Nirvana’s Nevermind Censored
Nirvana’s 1991 album Nevermind as censored by Saudi officials
At the beginning of January, I wrote a post about Saudi blogger Fouad al-Farhan‘s detainment by Saudi officials. I mentioned the bizarre censorship laws that applied to music and other art forms.
Above is a picture of the edition of Nirvana’s Nevermind sold in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. You can see that the birthday suited baby has been given the treatment with black marker. A friend who worked in Jeddah in the early 90s (notice that yes, this is a cassette tape cover) fished that out of the back of his cupboard, and I had to put it up on the web.
Fouad al-Farhan remains in prison in Jeddah after his arrest on the 20th of December 2007. At the time of writing, that is 79 days of being held without charge.
The Indie Hour 
Leigh O'Gorman said,
February 27, 2008 at 5:51 pm
i might’ve guessed that that would happen with that cover but i hear that cassettes still sell massively in parts of africa, middle-east and asia,
but whatcha going to do?
🙂
gardenhead said,
February 27, 2008 at 8:27 pm
I love the way the back cover describes Incesticide as “another hits album” BAHAHAHAHAHA!!! From the people who brought you now 54, comes Incesticide including such popular sing-a-long chart toppers as the Nirvana B Sides as ANEURYSM!!! and STAIN!!! Altogether now, lets sing a song for all the family “WELL HE NEVER BLEEDS AND HE NEVER FUCKS!!”
aoifemc said,
February 28, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Leigh – I suppose a naked baby is a very offensive image. Not. It’s a baby for fook’s sake.
Gardenhead – Incesticide is up there with other great hits albums like Spice Girls and Westlife’s works. See you on Saturday dude – and by the way, love the storkboy tunes!
Eddie said,
February 28, 2008 at 9:55 pm
wetting myself @gardenhead’s comment!
aoifemc said,
February 29, 2008 at 12:47 am
Hey Eddie – Gardenhead is a bleedin’ legend. I would like his music blog to win on Saturday, it’s ace. He writes so well, but he also puts up wicked mixes from LoLo AND he puts up recipes for soup. Soup! Fecking brilliant. Let’s all fall asleep on the compost heap!
Andrew said,
August 29, 2008 at 12:11 pm
In kurt cobains words, if your offend by this picture u must be a closet paedofile.
Rofl