Chris Brown's foray into repulsively self-referential body art was the tipping point for some. His latest album Fortune has been covered with bespoke warning stickers in London branches of HMV. "Warning," they say. "Do not buy this album! This man beats women."
Similar guerilla art tactics were used in 2006 when Banksy re-tooled Paris Hilton's debut album, Paris: she was topless on the cover, her head was replaced with a dog's on the inlay photos and the listed song titles were changed to philosophical chin-strokers such as Why Am I Famous?, What Have I Done? and What Am I For?
Sabotaging record sleeves is a decades-old pastime for many (who hasn't drawn a pirate goatee over a popstar's face in Biro?) and a random assortment has been collected together on the Defaced Value Tumblr site. The best ones have an obvious subtext, such as the topless girl on the cover of Blind Faith's album with a bra hastily scribbled on, Bowie's Heroes with him clutching the Velvet Underground's banana like a baby, and Bruce Springsteen getting kicked in the derriere on Born in the USA.
So, how long before we see Emeli Sandé's album with "Available for Rio 2016 opening ceremony – will bring own microphone!" scrawled on its cover?
