Pop-rockers Marcy Playground and noise-rockers Butthole Surfers don't

have much in common musically.

But judging from the cover of Marcy Playground's just-released album,

Shapeshifter, the two bands have the same taste in art —

the exact same taste.

"The cover art for this album is based on my concept for the next

Butthole Surfers album — where 'Marcy Playground' is now, there

was first 'Butthole Surfers' painted in log letters," Surfers

guitarist Paul Leary wrote in an Oct. 28 posting on Marcy Playground's

website (www.marcyplayground.com). "This is truly pathetic and

unoriginal, to have to take my idea and call it your own."

The cover, painted by artist Mark Ryden, was based on a sketch by

Leary for a Butthole Surfers album called After the Astronaut,

according to Surfers drummer King Coffey. Coffey said the Surfers lost

the rights to the art when they left Capitol Records, where Marcy

Playground is signed.

"We had to pay a boatload of money to get the rights back to this

album," Coffey said. "We do that, and they still find a way to juggle

the accounting so they can keep our artwork."

But Capitol didn't tell Marcy Playground about the painting's origin

when the band chose it from a selection of Ryden's art, singer John

Wozniak said Tuesday, just after playing the first show of his band's

U.S. tour.

"We asked our record company to hire Mark Ryden to do our record cover

— I'd admired his work for a while," Wozniak said. "I had no idea

that he'd done pieces for the Buttholes or even that they'd left the

label."

Wozniak said he chose the cover from a selection of already-completed

works because its design — which depicts an alien smoking a peace

pipe with an American Indian shaman — reflects the album's title,

which is based on an American Indian legend, according to Wozniak.

Linda Cobb, the Capitol Records art director who oversaw the project,

confirmed the label didn't tell Marcy Playground the artwork was left

over from the Surfers' album.

"Nobody's the bad guy here," Cobb said, declining further comment.

Ryden, who also painted the art for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' One

Hot Minute (1995), among other albums, said he was aware of the

controversy but declined further comment. He would neither confirm nor

deny that Leary came up with the idea for the artwork.

"I feel honored to have a record cover designed by Paul Leary of the

Butthole Surfers — if it really was," Wozniak said.

After Wozniak explained his band's side of the story on the website,

Leary's postings became more conciliatory. "I like Marcy Playground.

I do not understand being in a band and making a record and not

wanting to be involved with the concept for the package. But MP is a

fine band," he wrote.

Wozniak said he felt the two bands have "made their peace."

Marcy Playground, best known for their 1997 hit "Sex and Candy"

(RealAudio

excerpt), are on tour in support of Shapeshifter,

which includes the single "It's Saturday"

(RealAudio excerpt).

In their 16-year career, the Butthole Surfers have influenced

numerous indie-rock bands, but the group produced only a single radio

hit, 1996's "Pepper" (RealAudio

excerpt).

The Surfers said they still plan to release After the

Astronaut or use songs from it for another disc due early next

year — with a different cover.