Placebo Sued by Debut Album Cover Model

Everybody loves an awesome album cover — but sometimes, if you’re the person on the cover, the notoriety can be more trouble than it’s worth. Just ask David Fox, who’s suing Placebo for using his face on the cover of their 1996 debut.

As reported by the U.K.’s Daily Mail, Fox contends that the Placebo cover shot — which depicted him sadly pawing at his face — set in motion a chain of events that led to him being bullied, dropping out of school, and generally ruining his life.

“What had happened was my brother had just passed away, and my cousin came up from London to see me,” explained Fox. “He was a professional photographer, and he took some photographs of my family for his personal use. He brought up all his equipment and got me to do a few poses outside.”

The next thing Fox knew, he was on the cover of a hit album, and his formerly healthy social life was in ruins. “It was all over the place,” he complained. “I was watching ‘EastEnders’ with my mum and I saw one of the billboards by the tube station and it had my face on there. … Even the teachers used to pull me aside and ask me about this CD cover.”

As Spinner reports, the band hasn’t issued an official comment in response, but Fox’s lawsuit is just the latest chapter in rock ‘n’ roll cover model history — a tale that also includes the court case brought against Vampire Weekend by the woman on the cover of its debut record, as well as the stories behind the Blind Melon ‘Bee Girl’ photo, U2‘s ‘War’ and ‘Boy’ cover shots, and, of course, the swimming baby pictured on Nirvana‘s ‘Nevermind.’