Very few things in music are presented in their original, unedited forms. Songs, as well as albums, are often re-written and re-structured over and over again before they're finished, and this is often the case with artwork and titles as well. Here are eight classic alternative rock albums that weren't released under their original names.
1. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead (1986)
Like most British bands from the '80s, the Smiths despised Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, so much so that the working title of its 1986 masterpiece The Queen is Dead was Margaret On the Guillotine. Morrissey would eventually use the title for a song off of his debut solo album.
2. Morrissey - Viva Hate (1988)
Though Viva Hate seems like an obvious album title for the famously vindictive Morrissey, the original title for his debut solo album was actually the far less interesting Education in Reverse. In Australia and New Zealand, however, the album was issued with this original title.
3. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)
For its first double album, Sonic Youth had to choose a grandiose title to match the music, and they couldn't have come up with a more perfect title than Daydream Nation. However, the album was almost given the much stupider title Tonight's the Day, a reference to Neil Young's Tonight's the Night. It's a good thing the band reconsidered.
4. Pixies - Doolittle (1989)
Among Black Francis' favorite lyrical themes is Biblical violence, which he explored most famously on the Pixies' second album Doolittle. To reflect these Biblical themes, the album was initially given the title Whore, in reference to the whore of Babylon. However, Francis decided to change the album title when he feared accusations of anti-Catholicism or, as he put it, "Catholic naughty-boy stuff."
5. Nirvana - In Utero (1993)
Following Kurt Cobain's death, numerous details from Nirvana's career were cast in an eerie new light and thought to have foreshadowed his suicide: "I swear that I don't have a gun," the funereal set for the band's MTV Unplugged performance, but the most unsettling was the original title for In Utero, which was I Hate Myself and I Want to Die. Cobain claimed the title was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, which we sadly now know wasn't quite true.
6. Blur - Modern Life is Rubbish (1993)
After Blur's disastrous first tour of America, the band decided to record an album that was explicitly and proudly British. The initial title was Britain vs. America, but was changed to the brilliant Modern Life is Rubbish, taken from a piece of anarchist graffiti spotted by singer Damon Albarn.
7. Green Day - Dookie (1994)
As I wrote about in my article on great albums with awful titles, Green Day's breakthrough album Dookie originally had a much worse title: Liquid Dookie. Luckily, someone realized that Liquid Dookie was nauseatingly disgusting, instead of just playfully disgusting, so the title was mercifully cut in half.
8. Pavement - Terror Twilight (1999)
Though most Pavement lyrics and titles often seem like cool-sounding nonsense, the title for the band's last album Terror Twilight actually means something: it's the time in the early evening when only half of the cars on the road have their headlights on, resulting in more accidents. However, the album's original title was Farewell Horizontal, but was changed when percussionist Bob Nastanovich objected and suggested Terror Twilight instead.
What were the original titles of some other albums? Let us know in the comments section!
