I was just watching a video on YouTube, which was a contemporaneous Australian feature about the Joffrey Ballet's Billboards show... It seems that the random people on the cover of the 1-800-NEW-FUNK album cover may be dancers from the ballet company.

I took a screenshot of the video.

Ah, interesting. I'm sure I saw someone on here say the cover was terrible, but I always kinda liked it. Very "90s" I guess, but not really in a bad way.

I like the 1-800-NEW-FUNK cover.

I also attended the Billboards ballet here in Detroit in 1993. It was very well done!

There's a rip (of the laserdisc?) currently on Vimeo.

I'd never heard that ten minute version of Thunder before this weekend. It's very overblown, but suits the dancing, I guess.

I'm just happy that I now finally know who those randos were on that album cover. Haha!

I went to the Joffrey Ballet School in NYC and one of my teachers was a company member when Billboards was choreographed. She didn't mention anything about doing the album cover for any projects. However, she did tell us about the time Prince invited them to Paisley Park to party with him when they stopped in MN while on tour. He apparently watched them from above the dance floor with a sucker in his mouth

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In regards to the 1-800-NEW-FUNK cover, I always assumed it was the dance company that Mayte formed with Prince at the time.

That cover is so 90's! But I don't find it ugly. And compared to some of the atrocities Prince (had) designed for other albums, it's a proper beauty.

GirlBrother said:

There's a rip (of the laserdisc?) currently on Vimeo.

I'd never heard that ten minute version of Thunder before this weekend. It's very overblown, but suits the dancing, I guess.

I'm just happy that I now finally know who those randos were on that album cover. Haha!

The HV was released on 02/09/1994, so this is consistent with the date given on Vimeo.