Banned covers and altered/removed tracks

My recent Megadeth "These Boots" thread just has me thinking about the whole idea recently. So what are some other altered or removed tracks, and while were at it, banned covers too. Here's what I can come up with right off the top of my head:

Banned/altered covers:
-GNR- Appetite
-Motley Crue- Shout at the Devil
-Poison- Open Up and Say Ahh
-Poison- Unskinny Bop
-Beatles- Yesterday and Today
-Bon Jovi- Slippery When Wet
-Some of the Scorpions covers were altered right? Virgin Killer or animal Magnetism? Maybe they were reinstated?
-Jimi Hendrix- Electric Ladyland (not sure if banned, but I know the changed it at some point)
-Alice Cooper- Love it to Death (not sure if it was banned per se, but the original cover had Alice's thumb in a position to look like a penis, and that was later changed)

Songs that were either removed or altered:
-Megadeth- "These Boots"
-Body Count- "Cop Killer" (still can't believe this hasn't been re-added to the album)
...I thought I had others but am now blanking.

Not metal, but the Geto Boys, on their s/t album, "Gangsta of Love", the original presses have Steve Miller samples in the song, but after getting sued or whatever, those were removed.

Not exactly banned, but there were censored versions of the Cannibal Corpse albums Butchered at Birth (just the logo on a white background), Tomb of the Mutilated (just a picture of a lifeless corpse, and the back cover only listed the less controversial songtitles), The Bleeding (cover is the same, but again, the more controversial songtitles arent listed), and Gallery of Suicide (just the titular gallery from the outside, as opposed to the inside shot we see on the uncensored version). Also, all pressings of the Offspring's self-titled debut that came out after 2001 remove the track "Kill the President".

Stryper's To Hell With The Devil - the original cover (which featured the band members as angels, kicking a Demons' ass) was replaced by a generic image of the band's logo on a black background because some dumbasses misinterpreted a pentagram in the original art as a sign of Satanism.

Two versions of Stryper's Reborn cover exist too - one is a pic of the band members covered in yellow & black goop, the other just with the band's logo. Presumably because some retailers were afraid customers would be offended by the yellow-and-black bukkake version.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Stryper

Never knew any of that about Stryper. It cracks me up that a band as unoffensive as Stryper could catch any heat for album cover images.

Virgin Killer, man. That one is just...sheesh.

Don't forget the Ugly Kid Joe "America's Least Wanted" album cover or "Ritual de lo Habitual" by Jane's Addiction.

With the former, it was their mascot as the statue of liberty giving the finger and holding a bottle of booze changed to his hand and mouth taped up looking like he'd been worked over. With "Ritual..." it went from a painting of a threesome (more or less) to a white cover with the first amendment in plain typeface on it.

Overkill's "F**k You!" EP was available in censored and uncensored versions for obvious reasons. The censored version had a plain white cover with the band's logo and said, "*** You - The Record They Tried To Ban!" on the front.

Hurricane's Slave to the Thrill had a photo of a naked woman bound to some sort of H.R. Giger lookin' sex machine on the front cover. An alternate version was available with just the machine in the photo which obviously looked pretty pointless.

Runicen wrote:

Don't forget the Ugly Kid Joe "America's Least Wanted" album cover or "Ritual de lo Habitual" by Jane's Addiction.  

Jane's, that's a good one. Maybe it's because it's the version I bought as a kid, but the second cover looks cooler to me. It's so plain, it makes it stand out, I think. I don't know.

Oh, also...isn't there a nudity version of Great White's Hooked?

ZombieHavoc wrote:

Oh, also...isn't there a nudity version of Great White's Hooked?

I believe the Japanese version has a full-body image of the woman on the "hook" being lifted out of the water, while the U.S. version shows her still mostly submerged, only visible from the shoulders up.

I forgot about that Ugly Kid Joe album (and I have the censored version). They even have "Goddamn Devil" edited on the back. Fortunately they left the recordings go on it.

ZombieHavoc wrote:

Runicen wrote:

Don't forget the Ugly Kid Joe "America's Least Wanted" album cover or "Ritual de lo Habitual" by Jane's Addiction.  

Jane's, that's a good one. Maybe it's because it's the version I bought as a kid, but the second cover looks cooler to me. It's so plain, it makes it stand out, I think. I don't know.

I'm actually inclined to agree. The original "art" to me looks kind of gaudy and overly busy. That and I don't even want to see an artist's rendering of Perry Farrell in the nude. If I was going to compile a list of dudes I might go gay for, good ol' Perry wouldn't even make the honorable mentions section. Hell, at that time especially, he looked like he belonged in the centerfold of "Junky's Monthly." Nothing to see here, folks...

So yeah, the plain cover is a triumph on all levels by comparison. It also made a pretty awesome statement.

I never understood why Poison's album cover for 'Open Up and Say AAAhhhh!' was banned by some retailers.

I know there was alternative cover for 'Love at First Sting' that had a generic band photo as a cover

Quote :

I know their was alternative cover for 'Love at First Sting' that had a generic band photo as a cover

Yep, I had that version on cassette when I was a kid, I bought it at a KMart. It was my first experience with music-retail censorship!

Also in the mid 80's KISS's Creature of the Night, changed the cover from the band make up pic with Ace, to one without make up that featured Bruce Kulick. The only thing that cover had in common was that neither Bruce or Ace played on the damn thing.

2 more:
Megadeth: The System has failed (has an edited cover with a black box over the corpse Vic is rising from)
Slaughter: The Wild Life (the man with the whip is removed from the edited version and we just see a closeup of the kid, i guess they were worried the original cover was representing child abuse or something)

Quote :

Megadeth: The System has failed (has an edited cover with a black box over the corpse Vic is rising from)

I think you mean The World Needs A Hero.

Scorpions Lovedrive. The US cover has the generic scorpion logo, the European cover has the bubblegum on boob cover.

This and others like the Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland cover are just "we must change these for the repressed US market who for some reason still have hangups about sexuality".

S.D. wrote:

Scorpions Lovedrive.  The US cover has the generic scorpion logo, the European cover has the bubblegum on boob cover.  

This and others like the Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland cover are just "we must change these for the repressed US market who for some reason still have hangups about sexuality".  

The UK cover of 'Electric Ladyland' was not Hendrix's idea, that was his UK label's idea and he was very angry when he saw it, not for prudish reasons, but Hendrix felt the girls were not hot enough!

The cover of Roxy Music's Country Life wasn't appreciated here in the states with its two semi nude models. But man what a great album. In fact I think I'll go throw it on right now.

corplhicks wrote:

Virgin Killer, man. That one is just...sheesh.

Yup, banned for bloody good reason and the inexplicably un banned 

The original Blind Faith album cover was another one that was later changed...then restored for reissues.

I would add the Black Crowes "Amorica" and Lita's "Out For Blood" album. Oh, also, didn't Pantera have a different cover for the "Far Beyond Driven" album? Btw, I don't think the Bon Jovi album was censored. They supposedly didn't like the pink outlining of the record that was done to match the models nails but it was too late to create another cover so we got the garbage bag sprayed with water with the title written by Jon's finger. The original cover was used for the tour book for the '86 world tour.

Oh, just thought of another one, Great White's "Hooked" album had the whole naked chick on the giant treble hook.

Spinal Tap - Smell the Glove.

You should have seen the cover they wanted to use, it wasn't a glove!!