Thursday 15 March 2018

Something Bunny: Dubstar – “Disgraceful” (1995)

Dubstar’s classic 1995 dream pop album ‘Disgraceful’ manages to fill its songs with pain, heartbreak, hope and despair. But it does it in the nicest, softest way possible. Did we mention the crypto-fanny on the front cover? Yes, it looks like a vagina. The album’s rather good too, by the way.

How best to sum up "Disgraceful", the 1995 debut album by dream pop crew Dubstar? As we’re about to see, there is a lot to say, and it’s very good. But let’s focus on the most obvious thing – the crypto fanny.

Because, on the cover, is, well – let’s just say you don’t need much of a dirty mind to spot what’s being implied here. It practically leaps from behind a (particularly hairy) bush, going RAAAAAAAAR. I dread to think what the rabbit ears represent.

It wasn’t even the original cover, which had a fluffy pencil case filled with a folded over balloon in it. The resulting ninja fanny was so blatant, it gave you a diploma in gyno just by gazing at it. It also looked a lot like the Eye of Sauron, which adds a whole new Freudian subtext to Lord of the Rings.