It’s one of the most iconic album covers from Led Zeppelin, but the artwork for 1973’s Houses Of The Holy as reportedly been banned from social networking site Facebook.
Back in 1973, Led Zeppelin were two years removed from their most famous record – the untitled fourth album – and were gearing up to release album number five.
Eventually titled Houses Of The Holy and unleashed in March of that year, the record caught the eye of listeners thanks in part to its now-famous cover.
Depicting two naked children climbing atop the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, the record cover was met with some backlash due to the presence of what some claimed to be child pornography.
Despite this though, the record still sold well, and some copies were sold with the band’s name included to obscure any prominent nudity.
However, it appears that the modern age has taken issue with the record sleeve, with Classic Rock reporting that Facebook has apparently banned the artwork.
As Classic Rock note, Michelle Kaotic has owned a Led Zeppelin fan page for many years, and eight years after using the artwork to promote an event, she was notified that the artwork had been banned.
Further attempts by other users seemed to receive a similar response, with the picture being flagged, removed, and even resulting in some users being banned from the site for periods of time.
As a result, one user even launched a petition asking Facebook to allow the artwork to be shared on Facebook, however, that too created issues when it was time to be shared on Facebook.
“Approximately 30 minutes after posting the petition on my page, I received a notice that the post went against community standards,” Michaell Kaotic explained.
“I then created another post, mentioning how the petition was removed. Before too long, everyone was commenting, indicating that they had shared the petition and been given warnings.
“The link to the petition was being removed by anyone sharing it. All because the thumbnail image was the album cover. I even had page members message me to indicate that they had been given 24 hour bans. Some even received three days.”
While Classic Rock has noted that Facebook’s Community Standards Policy Rationale allows users to upload “photographs of paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures,” it appears that Houses Of The Holy has been caught in an algorithmic trap that it can’t escape from.
However, there might be hope in the future, considering that classic album covers like Nirvana’s Nevermind had been banned by Facebook in the past, only for it to be later overturned and allowed on the service.
Check out ‘D’yer Mak’er’ by Led Zeppelin:
