10 More Censored, Altered, and Banned Album Covers from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s (NSFW)
Editor’s note: Some of the images in this post might be deemed NSFW, so view at your own discretion (and probably not while your boss is walking by)!
In January, I published an article on REBEAT entitled “12 Censored, Altered, and Banned Album Covers from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s,” and that piece was so well-received, I decided to do this follow-up. After all, there have been so many examples of censored album covers from this period that I left quite a few on the cutting room floor, so-to-speak. Below, you’ll find 10 more interesting, shocking, and sometimes ridiculous examples in alphabetical order by the artists’ names. (Click on images to enlarge. Original is on left, retouched or new version on right.)
1) Below the Belt, Boxer (1976)
A forgettable album that no one would probably remember if not for the album art, but that was memorable indeed. The original UK cover featured a naked woman (Stephanie Marrian) with her breasts exposed while a boxing glove covered her crotch. The back cover pictured a similar picture of Marrian nude, but without the boxing glove in place. Who in their right mind would have thought that, even in England, in the slightly-more-permissive late-’70s, this would have been allowed to stand? First, it was pulled from shelves and a belt was placed across Marrian’s genitalia on the back cover, but for the US market, the whole thing was redone with the standard “picture of the band” replacing the nude photograph. The band never had a Top 40 hit on this or any other album, and is best known today for — you guessed it — this cover photo.
2) We Are the Chantels, The Chantels (1958)
You have to remember that when this album was released in 1958, black groups were just starting to make the crossover to “white” radio. The group’s hit “Maybe” had risen to #15 on the pop charts, and this album was released on the strength of that record’s performance. The original album cover featured the members of the group in dresses under the title “We Are the Chantels,” but it was soon pulled and replaced with a cover featuring two white kids playing a jukebox with the title changed to simply The Chantels. Many reasons have been offered for changing the cover, including that the group looked like maids (racially insensitive), like they were going to church (not really cool enough for teens), or just the plain old “there shouldn’t be black kids on an album cover that is being sold to white teenagers.” For whatever reason, the cover was pulled, and the original is worth a lot of money today.
3) Miles Ahead, Miles Davis (1957)
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Miles Davis had a long and prolific career as a jazz musician, and by the time 1957’s Miles Ahead was recorded, he had released nearly 25 albums. Many of those albums featured his photograph, and in fact, being black was not a liability for a jazz musician like it might have been for a mainstream group such as the Chantels. But when Miles Ahead was about to be released, Davis saw the first pressings, which featured a white woman and a boy on a sailboat on the cover. Davis was reportedly incensed, asking Columbia executives, “Why’d you put that white bitch on there?” But 50,000 copies had already been pressed, and the cover stood despite Davis’ objections. Future pressings did feature a likeness of Davis, however.
4) Moontan, Golden Earring (1973)
There are legions of examples of how British record buyers make us Americans look like prudes when it comes to nudity on album covers, and examples run the gamut from Below the Belt (above) to Electric Ladyland, Country Life, and Blind Faith (all detailed in my last article on censored album covers). Here’s another example — on the Golden Earring album Moontan, apparently someone in the US found the illustration of what appears to be a dance-hall girl offensive. There is a question of how much the album illustration actually shows: are those pasties, or bare nipples? Is that pubic hair, or a G-string? Not taking any chances, in this country the album art was replaced by a picture of an ear with… a golden earring.
5) Ben, Michael Jackson (1972)
This one took weirdness to a whole new level. Ben was Michael Jackson’s second album, and the titular song went to #1 on the charts. But the song was about a rat! The 1971 movie Willard featured a “head rat” named Ben (it’s a long story), and the filmic sequel to Willard was 1972’s Ben and this was the title song. The original album cover featured a picture of Michael Jackson and hordes of rats, but the re-release featured Jackson sans the rodents. No doubt the original cover hurt album sales; I’m sure a lot of parents and children were freaked out about it.
6) Moby Grape, Moby Grape (1967)
When Moby Grape released their debut album in 1967, member Don Stevenson’s hand featured his extended middle finger flipping off the world. It’s not hard to see why this one was censored (future covers had the finger airbrushed out), but it is hard to see how it slipped by record company execs the first time around.
7) Virgin Killer, The Scorpions (1976)
Apparently the Scorpions didn’t learn a thing from Blind Faith’s album cover censorship issues in the 1960s. The Scorpions’ 1976 album Virgin Killer featured a picture of a pre-pubescent nude girl, and unlike the Blind Faith album, this one couldn’t make any claims at all about artistic license. This album art had very few defenders, even in the UK. It was first replaced by a picture of the girl with black bars covering her breasts and genitals, then with a picture of the band. Even today, this cover art remains a no-no.
8) Hard Labor, Three Dog Night (1974)
The alteration of Three Dog Night’s 1974 album Hard Labor has to rank near the top of any list about ridiculous and unnecessary censorship. Originally, the album featured a bird-like creature on an operating table in a position best suited for delivering a baby. A doctor holds the delivery in a pair of clamps, but in this case the delivery is an album! A stupid picture? Yes. Offensive? Meh. In any event, the album was reissued with a Band-Aid printed on the cover, and previously issued albums were pulled from store shelves and had a Band-Aid attached.
9) It Ain’t Easy, Three Dog Night (1970)
Three Dog Night had had censorship problems before Hard Labor, however. This 1970 album was their fourth and featured the hits “Out in the Country” and “Mama Told Me Not to Come.” It was originally to be titled The Wizards of Orange and depicted the members of the band in orange body suits that made them appear nude. Prior to release, the title of the LP was changed to the title of one of the songs on the album, but the record hit the shelves with the “nude” cover still in place. It was soon pulled and replaced with something more innocuous. The original cover photo was later used on some releases of their greatest hits album, Golden Biscuits.
10) Fever, Little Willie John (1956)
In the annals of ridiculous album cover censorship, this one probably wins hands down. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Little Willie John had a short, tragic career, but before dying in prison after being incarcerated for a stabbing incident, he had had a very successful run as a recording artist. The pinnacle of that success might have been the 1956 hit “Fever,” which has been recorded many times by many artists since. When the album of the same name was released, it featured a nurse holding a medical chart and a thermometer, along with the title and Little Willie John’s name. The story is that because some people thought that she was holding a rectal thermometer, the album was pulled and the cover was redone. Recently a mint condition of the original cover sold for more than $1,000.
