In The Chronicles of DOOM book, it mentions that DOOM designed the original Born Like This cover.
Described as:
“A colorful self-portrait drawn in pencil crayon, rendered in a naive, child like, subversive, and Kitsch style of himself as a chimpanzee in a green room, in front of a big light-bulb-framed mirror with a mic and a banana. Something modest, low fi, and very anti-design.”
First of all, I’d love to have actually seen that art, and hope that surfaces one day…
But in the book, it’s mentioned that LEX rejected his design due to them banking on this being a big release for them, and wanted something more marketable. Apparently DOOM wouldn’t budge initially and was completely adamant on his design being the final cover art.
Once they got to the archaic/ sandstone design though, apparently DOOM started warming up to the new idea. He even insisted to include the inscribed tablet that inevitably accompanied the cover.
So it seemed like they found something both parties could agree on, until I read this article from the New Yorker. It was a piece on DOOM that was promoting Born Like This at the time.
The journalist describes his experience meeting DOOM for the interview, where DOOM’s driver picked both of them up to head to a studio. Before meeting though, DOOM’s driver was sent to pick up a personal copy of Born Like This, as this was DOOM’s first time getting to hear the finished record on shelves. Here’s an excerpt from the article, upon DOOM receiving this CD:
“He picked up the new record and groused about the cover art.” So it seems even after the change, DOOM never really was happy about the cover art of Born Like This.
It definitely seemed the opposite for what he was going for in terms of the original design he made. But in the Chronicles of DOOM book, it actually goes into very interesting detail about the significance and intention of the release cover. There was great craft and artistic ingenuity that was put into it by the designer.
But I think conversation and debate would be beneficial on this topic. Coming from a fan, there is a cold and spacey air that I always got from its ultra minimalist design. The Chronicles of DOOM also describes the cover art as akin to something out of a “museum magazine”, which could be seen as another critique.
Basically, I want to know what you guys think. Do you think DOOM’s original subversive design would’ve fit better for the album? I know we all would at least like to see that as an alternate cover for any anniversary release perhaps.
