North of Purgatory
A Coma Diary
The 20 Most Controversial and Ill Thought Out Album Sleeves Of All Time
John Doran casts a baleful eye over some of the least well thought out album sleeves to grace record store shelves.John Doran, July 17th, 2008 14:31
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It is fourteen years and nine albums since Nas errupted onto the NYC hip hop scene with Illmatic. To the uninitiated the artwork for his new release looks grim enough featuring, as it does, a naked black man's back with scar tissue and welts from a violent whipping raised in the form of a capital N on his back. But the truth is that this is the Wal Mart friendly sleeve, designed not to offend. 
Nas Untitled
It is fourteen years and nine albums since Nas errupted onto the NYC hip hop scene with Illmatic. To the uninitiated the artwork for his new release looks grim enough featuring, as it does, a naked black man's back with scar tissue and welts from a violent whipping raised in the form of a capital N on his back. But the truth is that this is the Wal Mart friendly sleeve, designed not to offend. The original sleeve is much more eyebrow raising, proving that rock and rap still haven't lost their power to shock.
Günther Simmermacher
Jul 17, 2008 9:27pm
Jul 17, 2008 9:27pm
Great choices, and excellent commentary, John. I hear the girl from the Scorpions cover is rather proud of the cover. These Germans with their kicked back attitudes towards sexuality, eh? And I've also heard that the Scorpions had nothing to do with the artwork. It wasn't just a harebrained idea by stoned rockers. Some crazy motherfucker soberly calculated it was a great idea. Still, here we are remembering the fucking Scorpions!
john doran
Jul 19, 2008 11:41am
Jul 19, 2008 11:41am
Absolutely. Blind Faith was done with full consent of the parents as well. And I'm guessing she never got pregnant as a teen.
Savaged nearly made the final cut.
baby jebus
Jul 23, 2008 4:28pm
Jul 23, 2008 4:28pm
But there was a war on when Mom's Apple Pie filled the racks. America lost it.
Motorhead
Sonic Youth w/ Mats Gustafson & Merzbow
Stereolab
The Week That Was
Late Of The Pier
The Verve
News Headlines
Jul 17, 2008 8:10pm
Silverheads "16 and Savaged"fom the early seventies takes some beating for bad taste,i,m afraid i do not have copy.
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