Monday, April 23, 2012

Drop Dead Gorgeous

I just ran across this old photo and it reminded of the infamous Drop Dead Gorgeous original LP artwork debacle. One of the few times I allowed my picture to be taken was for that album cover because Sleazy was doing for us as a favour and I couldn't argue with him. Partially because I respected his work, and partially because it was never wise to argue with Sleazy. Anyway, the idea was to recreate this photo, with me in pointing the gun at a really attractive young model who's name I can't remember. She was gussied up in some kind of cheerleader fetish outfit and managed to look frightened of my big gun and seductive at the same time. She was a sexy savant of sorts. Sleazy wanted me to be shirtless so he could airbrush in a tattoo of Fuckface on my back. I don't actually have that tattoo, although I get asked about it all the time. The record company, who shall rename nameless but never blameless, originally only objected to the tits on the fake tattoo. So they wanted to cover Fuckface's eyes. Sleazy was furious when they suggested we give Fuckface sunglasses. Instead, in a nod to his own work for AC/DC he put a cheesy black band over Fuckface and the model's eyes. I thought the result was even better than the original. The cover art was featured in an article about the LP's release and a young Tipper Gore got her iron undies in a bunch and shut it down. So the record company did a new cover with a big picture of Fuckface, no black band. Go figure. The record only ever sold off the merch table at live shows, as other ongoing "issues" kept it out of distribution. To this day that original cover holds a place in my heart, and sadly I do not have a copy of it. If anybody does, send me a photo. Actually I have to dig up some of the original Fuckface stuff, the only thing i have now I just did myself. I really lost everything when I lost everything. I guess that's why I refer to it as the time I lost everything.