Songs From 2013 With Album Cover Art of a Hot Air Balloon

The coolest, best, greatest, most iconic, virtually famous album covers of all-time. It doesn't really thing what sort of adjective you desire to put it in forepart of the words "album cover," because lists of this sort of are always incredibly subjective. What we can say for sure, though, is that album covers are vitally important to how a record is received past the public. (Information technology'due south hard to imagine Sgt. Pepper's with the cover to the White Album and vice versa.) Fifty-fifty in today's digital historic period, a cool record cover can accept a huge impact. (Artists as varied as Young Thug and Glass Animals can attest to that.) So, without further ado, here is our choice of just 100 of the greatest record covers of best.

100: The Flamin' Groovies: Supersnazz (design by Cyril Hashemite kingdom of jordan)

Bandleader Cyril Hashemite kingdom of jordan's terrific comic fine art has turned upwards on numerous The Flamin' Groovies covers and posters over the decades. On their 1969 debut, the cavorting characters were at that place to remind you how much fun rock'n'curl was supposed to be.

99: The Bee Gees: Odessa

If The Beatles could do a double "White Album," the Bee Gees could do a fuzzy ruby one. The cerise velvet cover, with gold embossed lettering, served detect that Odessa was going to be unique and beautiful, which information technology was.

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

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

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

Whenever hip-hop started to take itself besides seriously, ODB was at that place to disrupt, agitate, and give the heart finger to convention. Forgoing whatever blinged-out tropes, the former Wu-Tang member put a doctored version of his welfare ID card on the front embrace of his solo debut, as both a reminder of where he came from and to destigmatize being on public assistance. Every bit he rapped on Wu-Tang'southward "Dog Sh_t,": "Got meals simply nonetheless grill that old good welfare cheese."

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

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

95: Jefferson Plane: Long John Silver (design by Pacific Center & Ear)

Jefferson Airplane's Long John Silver hails from the gold age of elaborate anthology covers. Since people were already using LPs to store and clean marijuana, the Airplane gave y'all a cardboard box holder for it, along with the pot, or at to the lowest degree a realistic-looking photo.

94: Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Practice We Go? (blueprint by Kenneth Cappello)

Whatever artist who dares to await this terrifying on the cover of their starting time album deserves all the platinum success they get. Inspired past the anthology'south themes of the hidden, the dark sleeve of Billie Eilish's When Nosotros All Fall Asleep, Where Do We 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's gonzoid take on outer-space adventure found its perfect match in the effortlessly cool spaceship-political party encompass for Parliament's Mothership Connectedness . The fact that it looked remarkably low budget simply made it funkier.

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92: Geto Boys: Nosotros 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 nada exemplified this dynamic more than their famous 1991 anthology comprehend art. The graphic photo of Bushwick Bill at the hospital was as unflinching as their music.

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

Alberto Vargas was already the most famous pin-up artist before designing the famous cover for The Cars archetype 1979 anthology Candy-O, but this painting of a fashionable redhead, on a car of course, became his most famous piece. Processed-O is ane of the two best uses of pin-up fine art on a stone record, along with…

90: Courtney Dear: America's Sweetheart (pattern by Olivia De Berardinis)

For her debut solo album, Courtney Love took the Cars' concept a step further by enlisting the younger, edgier pin-upwards artist (known professionally every bit Olivia) to paint her. Of course, it got an extra dimension by playing with Love's 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 anthology in 1967, but they arguably had the libation album comprehend, the start 3D sleeve in rock. 10 points if y'all can notice where the Beatles are hiding in the 3D image on Their Satanic Majesties Request.

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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 Underground: The Velvet Underground & Nico (blueprint past Andy Warhol)

Information technology was weird, it was witty, it was Warhol. The famous minimalism of The Velvet Underground & Nico peel-away assistant album cover became an influence on punk visual style many years later and remains 1 of the greatest album covers.

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

The cool album encompass for The Miracles' 1961 debut encapsulates the onetime-school showbiz that Motown would soon atomic number 82 the earth away from. But information technology's and then cheerful that yous nevertheless take to beloved it.

85: The Go-Gos: Beauty & the Crush (design by Ginger Canzoneri, Mike Doud, Mick Haggerty, Vartan)

The Go-Go'southward sense of playful subversion extended to their sendup of glamorous cover photos on their hit debut, Beauty & The Crush . It was their party; yous could join if they let you.

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

This famous album embrace did wonders with its simple strategy. On his Dr. Dre'southward 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 (blueprint by Fanizani Akuda)

Jeff Bridges' got nothing on the original "The Dude," the effortlessly cool and quixotic album comprehend graphic symbol that appears on Quincy Jones' genre-blending solo debut. Q always had an ear for talent – every bit his cross-cultural LP proved – only he also had an eye for blueprint. (He spotted the eponymous "Dude" statue at an art gallery and took information technology abode for inspiration.)

82: Cocteau Twins: Heaven or Las Vegas (design by Paul West)

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

81: James Chocolate-brown: Hell (blueprint by Joe Belt)

Arriving one year later on his milestone anthology The Payback , Brown delivered the double-anthology Hell, which called out societal ills both on record and on the elaborately illustrated cover. Designed by artist Joe Chugalug, who made his name capturing the characters of the Wild West, Belt trained his aim on another dark chapter of American history, depicting fallen soldiers, addicts, and an imprisoned populace. One of the virtually famous funk anthology covers ever.

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

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

79: King Reddish: In the Court of the Ruddy King (design past Barry Godber)

Robert Fripp saw this dramatic painting after In the Courtroom of the Crimson King was completed and knew information technology perfectly suited the music, with the crazed cover figure equally the 21st century schizoid man. Sadly, the artist passed abroad only months afterwards.

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

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

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

I of the most famous album covers of contempo vintage. Kanye W brings the minimalist "White Album" concept to the CD era. You lot could also see Yeezus equally the last celebration of the physical CD before information technology disappeared.

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

Ultra-cool Elvis (in his shiny gilded 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 form, demand 15 Elvises.

75: Black Flag: My State of war (pattern by Raymond Pettibon)

Black Flag's trailblazing punk-metal 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 abstraction of the Talking Heads' beautiful, moving-parts cover for their 1983 tape Speaking in Tongues couldn't have ameliorate represented the music inside. It would take been rated college if the thing wasn't and so tough to shop.

73: The Mothers of Invention: We're Only In Information technology for the Money (pattern by Cal Schenkel)

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

72: The Pogues: Peace and Beloved (pattern by Simon Ryan)

Ane of the greatest joke anthology covers, the boxer was already a perfect image for the Pogues, only don't miss the subtle bit of play here. (The give-and-take "peace" of grade has five letters.)

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

Rush's greatest album covers expressed both their grand concepts and their cognitive sense of humor. In this staged cover for Moving Pictures , which features many of the characters from the songs, we detect at to the lowest degree 3 different visual plays on the album's title.

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

Equally information technology turns out, The Beatles were only likewise lazy to go to Mt. Everest – yep, that was the original programme – so they came upwardly with something merely every bit memorable by leaving the studio and crossing the street, resulting in the famous Abbey Road anthology encompass. It's since gone washed as one of the greatest of all time.

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

All of Marvin Gaye's cool album covers are works of art in a manner, merely Ernie Barnes's 'Saccharide Shack,' which graces the cover of I Want You , is the merely 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 Human (design past Michael Ross)

There's enough of punk mental attitude on Joe Jackson'southward anthology cover for I'm the Man, where he portrays the hero of the title vocal – a sleazy character who'll sell you annihilation – equally long as you 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 as the unmarried about controversial matter The Beatles ever did (and the most expensive for an original), the comprehend of Yesterday and Today surely earns a place on a list of the greatest album covers.

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

There were near as many copies of Alice Cooper's School's 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 (design past Al Hirshfeld)

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

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

Betwixt the rappers' Gucci-mode outfits and the piles of money in the background, the embrace for Eric B. and Rakim's sophomore album Paid in Full said it all about going bigtime in 1987 and is considered one of the greatest anthology covers in hip-hop.

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

The cover of Joy Sectionalisation's 1979 debut record is an actual delineation of radio waves. This stark black-and-white embrace became and so iconic that information technology's at present worn proudly on T-shirts past teens who've never heard of the ring.

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

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

61: Family: Fearless

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

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

The somber, shadowed photograph featured on both the United states of america and U.k. album version of Meet The Beatles! was just the opposite of the grinning movie that everybody expected to see, and the showtime of many carry-overs from the Beatles' fine art-schoolhouse days.

59: Pink Floyd: Ummagumma (design by Hipgnosis)

Most of Pink Floyd's covers would exist in the running for a list of the greatest anthology covers, but we wanted to highlight something that wasn't Dark Side of the Moon. This burst of Tempest Thorgerson / Hipgnosis imagination features four versions of the aforementioned 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'southward trademark mix of shock value and social commentary had few better expressions than this image of a mod 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 Y'all Tin can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (design by Guy Webster)

With all iv bandmembers together in a bathtub, the cover said more than well-nigh 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 exist a no-no in 1966.

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56: Madonna: Madonna (blueprint past Carin Goldberg)

All of Madonna'southward album covers are striking in their ain way, simply there's something special almost her 1983 cocky-titled debut. She looks like she tin can come across everything that's going to happen to her in the next 40 years.

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

The encompass for Ten Out Of 10 remains ane of Hipgnosis' fiendishly clever 10cc covers and 1 of their more than overlooked albums. Here they're on the 10th floor of a hotel continuing at the precipice, and only one of the guys seems concerned about 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 art director John Berg was responsible for iconic covers like Bob Dylan'due south Greatest Hits and Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run, but this was likely 1 of his more than expensive: They built an entire set, complete with costumed extras, to create Monk's arresting album cover.

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

It was an art-school friend of Jimmy Page'southward who created this mythic comprehend past superimposing the bandmembers over a famous shot of WWI German fighter pilot the "Cherry Baron" and his crew. Many Americans wondered what Lucille Ball was doing there but information technology was really French actress Delphine Seyrig.

52: The Small Faces: Ogden's Nut Gone Scrap (design by Nick Tweddell and Pete Brown)

I of the offset 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 anthology'due south chief suite.

51: Dave Bricklayer: Lonely Together (design by Barry Feinstein and Tom Wilkes)

This album embrace was more of a multimedia assemblage, incorporating the die-cutting edges and the marble-swirled disc into the overall pattern and giving an instant visual prototype to the top-hatted Dave Stonemason.

l: Elton John: Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (design by David Larkham and Michael Ross)

Some of Elton's greatest album covers were a flake splashy, others a footling somber. The 1 for Don't Shoot Me I'g Only the Piano Thespian was just right, cartoon from his shortly-to-be-legendary love of movies.

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49: Ian Dury: New Boots and Panties!! (pattern past Barney Bubbling)

One of many corking Stiff Records album covers, this caught Ian Dury's personality and stood in stark dissimilarity to the elaborate sleeves on the market at that time. Barney Bubbles also did the handwritten notes, oft mistaken for Dury'south.

48: Dave Brubeck: Fourth dimension Out (cover by Neil Fujita)

Dave Brubeck's 1959 album Time Out is likely the about famous use of pop fine art on a jazz cover. In this case, the interlocking geometric shapes are a visual answer to the album'south innovative time signatures.

47: Wendy Carlos: Switched-On Bach (pattern by Chika Azuma)

Sporting a photograph of JS Bach with a Moog synthesizer, Wendy Carlos' pioneering electronic anthology Switched-On Bach was different anything people had seen (or heard) before in 1968. As the outset classical album to get platinum in America, Carlos helped to bring Bach… to the future. Enhance your hand if you too thought the true cat was a caput of lettuce.

46: Pink Floyd: Animals (design by Hipgnosis)

Not every band would wing a grunter over Battersea Ability Station, but few other bands would make an album that absolutely called for it.

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

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

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-up body on the encompass of her 2017 album embodies all the personal changes the songs deal with.

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

The great thing near the famous Blondie Parallel Lines album cover isn't just the black-and-white composition just the way Debbie Harry (the only i non grinning) exudes power, while all the guys look a chip goofy.

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

This Reagan-era concept album makes its visual point past using a photo of Beatles records beingness burned that followed John Lennon's "more than popular than Jesus" remarks. But in this case, the photo is a Mobius strip, and the album they're burning is the very one they're standing in.

41: Taylor Swift: 1989 (pattern by Austin Unhurt and Amy Fucci)

On a throwback-themed album, Taylor Swift presents an erstwhile Polaroid of herself, but incomplete and out of focus. The mysterious image on 1989 's encompass was an easy ane for her fans to re-create, and they did.

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xl: Humble Pie: Rock On (design past John Kelly)

Why in the world did Humble Pie get a agglomeration of policemen to form a human being pyramid? Because they could, of course.

39: The Rascals: One time Upon a Dream (design by Dino Danelli)

I of the many imaginative trips from the late 60s, this assemblage – by the band'south drummer – represents various personal dreams of the band members.

38: PJ Harvey: To Bring You lot My Love (blueprint by Valerie Phillips)

It may be a more glamorous cover after her first two, but this photograph of PJ Harvey – in which she could easily exist mistaken for Shakespeare'south Ophelia – implied that a newer, softer image comes at a toll.

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

Their debut album pictured Haven in the globe's coolest crash pad, showing every band of the era how information technology ought to exist living.

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

Graphic designer and fine art director Jean-Paul Goude met his 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 Island Life. "It looked right to me and how I felt," said Jones. "Athletic, creative, and conflicting."

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

Like a proto XXL "Freshman Class", the iii alternate covers of A Tribe Call Quest'southward classic tertiary 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 stylish doing whatever information technology was they were doing on the famous Rumours album cover. It's fair that the cover was a little mysterious since the songs revealed everything else.

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

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

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

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

31: Ohio Players: Climax (design past Joel Brodsky)

All the Ohio Players covers were legendary, and the early on Westbound ones were considerably more daring than the hit-era ones for Mercury. Equally 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 (design by Ira Louvin)

Modern death metal bands got nothing 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 least five of the almost iconic album covers of all time. From the lightning bolt on Aladdin Sane to Ziggy Stardust, it's difficult to pick. Simply the sublime strangeness of this David Bowie photo tells you everything y'all need to know about the creative madness of his Berlin menstruum. The encompass was memorably defaced by Bowie himself decades later.

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

The more than ordinarily known US encompass is prissy enough only makes it expect like a conventional vocalist-songwriter album and Kate Bush is annihilation only. We'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 beautiful piece of art in its own right.

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

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

25: David Bowie: The Next Twenty-four hour period (design by Jonathan Barnbrook)

Every fan did an immediate double-take when they saw Bowie's human action of self-sabotage here. Past defacing the Heroes embrace, Bowie constitute the nearly dramatic way of saying "that was then, this is now".

24: Jethro Tull: Thick equally 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 cantankerous-references and cerebral wit – just like the music – and Anderson said it took just every bit much work.

23: Nirvana: Nevermind (design past Robert Fisher)

The image of a baby grasping at a dollar bill became one of grunge's coolest and most enduring symbols, an album embrace that captured the attitude of Nevermind and the era. The baby in question, Spencer Elden, even recreated the photo 25 years after.

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22: The Who: Who'southward Next (blueprint by Ethan Russell)

The iconic encompass for Who's Next worked on 2 levels: first as a futuristic epitome 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 Sorcerer's Birthday (design past Roger Dean)

This cover is Roger Dean at his most vivid. When you walked into a tape store, you could see this album clear across the room.

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

Psychedelic album covers were an art grade in themselves, and the explosion of colour (with the band looking suitably avuncular) made Cream's Disraeli Gears one of the definitive ones. The designer also wrote 1 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 every bit many fold-out panels and elaborate paintings as an 11-inch disc can hold, but Santana certainly did in this case, thanks to famed Japanese designer Tadanori Yokoo. Recorded alive during Santana's performances in Osaka, Japan, the total sleeve art is an amalgamation of Buddhist and Christian imagery, forth with Yokoo's signature popular art style.

18: 10cc: How Dare You lot! (design by Hipgnosis)

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

17: XTC: Go ii (design by Hipgnosis)

Another Hipgnosis job, the famous album cover for XTC'south Go ii boasts a dumbo block of typed copy that taunts and messes with the album buyer'southward head. No wonder the clever lads in XTC loved it.

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

It's hard to option one Bruce Springsteen cover, when so many take ascended to iconic status. It could have simply as easily been Born in the The states, with its Annie Liebovitz photo and Bruce in a white t-shirt and blue jeans in front end of an American flag. Nosotros decided to go instead with this kinetic photo that captured the camaraderie of the band and the sense of rock'n'roll mission. While the album made an instant star out of Springsteen, the embrace did the same for E Street Band'south sax man Clarence Clemons.

15: Ramones: Ramones (design past Roberta Bayley)

The cover of The Ramone's 1976 cocky-titled debut is pure punk stone in all its black-and-white grittiness. A good cover became a bully one the moment when a bored Johnny Ramone decided to give the lensman the finger.

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

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

13: Yes: Relayer (design by Roger Dean)

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

12: Frank Sinatra: Come Wing With Me (design by Jon Jonson)

Each one of Sinatra's Capitol-era anthology covers was cool and classic in its own style, 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'southward natural charisma and the allure of the jet-ready era.

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11: Patti Smith: Horses (design by Robert Mapplethorpe)

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

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

Howard Finster's uniquely Southern folk art was a perfect lucifer for Talking Heads' back-to-roots anthology (and for R.East.Thousand.'due south Reckoning around the aforementioned time). While some of Finster'south work had a darker streak, for this album he accordingly chose sunshine and wonderment.

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

Nigh of the classic Blue Note covers were total of bright graphics and exuberant photos (and lots of exclamation marks!). Non so with John Coltrane'southward Blue Railroad train, whose cool album cover photo and mood lighting marked it equally a work to have seriously.

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8: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Contumely: Whipped Foam & Other Delights (blueprint past Peter Whorf Graphics)

This iconic anthology comprehend said it all about coy mid-60s sexuality, bachelor-pad mode. Despite its daring appearance, if yous looked closely, the whipped-cream clad model was actually wearing a wedding dress.

vii: Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly (photograph by Denis Rouvre, design by Kendrick Lamar and Dave Costless)

Finding album fine art that captured the genre-pushing ambition of To Pimp A Butterfly was a tall social club, but Kendrick Lamar and TDE were up to the task, as K dot assembled his hometown coiffure for a victorious political party on the White Business firm backyard, stomping on the symbol of a weaponized criminal justice organization.

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6: The Rolling Stones: Let Information technology Drain (design by Robert Brownjohn)

The Rolling Stones ever had cool, attention-grabbing album covers. But while Sticky Fingers has a great story, Permit It Bleed was equally unique and surreal. Taking its inspiration from the anthology'due south original title Automatic Changer, the front end has the album on a turntable stacked with all sorts of other things. Nosotros assume the mess on the backside happened later someone pressed "beginning."

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5: Big Brother & the Holding Company: Cheap Thrills (design by R. Nibble)

Arguably the coolest 60s album cover of all, the art for Big Brother & the Belongings Company's sophomore record was likewise near people'southward introduction to the style of hush-hush comic fine art perfected by R. Nibble. This style of art would be associated with psychedelic music from hither on out, though Nibble was a chip anti-hippie himself.

4: The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper'southward Alone Hearts Gild Band (blueprint past Peter Blake)

Peter Blake's pop-art assemblage on Sgt. Pepper'south famous anthology changed tape covers forever, and kept many of united states of america occupied for weeks trying to place everybody at the anniversary.

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iii: Elvis Presley: Elvis Presley (blueprint by Robertson & Fresch)

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

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

A rare case where a parody (of the above Elvis cover) becomes a piece of work of fine art in itself. The effortlessly cool anthology embrace image of bassist Paul Simonon swell his guitar practically screams rock'north'curlicue, but like the music inside.

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

This beautiful, panoramic view of Ludlow Street in NYC on the album encompass of Paul'south Boutique did everything possible to put you right into the Beastie Boys' world, making it wait both funky and inviting. It also fabricated it essential to own the original, fold-out vinyl.

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Looking for more? Discover 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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