The Bootleg X-Rays That Came Before Lorde's Virgin
The pipeline from Soviet 7-inch to New Zealand pop star
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When Lorde unveiled the cover for Virgin, many focused on the IUD idly floating in a sea of blue. An X-ray image, the art also displays a pelvis, a metal belt buckle, a zipper, and rivets from a pair of jeans. In an interview with the BBC, Lorde described her cover as "the ultimate nude." Billboard dubbed the image her "most daring album artwork yet." While not as scandalous as Sabrina Carpenter's Man’s Best Friend (although fans who purchase a vinyl will receive a photograph of Lorde’s pubic hair), the cover references records that were, in fact, once forbidden.
Under Soviet rule post-World War II, music (or any art for that matter) that didn't align with communist rule, like rock n’ roll and jazz, was banned. At the same time, authorities were ordering thousands of X-rays to be destroyed due to their highly flammable nature. Coincidentally, the plastic material was perfect for pressing records, and thus a black market for banned music on X-ray records emerged.
Stephen Coates, a musician, producer, writer, and broadcaster, rediscovered the art of bootleg X-rays at a Russian flea market in 2012. Fascinated by the communal intimacy of the objects, he has dedicated his time to the niche archive, writing two books, X-Ray Audio and Bone Music, and running the X-Ray Audio Project. In an interview with NPR, Coates commented, “It was a bit like dealing or buying drugs…These records were bought and sold on street corners, in dark alleyways, in the park...Even the tiniest thread of melody, of this forbidden sound, was so exciting. And it led to a different world, really, a world of freedom, [even though the music was] not obviously anti-Soviet. You would think, ‘Why would that mambo be regarded as something worth forbidding?’”
The act of human touch is unmistakable when looking at these contraband records. From ribs to elbows, joints, and skulls, each of these records was also hand-cut into ragged 7-inch circles. A physical effort. As Coates so eloquently states, “They are images of pain and damage overlaid with the sounds of pleasure, fragile photographs of the interiors of Soviet citizens inscribed with the music they secretly loved."
Fans would describe Lorde’s music similarly. In her June 2025 Rolling Stone cover story, fellow musician and collaborator Dev Hynes notes her vocal style as “expressive and intimate, like she’s confiding her deepest secrets to a friend.” Lorde herself goes on to say, “Virgin is about returning to… a ‘really essential, pure’ version of herself… each choice is meant to feel naked and direct and youthful.”
Find more bootleg records below and on the X-Ray Audio Project:
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Who knew?! Incredible, every day is a learning day...
Incredible stuff. I had heard of this before, but to see what the "records" looked like (and I should use the quote marks - really, they were the deal) is fascinating - and they inadvertently were ahead of the phenomenon in the early '70s of multi-colored/picture vinyl albums in the West.