relax, that’s not Alice’s “unit”
By Steve Newton
If you’re quick, sometimes you can buy albums before their covers get censored.
I did that back in ’75, when I scooped up the brand new Lynyrd Skynyrd album, Street Survivors, before the group’s plane crashed and the cover shot of band members in flames was banned.
I guess I was a little slow in scoring Alice Cooper‘s 1972 LP, Love It to Death, ’cause the vinyl copy I have from the ’70s just shows the band members gathered around Cooper in black and white. They’re all lookin’ a little freaky–especially gaunt Alice with his long spotted cape–but there’s nothing untoward going on.
That’s because the quintet’s record label, Warner Brothers, had already airbrushed out Alice’s thumb which, in the original cover photo, is shown poking through his cape from around his groin area. The powers that be were worried that potential buyers–or their overly concerned moms–might mistake the digit for Alice’s penis and get all offended.
When I interviewed the Coop back in 1999 I asked him about the controversy, and his response got me chuckling.
Have a listen:
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