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NYC Album Art: The Coup, Party Music
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 29, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 29, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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It's been quite some time since our last installment of NYC Album Art, and today we look at a controversial one that never actually saw the light of day. What you see pictured was the planned cover art for The Coup's Party Music album, designed in June 2001.
Boots Riley, the guy in the forefront holding what looks like a detonator, explains his...unfortunate idea: "I came up with the idea with the photographer. We took the pictures on May 15, and we were done with it by the beginning of June. Any similarities are totally coincidental, and it was originally supposed to be more of a metaphor for destroying capitalism — where the music is making capitalist towers blow up. The politics of the Coup have more to do with the people organizing each other."
Since the album wasn't getting released until November of 2001, the band pulled the art from websites and created a new one after 9/11. When Pitchfork reported on the art change, they mentioned that "Riley had requested that the band be allowed to keep the artwork despite the terrorist attacks, but 75Ark would not allow it, calling the cover wholly inappropriate." The new image? A gasoline martini.
Tagged
album
album covers
art
boots Riley
Music
nyc
nyc album art
The Coup
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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