10 Amazing Stories Behind Famous Rock Album Music Covers
8. Wish You Were Her (In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel)
What is a Neutral Milk Hotel? Is the hotel the neutral thing? Or is it the milk? What does neutral milk even taste like? Nothing?
Anyway, the point is that the band Neutral Milk Hotel are weird.
Forerunners to the indie rock explosion of the 2000s, the band were relatively unknown prior to the expansion of the internet, which brought their strange lyrics and idiosyncratic playing style to a wider audience.
Their second album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, was not expected to sell well, as shown by the fact that only 7,100 copies of it were initially printed. Now, it's regarded as something of a classic, with a iconic piece of artwork to boot.
The image of a woman with a drum for a head playing with a small boy by the sea originated as a early 1900s postcard bought by artist Chris Bilheimer at a thrift shop. He redrew the card, which originally featured three bathers enjoying a dip, and repackaged it as the cover for Neutral Milk Hotel's new record.
Why the drum head? Because they're really weird, remember? That's all the explaination needed.