Excerpt of Debbie Harry's Koo-Koo Album

[lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Debbie Harry[/lastfm]‘s “koo-koo” sense of style came to the forefront when she vetted the cover of her 1981 album, Koo-Koo. Get a look at the full cover below, and read the back story, skewers and all.

Fashion model, Playboy Bunny and world-famous singer in the band [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Blondie[/lastfm], Debbie Harry had done seemingly everything when she released her solo debut, Koo-Koo, in 1981. Except drive needles through her face, which is what Swiss illustrator H.R. Giger portrayed on the cover of the album.

Shot with a two-tone palette by photographer Brian Aris, with an Aztec-style band around her head and lightning bolts in the background, the cover took a beautiful, exotic woman and enhanced her mystery to an even greater degree.

The album cover was scheduled to be posted in the London Underground at the time of its release but the images of skewers through Harry’s face were considered a little too disturbing back in 1981.

Though the album reached #25 on the Billboard album charts in the US, the visuals of the album cover and accompanying videos far overshadowed the music, which never quite matched what Harry had achieved with Blondie.

Read more about rock’s greatest album covers.