'Appetite for Destruction'

Including sexual or violent imagery on your album cover is a surefire way to get it banned. Put them together, and you have Robert Williams' infamous 'Appetite for Destruction' painting depicting a rape robot about to be devoured by what looks like a monstrous version of the Rolling Stone lips. But while the album cover released in stores ended up being the Guns N' Roses members depicted as skeleton heads on a cross, censors weren't completely successful in keeping Williams' shocking painting away from young, impressionable minds. All kids had to do to see it was open the album sleeve. (Like kids weren't going to read the lyrics.) Needless to say, the image made for a lot of awkward parental discussions during the late '80s.

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