Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy is the third studio album by American electronic rock band Mindless Self Indulgence released in 2000. This is their last studio album to feature Vanessa YT on bass guitar.
The track listing on the back cover has all the vowels replaced with asterisks, even in those words that would not generally be considered offensive. They are also listed in alphabetical order. "Bitches" was the album's sole single release and prominently featured a sample of the opening riff to the Siouxsie and the Banshees song, "Happy House." The song credits Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin as writing partners due to the use of the sample. A single for the track "Planet of the Apes" was released as a promotional CD only.
Promo/Advance copies of the album were unmastered and featured slightly different one letter "skit" tracks. They also feature an orchestral intro to "Holy Shit" and do not contain the live performance intro to "Backmaskwarning!". The streaming version of the album available on streaming platforms is one of these promo copies, in contrast to the final CD version.
After the release of their second album Tight, the band garnered significant interest from record labels, leading to what frontman Jimmy Urine described as a "20 label bidding war." During this period, MSI would charge record labels substantial fees for their appearances and Urine would often use the money to buy frivolous items. The band would also remaster songs to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, a move that Elektra Records, their eventual signee, attempted to stop. Instead, MSI priced their next album, "Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy," at $30, put the songs in alphabetical order, and made them (excluding "I Hate Jimmy Page") less than 3 minutes long, all to purposefully irritate investors. According to Urine, "ThatâÂÂs probably a million dollar record, and thereâÂÂs no way weâÂÂll ever be recouped on it. But itâÂÂs great!"
The cover of the album was drawn by Jamie Hewlett, the artist known for Tank Girl and Gorillaz. Urine said in an interview "We wanted him as the artist for our 2000 release "Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy". We had to track him down ourselves because the label did not even begin to know how to find him. When we finally got him on board we just said draw whatever you want." Hewlett offered to make a music video for a song on the album but was rejected by Elektra.
The album's cover, drawn by Jamie Hewlett, features 3 female Frankensteins on a blue and black gradient background. The band's name is written on the top in red, and Hewlett's signature is placed in the bottom right. The physical copy also features a cartoon drawing of the band with hammers and saws, also drawn by Hewlett.
Mindless Self Indulgence
Artwork and packaging
Production and recording