic LP, Diamond Dogs as well as this sealed Beatles’ stereo Butcher Cover.
Things seem so tame now looking at these records, but there was a time when they were feared to be problematic in their day. Corrupting the minds of the youth of America! Yesterday and Today came out around the peak anti-Beatles sentiment in the US, so seeing them with raw meat and baby dolls seemed rather off. Seems like this sight of this would have added fuel to the hatred for the Fabs.
Context is vital in understanding why some things are controversial for their day.
I can vividly recall the first time I saw the original cover artwork for Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction. It felt dirty seeing Robert Williams’ art while I was in elementary school. I saw something my goody-two-shoes upbringing attempted to sway me from. My brain didn’t melt. I just saw something more extreme than I usually saw. I was OK.
Censorship of album artwork, as well as explicit lyrics, was a very hot topic throughout my teen years in the 1990s. From Tupac Shakur to Megadeth to the Black Crowes to Cannibal Corpse to Nirvana, my parent’s generation was worried about what their kids were listening to and looking at. Keep in mind, their parents were afraid of Elvis Presley swinging his hips too much on television. Maybe these album sleeves and songs were too explicit for Baby Boomers, but they were (thankfully) not zapped out of existence by the PMRC.
I understand the concern, but it seems generation after generation, if you try to hide something from the masses, the more people want it.