wearing their art on_their sleeves: 23 album covers that changed everything by Chris Smith
Long before MTV, performers expressed the visual dimension of their art through their album covers. Every music fan has his/her favorites, but several covers stand out for their brilliance, their impact and their ability to make as much of a statement as the music they represent. Every art form has its giants, and album cover art is no exception. The work of the designers featured here spans over 40 years of music.
THE SIXTIES: Before the 1960s, most albums featured portraits of musicians, instruments or musicians playing instruments. But the 1960s spirit of exploration and experimentation found its way into music and, consequently, onto album covers.
1967 The Beatles, Sgt.Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band The Beatles album covers act as a kind of scrapbook for their mythmaking career: a serious With the Beatles, a hippie-esque Rubber Soul, a stripped down The White Album, and a funeral procession on Abbey Road. Each is a testament to the bands creativity and insight into their culture. Yet no single album cover defines its era and its artists more than 1967s Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
As with any good cult artifact, stories built around the album: Was Paul McCartney dead? (No.) Are the figures cardboard cutouts? (Yes.) Are those pot plants? (No.) The album was also legendarily difficult to executesecuring the faces of the bands heroes and influences, from Alistair Crowley to guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogiwas a logistical nightmare. Finding photographs of everyone, blowing them up to specifications and tinting them with color all turned out to be well worth the effort, however. The album became the single most recognizable (and, according to many, the greatest) album cover of all time.
1965 Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, Whipped Cream & Other Delights This concept album pushed the 1960s envelope all the way to the fridge. Every song on the album is named for some kind of food, something the cover model seems to be enjoying in a more than metaphorical way. This was Herb Alberts most successful album, but whether the songs or cover sold the album has yet to be determined.
1969 Grateful Dead, Aoxomoxoa Its an iconic example of psychedelic art by one of the giants of the genre, graphic artist and California surfer, Rick Griffin. The band met Griffin backstage after a concert and fell in love with his style. In fact, they were so sure of his talent that they gave him total artistic freedom for the cover. Griffin also designed the first masthead for Rolling Stone.
1967 The Doors, Strange Days With this album, The Doors touched on the decades surrealism with a Fellini-esque circus, but still escaped the psychedelia that typified its generation. The covers zoo of characters were a mix of professionals, amateurs and friends. The juggler is the photographers assistant. The trumpet player in the background was a cab driver who agreed to pose for $5 right before the image was shot.
1969 Blind Faith, Blind Faith By the end of the decade, idealism had given way to cynicism, yet this album offered a strange vision of hope. A maiden in the nude, holding a silver spaceship matted onto a pastoral setting, forms a metaphorical union of innocence and achievement, life and knowledge, uncharacteristic of the decade that spawned it.
THE SEVENTIES: The stylistic fragmentation of the 1960s continued in the 1970s. Bands like Pink Floyd, Yes and Led Zeppelin claimed musicand their respective album coverswere definitely a trip.
>>Lots more after the jump!
1971 The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers Rock n roll is sometimes used as a euphemism for sex, so its no wonder that the crotch has been the centerpiece of countless album covers. Yet, The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers is the most famous and innovative example.
Sticky Fingers stands out as the best album cover of the decade. The cover features an Andy Warhol photograph of a well-endowed young man (contrary to legend, it was not Mick Jagger). A working zipper on the mans pants could be opened to reveal another shot of the model, this time in his skivvies. The zipper left its mark on the album cover genre. Unfortunately, it also left its mark on the record itself (right in the middle of Sister Morphine).
1973 Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon The classic simplicity of the prism on Dark Side is partly derived from a textbook illustration designed to show how light passes through a prism to form a spectrum. In a science book, however, a prism spectrum has seven colors. The album cover only has six; they got rid of indigo simply because it looked too much like purple.
1977 Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks Heres the Sex Pistols Nothing sums up the punk ethos better than this album. Like the record itself, the cover resembles a ransom note (actually designed with cut-up newspaper bits), boldly proclaiming the Pistols had stolen the music industrys thunder and didnt plan on giving it back. The album was first refused in record shops because of the word bollocks, and the issue was later taken up in court.
1979 Supertramp, Breakfast in America This album reflects the English bands move to the United States and the cynicism that went along with it. A view of the Manhattan skyline, uncannily recreated with salt shakers, creamers, coffee mugs, egg cartons, napkin dispensers and silverware, stands behind a friendly waitress named Libby who offers you a tall glass of OJall through your airplane window. Good morning, indeed.
1979 The Clash, London Calling Punk thrust a rusted safety pin into the nostril of the bloated music industry with this one. London Calling juxtaposed the concept of a 1956 Elvis album with a blurry image of Paul Simonon smashing his bass. Incidentally, during the shoot, he smashed his watch in the process. Thats the price you pay for ripping on Elvis.
THE EIGHTIES: The 1980s offered an interesting contrast: Musically, the decade was both an extension of the excesses of the 1970s and a reaction to it. So what was the product of this conflict? The ability to stir up some controversy.
1988 Janes Addiction, Nothings Shocking This album was shocking in every way. A pair of Siamese twins joined at the hip and shoulder (actually plaster sculptures built by lead singer Perry Ferrell himself) sit naked on a love seat, their heads on fire.
According to Ferrell, its harder to get big flames burning on plaster twins than one might think. Nine national record chains refused to stock the album.
1980 Gamma, Gamma 2 This cover perfectly illustrates the fear that 1980s punk rock brought into the otherwise serene suburbs of America. Originally, the pair of feet in the bottom right corner of the cover were only those of a woman, but Electra Records felt the image might seem inflammatory to certain female customers. At the last minute, a pair of male feet were added to the cover.
1988 Prince, Lovesexy While heavy metal and punk were making waves in music during the 1980s, Prince pushed the envelope in a different direction. Celebrating both sexual freedom and ambiguity, Prince combined a feminine pose with overt phallic imagery. Believe it or not, the shot was spontaneous: the photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino suggested Prince go nude just before the session.
1983 Def Leppard, Pyromania This album made Tipper Gores filthy fifteen list when she crusaded against porn-rock in the mid-1980s. By organizing the Parents Music Resource Center, she encouraged the Recording Industry Association of America to adopt an explicit content labeling policy to protect minors.
THE NINETIES AND BEYOND: By the 1990s the CD had replaced the old vinyls of yesterday. While the classic square shape was back, the smaller size meant designers didnt have as much space with which to work. Time will tell what images from the 1990s will stake their claim as classics. Some are immediate standouts.
1991 Metallica, Metallica The rock band reflects their stripped-down sound with this none-more-black cover, known to fans simply as the black album. The album marked the bands transition from heavy metal to mainstream.
1990 Pixies, Bossanova The Pixies took their listeners to another world with Bossanova, mixing the old with the new and the new with the kitsch and retro. Pixies vocalist Frank Black claims he saw a UFO as a child and was always infatuated with outer space. In fact, the bands founding members decided to form the band while on a trip to New Zealand to see Halleys Comet.
1996 Beck, Odelay One of the decades strangest covers comes, fittingly, from one of its strangest artists. Becks album shows a Komondor, (a Hungarian sheepdog with a dreadlock-like coat), leaping over a hurdle. Its almost impossible to tell its a dog, but its even harder to forget.
1997 Prodigy, Fat of the Land The rise of electronica brought acts like Prodigy to the fore, which featured a crab with brandished claws, symbolic of their aggressive beats and attitudes. The image was chosen at the last minute as an illustration of the album title: a crab coming out of the sea to enjoy the bounty of the land.
AND SOME COVER ARTISTS YOU SHOULD MEET:
Andy Warhol: 1967 The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground and Nico Despite what it insinuates on the cover, the albums title is not Andy Warhol. Rather, the then-unknown The Velvet Underground used their well-known album artistof Warhols name created a persistent myth about The Velvets. Everybody thought Andy Warhol was the lead guitarist.
Reid Miles: 1962 Freddie Hubbard, Hub-Tones Reid Miles produced almost 500 graphically striking covers for Blue Note Records jazz acts like Freddie Hubbard. Apparently, Blue Note often didnt have the budget to print full-color album covers, so Miles was confined to using two colors. With his creativity and resourcefulness though, youd never know.
Neon Park XIII: 1970 The Mothers of Invention, Weasels Ripped My Flesh A painter, whose name is as colorful as his work, Park produced quirky paintings for Little Feat and the Beach Boys, and the infamous Weasels Ripped My Flesh for Frank Zappas band, The Mothers of Invention. This one was based on an ad for an electric shaver from a 1950s Life magazine.
Roger Dean: 1973 Yes, Tales From Topographic Oceans Influenced by John Michells The View Over Atlantiswhich argues the entire earth is connected via a single prehistoric ancient cultureand by P. Yoganandas Autobiography of a Yogi, Dean imagined otherworldly dreamscapes for prog-rock groups like Yes and Asia. In 1970, Dean also designed the first logo for a new record label, Virgin.
Hipgnosis (A British design pair led by Storm Thorgerson): 1975 Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here Hipgnosis produced widespread cover art, including Led Zepellins Houses of the Holy and over 20 Pink Floyd covers. In Wish You Were Here, the burning man shaking hands actually is on fire. At the photo shoot, the stunt man wore an asbestos suit and a wig, then doused himself with gasoline and lit a match.
-- Edited by garougal at 13:24, 2007-10-24
__________________
-- Heather: "I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!"
The Beatles album covers act as a kind of scrapbook for their mythmaking career: a serious With the Beatles, a hippie-esque Rubber Soul, a stripped down The White Album, and a funeral procession on Abbey Road. Each is a testament to the bands creativity and insight into their culture. Yet no single album cover defines its era and its artists more than 1967s Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
This concept album pushed the 1960s envelope all the way to the fridge. Every song on the album is named for some kind of food, something the cover model seems to be enjoying in a more than metaphorical way. This was Herb Alberts most successful album, but whether the songs or cover sold the album has yet to be determined.
Its an iconic example of psychedelic art by one of the giants of the genre, graphic artist and California surfer, Rick Griffin. The band met Griffin backstage after a concert and fell in love with his style. In fact, they were so sure of his talent that they gave him total artistic freedom for the cover. Griffin also designed the first masthead for Rolling Stone.
With this album, The Doors touched on the decades surrealism with a Fellini-esque circus, but still escaped the psychedelia that typified its generation. The covers zoo of characters were a mix of professionals, amateurs and friends. The juggler is the photographers assistant. The trumpet player in the background was a cab driver who agreed to pose for $5 right before the image was shot.
By the end of the decade, idealism had given way to cynicism, yet this album offered a strange vision of hope. A maiden in the nude, holding a silver spaceship matted onto a pastoral setting, forms a metaphorical union of innocence and achievement, life and knowledge, uncharacteristic of the decade that spawned it.
Rock n roll is sometimes used as a euphemism for sex, so its no wonder that the crotch has been the centerpiece of countless album covers. Yet, The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers is the most famous and innovative example.
The classic simplicity of the prism on Dark Side is partly derived from a textbook illustration designed to show how light passes through a prism to form a spectrum. In a science book, however, a prism spectrum has seven colors. The album cover only has six; they got rid of indigo simply because it looked too much like purple.
Nothing sums up the punk ethos better than this album. Like the record itself, the cover resembles a ransom note (actually designed with cut-up newspaper bits), boldly proclaiming the Pistols had stolen the music industrys thunder and didnt plan on giving it back. The album was first refused in record shops because of the word bollocks, and the issue was later taken up in court.
This album reflects the English bands move to the United States and the cynicism that went along with it. A view of the Manhattan skyline, uncannily recreated with salt shakers, creamers, coffee mugs, egg cartons, napkin dispensers and silverware, stands behind a friendly waitress named Libby who offers you a tall glass of OJall through your airplane window. Good morning, indeed.
Punk thrust a rusted safety pin into the nostril of the bloated music industry with this one. London Calling juxtaposed the concept of a 1956 Elvis album with a blurry image of Paul Simonon smashing his bass. Incidentally, during the shoot, he smashed his watch in the process. Thats the price you pay for ripping on Elvis.
This album was shocking in every way. A pair of Siamese twins joined at the hip and shoulder (actually plaster sculptures built by lead singer Perry Ferrell himself) sit naked on a love seat, their heads on fire.
This cover perfectly illustrates the fear that 1980s punk rock brought into the otherwise serene suburbs of America. Originally, the pair of feet in the bottom right corner of the cover were only those of a woman, but Electra Records felt the image might seem inflammatory to certain female customers. At the last minute, a pair of male feet were added to the cover.
While heavy metal and punk were making waves in music during the 1980s, Prince pushed the envelope in a different direction. Celebrating both sexual freedom and ambiguity, Prince combined a feminine pose with overt phallic imagery. Believe it or not, the shot was spontaneous: the photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino suggested Prince go nude just before the session.
This album made Tipper Gores filthy fifteen list when she crusaded against porn-rock in the mid-1980s. By organizing the Parents Music Resource Center, she encouraged the Recording Industry Association of America to adopt an explicit content labeling policy to protect minors.
The rock band reflects their stripped-down sound with this none-more-black cover, known to fans simply as the black album. The album marked the bands transition from heavy metal to mainstream.
The Pixies took their listeners to another world with Bossanova, mixing the old with the new and the new with the kitsch and retro. Pixies vocalist Frank Black claims he saw a UFO as a child and was always infatuated with outer space. In fact, the bands founding members decided to form the band while on a trip to New Zealand to see Halleys Comet.
One of the decades strangest covers comes, fittingly, from one of its strangest artists. Becks album shows a Komondor, (a Hungarian sheepdog with a dreadlock-like coat), leaping over a hurdle. Its almost impossible to tell its a dog, but its even harder to forget.
The rise of electronica brought acts like Prodigy to the fore, which featured a crab with brandished claws, symbolic of their aggressive beats and attitudes. The image was chosen at the last minute as an illustration of the album title: a crab coming out of the sea to enjoy the bounty of the land.
Despite what it insinuates on the cover, the albums title is not Andy Warhol. Rather, the then-unknown The Velvet Underground used their well-known album artistof Warhols name created a persistent myth about The Velvets. Everybody thought Andy Warhol was the lead guitarist.
Reid Miles produced almost 500 graphically striking covers for Blue Note Records jazz acts like Freddie Hubbard. Apparently, Blue Note often didnt have the budget to print full-color album covers, so Miles was confined to using two colors. With his creativity and resourcefulness though, youd never know.
A painter, whose name is as colorful as his work, Park produced quirky paintings for Little Feat and the Beach Boys, and the infamous Weasels Ripped My Flesh for Frank Zappas band, The Mothers of Invention. This one was based on an ad for an electric shaver from a 1950s Life magazine.
Influenced by John Michells The View Over Atlantiswhich argues the entire earth is connected via a single prehistoric ancient cultureand by P. Yoganandas Autobiography of a Yogi, Dean imagined otherworldly dreamscapes for prog-rock groups like Yes and Asia. In 1970, Dean also designed the first logo for a new record label, Virgin.
Hipgnosis produced widespread cover art, including Led Zepellins Houses of the Holy and over 20 Pink Floyd covers. In Wish You Were Here, the burning man shaking hands actually is on fire. At the photo shoot, the stunt man wore an asbestos suit and a wig, then doused himself with gasoline and lit a match.
