Tags
1990s, 8-Way Santa, album cover, Albums, authorized use of photo, blotter acid, controversial, copyright infringement, grunge, Jack Pepsi, jinx, logo, Pepsi, Tad
8 Way Santa (Sub Pop, 1991)
Tad was an American band formed in 1988 by Tad Doyle in Seattle, Washington. They were one of the first bands from the grunge era. They released their debut album, God’s Balls in early 1989. They returned to Seattle after a European tour with Nirvana (right before their breakthrough with Smells Like Teen Spirit), Tad recorded their sophomore album, 8-Way Santa, named after a type of blotter acid. 8 Way Santa was more pop oriented than its predecessor and featured the singles Jinx and Jack Pepsi. 8-Way Santa was extremely controversial, but not for the music. The album cover featured a beaming couple with the shirtless male cupping one of the female’s breasts. (The woman is clothed.) That could have been problematic enough for censors, but the problem arose from the couple. Tad had found a copy of the photo in a thrift store. The couple sued the record label for unauthorized use and Sub Pop replaced the cover with a picture of the band standing in front of some cows. The second lawsuit came from Pepsi. They sued over the use of their logo on the cover for Jack Pepsi. It was deemed not to be copyright infringement as “Tad” was in place of “Pepsi” and the colorations were considered to be “folk art.”