Monday, October 13, 2008

Album Cover Art

Let's continue our look at Gigwise.com's list of the top 50 most controversial, weirdest, best and worst album covers as compiled by their staff:

Controversial


16. Marilyn Manson: ‘Holy Wood’ – Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) is the fourth full-length album by rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on November 14, 2000 by Interscope Records. It is a concept album, and the third and final album of a trilogy along with Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals. It spawned three singles ("Disposable Teens", "The Fight Song" and "The Nobodies") and a novel which remains currently unreleased. The album cover featured a rotting Christ-like figure from the torso-up. The corpse’s mutilated face showed Manson with his teeth bared in a typical display of gothic headline-grabbing.

Holy Wood was Marilyn Manson's first album since the Columbine High School massacre (April 20, 1999), for which some media outlets, pundits and politicians had made him scapegoat by accusing him of fostering and encouraging the perpetrators' violent state of mind via his music and "goth" imagery. Consequently, much of the album's content addresses the issue and poses several counterarguments indicting parents, the values and culture of Conservative Christian America and the media alike for the roles they also play in the exaltation and movement into the mainstream of violence. The record supplants this by underlining American society's obsession with guns, religion and fame - esp. fame that has historically been attained by people whose deaths have been publicly displayed and romanticized in the media (televised or print) and consequently painted as "martyrs" within the national or public consciousness (e.g., President John F. Kennedy also, by extension, Jesus Christ).

Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), better known by his stage name Marilyn Manson, is an American musician and artist, known for his outrageous stage persona and image as the lead singer of the eponymous band. His stage name was formed from the names of actress Marilyn Monroe and convicted murderer, Charles Manson.

Though critically acclaimed and more popular amongst newer fans, the album was Manson's worst-selling album at the time. After debuting at number 13 on the Billboard 200 chart, it free-fell off the charts in the weeks that followed.

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Weird


16. Butthole Surfers: 'Hairway To Steven' The Surfers make it here again, and I would bet, given their overall goofy image, we'll see them again (I did peak ahead).

Hairway to Steven is the fourth full-length studio album by American alternative rock band Butthole Surfers, released in February 1988. All songs were written by the Butthole Surfers, co-produced by the Surfers and Ric Wallace, and mixed by Wallace. The album was recorded at January Sound Studio in Dallas.

Hairway to Steven's title is an obvious parody of (or perhaps tribute to) Led Zeppelin's popular hit, "Stairway to Heaven." Some of its tracks also make allusions to other famous musicians, such as Julio Iglesias.

Hairway to Steven was recorded at one studio in a relatively short period of time. According to bassist Jeff Pinkus, the band had been performing most of these songs for years before recording them for this album. Many of the band's previous releases had been piecework affairs, recorded over several months in numerous studios, and their songs underwent far more in-studio development.

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Worst

16 Michael Bolton – ‘Michael Bolton’ I see a pattern here with the worst covers- the less said about them the better. I found this interesting- Bolton's hard rock band, Blackjack, once toured with heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne. What a nice pairing!

Michael Bolton (born Michael Bolotin on February 26, 1953), is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his soft rock ballads and tenor vocals. His achievements include selling 53 million albums, eight top ten albums, two number one singles on the Billboard charts, and awards from both the American Music Awards and Grammy Awards.

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Best


16. Beck: ‘Odelay’ - The album's unusual cover photo, which has been misinterpreted as a mop head jumping over a hurdle, is actually a real photo of a Komondor, a rare Hungarian breed of dog with thick matted hair. This came after Bush released their album Sixteen Stone, which featured a similar looking dog called a Puli being thrown into the air on the inside cover.

The image was chosen at the last minute after Beck failed to decide on an album cover. The image was presented to him by his girlfriend and was chosen almost out of desperation. The typeface was chosen by a record company worker. I guess it does look like a dog, he's in there somewhere!

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