Ocean Size - Packaging, Release and Reception

Packaging, Release and Reception

Perry Farrell created the cover image to Nothing's Shocking, which features a sculpture of a pair of nude female conjoined twins sitting on a sideways rocking chair with their heads on fire. Farrell said the image, like much of his artwork, came to him in a dream. Farrell hired Warner Bros. employees to create the cover sculpture; after learning how to create sculptures by watching them closely, he fired the Warner Bros. staff and created the artwork himself. Farrell hired someone to help create a full body casting of his girlfriend for use as the sculptures. Retailers objected to the album's cover. Nine out of the eleven leading record store chains refused to carry Nothing's Shocking, and the record had to be issued covered with brown paper.

Nothing's Shocking was released in 1988. "Mountain Song" was released as a single; however, MTV refused to air the song's music video due to a scene containing nudity. Farrell then decided to release the music video commercially; twenty minutes of live footage was added to create the Soul Kiss home video. Due to lack of airplay on MTV and modern rock radio, the album only sold 200,000 to 250,000 copies in its first year of release. Nothing's Shocking went on, however, to sell over 1 million copies and is certified Platinum in the U.S. by the RIAA.

In 2006, Q magazine placed the album at #32 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s". Music critic Piero Scaruffi includes Nothing's Shocking at number 5, just after Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction and before Napalm Death's From Enslavement to Obliteration, in his classification of the best metal albums of all time.