The 30 most emblematic music album covers of all time

These images of artists of each kind resisted the test of time.


Music is intrinsically not a visual medium, and yet there are countless images which have become as emblematic as the songs they accompany. When you think about Sgt. PEPPER SOLARITY COURSURS GROUP , for example, you don't just hear John, Paul, George and Ringo - You also imagined them, all dressed in pop-art ornaments surrounded by countless cutouts of famous people. It is a famous and beloved album cover, and it is barely The only LP whose art has the reputation of corresponding to music on the album. To summarize this illustrious story, we have drawn up this list 30 of the best album covers of all time.

Although there are tons of records with works of art beautiful or interesting on them, the following albums have art which has become really seminal - generally universally recognized cultural touches. Read the rest to see if your favorite has made the list.

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1
1989 By Taylor Swift (2014)

Big Machine Records

Taylor Swift said She deliberately cut half of her face In the Polaroid, which adorns the cover of its fifth album.

"I didn't want people to know the emotional DNA of this album," she said to Time . "I didn't want them to see a smiling image on the blanket and think it was a happy album, or see a sad facial expression and think, oh, it's another break in rupture." Gambit worked -1989 It was a change for the singer-songwriter, who had previously been more focused on the country, and that helped her launch at even higher celebrity levels.

2
Abbey Road by the Beatles (1969)

Apple

Abbey Road is the first of the two albums of the Beatles to appear on this list, because not only are they one of the biggest and most popular groups of all time, they were also good enough to choose a visual identity for their records. Abbey Road watch John Lennon ,, Paul McCartney ,, George Harrison , And Ringo Starr Crossing the holder street where their recording studio was - an activity that is literally pedestrian, although the group still looks like rock stars.

In particular, neither the name of the album nor the name of the group are on the cover. It was just the Beatles Themsevles, which were so famous that there was nothing more than a clever image.

3
Aladdin Sane by David Bowie (1973)

RCA

David Bowie Sixth album did not just can canonize one of the most emblematic looks of the legendary musician, with the makeup of lightning on his face. It was also at some point the most expensive album cover of all time , intentionally thus, because Bowie and his manager wanted to ensure that his label would strongly promote the record so that exorbitant expenses are worth it. The high price of the photo, which was taken by the photographer Brian Duffy , came from an elaborate and expensive color transfer process using a seven -colored system rather than the normal four.

4
Sluts are preparing by Miles Davis (1970)

Colombia

Miles Davis' 1969 seminal album Sluts are preparing is a masterful work of Jazz Fusion, it should therefore only have a masterful work of Visual Art Fusion for its album cover. French surrealist painter Malti Klarwein paints the blanket , a tripping and magnificent image of two figures looking over the sea and another larger face sweating in profile on them. There is fire and water; Light and dark, and yet, due to the style of Klarewein's painting, these forces seem to be perfectly mixing although they are opposed.

5
Born in the United States. by Bruce Springsteen (1984)

Colombia

Bruce Springsteen once certifies that Born in the United States. blanket The fact that it was doing it was because "in the end, the image of my [explanive] looked better than the image of my face." He is not wrong, but there is also something important to have only his back in front of an American flag. He is both training and subversive in the same way as the lyrics of the title song.

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6
The dark side of the moon by Pink Floyd (1973)

Harvest / Capitol

A radius of narrow light on a black background strikes a triangle and explodes in a rainbow prism of colors in the art of Pink Floyd's album in 1973. Created by the artist George Hardie And the hipgnosis design group, the image was inspired by an image of light refracting through a prism that one of the designers had seen in a manual, and it was the unanimous choice of the group for art From the album when presented with some potential options. They chose properly, because minimalist art has reached legendary status.

7
Elvis Presley by Elvis Presley (1956)

RCA Victor

It is not surprising that the art album for Elvis Presley Epitry in 1956 Inspired imitators - including a lower on this list. With a photo of the king doing his thing, flanked on the left and the bottom by his first and his surname in a font bases in pink and green, the visual identity Elvis Presley Instantly vehicle the charisma and the confidence of the young musician. It is emblematic for a reason.

8
State enema by Blink-182 (1999)

MCA

Many of the most emblematic album covers of all time are high -level works of art, selected and thoughtful. It is not that of Blink-182 State enema , which presents the art album as juvenile as its title. Janine Lindemulder , an adult movie star is Dressed in sexy nurse Put a glove by looking at the spectator. It is rude but knowingly, above all, which makes it perfectly adapted to the songs aware of the album, many of which have words on stopped development and a feeling of pathos under explosions of adolescents.

9
Fear of a black planet by Public Enemy (1990)

Def Jam / Columbia

The public pioneer enemy of the public hip-hop group stretched out BE. Johnson , a specialist in rockets and illustrator of NASA, to bring his science fiction vision for their third album cover. The cover represents the holder black planet which begins to eclipse the earth, and although Johnson said that he had scruples on the scientific invauvisibility of physics in the scenario that the rapper Chuck D Described, he dropped, leading to an emblematic album cover.

10
Horses by Patti Smith (1975)

ARISTA

Robert Mapplethorpe took the photo of Patti Smith For the cover of his first album, in the process, perhaps documenting the coolest that everyone has ever watched. The artist, who is dressed and stylized a little androgynemously, later said she was channeling Frank Sinatra and French poet Charles Baudelaire When she struck the pose, resulting in a visual which rejected the male look and rather suggested something much more intriguing and powerful.

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11
If you read this, it's too late by Drake (2015)

Ovo / young money / cash / Republic

Drake The fourth mixtape was a surprise outing in early 2015, and you would be forgiven to think that the people in charge of the design of the album were just as surprised as the rapper's fans. There is nothing in the cover that the title, scribbled in a curiously distinct writing on a few little hands of prayer. Despite (or perhaps because) of apparently slapdash minimalism of If you read this, it's too late The cover, it has become an emblematic piece of art album. The police, considered to be a drake writing, also has become a meme .

12
In the courtyard of the crimson king by King Crimson (1969)

Island / Atlantic / For example.

The painful face that appears on the cover of the first album of King Crimson is painful and enigmatic - a Rock Progres taking Mona Lisa is the famous smile. Painting has become a classic because of the amount of mystery that the face transmits. Unfortunately, Barry Godber ,, The artist who painted the cover For his friend, King Crimson Founder Peter Sinfield , died of a heart attack at the age of 24, just a few months after the album released, which means that there are answers to find behind this expression, we will never learn them.

13
Island life By Grace Jones (1985)

Island

It looks like pose Grace Jones Made on the cover of his 1985 Greatest Hits album should be anatomically impossible. It is because it is essentially, and the image, taken by his partner then Jean-Paul GOUDE , is a composition of several images, which gives it an arabesque and powerful atmosphere. And yet, because it is Jones - such a talented and striking figure - you do not suspect that the image has been modified. If someone could look like that, it's her. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

14
Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin (1969)

Atlantic

Led Zeppelin took its name from a conversation Jimmy Page had in which the one who is Keith Moon And John Entwistle joked a group "Would go like a lead ball". The cover of their first album of 1969 rightly presents the most sadly famous Zeppelin in history, using a photo of the Hindenburg disaster, passion in 1937. Maybe it's a bit on the nose, But the image is indeed striking, and fortunately for Led Zeppelin, the group has not crushed and has not burned.

15
Live through this By Hole (1994)

DGC

Model Bishop of Leilani appears on the second album of Hole, Live through this , the air delighted but also somewhat broken when she crowned the winner of a beauty contest. It is an extremely powerful image that takes up the challenge of being a woman in America, and she is all the more significant by the way she contrasts with the image at the back of the album; A snapshot from Frontwoman Courtney Love Taken when she was a little girl living in rural regions of Oregon.

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16
London's call By the shock (1979)

CBS / Epic

The lettering that explains the name of the third studio album of the Clash is a direct tribute to a previous album cover on this list, the eponymous beginnings of Elvis Presley. Elvis gives off a very different atmosphere on this cover that the bass player Paul Simonon is on London's call . The picture , which depicts Simonon breaking the bass fender precision in frustration, is perhaps the emblematic image of rock and-roll.

17
Low -end theory by a tribe called Quest

Swing

The cover of the second -year album of a tribe calls for a painting, and it is technically. Looking more closely, you can see that it is actually A photograph of a model which was painted with brilliant Afrocentric colors. It is complex, powerful, clever and mature in all good manners, just like the revolutionary hip-hop group.

18
Mélan Collie and infinite sadness by Pumpkins Smashing (1995)

Virgin

Singer Billy Corgan I wanted a Victorian style painting for the cover of the third album of the Smashing Pumpkins, so he turned to the illustrator John Craig . The woman coming out of a star on the blanket of is actually a collage made of two paintings: The memory (loyalty) by Jean-Baptiste Greuze and Master of the Renaissance Raphael's portrait of Saint Catherine of Alexandria . It is classic, artistic and slightly discordant - not unlike the Alt -Rock group.

19
Nevermind by Nirvana (1991)

Nirvana's
Universal music group

Nirvana's second -year record has what must be the most famous and best known emblematic album cover of all time. He presents a little boy, naked, swimming in the water after a dollar ticket on a hook. Spencer Elden , the boy whose image appeared on a massively popular album, Wish 30 years later , alleging that it was taken without his consent and had caused him "lifetime damage". The case is underway.

20
Odelay by Beck (1996)

DGC / Bong load

The craziest thing in the cover of Beck The fifth album is that the hairy creature jumping over an obstacle is a real animal. It is a komondor, a very distinctive race of Hungarian chouton, and The photo initially honored the cover of a 1977 issue of American Kennel Club Gazette . Combined with the excited police speaking the name of the album, which is a riff on the Mexican slang "óral", the record cover has a fanciful exuberance which corresponds to the music inside.

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21
Purple rain by Prince (1984)

Warner Bros.

Prince Sixth album is the soundtrack of the film of the same name, so it was particularly important that the disc has an excellent visual for the art of the album. Of course, the artist delivered. Wearing an emblematic purple costume, seated at the top of a purple bike and the tune incredibly cool, Prince looks at the spectator on a smoked street in New York. (In reality, A set on the backlot of Warner Bros. Studio In Los Angeles.) The image is flanked by flowers, a little confidence that only Prince could withdraw.

22
Rumors By Fleetwood Mac (1977)

Warner Bros.

By taking a closer look at the cover of the 1977 Fleetwood Mac album Rumors , we don't know what, exactly, Stevie Nicks And Mick Fleetwood do. What first resembles a dance or the prelude to a loving embrace is actually a much stranger pose, with Fleetwood walking on a small stool with cuts draped on him. He also has two small balls hanging on his belt, strangely. There is much more in this aesthetically pleasant image than to meet the eye initially, just like the complicated relationship of group comrades was more.

23
The Velvet Underground and Nico by the Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

Verve

Although most of the physical copies of the album that have been reprinted recently do not have this functionality (to say nothing of the digital miniatures that you see on Spotify or another streaming service), the original coverage of the Underground Velvet and Nico's first album by Nico presented a Andy warhol to print of a banana that you could really peel. Remove the sticker and there was another image of the fruit below. Even without this special characteristic, the cover remains a classic, combining the work of a large group with the work of a great visual artist.

24
Sgt. PEPPER SOLARITY COURSURS GROUP by the Beatles (1967)

Album art for
Capitol

The Fab Four, all wearing the outfits of bright colors conductor, stand at the center of the cover of their 1967 album. They are surrounded by more than 50 life -size cuts of various celebrities and public figures, especially Edgar Allen Poe ,, Marilyn Monroe ,, Albert Einstein , And T.E. Lawrence , A.K.A. "Lawrence of Arabia". It's a bit of extravagant and avant-garde pop art that has been parodied several times in the years that followed.

25
Stankonia by Outkast (2000)

Laface / ARISTA

While the previous albums of Outkast Atliens And Aquemini borrowed from the aesthetics of comics for their covers with complex and infused illustrations of gender, Stankonia is minimalist. Big boy And André 3000 Stay in front of a black and white flag with black and white clothes. As a visual, it is simultaneously with low effort and high concept, which makes it an appropriate coverage for the disc, which is complex and deep without ever losing the essential game of Outkast.

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26
Sticky fingers by the Rolling Stones (1971)

Rolling stones

The art that adorned the ninth album of the Rolling Stones, which struck the shelves in 1971, is almost a piece of fashion photography as much as a record blanket. Intended to capitalize on the insinuations of the title of the album, the cover presents a close -up shot taken by Andy Warhol of an unknown model Porter jeans. A real zipper - not just a photo of one - was attached to the blanket, and you can in fact decompress it to reveal the underwear below.

27
Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. (1988)

Merciless / priority

N.W.A. was not the first group of Hip-Hop Gangsta Rap, but they were certainly one of the most influential, and not only because of their sound. The cover of their first album, Straight Outta Compton , represent the six members of the group looking at the camera, with EAZY-E Pointing a weapon on the spectator. It is a powerful and provocative image.

28
For Pimp a butterfly by Kendrick Lamar (2015)

TDE / Aftermath / Interscope

The cover of Kendrick Lamar's 2015 masterful album For Pimp a butterfly is as much a work of art as the music, representing a group of black men posing and organizing a feast of noisy victory in front of the White House on the apparently killed body of a white judge. It's a provocative image , and the one who feels more than won, especially given the themes that Lamar tapped.

29
Unknown pleasures By Joy Division (1979)

Factory

The art that honored the cover of Joy Division's first album is so emblematic that it transcended the disc. Right now, there is probably someone who has a Mickey Mouse T-shirt under official license that Disney has done Parodier the album Who does not realize that this parodies an album in the first place. Original art is adapted from an image taken in 1967 by a Cambridge student named Jocelyn Bell Burnell , and it represents radio emissions given by a "rotary neutron star" or pulsar.

30
Yankee Hotel FOxtrot by Wilco (2001)

Incomparable

Sam Jones took the photo of Marina City - a pair of Distinctive towers on the Chicago River Built in the 60s - for the cover of the acclaimed album Yankee Hotel FOxtrot , and in doing so, changed the familiar name from the benchmark to "The Wilco Towers". These are striking buildings and it is a striking image, with just the top of the towers which stealthily from the bottom of the album cover at an angle.


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