Whether they’re bare, or barely there, rock stars always think they’re nude-worthy
BY ROSS RAIHALA, Twin City News
When John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s album "Unfinished Music, Vol. 1: Two Virgins" hit stores in 1968, it whipped up a furor — not for the musical content but for its cover, a stark portrait of the pair standing naked as the day they were born.
In the years since, nudity in the music world has become so common it’s nearly mundane. When news emerged of a Kid Rock sex tape, fans were more shocked there wasn’t already one out there. And the beefcake photos of Fall Out Boy’s bassist that popped up on the Internet didn’t even make a dent in the band’s runaway popularity.
With both acts in town to play Xcel Energy Center, here’s a look at how nude photos and videos of other musicians affected their careers:
Madonna
Exposure: In July 1985, just as Madonna was riding high with her second album, "Like a Virgin," Playboy and Penthouse published nude photos of the Material Girl that dated back to her pre-fame days in New York. Soon after, she played Live Aid and announced from the stage, "I ain’t taking s—- off today. You might hold it against me 10 years from now."
Aftermath: A mere seven years later, she took everything off for her book "Sex," an explicit coffee-table tome that showed Madge indulging in lesbianism, sadomasochism and whatever it is you call it when you make out with Vanilla Ice. These days, the 47-year-old mother of two has been promoting her latest album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," by appearing in a skimpy lavender leotard, leaving some to wish she’d start living up to her promise from Live Aid.
Tommy Lee
Exposure: Motley Crue was mired in a post-grunge slump in 1996, when the most infamous sex tape of all time hit the Internet (and, later, adult video stores). It, of course, showed drummer Tommy Lee cavorting with Pamela Anderson in various states of undress while singing along to the MC Hammer song "It’s All Good."
Aftermath: More people are now familiar with the size of Lee’s genitals than any of the music found in his post-Motley Crue solo catalog. A sex tape featuring Anderson and Poison’s Bret Michaels has since been released, as has one with Motley Crue’s Vince Neil and a porn star. Neither achieved the same notoriety because, really, who wants to see Bret Michaels or Vince Neil naked?
Fred Durst
Exposure: A three-minute video hit the Web last year starring Limp Bizkit’s much-hated leader spreading his germs all over a bored-looking young woman. Durst’s legal team managed to get it pulled from most of the sites that hosted it, although it’s still out there if you look. (But trust us, you don’t want to see it.)
Aftermath: It became abundantly clear that Durst is no Tommy Lee.
Kid Rock
Exposure: In February, the company that released the 2004 Paris Hilton sex tape "One Night in Paris" announced it would issue a new video featuring Kid Rock and Creed’s Scott Stapp. Alas, it didn’t show Rock and Stapp together — instead, it featured the pair (separately) messing around with some pneumatic Miami groupies on a tour bus in 1999.
Aftermath: Last week, a federal judge in Detroit signed an order that prohibits the release of the video.
Fall Out Boy
Exposure: Pete Wentz, bass player and lyricist for Fall Out Boy, snapped a few pics of his not-so-little boy falling out of his underpants. Supposedly meant solely for the eyes of a woman he was romantically pursuing, the digital shots landed on the Internet last month.
Aftermath: Wentz posted a message on the band’s Web site that placed the blame on a hacker: "(But) after feeling badly about this for 24 hours, I am now ready to get back to laughing … The moral of the story: If you really don’t want (nude) pictures of yourself to end up on the Internet, don’t take the pictures."