The end of the road

Thank you for checking out and commenting on this blog. However due the fact that we have become busy with our other blogs and other work, we have decided to stop doing this blog. It was fun, but it has become difficult to keep up with. Keep visiting out individual sites though as we are all keeping those up and running.

Flotsam and Jetsam - No Place For Disgrace

After meeting my wife for dinner, I trolled the mall music store, and though I was laughing at most of the obscene prices, there were, admittedly, plenty of bargains if you take the time to scout. I found this little nugget for $5.99 and I remember how much I always stared at the album cover and thought about how senseless the art of bushido was, at least in the mandate that a disgraced warrior commit seppuku (or suicide) to atone. Later on in life I would go on to write a three-part serial for a superhero journal that I entitled "Kyoto Bushido" and frequently I thought about the No Place For Disgrace album cover and seppuku and how the warrior would not only have to gut himself, but he'd be required to have another samurai lop his head off to make sure his penalty was paid in full. Some things are beyond our civilized comprehension, because surely I've disgraced myself countless times, but disemboweling myself? I don't think so, though I'm pretty sure there a few out there who wouldn't mind being the one holding the wakizashi to behead me...

Angry Samoans - Inside Your Brain

I'm sure this was quite shocking in 1980. When PVC reissued the album in 1987, they decided to play it safe with this:



The original artwork was restored when Triple X reissued the album again in the 1990s.

Snakebyte

Sometimes a cover is bad because of poor artwork. Other times a cover is bad because of an ill conceived concept. Still other times a cover is bad because it's just..well.. bad.

Little known 80's metal band Snakebyte might fall in to all of these categories.

Ice-T: The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say

Say what you will about Ice-T, whether it's a street poet or sellout poser. I was very fond of The Iceberg in the nineties and this particular album I think is his one moment of true greatness lyrically, even with the nonsensical jive of "The Girl Tried to Kill Me." But at least it opens with a soundbyte of "Black Sabbath" and at this point in time, Ice-T was all over the governement and the bureaucracy as much as he was about telling young pimps to stay off the streets and would-be rappers to stay low and build your rep first instead of going for the fast buck career suicide. This cover especially hit the right nerve, just as Boyz 'n the Hood, New Jersey Drive and Menace II Society would wake up White America. There's not much I need to say about the cover, other than if you're a racist, leave your opinion to yourself.

The Coup - Party Music

 

In the summer of 2001, The Coup was planning a symbolic attack against the World Trade Center. The towers themselves were not the target; capitalism was the target. The attack was being made as a protest against a culture that celebrated mindless consumption, soulless greed, and nearly insurmountable chasms between the classes.

Unfortunately for Boots and DJ Pam the Funkstress, some other people were planning a similarly symbolic attack that would go far beyond a cheesy photo and a CD filled with incendiary lyrics.

The attack on 9/11 occurred before The Coup released Party Music. They were investigated by the FBI and quickly cleared of any wrongdoing. They redesigned the cover, and their second attempt -- while still pretty cheesy -- is much better than the first. What appears to be a celebration of Courvoisier and lust is actually a symbolic call to arms. When you spot the gasoline can sitting next to the martini glass, it becomes apparent what kind of party is being suggested. It's a fitting cover for an album that contains tracks like "5 Million Ways to Kill a CEO" and "Lazymuthafucka."

Kansas-Point of know return

I have often found myself staring at this album cover ever since I first saw it in a department store when I was maybe 11 or 12. It's a very busy cover, but I have always been fascinated by it. It's a combination of the images and the colors. I actually like it so much that I once tried to listen to the album. I even made it through about two songs before turning it off. Just not the kind of progressive music I like I guess. Still it's a cool cover.

Retro Grave EP

I don't even know what to say about this one. Maybe Jeff Olsen feels the same about peppers as I do and that's how it fits with this Trouble side-project's doom angle. And what's that in his mouth? Hmmm...

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Floyd had a lot of interesting conceptual album cover artwork, but this one is perhaps my favorite, mostly because of its surrealness. Sometimes I think of Johnny Rotten in PIL screaming "Burn, Hollywood, Burn!" when I see this cover of the two movie studio execs shaking hands, but the greatness of the cover is that you can make up your own story to it.

Great White-Back to the rhythm

I wonder if Great White spent a long time coming up with this cover concept and the album title? You see, they have not done an album in a while so they have come "back" and the album title has been tattooed on the man's "back". While I get the "back" idea, I can't imagine this album having a huge amount of rhythm. I also don't care a whole lot that they have come back, but that may just be me.