Cover Art for Music Cool Cover Art for Music
The coolest, best, greatest, most iconic, most famous anthology covers of best. It doesn't really thing what sort of adjective you desire to put information technology in front of the words "album embrace," because lists of this sort of are e'er incredibly subjective. What we can say for sure, though, is that anthology covers are vitally important to how a tape is received by the public. (It's difficult to imagine Sgt. Pepper'southward with the cover to the White Anthology and vice versa.) Even in today's digital age, a cool tape cover tin take a huge bear upon. (Artists every bit varied equally Immature Thug and Glass Animals tin can adjure to that.) So, without further ado, here is our option of just 100 of the greatest record covers of all-time.
100: The Flamin' Groovies: Supersnazz (blueprint past Cyril Jordan)
Bandleader Cyril Jordan'southward terrific comic art has turned upward on numerous The Flamin' Groovies covers and posters over the decades. On their 1969 debut, the cavorting characters were at that place to remind y'all how much fun rock'n'roll was supposed to exist.
99: The Bee Gees: Odessa
If The Beatles could do a double "White Album," the Bee Gees could do a fuzzy red one. The red velvet encompass, with gold embossed lettering, served find that Odessa was going to be unique and cute, which it was.
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98: The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet (design by Barry Feinstein)
Beggars Feast is a rare instance where an anthology's two famous covers really complement each other. Put the notorious bathroom encompass together with the engraved invitation on the US replacement, and you've got the yin and the yang of The Rolling Stones at the time.
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97: Ol' Muddy Bastard: Return to the 36 Chambers: The Muddy Version (design by Alli Truch, photo by Danny Clinch)
Whenever hip-hop started to take itself too seriously, ODB was at that place to disrupt, agitate, and requite the middle finger to convention. Forgoing any blinged-out tropes, the former Wu-Tang fellow member put a doctored version of his welfare ID card on the front encompass of his solo debut, as both a reminder of where he came from and to destigmatize existence on public assistance. As he rapped on Wu-Tang's "Dog Sh_t,": "Got meals just still grill that old proficient welfare cheese."
96: Nick Lowe: Jesus of Absurd/Pure Popular for Now People (blueprint by Barney Bubbling)
On an anthology that made a mad dash through the whole of pop history, Nick Lowe pictured himself in a bunch of different guises, from rockabilly hoodlum to sensitive balladeer (there were different pics on the U.s. and UK versions), all with tongue firmly in cheek.
95: Jefferson Airplane: Long John Silver (design by Pacific Centre & Ear)
Jefferson Plane's Long John Silver hails from the golden age of elaborate album covers. Since people were already using LPs to store and clean marijuana, the Plane gave yous a cardboard box holder for it, along with the pot, or at least a realistic-looking photo.
94: Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Comatose, Where Do We Go? (pattern by Kenneth Cappello)
Whatever artist who dares to expect this terrifying on the cover of their first album deserves all the platinum success they get. Inspired past the album's themes of the subconscious, the dark sleeve of Billie Eilish's When We All Autumn Asleep, Where Do We Go? served discover that Eilish was here to mess with your head.
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93: Parliament: Mothership Connexion (photo by David Alexander, blueprint past Gribbitth)
George Clinton's gonzoid have on outer-space hazard found its perfect lucifer in the effortlessly cool spaceship-party cover for Parliament's Mothership Connectedness . The fact that it looked remarkably low budget only made it funkier.
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92: Geto Boys: Nosotros Can't Be Stopped (design by Cliff Blodget)
Walking a razor-thin line betwixt exploitation and cultural commentary was the Geto Boys' modus operandi, and nothing exemplified this dynamic more than their famous 1991 album encompass art. The graphic photo of Bushwick Bill at the infirmary was every bit unflinching as their music.
91: The Cars: Processed-O (design by Alberto Vargas)
Alberto Vargas was already the about famous pin-upward creative person earlier designing the famous cover for The Cars classic 1979 album Processed-O, but this painting of a stylish redhead, on a automobile of course, became his well-nigh famous piece. Candy-O is one of the two best uses of pin-up art on a rock record, forth with…
90: Courtney Love: America's Sweetheart (pattern by Olivia De Berardinis)
For her debut solo album, Courtney Beloved took the Cars' concept a footstep further by enlisting the younger, edgier pin-up artist (known professionally as Olivia) to paint her. Of course, it got an extra dimension by playing with Love'due south own image at the time.
89: The Rolling Stones: Their Satanic Majesties Request (design past Michael Cooper)
The Rolling Stones probably couldn't beat the Beatles for a psychedelic anthology in 1967, but they arguably had the cooler album cover, the first 3D sleeve in stone. X points if you can find where the Beatles are hiding in the 3D paradigm on Their Satanic Majesties Request.
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88: Public Prototype Ltd: The Flowers of Romance
PiL's follow-upwards to their famous Metallic Box album cover was even cooler, showing non-performing bandmember Jeanette Lee with a rose in her teeth, a weapon in her hand, and a murderous wait in her eyes.
87: The Velvet Secret: The Velvet Underground & Nico (design by Andy Warhol)
Information technology was weird, it was witty, information technology was Warhol. The famous minimalism of The Velvet Surreptitious & Nico pare-away banana album cover became an influence on punk visual style many years afterwards and remains ane of the greatest album covers.
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86: The Miracles: Hello, We're The Miracles (design by Wakefield & Mitchell)
The cool album encompass for The Miracles' 1961 debut encapsulates the old-school showbiz that Motown would soon lead the world away from. Simply it'south and then cheerful that you still accept to love it.
85: The Become-Gos: Beauty & the Beat (design by Ginger Canzoneri, Mike Doud, Mick Haggerty, Vartan)
The Go-Get's sense of playful subversion extended to their sendup of glamorous cover photos on their hitting debut, Beauty & The Crush . It was their party; you could join if they let you lot.
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84: Dr. Dre: The Chronic (design by Michael Benabib)
This famous album encompass did wonders with its simple strategy. On his Dr. Dre'southward solo debut The Chronic , the blueprint causeless that Dre was already an icon and presented him accordingly.
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83: Quincy Jones: The Dude (design by Fanizani Akuda)
Jeff Bridges' got nothing on the original "The Dude," the effortlessly cool and quixotic album cover grapheme that appears on Quincy Jones' genre-blending solo debut. Q e'er had an ear for talent – every bit his cross-cultural LP proved – but he also had an center for blueprint. (He spotted the eponymous "Dude" statue at an art gallery and took information technology domicile for inspiration.)
82: Cocteau Twins: Sky or Las Vegas (blueprint past Paul Due west)
The design-centric 4AD label did some of its finest work for the Cocteau Twins anthology covers. This shimmering epitome is undeniably beautiful, still you never know just what it ways…just like their music.
81: James Brownish: Hell (blueprint by Joe Belt)
Arriving one year after his milestone album The Payback , Brown delivered the double-anthology Hell, which called out societal ills both on record and on the elaborately illustrated comprehend. Designed past artist Joe Belt, who fabricated his name capturing the characters of the Wild Westward, Chugalug trained his aim on some other dark chapter of American history, depicting fallen soldiers, addicts, and an imprisoned populace. One of the nearly famous funk album covers ever.
eighty: Slayer: Reign in Blood (design past Larry Carroll)
I of the greatest metallic covers ever designed, designer Larry Carroll packed a thousand nightmares into this Bosch-like painting for Slayer'due south thrash masterpiece Reign in Claret , which influenced metal imagery for decades to come up.
79: King Crimson: In the Court of the Cerise Male monarch (design by Barry Godber)
Robert Fripp saw this dramatic painting after In the Courtroom of the Scarlet King was completed and knew it perfectly suited the music, with the crazed cover effigy as the 21st century schizoid human being. Sadly, the artist passed abroad only months afterward.
78: Moby Grape: Wow (design by Bob Cato)
One of the psych era'south great hallucinations, the famous album cover for Moby Grape's 1968 double LP Wow showed an otherworldly mural with the world'due south largest bunch of grapes. Wow indeed.
77: Kayne West: Yeezus (blueprint by Kanye Westward and Virgil Abloh)
One of the most famous album covers of recent vintage. Kanye West brings the minimalist "White Album" concept to the CD era. You lot could also see Yeezus as the last celebration of the physical CD before it disappeared.
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76: Elvis Presley: 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Tin't Be Wrong (pattern by Bob Jones)
Ultra-absurd Elvis (in his shiny gilded Nudie suit) gets multiplied in ane of the most indelible early on 60s images and greatest album covers. If in that location are that many Elvis fans, we volition, of course, demand xv Elvises.
75: Blackness Flag: My War (pattern past Raymond Pettibon)
Black Flag's trailblazing punk-metallic wouldn't have been the same without Pettibon's grisly comic images, though in this case, not quite as grisly as the anthology itself.
74: Talking Heads: Speaking in Tongues (design by Robert Rauschenberg)
The abstraction of the Talking Heads' beautiful, moving-parts cover for their 1983 record Speaking in Tongues couldn't have better represented the music within. Information technology would accept been rated higher if the thing wasn't then tough to store.
73: The Mothers of Invention: We're But In Information technology for the Money (design past Cal Schenkel)
Frank Zappa wrapped his skewering of hippie culture Nosotros're But In Information technology for the Money in an every bit vicious parody of the famous Sgt. Pepper album encompass to smashing success.
72: The Pogues: Peace and Love (design by Simon Ryan)
Ane of the greatest joke album covers, the boxer was already a perfect image for the Pogues, but don't miss the subtle bit of play here. (The give-and-take "peace" of course has five letters.)
71: Rush: Moving Pictures (design by Hugh Syme)
Rush'south greatest anthology covers expressed both their chiliad concepts and their cerebral sense of humor. In this staged embrace for Moving Pictures , which features many of the characters from the songs, we notice at least 3 different visual plays on the anthology'due south title.
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70: The Beatles: Abbey Route (design by John Kosh)
As it turns out, The Beatles were simply too lazy to go to Mt. Everest – yes, that was the original plan – so they came up with something just as memorable by leaving the studio and crossing the street, resulting in the famous Abbey Road album cover. It's since gone done as ane of the greatest of all time.
69: Marvin Gaye: I Want You (blueprint past Ernie Barnes)
All of Marvin Gaye'due south cool album covers are works of art in a way, only Ernie Barnes's 'Sugar Shack,' which graces the comprehend of I Desire Yous , is the only one currently hanging in a museum. Barnes'south sensual figures and jubilant dancers reflected the lecherous nature of Gaye'southward 1976 anthology.
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68: Joe Jackson: I'm the Homo (design past Michael Ross)
There's plenty of punk attitude on Joe Jackson's album cover for I'm the Man, where he portrays the hero of the title vocal – a sleazy character who'll sell yous anything – every bit long every bit y'all don't really need it.
67: The Beatles: Yesterday and Today (design by Robert Whitaker)
Okay, so it was a little graphic and provocative, but equally the single well-nigh controversial thing The Beatles always did (and the most expensive for an original), the embrace of Yesterday and Today surely earns a identify on a list of the greatest anthology covers.
66: Alice Cooper: Schoolhouse's Out (design by Craig Braun)
There were near every bit many copies of Alice Cooper's Schoolhouse's Out in 1970s high schools as there were bodily schoolhouse desks. Ten points if you got the original with the underwear inner sleeve.
65: Aerosmith: Describe the Line (design by Al Hirshfeld)
Anyone who went to plays or read the New York Times in the 70s will recognize the piece of work of the line-drawing caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, who did his magic on Aerosmith'south members here. As ever, his daughter Nina's name was hidden a few times in this famous album encompass.
64: Eric B. & Rakim: Paid in Full (blueprint by Ron Contarsy)
Between the rappers' Gucci-style outfits and the piles of money in the background, the cover for Eric B. and Rakim's sophomore anthology Paid in Full said it all about going bigtime in 1987 and is considered 1 of the greatest album covers in hip-hop.
63: Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (pattern past Peter Saville)
The cover of Joy Sectionalization'due south 1979 debut tape is an bodily depiction of radio waves. This stark black-and-white cover became so iconic that it's now worn proudly on T-shirts by teens who've never heard of the ring.
62: Funkadelic: Maggot Brain (photo past Joel Brodsky, design by The Graffiteria/Paula Bisacca)
P-funk's wild fusion of funk, surrealism, and popular art extended beyond music, resulting in some of the most provocative LP covers of the era. Model Barbara Cheeseborough'due south screaming visage on the embrace captured the swirling chaos of the 70s and searing funk-stone of Maggot Brain.
61: Family unit: Fearless
Ah, the days when bands had the money to conduct out their wildest ideas. The cover for the British prog-rock outfit Family's 1971 album is a multi-foldout extravaganza and features an early reckoner graphic, adding the individual ring photos to each other until they get the pretty mistiness at top right.
60: The Beatles: Meet the Beatles! (blueprint by Robert Freeman)
The somber, shadowed photograph featured on both the Us and U.k. album version of Meet The Beatles! was just the opposite of the grinning picture show that everybody expected to see, and the first of many carry-overs from the Beatles' art-school days.
59: Pinkish Floyd: Ummagumma (blueprint by Hipgnosis)
Well-nigh of Pinkish Floyd's covers would be in the running for a list of the greatest anthology covers, but we wanted to highlight something that wasn't Dark Side of the Moon. This flare-up of Storm Thorgerson / Hipgnosis imagination features four versions of the same photo (except that the band rotates i position in each), matching their sense of surrealism.
58: Metallica: …And Justice For All (design by Stephen Gorman)
Metallica's trademark mix of shock value and social commentary had few improve expressions than this epitome of a modern accept on Lady Justice for their famous 1988 anthology embrace to …And Justice For All .
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57: The Mamas & The Papas: If Y'all Tin Believe Your Eyes and Ears (design by Guy Webster)
With all iv bandmembers together in a bathtub, the encompass said more about The Mamas & The Papas than what was probably intended. The toilet on the original cover of If You lot Tin Believe Your Optics and Ears besides proved to be a no-no in 1966.
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56: Madonna: Madonna (design by Carin Goldberg)
All of Madonna's anthology covers are striking in their own way, but there's something special near her 1983 self-titled debut. She looks similar she tin see everything that's going to happen to her in the next 40 years.
55: 10cc: Ten Out Of 10 (design by Hipgnosis)
The cover for Ten Out Of 10 remains 1 of Hipgnosis' fiendishly clever 10cc covers and one of their more overlooked albums. Hither they're on the tenth floor of a hotel standing at the precipice, and only i of the guys seems concerned almost it.
54: Thelonious Monk: Underground (photo by Horn Grinner Studios; fine art direction/blueprint: John Berg and Richard Mantel)
A nod to how Thelonious Monk must've felt as a pioneering jazz creative person, Hush-hush casts the pianist as a French Resistance fighter in WWII. Columbia Records art manager John Berg was responsible for iconic covers similar Bob Dylan'due south Greatest Hits and Bruce Springsteen's Built-in To Run, but this was likely ane of his more expensive: They built an entire set, complete with costumed extras, to create Monk's arresting album cover.
53: Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin 2 (design by David Juniper)
It was an art-school friend of Jimmy Folio's who created this mythic cover past superimposing the bandmembers over a famous shot of WWI German fighter pilot the "Red Businesswoman" and his crew. Many Americans wondered what Lucille Ball was doing there but information technology was really French actress Delphine Seyrig.
52: The Pocket-sized Faces: Ogden'southward Nut Gone Chip (design past Nick Tweddell and Pete Chocolate-brown)
One of the first circular covers, the tobacco-tin design for this psychedelic gem stood out in the racks and prepared you lot for the cheerful surrealism of the anthology's chief suite.
51: Dave Bricklayer: Alone Together (pattern past Barry Feinstein and Tom Wilkes)
This album cover was more of a multimedia assemblage, incorporating the dice-cutting edges and the marble-swirled disc into the overall blueprint and giving an instant visual image to the top-hatted Dave Mason.
50: Elton John: Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Pianoforte Player (design past David Larkham and Michael Ross)
Some of Elton's greatest album covers were a chip splashy, others a little somber. The one for Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Pianoforte Role player was merely right, drawing from his soonhoped-for-legendary love of movies.
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49: Ian Dury: New Boots and Panties!! (design by Barney Bubbles)
One of many bang-up Stiff Records album covers, this defenseless Ian Dury'south personality and stood in stark contrast to the elaborate sleeves on the marketplace at that fourth dimension. Barney Bubbling also did the handwritten notes, oft mistaken for Dury's.
48: Dave Brubeck: Time Out (embrace by Neil Fujita)
Dave Brubeck'southward 1959 anthology Fourth dimension Out is likely the almost famous use of pop art on a jazz cover. In this case, the interlocking geometric shapes are a visual reply to the album's innovative time signatures.
47: Wendy Carlos: Switched-On Bach (design by Chika Azuma)
Sporting a photo of JS Bach with a Moog synthesizer, Wendy Carlos' pioneering electronic album Switched-On Bach was unlike anything people had seen (or heard) earlier in 1968. As the first classical album to go platinum in America, Carlos helped to bring Bach… to the time to come. Raise your hand if you also thought the cat was a caput of lettuce.
46: Pink Floyd: Animals (pattern by Hipgnosis)
Not every band would wing a pig over Battersea Power Station, but few other bands would make an album that absolutely called for it.
45: Hüsker Dü: Warehouse: Songs and Stories (design by Daniel Corrigan, Hüsker Dü)
The album cover for Hüsker Dü'due south final studio album is one of those cases where a encompass is exactly like the album: vivid, colorful and jarring in a welcoming style.
44: Chelsea Wolfe: Hiss Spun (design past John Crawford)
Like all goth-influenced artists, Chelsea Wolfe has a strong sense of the dramatic. The coiled-up body on the cover of her 2017 album embodies all the personal changes the songs deal with.
43: Blondie: Parallel Lines (design past Ramey Communications)
The nifty matter about the famous Blondie Parallel Lines album comprehend isn't only the black-and-white composition but the style Debbie Harry (the only 1 not smile) exudes power, while all the guys wait a scrap goofy.
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42: Utopia: Swing to the Right (design by John Wagman)
This Reagan-era concept album makes its visual point past using a photo of Beatles records being burned that followed John Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" remarks. But in this case, the photo is a Mobius strip, and the anthology they're burning is the very one they're standing in.
41: Taylor Swift: 1989 (design by Austin Hale and Amy Fucci)
On a throwback-themed album, Taylor Swift presents an old Polaroid of herself, but incomplete and out of focus. The mysterious paradigm on 1989 'south embrace was an easy ane for her fans to copy, and they did.
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40: Humble Pie: Stone On (pattern past John Kelly)
Why in the world did Apprehensive Pie get a agglomeration of policemen to form a man pyramid? Because they could, of course.
39: The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream (design by Dino Danelli)
One of the many imaginative trips from the late 60s, this assemblage – by the ring'due south drummer – represents various personal dreams of the band members.
38: PJ Harvey: To Bring Yous My Love (design by Valerie Phillips)
It may exist a more than glamorous cover after her first ii, simply this photo of PJ Harvey – in which she could hands exist mistaken for Shakespeare'south Ophelia – unsaid that a newer, softer image comes at a cost.
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37: Oasis: Definitely Maybe (pattern past Brian Cannon)
Their debut album pictured Oasis in the earth'southward coolest crash pad, showing every band of the era how information technology ought to be living.
36: Grace Jones: Island Life (design by Jean-Paul Goude)
Graphic designer and fine art director Jean-Paul Goude met his lucifer, and his muse, with Grace Jones. Goude's visual re-imagining of the androgynous singer led to some of the best anthology covers in music history, from Nightclubbing to Slave to the Rhythm and the arabesque grandeur of Isle Life. "It looked right to me and how I felt," said Jones. "Athletic, artistic, and conflicting."
35: A Tribe Called Quest: Midnight Marauders (photo past Terrence A Reese, design by Nick Gamma)
Similar a proto XXL "Freshman Class", the three alternate covers of A Tribe Call Quest's classic 3rd album Midnight Marauders featured a collage of 71 hip-hop personalities from Afrika Bambaataa to the Beastie Boys, like the Sgt Pepper of hip-hop. Concepted by Q-Tip, the Afrocentric cover came to fruition with the help of Nick Gamma, the one-time fine art managing director at Jive Records.
34: Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (design past Desmond Strobel)
Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood looked impeccably stylish doing whatever it was they were doing on the famous Rumours album cover. It'south fair that the cover was a little mysterious since the songs revealed everything else.
33: Steely Dan: Pretzel Logic (blueprint by Raeanne Rubenstein)
Though Steely Dan was long associated with Los Angeles, the comprehend for Pretzel Logic (actually shot at 5th Artery and 79th Street) looks, feels, and tastes like New York.
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32: Great Pumpkins: Adore (design by Yelena Yemchuk)
Bang-up Pumpkins' album covers were often softer and prettier than the music, just this cover (created by Billy Corgan'south then-girlfriend) is the perfect translation of the obsessively romantic theme of Adore.
31: Ohio Players: Climax (design by Joel Brodsky)
All the Ohio Players covers were legendary, and the early on Westbound ones were considerably more than daring than the hit-era ones for Mercury. Every bit the band often claimed, fewer people would have bought the albums if they'd put themselves on the covers.
xxx: The Louvin Brothers: Satan is Real (design by Ira Louvin)
Modernistic death metal bands got zip on country duo The Louvin Brothers, who went to the inferno in 1959 and looked bang-up in white suits while doing it.
29: David Bowie: Heroes (blueprint by Masayoshi Sukita)
David Bowie has at least 5 of the most iconic album covers of all fourth dimension. From the lightning bolt on Aladdin Sane to Ziggy Stardust, it's hard to pick. But the sublime strangeness of this David Bowie photo tells you everything you demand to know about the artistic madness of his Berlin period. The embrace was memorably defaced by Bowie himself decades later on.
28: Kate Bush-league: The Kick Inside (pattern by Jay Myrdal)
The more commonly known US cover is nice plenty simply makes it wait similar a conventional singer-songwriter album and Kate Bush is anything just. Nosotros're referring to the original UK "kite" encompass that introduced the strangeness and sensuality that Bush was all about.
27: Janelle Monáe: Muddy Computer (pattern by Joe Perez )
The perfect encompass for a absurd, sensual and futuristic concept album, this captures Janelle Monáe's depth and mystery and is a cute piece of art in its ain right.
26: Miles Davis: Bitches Mash (design by Mati Klarwein)
Since Miles Davis' Bitches Brew sounded like no other previous jazz albums, it couldn't look like ane either. It took a High german painter schooled in surrealism to create its mix of African folk art and psychedelia.
25: David Bowie: The Next Day (design by Jonathan Barnbrook)
Every fan did an immediate double-take when they saw Bowie's human action of self-demolition hither. By defacing the Heroes cover, Bowie found the nigh dramatic mode of proverb "that was then, this is at present".
24: Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick (design by Roy Eldridge)
Largely written by bandmembers Ian Anderson, John Evan, and Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (with assist from Chrysalis staffer and former journalist Roy Eldridge), the famous paper cover of Thick as a Brick is full of cross-references and cognitive wit – merely similar the music – and Anderson said it took merely as much work.
23: Nirvana: Nevermind (design by Robert Fisher)
The image of a baby grasping at a dollar bill became one of grunge'southward coolest and almost enduring symbols, an album cover that captured the attitude of Nevermind and the era. The baby in question, Spencer Elden, even recreated the photo 25 years later.
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22: The Who: Who's Next (pattern past Ethan Russell)
The iconic cover for Who's Next worked on two levels: first as a futuristic image of The Who against a monolith; and 2nd, when y'all noticed their zippers and realized what the guys had been doing.
21: Uriah Heep: The Magician'southward Birthday (pattern past Roger Dean)
This cover is Roger Dean at his most vivid. When you walked into a record store, you could run across this album clear across the room.
twenty: Cream: Disraeli Gears (cover past Martin Precipitous)
Psychedelic album covers were an art form in themselves, and the explosion of colour (with the band looking suitably avuncular) fabricated Cream's Disraeli Gears one of the definitive ones. The designer also wrote one of the album'due south most bright lyrics on "Tales of Brave Ulysses."
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19: Santana: Lotus (design by Tadanori Yokoo)
You don't necessarily get a thing of rare beauty when you load a embrace with as many fold-out panels and elaborate paintings as an 11-inch disc can concur, merely Santana certainly did in this instance, thanks to famed Japanese designer Tadanori Yokoo. Recorded live during Santana's performances in Osaka, Japan, the full sleeve art is an amalgamation of Buddhist and Christian imagery, forth with Yokoo'due south signature pop fine art style.
18: 10cc: How Dare You! (design past Hipgnosis)
The ubiquitous Hipgnosis team outdid itself with this ultra-clever 10cc sleeve, which is non simply inspired past one of the songs (the phone sex activity-themed "Don't Hang Up") but is full of hidden gags, with the same people turning up in each of the four main photos.
17: XTC: Become two (design by Hipgnosis)
Some other Hipgnosis job, the famous anthology cover for XTC's Go 2 boasts a dense block of typed re-create that taunts and messes with the album heir-apparent'south head. No wonder the clever lads in XTC loved it.
16: Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run (design past Eric Meola)
Information technology's hard to selection i Bruce Springsteen embrace, when so many have ascended to iconic status. It could have just as easily been Built-in in the USA, with its Annie Liebovitz photo and Bruce in a white t-shirt and blue jeans in front of an American flag. We decided to become instead with this kinetic photo that captured the camaraderie of the band and the sense of stone'north'roll mission. While the album fabricated an instant star out of Springsteen, the embrace did the same for Eastward Street Ring'south sax human Clarence Clemons.
xv: Ramones: Ramones (blueprint by Roberta Bayley)
The cover of The Ramone's 1976 cocky-titled debut is pure punk rock in all its black-and-white grittiness. A good cover became a great ane the moment when a bored Johnny Ramone decided to requite the photographer the finger.
fourteen: Pixies: Surfer Rosa (design by Vaughan Oliver)
The Pixies' debut comprehend is sexy, sinister, and full of secret meanings, starting with a vintage-looking softcore photo that was staged for the cover shoot.
thirteen: Yes: Relayer (design by Roger Dean)
Roger Dean's fantasy paintings became as much a part of prog-rock iconography as the music. He fittingly put his coolest album cover on Yes' about creative album, an icy winterscape that illuminates the album's war-and-peace theme.
12: Frank Sinatra: Come Wing With Me (blueprint past Jon Jonson)
Each i of Sinatra's Capitol-era anthology covers was absurd and classic in its own manner, from the lonely scenes on the ballad albums to the visual swagger on the swingers. The cover of Come Fly With Me caught both Sinatra's natural charisma and the allure of the jet-set era.
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11: Patti Smith: Horses (design past Robert Mapplethorpe)
If Horses wasn't plenty to make Patti Smith an instant icon of bohemian cool, the Robert Mapplethorpe album encompass certainly was. Nobody ever slung a jacket over their shoulder that well.
x: Talking Heads: Trivial Creatures (design past Howard Finster)
Howard Finster'south uniquely Southern folk art was a perfect match for Talking Heads' back-to-roots album (and for R.E.M.'s Reckoning around the aforementioned fourth dimension). While some of Finster's piece of work had a darker streak, for this anthology he appropriately chose sunshine and wonderment.
9: John Coltrane: Blue Train (design past Reid Miles, photo past Francis Wolff)
Most of the classic Blue Notation covers were full of bright graphics and exuberant photos (and lots of exclamation marks!). Not so with John Coltrane'southward Blue Train, whose cool album cover photo and mood lighting marked it every bit a work to take seriously.
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viii: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Contumely: Whipped Cream & Other Delights (blueprint by Peter Whorf Graphics)
This iconic album cover said it all about coy mid-60s sexuality, bachelor-pad style. Despite its daring appearance, if yous looked closely, the whipped-cream clad model was actually wearing a wedding clothes.
7: Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly (photograph past Denis Rouvre, pattern by Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free)
Finding anthology art that captured the genre-pushing ambition of To Pimp A Butterfly was a tall society, but Kendrick Lamar and TDE were up to the chore, as One thousand dot assembled his hometown crew for a victorious party on the White House lawn, stomping on the symbol of a weaponized criminal justice system.
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vi: The Rolling Stones: Let Information technology Bleed (design by Robert Brownjohn)
The Rolling Stones always had cool, attending-grabbing anthology covers. But while Mucilaginous Fingers has a great story, Let It Bleed was equally unique and surreal. Taking its inspiration from the album's original title Automatic Changer, the front end has the album on a turntable stacked with all sorts of other things. We presume the mess on the behind happened subsequently someone pressed "starting time."
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five: Big Blood brother & the Holding Company: Cheap Thrills (design by R. Crumb)
Arguably the coolest 60s album cover of all, the fine art for Large Blood brother & the Belongings Company's sophomore tape was besides most people'southward introduction to the mode of undercover comic art perfected past R. Nibble. This style of art would be associated with psychedelic music from here on out, though Crumb was a scrap anti-hippie himself.
4: The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Guild Band (design by Peter Blake)
Peter Blake'southward popular-fine art assemblage on Sgt. Pepper'south famous anthology changed record covers forever, and kept many of u.s. occupied for weeks trying to identify everybody at the ceremony.
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iii: Elvis Presley: Elvis Presley (design by Robertson & Fresch)
RCA wasted no time in cleaning upward Elvis, who'd await completely respectable on all time to come albums. Meanwhile, his debut allowed him to look like the crazed hillbilly everyone'southward parents feared he was, captured in mid-vocal at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Florida. Which of course leads united states to…
2: The Clash: London Calling (photograph by Pennie Smith, design by Ray Lowry)
A rare instance where a parody (of the in a higher place Elvis embrace) becomes a work of art in itself. The effortlessly absurd album cover paradigm of bassist Paul Simonon neat his guitar practically screams stone'northward'roll, just like the music inside.
1: The Beastie Boys: Paul'due south Boutique (blueprint past Nathaniel Hornblower/Jeremy Shatan)
This beautiful, panoramic view of Ludlow Street in NYC on the album cover of Paul'due south Bazaar did everything possible to put you lot right into the Beastie Boys' earth, making it look both funky and inviting. Information technology likewise made it essential to own the original, fold-out vinyl.
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Looking for more? Discover the worst album covers of all fourth dimension.
Source: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/the-100-greatest-album-covers/
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