List of Controversial Album Art - Trademark

Trademark

• Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde (1966)
  • The original inside gatefold featured nine black-and-white photos, including a shot of actress Claudia Cardinale that Dylan selected from Jerry Schatzberg's portfolio. Since it had been used without her authorization, Cardinale's photo was subsequently removed, making the original record sleeve a collector's item.
• Richard Pryor – Richard Pryor (1968)
  • The debut album of comedian Richard Pryor was recorded live at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. The cover was art directed and designed by Gary Burden. According to Burden, As a result of the Richard Pryor album cover, which I loved doing, I got two letters: One was a letter from the National Geographic Society’s attorneys offering to sue me for defaming their publication. The second letter was a Grammy nomination for the best album cover.
• Pink Floyd – Ummagumma (1969)
  • On the original UK pressings appears the album from the film Gigi; to avoid copyright infringement, the Gigi image is removed in US releases.
• Psychic TV – Tune In (Turn On The Acid House) (1988)
  • The album was initially pressed to DC Records however after copyright issues of using Superman on the artwork it was repressed by Temple Records with alternate songs.
• Negativland – U2 (1991)
  • The cover features the album title, "U2", as a very large logo, with the band's name in small text beneath the album. Island Records sued the band for the use of the misleading album cover because "U2" is trademark of the label. The cover is both misleading and an attempt to confuse fans of U2, an Irish band of the same name, to make fans believe it is a new album by U2. The songs on the album were too controversial, as they were versions of a song by the Irish band U2 which were copied without permission.
• The Beautiful South – Miaow (1994)
  • The cover originally depicted rows of dogs seated in a music hall with a gramophone on the stage. However, HMV made the band withdraw it as it mocked their trademark dog, and the band put out a second cover, depicting four dogs in a boat.
• Millencolin – Tiny Tunes (1994)
  • The album's title and cover art mimicked the cartoon television show Tiny Toon Adventures, leading to a number of copyright infringement lawsuits against the band by Warner Brothers, this led to the name being changed to Same Old Tunes and replacing the cover.
• Matchbox Twenty - Yourself or Someone Like You (1996)
  • In May 2005 Matchbox Twenty was sued by the subject of the cover, Frank Torres. Torres claimed that the band had never sought his permission to use his photo on the album's cover and that the photo had been the cause of mental anguish. Torres justified the delay in suing Matchbox Twenty by claiming he had only seen the album photo within the last two years.
• Sufjan Stevens – Illinois (2005)
  • The original cover featured a likeness to Superman on the front cover. After a cease-and-desist letter from DC Comics, Asthmatic Kitty (Sufjan Stevens' Recording Label) covered the image with a sticker featuring balloons. The balloons were eventually added in place of Superman on the cover art in subsequent releases.
• The Chemical Brothers – We Are the Night (2007)
  • The original cover, which featured human eyes on human hands, resembled a work by Herbert Bayer and was discontinued in 2008 due to legal reasons. The cover was replaced with a purple silhouette of the hands.
• Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (2008)
  • The albums original artwork, a black and white image of Madonna with a black eye with 'c/r/y/s/t/a/l c/a/s/t/l/e/s' written across it, was originally going to be cover art of the band's debut album but the artist who created the image sued them because they did not have copyright. Instead an image of both members of the band standing in a street, leaning forward so their faces cannot be seen was hastily taken and used for artwork. However the Madonna image already featured on band merchandise and as the art for their first single "Alice Practice" so they were forced to buy rights to the image.
• Vampire Weekend - Contra (2010)
  • The cover art, taken in the 1980s, features a blond girl staring into the camera with an unidentifiable expression on her face. The band are currently being sued by the model, Kirsten Kennis, who claims the photographer who sold the image to the band did not take the picture and she was not aware her image was being used until she saw the copy her teenage daughter had bought.