Michael Brandvold

Lots of controversy has always surrounded the theory that Vinnie Vincent was not actually present for the photo shoot of the cover of Lick it Up. We discussed this on the current episode, and I could always be wrong, but from the info that’s been going around, it appears it could be true.

The photos below illustrate why this is a possibility – In photos 1 and 2, Vinnie’s body appears to be a mannequin missing the left arm as well as half the shoulder, pressing up against Eric with Vinnie’s face superimposed on top. In photo #2, you can see a pole going up the back of Vinnie which could be a stand for the mannequin. That and the hand on Vinnie’s hip have been airbrushed out for the final version of the cover, (the pole also has a wire going up along side it, so it may just a stand for back-lighting). In photo #3, Vinnie has arms and compared to the other photos, half of his shoulder has reappeared as well. Also, Vinnie’s face seems to be the same photo on all three, while all the other band members have different expressions and angles to their faces.

Mostly, Eric Carr had been known to say that Vinnie was not there for whatever reason. Perhaps I misheard, he never actually said that, or there is more to the story, but from what we see here it does beg the question. Regardless, the fact that Gene’s fingers are hyper-extended and his wrist is in the wrong place shows how the cover was spliced together from similar photos from the same photo shoot.