10 Rock Bands Who Were Forced To Change Their Album Covers

A year after Bon Jovi diluted the popular hard rock scene with the radio friendly Slippery When Wet, the newly-minted Guns N' Roses took up the slack. Appetite For Destruction is quite rightly considered one of the greatest rock albums of all time, with riffs, hits and catchy lyrics galore, though the artwork is surprisingly reserved.

And, as you will no doubt be expecting, there is a good reason for that.

The record's original cover art was created by underground painter and cartoonist Robert Williams, featuring a robotic rapist in a flasher jacket about to get his comeuppance from a red, knife-toothed, many-armed monster. The depiction of a young woman lying on the ground with her underwear around her knees really didn't sit well with music retailers, and, despite the album's instantaneous popularity, they refused to stock it until something was done.

As a result, the label replaced it with a now-iconic image of a Celtic cross and skulls of the five band members, which had originally been designed as a tattoo for frontman Axl Rose. But, hey, at least they didn't go with Axl's first choice: a photo of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.