10 Rock Bands Who Were Forced To Change Their Album Covers
7. The Strokes - Is This It (2001)
It has been over two decades since The Strokes graced us with the indie rock bible Is This It, intentionally sans question mark. But back in the yesteryear of 2001, the side-view of a bare behind was just too much for some.
The cover art of the record – a black and white photograph of a nude woman's hip area, with a leather-gloved hand resting on it suggestively – is of photographer Colin Lane's then-girlfriend, who he spontaneously shot as she was coming out of the shower. Although stores in the UK, including HMV and Woolworths, raised objections to the cover, they stocked it nonetheless.
Not so across the pond, however.
The album's cover caused controversy in the US for apparently being too explicit, and a fear of the response from America's conservative retail industry caused it to be replaced by a yellow and turquoise image of subatomic particle tracks in a bubble chamber, which produced a series of eye-catching golden ratio curves.
As if that wasn't enough, this came on top of the band having to remove the derogative track "New York City Cops" following the 11 September attacks in New York City.