City Lights in It to Win It Album Art

The coolest, best, greatest, nearly iconic, most famous album covers of all-time. It doesn't actually matter what sort of adjective you want to put it in front of the words "album embrace," considering lists of this sort of are ever incredibly subjective. What we can say for sure, though, is that album covers are vitally important to how a tape is received by the public. (Information technology's hard to imagine Sgt. Pepper'south with the cover to the White Album and vice versa.) Even in today's digital age, a cool record embrace tin can take a huge touch. (Artists as varied equally Immature Thug and Drinking glass Animals can attest to that.) And so, without further ado, here is our selection of but 100 of the greatest record covers of all-time.

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

Bandleader Cyril Jordan'southward terrific comic art has turned up on numerous The Flamin' Groovies covers and posters over the decades. On their 1969 debut, the cavorting characters were there to remind yous how much fun rock'north'roll was supposed to be.

99: The Bee Gees: Odessa

If The Beatles could do a double "White Album," the Bee Gees could practise a fuzzy ruby 1. The red velvet cover, with gilded embossed lettering, served notice that Odessa was going to be unique and beautiful, which information technology was.

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

Beggars Banquet is a rare instance where an album's two famous covers really complement each other. Put the notorious bathroom cover together with the engraved invitation on the Usa replacement, and you lot've got the yin and the yang of The Rolling Stones at the fourth dimension.

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

Whenever hip-hop started to accept itself too seriously, ODB was at that place to disrupt, agitate, and give the middle finger to convention. Forgoing any blinged-out tropes, the onetime Wu-Tang member put a doctored version of his welfare ID carte du jour on the front comprehend of his solo debut, as both a reminder of where he came from and to destigmatize being on public assist. As he rapped on Wu-Tang'southward "Dog Sh_t,": "Got meals simply still grill that old skillful welfare cheese."

96: Nick Lowe: Jesus of Absurd/Pure Popular for At present People (pattern past Barney Bubbles)

On an album that made a mad dash through the whole of pop history, Nick Lowe pictured himself in a agglomeration of unlike guises, from rockabilly hoodlum to sensitive balladeer (there were different pics on the US and U.k. versions), all with natural language firmly in cheek.

95: Jefferson Aeroplane: Long John Silver (design past Pacific Eye & Ear)

Jefferson Airplane's Long John Silver hails from the golden historic period of elaborate anthology covers. Since people were already using LPs to shop and clean marijuana, the Plane gave y'all a cardboard box holder for it, along with the pot, or at least a realistic-looking photograph.

94: Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Comatose, Where Do Nosotros Go? (design by Kenneth Cappello)

Any creative person who dares to look this terrifying on the cover of their first anthology deserves all the platinum success they get. Inspired by the album's themes of the subconscious, the dark sleeve of Billie Eilish'due south When We All Fall Comatose, Where Do Nosotros Go? served detect that Eilish was here to mess with your caput.

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93: Parliament: Mothership Connection (photograph by David Alexander, design by Gribbitth)

George Clinton'south gonzoid take on outer-infinite adventure constitute its perfect match in the effortlessly cool spaceship-party cover for Parliament's Mothership Connection . The fact that it looked remarkably low budget just made information technology funkier.

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92: Geto Boys: We Tin can't Be Stopped (design by Cliff Blodget)

Walking a razor-thin line between exploitation and cultural commentary was the Geto Boys' modus operandi, and nothing exemplified this dynamic more than their famous 1991 album cover art. The graphic photo of Bushwick Bill at the hospital was as unflinching every bit their music.

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

Alberto Vargas was already the most famous pin-upwards artist before designing the famous cover for The Cars archetype 1979 album Candy-O, but this painting of a fashionable redhead, on a motorcar of course, became his nigh famous slice. Candy-O is one of the two best uses of pivot-up art on a rock tape, along with…

xc: Courtney Love: America's Sweetheart (pattern by Olivia De Berardinis)

For her debut solo album, Courtney Love took the Cars' concept a step further past enlisting the younger, edgier pin-upward artist (known professionally as Olivia) to paint her. Of class, information technology got an extra dimension past playing with Dearest's own image at the time.

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

The Rolling Stones probably couldn't beat the Beatles for a psychedelic album in 1967, simply they arguably had the cooler album cover, the outset 3D sleeve in rock. 10 points if yous can detect where the Beatles are hiding in the 3D paradigm on Their Satanic Majesties Asking.

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88: Public Image Ltd: The Flowers of Romance

PiL's follow-up to their famous Metal Box album cover was fifty-fifty libation, showing non-performing bandmember Jeanette Lee with a rose in her teeth, a weapon in her hand, and a murderous look in her eyes.

87: The Velvet Hush-hush: The Velvet Hugger-mugger & Nico (design by Andy Warhol)

It was weird, it was witty, it was Warhol. The famous minimalism of The Velvet Underground & Nico peel-away assistant anthology cover became an influence on punk visual style many years afterwards and remains one of the greatest anthology covers.

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

The cool album cover for The Miracles' 1961 debut encapsulates the old-school showbiz that Motown would soon atomic number 82 the world abroad from. Only it's so cheerful that you still take to love information technology.

85: The Become-Gos: Beauty & the Vanquish (design past Ginger Canzoneri, Mike Doud, Mick Haggerty, Vartan)

The Go-Become's sense of playful subversion extended to their sendup of glamorous cover photos on their hitting debut, Beauty & The Beat . It was their party; you could join if they allow you.

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84: Dr. Dre: The Chronic (design by Michael Benabib)

This famous anthology cover did wonders with its uncomplicated strategy. On his Dr. Dre's solo debut The Chronic , the blueprint assumed 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 – every bit his cantankerous-cultural LP proved – merely he also had an eye for design. (He spotted the eponymous "Dude" statue at an art gallery and took it domicile for inspiration.)

82: Cocteau Twins: Heaven or Las Vegas (blueprint past Paul W)

The design-centric 4AD label did some of its finest work for the Cocteau Twins album covers. This shimmering paradigm is undeniably beautiful, yet you lot never know just what information technology ways…just like their music.

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

Arriving one year after his milestone album The Payback , Brownish delivered the double-anthology Hell, which chosen out societal ills both on tape and on the elaborately illustrated comprehend. Designed by artist Joe Belt, who made his proper noun capturing the characters of the Wild Due west, Belt trained his aim on another dark affiliate of American history, depicting fallen soldiers, addicts, and an imprisoned populace. One of the most famous funk album covers always.

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

I of the greatest metal covers ever designed, designer Larry Carroll packed a thousand nightmares into this Bosch-like painting for Slayer'southward thrash masterpiece Reign in Claret , which influenced metal imagery for decades to come.

79: Male monarch Cherry: In the Court of the Reddish King (design past Barry Godber)

Robert Fripp saw this dramatic painting after In the Court of the Crimson King was completed and knew it perfectly suited the music, with the crazed embrace figure equally the 21st century schizoid man. Sadly, the artist passed away only months afterward.

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

One of the psych era'due south swell hallucinations, the famous album cover for Moby Grape'due south 1968 double LP Wow showed an otherworldly landscape with the world's largest bunch of grapes. Wow indeed.

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

One of the nearly famous album covers of recent vintage. Kanye Due west brings the minimalist "White Album" concept to the CD era. You could also encounter Yeezus every bit the last commemoration of the physical CD before information technology disappeared.

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76: Elvis Presley: fifty,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Exist Wrong (design by Bob Jones)

Ultra-cool Elvis (in his shiny gold Nudie suit) gets multiplied in one of the most enduring early 60s images and greatest album covers. If there are that many Elvis fans, nosotros will, of form, demand 15 Elvises.

75: Blackness Flag: My War (pattern by Raymond Pettibon)

Black Flag's trailblazing punk-metal wouldn't have been the aforementioned without Pettibon'southward grisly comic images, though in this case, not quite as grisly every bit the album itself.

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

The abstraction of the Talking Heads' beautiful, moving-parts embrace for their 1983 record Speaking in Tongues couldn't accept amend represented the music within. It would have been rated college if the affair wasn't and so tough to store.

73: The Mothers of Invention: We're Merely In It for the Money (design by Cal Schenkel)

Frank Zappa wrapped his skewering of hippie culture We're Only In It for the Money in an as vicious parody of the famous Sgt. Pepper album cover to swell success.

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

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

71: Blitz: Moving Pictures (pattern by Hugh Syme)

Rush'southward greatest album covers expressed both their thou concepts and their cerebral sense of humour. In this staged cover for Moving Pictures , which features many of the characters from the songs, we observe at least three dissimilar visual plays on the album'due south title.

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

Equally information technology turns out, The Beatles were but too lazy to go to Mt. Everest – yes, that was the original programme – then they came upwards with something just as memorable past leaving the studio and crossing the street, resulting in the famous Abbey Route album encompass. It'south since gone done every bit ane of the greatest of all time.

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

All of Marvin Gaye'southward cool album covers are works of art in a way, just Ernie Barnes's 'Sugar Shack,' which graces the embrace of I Want Yous , is the but one currently hanging in a museum. Barnes's sensual figures and celebrating dancers reflected the carnal nature of Gaye's 1976 album.

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68: Joe Jackson: I'm the Man (design past Michael Ross)

At that place's plenty of punk attitude on Joe Jackson'south anthology encompass for I'm the Man, where he portrays the hero of the title song – a sleazy character who'll sell you anything – as long as 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 most controversial thing The Beatles ever did (and the most expensive for an original), the cover of Yesterday and Today surely earns a place on a list of the greatest album covers.

66: Alice Cooper: School's Out (blueprint past Craig Braun)

At that place were near as many copies of Alice Cooper's School's Out in 1970s high schools as there were actual school desks. Ten points if y'all got the original with the underwear inner sleeve.

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

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

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'southward sophomore album Paid in Full said it all most going bigtime in 1987 and is considered one of the greatest album covers in hip-hop.

63: Joy Segmentation: Unknown Pleasures (design past Peter Saville)

The cover of Joy Partition'due south 1979 debut record is an actual depiction of radio waves. This stark blackness-and-white cover became then iconic that it'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 most provocative LP covers of the era. Model Barbara Cheeseborough's screaming visage on the cover captured the swirling anarchy of the 70s and searing funk-rock of Maggot Brain.

61: Family: Fearless

Ah, the days when bands had the coin to carry out their wildest ideas. The embrace for the British prog-rock outfit Family'due south 1971 album is a multi-foldout extravaganza and features an early calculator graphic, adding the individual band photos to each other until they become the pretty blur at top right.

sixty: The Beatles: Come across the Beatles! (blueprint by Robert Freeman)

The somber, shadowed photo featured on both the Us and UK album version of Meet The Beatles! was just the reverse of the grinning pic that everybody expected to see, and the first of many conduct-overs from the Beatles' fine art-school days.

59: Pink Floyd: Ummagumma (design by Hipgnosis)

Nearly of Pink Floyd's covers would be in the running for a list of the greatest album covers, but nosotros wanted to highlight something that wasn't Dark Side of the Moon. This burst of Tempest Thorgerson / Hipgnosis imagination features 4 versions of the same photo (except that the band rotates one 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 prototype of a modern take on Lady Justice for their famous 1988 album cover to …And Justice For All .

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57: The Mamas & The Papas: If You Tin can Believe Your Optics and Ears (pattern by Guy Webster)

With all iv bandmembers together in a bathtub, the cover said more about The Mamas & The Papas than what was probably intended. The toilet on the original cover 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 hitting in their ain way, but there's something special well-nigh her 1983 self-titled debut. She looks like she can see everything that'southward going to happen to her in the side by side 40 years.

55: 10cc: Ten Out Of 10 (blueprint by Hipgnosis)

The cover for Ten Out Of 10 remains i 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 merely one of the guys seems concerned nigh it.

54: Thelonious Monk: Secret (photo past Horn Grinner Studios; fine art management/design: 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 art director John Berg was responsible for iconic covers like Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits and Bruce Springsteen's Built-in To Run, but this was probable one of his more expensive: They built an entire set, consummate with costumed extras, to create Monk'south arresting album cover.

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

It was an art-school friend of Jimmy Page's who created this mythic cover by superimposing the bandmembers over a famous shot of WWI German language fighter airplane pilot the "Cerise Baron" and his coiffure. Many Americans wondered what Lucille Ball was doing at that place but it was really French actress Delphine Seyrig.

52: The Small Faces: Ogden's Nut Gone Scrap (design by 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 y'all for the cheerful surrealism of the album's main suite.

51: Dave Stonemason: Alone Together (design by Barry Feinstein and Tom Wilkes)

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

50: Elton John: Don't Shoot Me I'm Merely the Pianoforte Player (blueprint by David Larkham and Michael Ross)

Some of Elton's greatest album covers were a scrap splashy, others a little somber. The one for Don't Shoot Me I'thousand Simply the Piano Player was but right, drawing from his soon-to-exist-legendary dearest of movies.

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

One of many great Strong Records anthology covers, this caught Ian Dury'south personality and stood in stark contrast to the elaborate sleeves on the market at that fourth dimension. Barney Bubbles as well did the handwritten notes, often mistaken for Dury's.

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

Dave Brubeck's 1959 album Time Out is likely the most famous employ of popular art on a jazz cover. In this case, the interlocking geometric shapes are a visual answer to the album'southward innovative time signatures.

47: Wendy Carlos: Switched-On Bach (blueprint past Chika Azuma)

Sporting a photograph of JS Bach with a Moog synthesizer, Wendy Carlos' pioneering electronic album Switched-On Bach was different anything people had seen (or heard) earlier in 1968. As the get-go classical anthology to get platinum in America, Carlos helped to bring Bach… to the future. Raise your hand if you besides idea the cat was a head of lettuce.

46: Pinkish Floyd: Animals (pattern by Hipgnosis)

Not every band would fly a grunter over Battersea Power Station, but few other bands would brand an anthology that admittedly called for it.

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

The album cover for Hüsker Dü'due south last studio album is one of those cases where a cover is exactly similar the album: vivid, colorful and jarring in a welcoming mode.

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

Similar all goth-influenced artists, Chelsea Wolfe has a stiff sense of the dramatic. The coiled-upward body on the encompass of her 2017 album embodies all the personal changes the songs deal with.

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

The great thing about the famous Blondie Parallel Lines anthology embrace isn't simply the black-and-white composition merely the style Debbie Harry (the only one non grinning) 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 anthology makes its visual betoken by using a photograph of Beatles records existence burned that followed John Lennon'due south "more pop than Jesus" remarks. Simply in this case, the photo is a Mobius strip, and the album they're called-for is the very ane they're standing in.

41: Taylor Swift: 1989 (design past Austin Hale and Amy Fucci)

On a throwback-themed album, Taylor Swift presents an erstwhile Polaroid of herself, simply incomplete and out of focus. The mysterious image on 1989 'due south encompass was an easy one for her fans to copy, and they did.

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40: Humble Pie: Stone On (design past John Kelly)

Why in the earth did Apprehensive Pie get a bunch of policemen to class a human pyramid? Because they could, of form.

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 lot My Dearest (design by Valerie Phillips)

It may be a more glamorous cover after her commencement two, but this photo of PJ Harvey – in which she could easily be mistaken for Shakespeare's Ophelia – implied that a newer, softer epitome comes at a cost.

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37: Haven: Definitely Mayhap (design by Brian Cannon)

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

36: Grace Jones: Isle Life (blueprint by Jean-Paul Goude)

Graphic designer and 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 album covers in music history, from Nightclubbing to Slave to the Rhythm and the arabesque grandeur of Island Life. "It looked right to me and how I felt," said Jones. "Athletic, artistic, and conflicting."

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

Like a proto XXL "Freshman Class", the iii alternate 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 by Q-Tip, the Afrocentric cover came to fruition with the help of Nick Gamma, the erstwhile art manager at Jive Records.

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

Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood looked impeccably stylish doing whatever it was they were doing on the famous Rumours album comprehend. Information technology's fair that the encompass 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 cover for Pretzel Logic (really shot at 5th Artery and 79th Street) looks, feels, and tastes like New York.

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

Nifty Pumpkins' album covers were frequently softer and prettier than the music, but this comprehend (created by Billy Corgan's 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 Westbound ones were considerably more daring than the hit-era ones for Mercury. As the band often claimed, fewer people would have bought the albums if they'd put themselves on the covers.

30: The Louvin Brothers: Satan is Real (pattern by Ira Louvin)

Modern expiry metal bands got nix on country duo The Louvin Brothers, who went to the inferno in 1959 and looked great in white suits while doing it.

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

David Bowie has at to the lowest degree 5 of the most iconic album covers of all time. From the lightning bolt on Aladdin Sane to Ziggy Stardust, it's difficult to pick. Only the sublime strangeness of this David Bowie photograph tells you everything you need to know near the artistic madness of his Berlin period. The cover was memorably defaced past Bowie himself decades later.

28: Kate Bush-league: The Kick Inside (design by Jay Myrdal)

The more ordinarily known The states cover is nice enough merely makes it expect like a conventional singer-songwriter album and Kate Bush is annihilation but. We're referring to the original UK "kite" encompass that introduced the strangeness and sensuality that Bush was all about.

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

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

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

Since Miles Davis' Bitches Brew sounded like no other previous jazz albums, information technology couldn't expect similar one 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 24-hour interval (blueprint by Jonathan Barnbrook)

Every fan did an firsthand double-take when they saw Bowie's act of self-sabotage here. By defacing the Heroes embrace, Bowie found the nearly dramatic way of saying "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 newspaper cover of Thick as a Brick is full of cross-references and cerebral wit – just like the music – and Anderson said it took simply as much piece of work.

23: Nirvana: Nevermind (design by Robert Fisher)

The paradigm of a baby grasping at a dollar bill became one of grunge'south coolest and near indelible symbols, an anthology encompass that captured the attitude of Nevermind and the era. The baby in question, Spencer Elden, even recreated the photograph 25 years later on.

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22: The Who: Who'south Next (pattern by Ethan Russell)

The iconic encompass for Who'due south Adjacent worked on two levels: starting time as a futuristic image 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'south Birthday (design by Roger Dean)

This cover is Roger Dean at his most bright. When you walked into a record store, you could run across this album clear beyond the room.

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

Psychedelic album covers were an fine art class 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 also wrote one of the anthology's most vivid lyrics on "Tales of Dauntless Ulysses."

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19: Santana: Lotus (design past Tadanori Yokoo)

You don't necessarily go a thing of rare beauty when you load a encompass with as many fold-out panels and elaborate paintings every bit an eleven-inch disc can concord, but Santana certainly did in this case, 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, along with Yokoo's signature popular art manner.

eighteen: 10cc: How Cartel You! (design by Hipgnosis)

The ubiquitous Hipgnosis team outdid itself with this ultra-clever 10cc sleeve, which is not only inspired by one of the songs (the phone sexual practice-themed "Don't Hang Upwardly") just is total of hidden gags, with the aforementioned people turning up in each of the iv main photos.

17: XTC: Become 2 (design by Hipgnosis)

Some other Hipgnosis job, the famous album cover for XTC's Become two boasts a dumbo block of typed re-create that taunts and messes with the album buyer's caput. No wonder the clever lads in XTC loved it.

16: Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run (design by Eric Meola)

Information technology's hard to pick one Bruce Springsteen encompass, when then many have ascended to iconic status. It could have just equally easily been Born in the USA, with its Annie Liebovitz photo and Bruce in a white t-shirt and blue jeans in front of an American flag. Nosotros 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 East Street Ring's sax man Clarence Clemons.

15: Ramones: Ramones (design by Roberta Bayley)

The comprehend of The Ramone's 1976 self-titled debut is pure punk rock in all its blackness-and-white grittiness. A good cover became a great 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 cover is sexy, sinister, and total of clandestine meanings, starting with a vintage-looking softcore photo that was staged for the comprehend shoot.

13: Yes: Relayer (design by Roger Dean)

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

12: Frank Sinatra: Come Fly With Me (pattern by Jon Jonson)

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

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xi: Patti Smith: Horses (blueprint past 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 always slung a jacket over their shoulder that well.

10: Talking Heads: Lilliputian Creatures (design by Howard Finster)

Howard Finster'due south uniquely Southern folk art was a perfect lucifer for Talking Heads' back-to-roots album (and for R.Due east.M.'southward Reckoning around the same fourth dimension). While some of Finster's piece of work had a darker streak, for this album he appropriately chose sunshine and wonderment.

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

Nearly of the classic Blue Note covers were full of vivid graphics and exuberant photos (and lots of assertion marks!). Not and so with John Coltrane'due south Blue Railroad train, whose cool anthology cover photo and mood lighting marked it as a work to take seriously.

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

This iconic album cover said it all nigh coy mid-60s sexuality, bachelor-pad style. Despite its daring appearance, if you looked closely, the whipped-cream clad model was actually wearing a nuptials dress.

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

Finding album art that captured the genre-pushing ambition of To Pimp A Butterfly was a tall order, only Kendrick Lamar and TDE were up to the chore, equally Thou 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 album covers. But while Sticky Fingers has a keen story, Let It Bleed was equally unique and surreal. Taking its inspiration from the album's original title Automatic Changer, the front has the album on a turntable stacked with all sorts of other things. We assume the mess on the behind happened after someone pressed "start."

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5: Large Brother & the Holding Company: Cheap Thrills (design by R. Crumb)

Arguably the coolest 60s album cover of all, the fine art for Big Brother & the Holding Company's sophomore tape was also most people's introduction to the fashion of hugger-mugger comic art perfected by R. Nibble. This fashion of art would be associated with psychedelic music from here on out, though Crumb was a chip anti-hippie himself.

4: The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (design by Peter Blake)

Peter Blake's popular-art assemblage on Sgt. Pepper'south famous album changed 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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iii: Elvis Presley: Elvis Presley (blueprint by Robertson & Fresch)

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

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

A rare instance where a parody (of the above Elvis encompass) becomes a work of art in itself. The effortlessly absurd album cover prototype of bassist Paul Simonon peachy his guitar practically screams rock'n'roll, just like the music within.

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

This beautiful, panoramic view of Ludlow Street in NYC on the album encompass of Paul's Boutique did everything possible to put y'all correct into the Beastie Boys' earth, making it expect both funky and inviting. It too made it essential to ain the original, fold-out vinyl.

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

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

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