http://cssispoetry.com/Wassons/
Can someone tell me how I can get that background image to show through when the user hovers?
Sorry I missed your faecbook messages Blake, pumpin’ some ol’ iron :p.
What and where do you want to have the background image “show through”?
On the li lol
And for the button to have an active state
Nahh, i’m good on that haha. Thank you though Alex. 
(Too much work)
I’ll just have the designer create a background image thats yellow like the gray bars, so I can make it hover.
I wouldn’t go for opacity, it would fade the whole element (the way you have it laid out).
Your best bet would be to produce CSS sprites from the images and have it swap out the image dynamically…