A Most Illogical Conspiracy Theory
Supertramp is one of my favourite supergroups of the 70s. Even in that golden decade of rock ‘n roll, for me, Supertramp stood out. Blasting Crime of the Century in my parent’s basement is an enduring high school memory…
I can see you in the morning when you go to school..🎶
Who was to know that hidden behind those platinum and diamond-selling records were a band of prognosticators, the likes of which the world hasn’t seen since Nostradamus.
It all began while listening to YouTube Music shuffling 70s tunes. I was casting to my TV for some reason, and so was able to see the album covers for each song. This popped up.
I said, now, watch what you say, they’ll be calling you a radical
A liberal, oh, fanatical, criminal…
I was listening to The Logical Song but I wasn’t looking at the album cover for Breakfast in America. What the hell was… THAT?
Sure, it had a strong resemblance to Mike Doud’s legendary album cover art. That WAS the iconic waitress/Statue of Liberty (Kate Murtagh) that adorned many a dorm wall, but where was the rest of the 1979 album artwork? Where was the Manhattan created out of everyday items found in a fridge and pantry? The World Trade Centre made of stacked cereal boxes?
The mystery may be rooted in a common problem for art directors and film publicists ever since 9/11: the World Trade Centre and its central role in the iconography of a generation. Film is particularly vexatious. The list of movies featuring the twin towers is exhaustive. One of the most infamous examples, Home Alone 2, had edited out Kevin’s visit to the WTC. Similar story for Spiderman (2001) and Men in Black 2 (2002.) Was that the reason YouTube Music scuttled a legendary album cover?
Perhaps, and this is where the story takes a twist. Now admittedly I am about a decade behind on this particular conspiracy. Well, any conspiracy really. I definitely avoid the voluminous social media sites dedicated to conspiracies and 9/11, the mother of all conspiracy theories, in particular. So this one struck me out of the blue.
The bottom photo is the album cover flipped around. Manhattan is framed in an airplane window, the “Statue of Liberty” is pointing right at the twin towers as an orange “fireball”/glass of juice appears to emerge from its middle floors. To top if off, the letters “U P” in Supertramp, when reversed, seems to spell out 9 11 directly overtop of the towers.
But at night, when all the world’s asleep
The questions run so deep
For such a simple man
It’s a coin toss whether Google and YouTube Music was reacting to the WTC issue, the conspiracy theory or whether a logarithm simply wiped a busy background. Or something else. But a gorgeous piece of album art has been desecrated in the process.
And that is the least logical part of it all.
