20 Best of 50s Rock N Roll Album Art

The coolest, best, greatest, near iconic, most famous album covers of all-time. It doesn't really matter what sort of describing word you desire to put it in front of the words "anthology cover," considering lists of this sort of are always incredibly subjective. What we can say for certain, though, is that album covers are vitally important to how a record is received by the public. (Information technology's hard to imagine Sgt. Pepper's with the cover to the White Album and vice versa.) Even in today's digital historic period, a cool record cover can have a huge bear upon. (Artists as varied as Young Thug and Glass Animals tin adjure to that.) So, without further ado, here is our pick of just 100 of the greatest record covers of all-time.

100: The Flamin' Groovies: Supersnazz (design past Cyril Jordan)

Bandleader Cyril Jordan'due south terrific comic art has turned upwardly on numerous The Flamin' Groovies covers and posters over the decades. On their 1969 debut, the cavorting characters were there to remind you how much fun rock'n'whorl was supposed to exist.

99: The Bee Gees: Odessa

If The Beatles could exercise a double "White Album," the Bee Gees could do a fuzzy cherry i. The blood-red velvet cover, with gold embossed lettering, served find that Odessa was going to exist unique and beautiful, which it was.

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98: The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet (pattern past Barry Feinstein)

Beggars Banquet is a rare case where an album'south two famous covers really complement each other. Put the notorious bathroom encompass together with the engraved invitation on the U.s. replacement, and you've got the yin and the yang of The Rolling Stones at the time.

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97: Ol' Dirty Bastard: Return to the 36 Chambers: The Muddied Version (design past Alli Truch, photo past Danny Clinch)

Whenever hip-hop started to accept itself too seriously, ODB was there to disrupt, arouse, and give the centre finger to convention. Forgoing any blinged-out tropes, the former Wu-Tang 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'due south "Dog Sh_t,": "Got meals just even so grill that quondam skillful welfare cheese."

96: Nick Lowe: Jesus of Cool/Pure Popular for Now People (design by Barney Bubbling)

On an album that fabricated a mad nuance through the whole of pop history, Nick Lowe pictured himself in a agglomeration of different guises, from rockabilly hoodlum to sensitive balladeer (there were different pics on the U.s.a. and UK versions), all with tongue firmly in cheek.

95: Jefferson Plane: Long John Silver (pattern by Pacific Eye & Ear)

Jefferson Airplane's Long John Silvery hails from the gold historic period of elaborate anthology covers. Since people were already using LPs to store and clean marijuana, the Airplane gave y'all a paper-thin box holder for information technology, along with the pot, or at least a realistic-looking photo.

94: Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Practice Nosotros Get? (design by Kenneth Cappello)

Any artist who dares to look this terrifying on the cover of their get-go album deserves all the platinum success they go. Inspired by the album's themes of the subconscious, the nighttime sleeve of Billie Eilish's When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do Nosotros Go? served detect that Eilish was here to mess with your head.

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93: Parliament: Mothership Connection (photo past David Alexander, design past Gribbitth)

George Clinton'southward gonzoid take on outer-space adventure institute its perfect match in the effortlessly absurd spaceship-party cover for Parliament'due south Mothership Connexion . The fact that it looked remarkably low budget only made it funkier.

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92: Geto Boys: Nosotros Tin't Exist Stopped (design by Cliff Blodget)

Walking a razor-thin line between exploitation and cultural commentary was the Geto Boys' modus operandi, and nil exemplified this dynamic more than their famous 1991 anthology cover fine art. The graphic photo of Bushwick Bill at the infirmary was as unflinching every bit their music.

91: The Cars: Candy-O (design by Alberto Vargas)

Alberto Vargas was already the near famous pivot-up creative person before designing the famous cover for The Cars classic 1979 album Processed-O, only this painting of a fashionable redhead, on a machine of grade, became his near famous piece. Candy-O is i of the 2 all-time uses of pin-up art on a stone record, along with…

90: Courtney Love: America'southward Sweetheart (design by Olivia De Berardinis)

For her debut solo album, Courtney Dear took the Cars' concept a pace farther past enlisting the younger, edgier pivot-up artist (known professionally as Olivia) to paint her. Of course, information technology got an extra dimension by playing with Beloved'southward ain image at the time.

89: The Rolling Stones: Their Satanic Majesties Request (design by Michael Cooper)

The Rolling Stones probably couldn't beat the Beatles for a psychedelic album in 1967, but they arguably had the cooler album comprehend, the first 3D sleeve in rock. X points if y'all can find where the Beatles are hiding in the 3D paradigm on Their Satanic Majesties Request.

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88: Public Image Ltd: The Flowers of Romance

PiL's follow-upward to their famous Metal Box album cover was even cooler, showing not-performing bandmember Jeanette Lee with a rose in her teeth, a weapon in her mitt, and a murderous look in her eyes.

87: The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground & Nico (design past Andy Warhol)

Information technology was weird, it was witty, information technology was Warhol. The famous minimalism of The Velvet Secret & Nico peel-away banana album encompass became an influence on punk visual way many years later and remains i of the greatest album covers.

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86: The Miracles: Hi, We're The Miracles (design by Wakefield & Mitchell)

The absurd anthology cover for The Miracles' 1961 debut encapsulates the one-time-school showbiz that Motown would soon atomic number 82 the world away from. But it'south so cheerful that you still have to love information technology.

85: The Go-Gos: Dazzler & the Trounce (design past Ginger Canzoneri, Mike Doud, Mick Haggerty, Vartan)

The Go-Go'due south sense of playful subversion extended to their sendup of glamorous embrace photos on their striking debut, Beauty & The Beat . Information technology was their party; you could join if they let y'all.

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84: Dr. Dre: The Chronic (blueprint past Michael Benabib)

This famous anthology cover did wonders with its unproblematic strategy. On his Dr. Dre'south solo debut The Chronic , the design 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 embrace character that appears on Quincy Jones' genre-blending solo debut. Q always had an ear for talent – as his cross-cultural LP proved – but he too had an eye for design. (He spotted the eponymous "Dude" statue at an art gallery and took information technology home for inspiration.)

82: Cocteau Twins: Sky or Las Vegas (pattern by Paul West)

The design-centric 4AD label did some of its finest work for the Cocteau Twins album covers. This shimmering image is undeniably beautiful, yet yous never know just what it ways…merely similar their music.

81: James Brown: Hell (design by Joe Belt)

Arriving one yr after his milestone album The Payback , Brownish delivered the double-album Hell, which called out societal ills both on record and on the elaborately illustrated comprehend. Designed past artist Joe Chugalug, who made his name capturing the characters of the Wild Westward, Belt trained his aim on another dark chapter of American history, depicting fallen soldiers, addicts, and an imprisoned populace. Ane of the most famous funk album covers always.

fourscore: Slayer: Reign in Blood (design by Larry Carroll)

One of the greatest metal covers ever designed, designer Larry Carroll packed a thousand nightmares into this Bosch-similar painting for Slayer's thrash masterpiece Reign in Blood , which influenced metallic imagery for decades to come.

79: King Ruby-red: In the Court of the Scarlet King (design by Barry Godber)

Robert Fripp saw this dramatic painting after In the Court of the Ruddy Male monarch was completed and knew it perfectly suited the music, with the crazed cover effigy every bit the 21st century schizoid human being. Sadly, the artist passed away simply months afterwards.

78: Moby Grape: Wow (design by Bob Cato)

One of the psych era's nifty hallucinations, the famous album comprehend for Moby Grape's 1968 double LP Wow showed an otherworldly landscape with the world's largest agglomeration of grapes. Wow indeed.

77: Kayne Westward: Yeezus (design by Kanye West and Virgil Abloh)

One of the most famous album covers of recent vintage. Kanye Westward brings the minimalist "White Anthology" concept to the CD era. Yous could likewise see Yeezus every bit the last celebration of the physical CD before it disappeared.

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76: Elvis Presley: 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Incorrect (design past Bob Jones)

Ultra-cool Elvis (in his shiny gilt Nudie suit) gets multiplied in one of the most enduring early 60s images and greatest anthology covers. If there are that many Elvis fans, we will, of grade, need xv Elvises.

75: Blackness Flag: My War (design by 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 album itself.

74: Talking Heads: Speaking in Tongues (design by Robert Rauschenberg)

The brainchild of the Talking Heads' cute, moving-parts cover for their 1983 tape Speaking in Tongues couldn't accept meliorate represented the music within. It would take been rated higher if the matter wasn't and then tough to shop.

73: The Mothers of Invention: We're But In It for the Money (blueprint past Cal Schenkel)

Frank Zappa wrapped his skewering of hippie civilization We're Only In It for the Money in an equally vicious parody of the famous Sgt. Pepper album encompass to great success.

72: The Pogues: Peace and Love (design past Simon Ryan)

One of the greatest joke album covers, the boxer was already a perfect prototype for the Pogues, simply don't miss the subtle fleck of play here. (The word "peace" of course has five letters.)

71: Rush: Moving Pictures (design by Hugh Syme)

Blitz's greatest album covers expressed both their grand concepts and their cerebral sense of humor. In this staged embrace for Moving Pictures , which features many of the characters from the songs, we detect at least three different visual plays on the album's championship.

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70: The Beatles: Abbey Road (design by John Kosh)

Equally it turns out, The Beatles were just too lazy to get to Mt. Everest – aye, that was the original plan – so they came upwards with something just every bit memorable by leaving the studio and crossing the street, resulting in the famous Abbey Road album embrace. Information technology's since gone washed equally one of the greatest of all time.

69: Marvin Gaye: I Desire You (design by Ernie Barnes)

All of Marvin Gaye's cool anthology covers are works of fine art in a way, but Ernie Barnes'due south 'Sugar Shack,' which graces the comprehend of I Want You , is the only one currently hanging in a museum. Barnes'south sensual figures and jubilant dancers reflected the carnal nature of Gaye'southward 1976 anthology.

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68: Joe Jackson: I'm the Human (design by Michael Ross)

There's plenty of punk mental attitude on Joe Jackson's album cover for I'm the Man, where he portrays the hero of the championship song – a sleazy character who'll sell yous anything – as long as you don't really need information technology.

67: The Beatles: Yesterday and Today (pattern by Robert Whitaker)

Okay, so it was a little graphic and provocative, but as the single nearly controversial thing The Beatles e'er did (and the most expensive for an original), the encompass of Yesterday and Today surely earns a identify on a list of the greatest album covers.

66: Alice Cooper: School'southward Out (design by Craig Braun)

There were nearly as many copies of Alice Cooper's School'south Out in 1970s high schools as at that place were actual school desks. 10 points if you got the original with the underwear inner sleeve.

65: Aerosmith: Draw the Line (blueprint by Al Hirshfeld)

Anyone who went to plays or read the New York Times in the 70s will recognize the work of the line-drawing caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, who did his magic on Aerosmith'southward members hither. As always, his daughter Nina'southward name was hidden a few times in this famous album embrace.

64: Eric B. & Rakim: Paid in Full (design by Ron Contarsy)

Between the rappers' Gucci-style outfits and the piles of money in the background, the cover for Eric B. and Rakim'south sophomore anthology Paid in Full said it all nigh going bigtime in 1987 and is considered one of the greatest anthology covers in hip-hop.

63: Joy Sectionalisation: Unknown Pleasures (pattern by Peter Saville)

The cover of Joy Sectionalization's 1979 debut record is an actual depiction of radio waves. This stark black-and-white cover became then iconic that it'due south now worn proudly on T-shirts by teens who've never heard of the band.

62: Funkadelic: Maggot Brain (photo by Joel Brodsky, design by The Graffiteria/Paula Bisacca)

P-funk's wild fusion of funk, surrealism, and pop art extended beyond music, resulting in some of the nigh provocative LP covers of the era. Model Barbara Cheeseborough's screaming visage on the cover captured the swirling chaos of the 70s and searing funk-rock of Maggot Brain.

61: Family: Fearless

Ah, the days when bands had the money to carry out their wildest ideas. The comprehend for the British prog-rock outfit Family's 1971 album is a multi-foldout caricature and features an early computer graphic, calculation the individual band photos to each other until they go the pretty blur at acme correct.

60: The Beatles: Meet the Beatles! (blueprint by Robert Freeman)

The somber, shadowed photo featured on both the US and UK anthology version of Meet The Beatles! was just the opposite of the smiling pic that everybody expected to see, and the outset of many carry-overs from the Beatles' art-school days.

59: Pink Floyd: Ummagumma (design past Hipgnosis)

Near of Pink Floyd's covers would be in the running for a list of the greatest album covers, but we wanted to highlight something that wasn't Nighttime Side of the Moon. This burst of Tempest Thorgerson / Hipgnosis imagination features iv versions of the same photograph (except that the band rotates 1 position in each), matching their sense of surrealism.

58: Metallica: …And Justice For All (pattern by Stephen Gorman)

Metallica's trademark mix of shock value and social commentary had few better expressions than this image of a modern have on Lady Justice for their famous 1988 album cover to …And Justice For All .

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57: The Mamas & The Papas: If Yous Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (design by Guy Webster)

With all 4 bandmembers together in a bathtub, the encompass said more than about The Mamas & The Papas than what was probably intended. The toilet on the original encompass of If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears also proved to be a no-no in 1966.

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56: Madonna: Madonna (design by Carin Goldberg)

All of Madonna'southward album covers are hit in their own way, but in that location'southward something special about her 1983 cocky-titled debut. She looks similar she can run across everything that's going to happen to her in the next 40 years.

55: 10cc: Ten Out Of 10 (design past Hipgnosis)

The cover for Ten Out Of 10 remains one of Hipgnosis' fiendishly clever 10cc covers and ane of their more disregarded albums. Hither they're on the 10th floor of a hotel continuing at the precipice, and simply one of the guys seems concerned almost it.

54: Thelonious Monk: Underground (photo by Horn Grinner Studios; art direction/blueprint: John Berg and Richard Mantel)

A nod to how Thelonious Monk must've felt as a pioneering jazz artist, Underground casts the pianist as a French Resistance fighter in WWII. Columbia Records fine art director John Berg was responsible for iconic covers similar Bob Dylan'south Greatest Hits and Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run, but this was probable one of his more expensive: They congenital an unabridged set, complete with costumed extras, to create Monk's arresting album cover.

53: Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin II (blueprint by David Juniper)

It was an art-schoolhouse friend of Jimmy Page's who created this mythic cover by superimposing the bandmembers over a famous shot of WWI German fighter pilot the "Red Businesswoman" and his coiffure. Many Americans wondered what Lucille Brawl was doing there but it was actually French extra Delphine Seyrig.

52: The Modest Faces: Ogden's Nut Gone Chip (design past Nick Tweddell and Pete Chocolate-brown)

Ane of the starting time circular covers, the tobacco-tin blueprint for this psychedelic gem stood out in the racks and prepared you for the cheerful surrealism of the anthology'due south chief suite.

51: Dave Bricklayer: Lone Together (design past Barry Feinstein and Tom Wilkes)

This album cover was more of a multimedia assemblage, incorporating the die-cut edges and the marble-swirled disc into the overall design and giving an instant visual image to the elevation-hatted Dave Bricklayer.

50: Elton John: Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Pianoforte Actor (design by David Larkham and Michael Ross)

Some of Elton'due south greatest album covers were a fleck splashy, others a lilliputian somber. The one for Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Thespian was just right, cartoon from his presently-to-be-legendary love of movies.

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49: Ian Dury: New Boots and Panties!! (design by Barney Bubbles)

1 of many neat Stiff Records album covers, this defenseless Ian Dury's personality and stood in stark contrast to the elaborate sleeves on the market at that time. Barney Bubbling also did the handwritten notes, oft mistaken for Dury'due south.

48: Dave Brubeck: Time Out (cover by Neil Fujita)

Dave Brubeck's 1959 album Time Out is likely the almost famous use of pop art on a jazz cover. In this case, the interlocking geometric shapes are a visual answer to the album'due south 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 anthology Switched-On Bach was unlike anything people had seen (or heard) before in 1968. Equally the first classical album to go platinum in America, Carlos helped to bring Bach… to the time to come. Raise your mitt if you as well thought the cat was a caput of lettuce.

46: Pink Floyd: Animals (design by Hipgnosis)

Not every band would fly a pig over Battersea Ability Station, but few other bands would brand an album that absolutely called for it.

45: Hüsker Dü: Warehouse: Songs and Stories (design by Daniel Corrigan, Hüsker Dü)

The anthology cover for Hüsker Dü'south final studio album is one of those cases where a cover is exactly like the album: vivid, colorful and jarring in a welcoming style.

44: Chelsea Wolfe: Hiss Spun (design by John Crawford)

Like all goth-influenced artists, Chelsea Wolfe has a strong sense of the dramatic. The coiled-upwardly body on the cover of her 2017 anthology embodies all the personal changes the songs bargain with.

43: Blondie: Parallel Lines (design by Ramey Communications)

The great thing about the famous Blondie Parallel Lines anthology cover isn't merely the black-and-white composition but the way Debbie Harry (the only 1 not smiling) exudes power, while all the guys look a bit goofy.

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42: Utopia: Swing to the Right (design by John Wagman)

This Reagan-era concept album makes its visual point by using a photograph 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 album they're burning is the very 1 they're standing in.

41: Taylor Swift: 1989 (blueprint 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 image on 1989 's cover was an easy one for her fans to re-create, and they did.

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40: Humble Pie: Rock On (design by John Kelly)

Why in the world did Humble Pie get a bunch of policemen to form a human pyramid? Considering they could, of grade.

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 band's drummer – represents various personal dreams of the ring members.

38: PJ Harvey: To Bring You My Love (design past Valerie Phillips)

Information technology may be a more glamorous comprehend after her first two, merely this photo of PJ Harvey – in which she could easily be mistaken for Shakespeare'due south Ophelia – implied that a newer, softer prototype comes at a price.

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37: Oasis: Definitely Maybe (design by Brian Cannon)

Their debut anthology pictured Oasis in the globe'south coolest crash pad, showing every band of the era how it ought to be living.

36: Grace Jones: Island Life (design past Jean-Paul Goude)

Graphic designer and art director Jean-Paul Goude met his friction match, and his muse, with Grace Jones. Goude's visual re-imagining of the androgynous singer led to some of the best album 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. "Able-bodied, artistic, and alien."

35: A Tribe Called Quest: Midnight Marauders (photo by Terrence A Reese, pattern past Nick Gamma)

Like a proto XXL "Freshman Class", the three alternating covers of A Tribe Telephone call Quest's classic third 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 past Q-Tip, the Afrocentric cover came to fruition with the help of Nick Gamma, the former art director at Jive Records.

34: Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (design by Desmond Strobel)

Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood looked impeccably fashionable doing whatever it was they were doing on the famous Rumours anthology comprehend. Information technology's off-white that the cover was a little mysterious since the songs revealed everything else.

33: Steely Dan: Pretzel Logic (pattern by Raeanne Rubenstein)

Though Steely Dan was long associated with Los Angeles, the cover for Pretzel Logic (actually shot at Fifth Avenue and 79th Street) looks, feels, and tastes like New York.

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32: Smashing Pumpkins: Admire (design by Yelena Yemchuk)

Smashing Pumpkins' album covers were often softer and prettier than the music, but this cover (created by Billy Corgan's then-girlfriend) is the perfect translation of the obsessively romantic theme of Admire.

31: Ohio Players: Climax (blueprint by Joel Brodsky)

All the Ohio Players covers were legendary, and the early Westbound ones were considerably more daring than the striking-era ones for Mercury. As the ring often claimed, fewer people would have bought the albums if they'd put themselves on the covers.

30: The Louvin Brothers: Satan is Real (blueprint past Ira Louvin)

Modern death metallic bands got goose egg on country duo The Louvin Brothers, who went to the inferno in 1959 and looked bully in white suits while doing information technology.

29: David Bowie: Heroes (design by Masayoshi Sukita)

David Bowie has at to the lowest degree five of the most iconic anthology covers of all time. From the lightning bolt on Aladdin Sane to Ziggy Stardust, information technology'due south difficult to pick. Merely the sublime strangeness of this David Bowie photo tells you everything yous need to know about the creative madness of his Berlin catamenia. The cover was memorably defaced past Bowie himself decades later.

28: Kate Bush-league: The Boot Within (pattern by Jay Myrdal)

The more than unremarkably known United states cover is nice enough but makes it expect like a conventional singer-songwriter album and Kate Bush is anything but. Nosotros're referring to the original United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland "kite" cover that introduced the strangeness and sensuality that Bush was all about.

27: Janelle Monáe: Dirty Calculator (design by Joe Perez )

The perfect cover for a cool, sensual and futuristic concept album, this captures Janelle Monáe's depth and mystery and is a cute piece of art in its own right.

26: Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (design past Mati Klarwein)

Since Miles Davis' Bitches Brew sounded like no other previous jazz albums, it couldn't look like i either. It took a German painter schooled in surrealism to create its mix of African folk art and psychedelia.

25: David Bowie: The Side by side Day (pattern past Jonathan Barnbrook)

Every fan did an immediate double-accept when they saw Bowie'southward human activity of self-sabotage here. By defacing the Heroes cover, Bowie found the nigh dramatic way of saying "that was and so, this is now".

24: Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick (design past Roy Eldridge)

Largely written by bandmembers Ian Anderson, John Evan, and Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (with help from Chrysalis staffer and former announcer Roy Eldridge), the famous newspaper comprehend of Thick as a Brick is full of cross-references and cognitive wit – only like the music – and Anderson said information technology took only every bit much work.

23: Nirvana: Nevermind (design by Robert Fisher)

The image of a baby grasping at a dollar bill became one of grunge's coolest and most enduring symbols, an anthology 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'southward Next (pattern by Ethan Russell)

The iconic embrace for Who's Next worked on two levels: first as a futuristic prototype of The Who against a monolith; and second, when you noticed their zippers and realized what the guys had been doing.

21: Uriah Heep: The Magician'due south Birthday (design by Roger Dean)

This cover is Roger Dean at his virtually brilliant. When you walked into a record shop, you could run into this album clear beyond the room.

20: Cream: Disraeli Gears (cover by Martin Sharp)

Psychedelic album covers were an art form in themselves, and the explosion of color (with the band looking suitably avuncular) made Cream's Disraeli Gears one of the definitive ones. The designer as well wrote one of the album's most vivid lyrics on "Tales of Brave Ulysses."

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19: Santana: Lotus (blueprint past Tadanori Yokoo)

You don't necessarily get a thing of rare beauty when you load a cover with as many fold-out panels and elaborate paintings equally an 11-inch disc can hold, but Santana certainly did in this case, cheers to famed Japanese designer Tadanori Yokoo. Recorded live during Santana's performances in Osaka, Japan, the total sleeve art is an amalgamation of Buddhist and Christian imagery, forth with Yokoo'southward signature popular art style.

xviii: 10cc: How Dare You! (design by Hipgnosis)

The ubiquitous Hipgnosis team outdid itself with this ultra-clever 10cc sleeve, which is not but inspired by one of the songs (the phone sexual activity-themed "Don't Hang Upward") but is full of hidden gags, with the same people turning up in each of the four main photos.

17: XTC: Go 2 (design by Hipgnosis)

Some other Hipgnosis chore, the famous album cover for XTC'south Go 2 boasts a dense block of typed copy that taunts and messes with the album buyer's head. No wonder the clever lads in XTC loved it.

xvi: Bruce Springsteen: Built-in to Run (design by Eric Meola)

It's hard to pick i Bruce Springsteen embrace, when so many have ascended to iconic status. It could have simply equally easily been Born in the Usa, with its Annie Liebovitz photo and Bruce in a white t-shirt and blueish jeans in front of an American flag. We decided to go instead with this kinetic photo that captured the camaraderie of the band and the sense of stone'due north'roll mission. While the album made an instant star out of Springsteen, the cover did the same for Eastward Street Band's sax man Clarence Clemons.

fifteen: Ramones: Ramones (pattern by Roberta Bayley)

The encompass of The Ramone'southward 1976 self-titled debut is pure punk rock in all its black-and-white grittiness. A good cover became a corking one the moment when a bored Johnny Ramone decided to give the photographer the finger.

14: Pixies: Surfer Rosa (design by Vaughan Oliver)

The Pixies' debut embrace is sexy, sinister, and full of secret meanings, starting with a vintage-looking softcore photo that was staged for the embrace shoot.

xiii: Yes: Relayer (design by Roger Dean)

Roger Dean'due south fantasy paintings became as much a office of prog-rock iconography as the music. He fittingly put his coolest album cover on Yes' most creative album, an icy winterscape that illuminates the album's war-and-peace theme.

12: Frank Sinatra: Come up Fly With Me (design past Jon Jonson)

Each ane of Sinatra'south Capitol-era album covers was cool and classic in its own way, from the lonely scenes on the ballad albums to the visual swagger on the swingers. The cover of Come Wing With Me caught both Sinatra's natural charisma and the allure of the jet-ready era.

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eleven: Patti Smith: Horses (pattern by Robert Mapplethorpe)

If Horses wasn't enough to make Patti Smith an instant icon of maverick cool, the Robert Mapplethorpe album cover certainly was. Nobody ever slung a jacket over their shoulder that well.

10: Talking Heads: Little Creatures (design past Howard Finster)

Howard Finster's uniquely Southern folk art was a perfect friction match for Talking Heads' dorsum-to-roots album (and for R.Eastward.One thousand.'due south Reckoning around the same time). While some of Finster's piece of work had a darker streak, for this album he accordingly chose sunshine and wonderment.

9: John Coltrane: Bluish Train (design by Reid Miles, photo by  Francis Wolff)

About of the classic Blue Notation covers were full of brilliant graphics and exuberant photos (and lots of exclamation marks!). Non so with John Coltrane's Blue Train, whose cool album cover photo and mood lighting marked information technology as a piece of work to have seriously.

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8: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass: Whipped Cream & Other Delights (design by Peter Whorf Graphics)

This iconic anthology cover said information technology all about coy mid-60s sexuality, bachelor-pad style. Despite its daring appearance, if you looked closely, the whipped-foam clad model was actually wearing a nuptials apparel.

7: Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly (photo by Denis Rouvre, design past Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free)

Finding album art that captured the genre-pushing ambition of To Pimp A Butterfly was a alpine social club, only Kendrick Lamar and TDE were up to the job, equally Yard 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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6: The Rolling Stones: Allow It Bleed (design by Robert Brownjohn)

The Rolling Stones always had cool, attention-grabbing anthology covers. But while Sticky Fingers has a great story, Let It Bleed was equally unique and surreal. Taking its inspiration from the album's original championship Automatic Changer, the front has the anthology on a turntable stacked with all sorts of other things. Nosotros assume the mess on the behind happened after someone pressed "outset."

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five: Large Blood brother & the Holding Company: Cheap Thrills (design by R. Crumb)

Arguably the coolest 60s album encompass of all, the art for Big Brother & the Holding Visitor's sophomore record was also most people'southward introduction to the fashion of underground comic art perfected past R. Crumb. This style of art would exist associated with psychedelic music from here on out, though Crumb was a fleck anti-hippie himself.

four: The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper'southward Lonely Hearts Gild Band (design by Peter Blake)

Peter Blake'south pop-art assemblage on Sgt. Pepper'due south famous anthology inverse record covers forever, and kept many of united states of america occupied for weeks trying to identify everybody at the ceremony.

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3: Elvis Presley: Elvis Presley (design by Robertson & Fresch)

RCA wasted no time in cleaning up Elvis, who'd look completely respectable on all hereafter albums. Meanwhile, his debut allowed him to look similar the crazed hillbilly everyone'southward parents feared he was, captured in mid-vocal at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Florida. Which of form leads us to…

2: The Clash: London Calling (photo by Pennie Smith, pattern past Ray Lowry)

A rare example where a parody (of the above Elvis comprehend) becomes a piece of work of art in itself. The effortlessly cool anthology encompass epitome of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his guitar practically screams rock'north'roll, just like the music inside.

1: The Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique (blueprint by Nathaniel Hornblower/Jeremy Shatan)

This cute, panoramic view of Ludlow Street in NYC on the album cover of Paul'southward Boutique did everything possible to put you right into the Beastie Boys' world, making it look both funky and inviting. It besides made it essential to own the original, fold-out vinyl.

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Looking for more? Notice the worst album covers of all fourth dimension.

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Source: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/the-100-greatest-album-covers/

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