Sleeveface was an

internet phenomenon Internet phenomena are social and cultural phenomena specific to the Internet, such as Internet memes, which include popular catchphrases, images, viral videos, and jokes. When such fads and sensations occur online, they tend to grow rapidly ...

wherein one or more persons obscured or augmented body parts with images on

record sleeve A record sleeve is the outer covering of a vinyl record. Alternative terms are ''dust sleeve'', ''album liner'' and ''liner''. The term is also used to denominate the outermost cardboard covering of a record, i.e. the ''record jacket'' or ''albu ...

s or

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released album, studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of a ...

s, causing an illusion. Sleeveface became popular on social networking sites in the late 2000s. The precise origin of the concept is unknown. A collection of photographs was posted online at Waxidermy.com in early 2006, though earlier examples of 'sleevefacing' include a

Mad Magazine ''Mad'' (stylized in all caps) is an American humor magazine which was launched in 1952 and currently published by DC Comics, a unit of the DC Entertainment subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. ''Mad'' was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman an ...

cover and a sketch on ''

The Adam and Joe Show ''The Adam and Joe Show'' is a British television sketch comedy show that originally ran from 6 December 1996 to 28 May 1999 on Channel 4 for the first three series and then moved to E4 from 13 March to 17 April 2001 for the fourth and final ...

'' with

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the New wave music, new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two st ...

holding a record sleeve to his face. Other cases include

John Hiatt John Robert Hiatt (born August 20, 1952) is an American singer-songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New wave music, new wave, blues, and country music, country. Hiatt has been nominated for nine Gramm ...

's 1979 ''

Slug Line ''Slug Line'' is the third album by John Hiatt, released in 1979. It was the first of two albums with MCA Records. It was his first charting album, reaching No. 202 on Billboard's album charts, and also the highest-charting album during his first ...

'' album on which he is holding a sleeve (showing his face) in front of his face and the back of the 1982 album '' Picture This'' by

Huey Lewis and the News Huey Lewis and the News (formerly known as Huey Lewis & The American Express) are an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually achieving 19 top ten singl ...

, where Huey is holding the front side of the album (showing his face) in front of his face. The artwork for

J Rocc The Beat Junkies is an American hip hop crew of DJs specializing in turntablism. Established in 1992 in Cerritos, California by J. Rocc. As of 2014, The Beat Junkie Crew also host their own record pool, clothing line and radio station. The B ...

's 12" single 'Play This (One)' features men holding various LP sleeves over their faces. The term 'sleeveface' was coined in April 2007 by Cardiff resident Carl Morris after pictures were taken of him and his friends holding record sleeves to their faces whilst DJing in a Cardiff bar. His friend John Rostron posted them on the internet and created a group on the nascent Facebook social networking site. From this point, the craze started to become more widely known. Sleeveface contributors regularly held sleeveface parties across the world, and contributors have helped organise sleeveface workshops for children. One such workshop took place at the

National Museum Cardiff National Museum Cardiff (), formerly known as the National Museum of Wales, is a museum and art gallery in Cardiff, Wales. The museum is part of the wider network of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales. Entry is kept free by a grant from the Wel ...

in November 2008 as part of the city's annual Sŵn Festival.

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Further reading