Paris Hilton's album entered the UK chart at number 29 last week
Hundreds of Paris Hilton albums have been tampered with in the latest stunt by "guerrilla artist" Banksy.
Banksy has replaced Hilton's CD with his own remixes and given them titles such as Why am I Famous?, What Have I Done? and What Am I For?
He has also changed pictures of her on the CD sleeve to show the US socialite topless and with a dog's head.
A spokeswoman for Banksy said he had doctored 500 copies of her debut album Paris in 48 record shops across the UK.
She told the BBC News website: "He switched the CDs in store, so he took the old ones out and put his version in."
It might be that there will be some people who agree with his views on the Paris Hilton album
HMV spokesman
But he left the original barcode so people could buy the CD without realising it had been interfered with.
Banksy is notorious for his secretive and subversive stunts such as sneaking doctored versions of classic paintings into major art galleries.
His spokeswoman said he had tampered with the CDs in branches of HMV and Virgin as well as independent record stores.
He visited cities including Bristol, Brighton, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and London, she added.
A spokesman for HMV said the chain had recovered seven CDs from two Brighton shops but was unaware that other locations were affected.
Artistic leeway
No customers had complained or returned a doctored version, he said.
"It's not the type of behaviour you'd want to see happening very often," he said.
"I guess you can give an individual such as Banksy a little bit of leeway for his own particular brand of artistic engagement.
"Often people might have a view on something but feel they can't always express it, but it's down to the likes of Banksy to say often what people think about things.
"And it might be that there will be some people who agree with his views on the Paris Hilton album."
A spokesman for Virgin Megastores said staff were searching for affected CDs but it was proving hard to find them all.
"I have to take my hat off - it's a very good stunt," he added"
"Life is a waste of time. Time is a waste of life. Get wasted all the time, and you'll have the time of your life!"
Tebor
Moderator
Title: Master of the Universe
Joined: Aug 22 2005
Location: Gotham City
Posts: 6088
Posted:
Sep 04 2006 05:56 am
God, some people have too much time on their hands. I'm amused that he managed to get as far as he did, but I just don't see the reason to do it. She's bad, but who cares anymore? I haven't heard, seen, or thought about her all (yesterday).
"If you will not tell me, I will hurt people!!!" -Nuclear Man
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Cattivo
Joined: Apr 14 2006
Location: Lake Michigan
Posts: 3332
Posted:
Sep 04 2006 10:36 am
I agree with his opinion of her, but his tactics are just a little overboard. Is she really worth that amount of effort?
Char Aznable
Title: Char Classic™
Joined: Jul 24 2006
Location: Robot Boombox HQ
Posts: 7542
Posted:
Sep 04 2006 11:39 am
No.
Dr. Jeebus
Moderator
Title: SLF Harbinger of Death
Joined: Sep 03 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 5228
Posted:
Sep 07 2006 11:15 am
That is possibly the stupidest thing I've ever heard. The funny part of it all is that anyone I know that likes that sort of music said that they'd really like the album if only they didn't know it was her.
And sneaking tampered pieces of art into galleries? Why? Banksy could have written all those same songs about himself.
