Speaking of punk rock, Mr. Giger can claim some significant cultural influence in that sphere too.
Klaus Flouride, the bassist for the Dead Kennedys had mentioned in an interview from 2003 that personal differences between band members, regarding the "Work 219: Landscape XX (penis landscape)" painting, were the breaking point determining the band's breakup:
...the Frankenchrist thing was, say, a final straw as far
as [Jello Biafra] going in a different direction than what
we wanted to do. I felt that the poster itself was shock
for the sake of shock value. We'd shocked people before,
but we'd always tried to have a point behind it. I didn't
see the point he was making. But we didn't quit after the
lawsuit happened. We quit when he decided that that poster
was gonna be in there one way or the other, and we could
take a hike if we wanted to. So we said, "Well, why don't
we call it 'Jello Biafra and Dead Kennedys?,'" since
that's what it was becoming anyway at that point. [1]
The poster was printed and inserted in the Frankenchrist
album with an additional sticker on the outside
shrinkwrap, warning buyers of the contents. The resulting
trial for obscenity nearly drove the label into
bankruptcy. [2]
The artwork caused a furor with the newly formed Parents
Music Resource Center (PMRC). In December 1985 a teenage
girl purchased the album at the Wherehouse Records store
in Los Angeles County. The girl's mother wrote letters of
complaint to the California Attorney General and to Los
Angeles prosecutors. In 1986 members of the band, along
with other parties involved in the distribution of
Frankenchrist, were charged criminally with distribution
of harmful matter to minors. [3]
...it provoked a legal offensive against the band
beginning in April 1986. As well as having his flat torn
apart by the police, Biafra was charged with "distributing
harmful matter to minors," a charge which he repulsed on
the basis of the First Amendment right to free speech and
which was dismissed the following year. [4]
Klaus Flouride, the bassist for the Dead Kennedys had mentioned in an interview from 2003 that personal differences between band members, regarding the "Work 219: Landscape XX (penis landscape)" painting, were the breaking point determining the band's breakup:
[1] http://www.markprindle.com/flouride-i.htmAnd then...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penis_Landscape[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Kennedys#Frankenchrist_an...
[4] http://www.deadkennedys.com/history.htmlBut there were lots of album covers, and not everybody who chose Giger's work stirred up quite the same shitstorm as the Dead Kennedys.
Some of the other album covers Giger's artwork has graced, include the likes of Glenn Danzig, Debbie Harry, Carcass and Celtic Frost.