Two months ago Anthrax was just some burned out ’80s metal band. Now what comes to mind is a rather lethal powder that’s causing all hell to break loose in our nation’s postal system and capital.

Two months ago most punk bands said anything but good things about the U.S. government. Yet these days, people are printing up patriotic T-shirts and sending the profits to Red Cross.

Two months ago you didn’t have an American flag sticker anywhere near your pickup for fear of being a “redneck.” Now the sticker rests proudly in between System of A Down and Lazer 103.3 decals – a paradox those unfamiliar with System’s message will never notice.

As with everything else on this planet in the last two months, music has changed, for lack of a stronger word, significantly. From benefit concerts and tribute songs to pulled album covers and banned radio songs, the music industry has changed more in the last two months than it has in the last two years.

For example, instead of Christina Aguilera on stage with little to no clothes on, she’s on stage with little to no clothes on in the d‚cor of an American flag. At least Britney was way ahead of her. (Remember the Super Bowl?) But what’s more disturbing to me than Britney shaking her flag-covered behind in such a way to make Betsy Ross roll over in her grave is a couple of disturbing album covers.

So there I am, looking through the used-CD aisle at my local record store when I see an album that catches my eye. In the background of the cover art is the former World Trade Center; coming right toward the towers, in a collision-like fashion, three jets are dropping bombs on Broadway, which is covered in smoke and flames.

Tasteful?

Not even close these days.

But my question is what made the artist think it was tasteful when the World Trade Center was still standing? The album, which came out in August 2000, is certainly a coincidence and the band has since changed the cover art.

And who is this band, you ask? It’s the Christian punk rock group Squad Five-O. It’s not some satanic metal band or some gangsta rap group. It’s a group of Christian Suicide Machine-wannabes who thought . well, now, I don’t really know what they were thinking.

After all, if they truly believed in what they put on their album cover, shouldn’t they have left it unaltered, the way it was prior to the attacks?

Certainly, it may be a painful image for those involved in the tragedy but wouldn’t it more effectively get their message across at times like these?

Rap group The Coup was set to release its album “Party Music” in a few months. The original cover showed the group members holding a detonator and the image of an exploding Trade Center in the background.

This cover, as seen in Rolling Stone, put knots in my stomach for how real the smoke actually looked. I should know; I watched CNN and saw the real smoke coming from the real explosion in the real World Trade Center.

It should go without saying that this cover will never be released. This begs the question, is it okay to “pretend” to blow up the World Trade Center as long as people aren’t lying in a pile of rubble with more than 3,000 bodies underneath them?

The worst part about these album covers is that two months ago I wouldn’t have even noticed them. Would they have offended anyone 63 days ago? No way. We can attribute this only to our desensitization of violence. What did most people say when they saw what happened Sept. 11? “It looked like it was out of a movie,” right?

I couldn’t tell you how many people told me this, but they’re right. “Armageddon,” “Deep Impact,” and “Independence Day” showed us what it would look like to blow up the United States’ national landmarks. We all thought, “cool,” as we watched aliens blow up the White House and asteroids knock down buildings. Yet now that these scenes have become a disturbing reality, many of us would describe them as anything but “cool.”

I feel ashamed that I am desensitized to this kind of violence, but many individuals have taken on a different view since the attacks. People say that right now isn’t the time to see such violence, as it’s deemed inappropriate.

At the same time it’s unfortunate that shock value can sell albums. An album cover of a rock star standing on the Golden Gate Bridge with a stick of dynamite isn’t going to sell during these times. And it’s my hope that violence like this will never “sell” or be appropriate again.

Dewayne Hankins is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Homer Township, Ill.