SofaBed

When Nick Cave and Rowland S Howard arrived in London from Australia in the early ‘80s, they expected to find fertile ground to develop their own band, The Birthday Party, but were horrified to find a city hooked on Spandau Ballet, Phil Collins and Abba. “It was like being gangbanged by a pack of marshmallows,” Cave said later.

— ROCKING AND RAVING AGAINST THATCHERISM: FROM CRASS TO ACID HOUSE, HOW MUSICAL SUBCULTURES UNITED AGAINST A COMMON ENEMY

Last year Stones Throw released new rap tracks by Jonwayne on a cassette we called Cassette – no digital, no CD, no vinyl – just a cassette, designed to look like a pack of Marlboro cigarettes. We had no grand plans. It was just a low-profile release, maybe a nod to two things going out of style – tapes and lung cancer.

Apparently the lawyers for the cigarette and junk food giant Philip Morris aren’t hip-hop heads. The makers of Marlboro served the label with a big fat cease & desist letter citing infringing use of their “distinctive font” and two registered U.S. trademarks: their insignia, and the pyramid shape. They own that shape.

We’ve been ordered to cease from the manufacture, sale, advertisement and distribution of the cassette, and to deliver all remaining copies to an authorized destruction center. (A place where hip-hop gets killed.) Well, we’re just about out of tapes anyway, so we’re not making any more - get them while you can. No use fighting The Man.

Meanwhile, Jonwayne has recorded a bunch of new rap tracks, so we decided to release them as Cassette 2 - 36 minutes of rap tracks featuring Jonwayne, Jermiah Jae, Zeroh and Quelle. Design by Jeff Jank. This will not be released on MP3, CD or vinyl. Just cassette, and totally free of any possible trademark issues.

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Pure genius.