Lil Skies Life of a Dark Rose Album Cover Art

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

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

Bandleader Cyril Hashemite kingdom of jordan's 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 you lot how much fun stone'north'roll was supposed to be.

99: The Bee Gees: Odessa

If The Beatles could practice a double "White Anthology," the Bee Gees could do a fuzzy red 1. The red velvet embrace, with gold embossed lettering, served observe that Odessa was going to be unique and beautiful, which it was.

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

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

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

Whenever hip-hop started to take itself besides seriously, ODB was there to disrupt, arouse, and requite the middle finger to convention. Forgoing any blinged-out tropes, the quondam Wu-Tang member put a doctored version of his welfare ID card on the front encompass of his solo debut, as both a reminder of where he came from and to destigmatize being on public assistance. Equally he rapped on Wu-Tang's "Dog Sh_t,": "Got meals but all the same grill that old good welfare cheese."

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

On an album that fabricated a mad dash through the whole of popular history, Nick Lowe pictured himself in a bunch of different guises, from rockabilly hoodlum to sensitive balladeer (there were different pics on the Usa and United kingdom versions), all with tongue firmly in cheek.

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

Jefferson Aeroplane's Long John Silver hails from the aureate age of elaborate album covers. Since people were already using LPs to shop and make clean marijuana, the Plane gave yous a paper-thin box holder for information technology, along with the pot, or at least a realistic-looking photograph.

94: Billie Eilish: When We All Autumn Asleep, Where Do We Go? (pattern past Kenneth Cappello)

Any artist who dares to wait this terrifying on the cover of their first album deserves all the platinum success they get. Inspired by the album's themes of the subconscious, the dark sleeve of Billie Eilish's When Nosotros All Fall Asleep, Where Practise Nosotros Go? served notice that Eilish was here to mess with your caput.

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

George Clinton's gonzoid have on outer-space adventure constitute its perfect friction match in the effortlessly cool spaceship-party embrace for Parliament's Mothership Connection . The fact that it looked remarkably low budget just made it funkier.

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92: Geto Boys: We Can't Exist Stopped (design past Cliff Blodget)

Walking a razor-sparse line between exploitation and cultural commentary was the Geto Boys' modus operandi, and cypher exemplified this dynamic more than their famous 1991 album cover art. The graphic photo of Bushwick Bill at the hospital was as unflinching as their music.

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

Alberto Vargas was already the most famous pivot-upward artist before designing the famous cover for The Cars classic 1979 anthology Candy-O, simply this painting of a stylish redhead, on a car of form, became his near famous piece. Candy-O is one of the 2 best uses of pin-up art on a rock record, along with…

90: Courtney Love: America'due south Sweetheart (design past Olivia De Berardinis)

For her debut solo album, Courtney Love took the Cars' concept a step further by enlisting the younger, edgier pin-upward creative person (known professionally every bit Olivia) to paint her. Of course, it got an extra dimension by playing with Dearest'due south own image at the fourth dimension.

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

The Rolling Stones probably couldn't beat the Beatles for a psychedelic anthology in 1967, simply they arguably had the cooler album encompass, the first 3D sleeve in rock. X points if you tin can detect 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'southward follow-up to their famous Metal Box album cover was even cooler, showing not-performing bandmember Jeanette Lee with a rose in her teeth, a weapon in her hand, and a murderous look in her optics.

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

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

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86: The Miracles: Hi, We're The Miracles (pattern past Wakefield & Mitchell)

The cool album cover for The Miracles' 1961 debut encapsulates the old-school showbiz that Motown would soon lead the globe away from. But it's and so cheerful that yous still have to love it.

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

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

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

This famous album cover did wonders with its elementary strategy. On his Dr. Dre's solo debut The Chronic , the design causeless that Dre was already an icon and presented him appropriately.

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83: Quincy Jones: The Dude (design past Fanizani Akuda)

Jeff Bridges' got nothing on the original "The Dude," the effortlessly absurd and quixotic album cover character that appears on Quincy Jones' genre-blending solo debut. Q always had an ear for talent – as his cross-cultural LP proved – but he also had an heart for design. (He spotted the eponymous "Dude" statue at an art gallery and took information technology dwelling for inspiration.)

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

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

81: James Brownish: Hell (blueprint by Joe Belt)

Arriving ane year after his milestone album The Payback , Brownish delivered the double-album Hell, which called out societal ills both on tape and on the elaborately illustrated cover. Designed past creative person Joe Chugalug, who made his name capturing the characters of the Wild West, Belt trained his aim on some other dark chapter of American history, depicting fallen soldiers, addicts, and an imprisoned populace. One of the virtually famous funk anthology covers always.

80: Slayer: Reign in Claret (blueprint by Larry Carroll)

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

79: King Crimson: In the Courtroom of the Ruby-red King (blueprint by Barry Godber)

Robert Fripp saw this dramatic painting later on In the Courtroom of the Ruby Rex was completed and knew information technology perfectly suited the music, with the crazed embrace figure as the 21st century schizoid human. Sadly, the artist passed away only months later on.

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

Ane of the psych era's bully hallucinations, the famous album cover for Moby Grape's 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 about famous anthology covers of recent vintage. Kanye West brings the minimalist "White Album" concept to the CD era. You could also see Yeezus as the last celebration of the physical CD before it disappeared.

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

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

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

Black Flag's trailblazing punk-metal wouldn't have been the same without Pettibon'south grisly comic images, though in this example, not quite as grisly as the album itself.

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

The abstraction of the Talking Heads' beautiful, moving-parts cover for their 1983 record Speaking in Tongues couldn't have improve represented the music within. It would take been rated higher if the thing wasn't and so tough to store.

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

Frank Zappa wrapped his skewering of hippie civilization Nosotros're Only In It for the Money in an equally barbarous parody of the famous Sgt. Pepper album cover to keen success.

72: The Pogues: Peace and Dear (blueprint by Simon Ryan)

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

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

Rush'southward greatest anthology covers expressed both their g concepts and their cerebral 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 three different visual plays on the anthology's title.

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

As information technology turns out, The Beatles were merely too lazy to go to Mt. Everest – yes, that was the original programme – so they came up with something just as memorable by leaving the studio and crossing the street, resulting in the famous Abbey Route album cover. Information technology's since gone done every bit ane of the greatest of all time.

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

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

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68: Joe Jackson: I'1000 the Man (design by Michael Ross)

In that location'south plenty of punk attitude on Joe Jackson'south album cover for I'thou the Man, where he portrays the hero of the title song – a sleazy character who'll sell you anything – as long as you don't really need it.

67: The Beatles: Yesterday and Today (blueprint past Robert Whitaker)

Okay, so it was a fiddling graphic and provocative, but as the single most controversial thing The Beatles ever did (and the about expensive for an original), the cover of Yesterday and Today surely earns a identify on a list of the greatest album covers.

66: Alice Cooper: Schoolhouse's Out (design by Craig Braun)

At that place were nearly equally many copies of Alice Cooper's School's Out in 1970s high schools as there were bodily schoolhouse desks. Ten points if you got the original with the underwear inner sleeve.

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

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

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

Betwixt the rappers' Gucci-style outfits and the piles of money in the background, the cover for Eric B. and Rakim's sophomore album Paid in Full said information technology all near going bigtime in 1987 and is considered ane of the greatest album covers in hip-hop.

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

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

62: Funkadelic: Maggot Brain (photograph by Joel Brodsky, design past 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'south screaming visage on the encompass captured the swirling anarchy of the 70s and searing funk-rock of Maggot Encephalon.

61: Family unit: Fearless

Ah, the days when bands had the money to carry out their wildest ideas. The comprehend for the British prog-stone outfit Family's 1971 album is a multi-foldout extravaganza and features an early computer graphic, adding the individual band photos to each other until they become the pretty mistiness at top right.

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

The somber, shadowed photograph featured on both the U.s. and UK album version of Meet The Beatles! was just the reverse of the grinning motion picture that everybody expected to meet, and the offset of many carry-overs from the Beatles' art-school days.

59: Pink Floyd: Ummagumma (design by Hipgnosis)

Almost of Pinkish Floyd's covers would exist in the running for a list of the greatest anthology covers, just we wanted to highlight something that wasn't Dark Side of the Moon. This burst of Storm Thorgerson / Hipgnosis imagination features iv versions of the same photo (except that the ring 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 better expressions than this prototype of a modern take on Lady Justice for their famous 1988 album embrace to …And Justice For All .

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

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

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56: Madonna: Madonna (design past Carin Goldberg)

All of Madonna's album covers are striking in their ain way, only there's something special about her 1983 self-titled debut. She looks like she can meet everything that's going to happen to her in the next forty years.

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

The cover for Ten Out Of 10 remains i of Hipgnosis' fiendishly clever 10cc covers and one of their more than overlooked albums. Here they're on the 10th floor of a hotel standing at the precipice, and only one of the guys seems concerned about information technology.

54: Thelonious Monk: Surreptitious (photograph by Horn Grinner Studios; art direction/design: John Berg and Richard Mantel)

A nod to how Thelonious Monk must've felt equally a pioneering jazz artist, Underground casts the pianist as a French Resistance fighter in WWII. Columbia Records art managing director John Berg was responsible for iconic covers like Bob Dylan'due south Greatest Hits and Bruce Springsteen'due south Built-in To Run, just this was likely one of his more expensive: They built an entire set, complete with costumed extras, to create Monk's arresting anthology cover.

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

It was an art-schoolhouse friend of Jimmy Page'southward who created this mythic cover by superimposing the bandmembers over a famous shot of WWI German language fighter airplane pilot the "Red Baron" and his crew. Many Americans wondered what Lucille Ball was doing at that place but information technology was actually French actress Delphine Seyrig.

52: The Small Faces: Ogden's Nut Gone Fleck (pattern by Nick Tweddell and Pete Dark-brown)

One of the kickoff round covers, the tobacco-can pattern for this psychedelic gem stood out in the racks and prepared you lot for the cheerful surrealism of the album'southward main suite.

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

This anthology encompass was more of a multimedia aggregation, incorporating the die-cut edges and the marble-swirled disc into the overall pattern and giving an instant visual image to the top-hatted Dave Mason.

50: Elton John: Don't Shoot Me I'thousand Only the Piano Player (design past David Larkham and Michael Ross)

Some of Elton's greatest anthology covers were a bit splashy, others a little somber. The one for Don't Shoot Me I'g Only the Piano Role player was just right, drawing from his soon-to-be-legendary beloved of movies.

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

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

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

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

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

Sporting a photograph of JS Bach with a Moog synthesizer, Wendy Carlos' pioneering electronic album Switched-On Bach was different annihilation people had seen (or heard) earlier in 1968. As the first classical anthology to become platinum in America, Carlos helped to bring Bach… to the futurity. Raise your manus if yous also idea the cat was a head of lettuce.

46: Pink Floyd: Animals (design by Hipgnosis)

Non every band would fly a squealer over Battersea Ability Station, simply few other bands would brand an album that absolutely called for information technology.

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

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

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

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

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

The groovy thing about the famous Blondie Parallel Lines album cover isn't just the black-and-white composition but the way Debbie Harry (the only one not grin) exudes power, while all the guys look a bit goofy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Information technology may be a more glamorous comprehend after her first two, but this photo of PJ Harvey – in which she could hands exist mistaken for Shakespeare's Ophelia – implied that a newer, softer image comes at a cost.

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

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

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

Graphic designer and art manager 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. "Able-bodied, artistic, and alien."

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

Similar a proto XXL "Freshman Grade", the 3 alternate covers of A Tribe Call Quest'due south classic third anthology 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 assist of Nick Gamma, the one-time fine art director at Jive Records.

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

Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood looked impeccably fashionable doing whatever it was they were doing on the famous Rumours album cover. It'due south off-white that the comprehend was a lilliputian mysterious since the songs revealed everything else.

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

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

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32: Not bad Pumpkins: Adore (design past Yelena Yemchuk)

Corking Pumpkins' album covers were often softer and prettier than the music, but this cover (created past Billy Corgan'southward and so-girlfriend) is the perfect translation of the obsessively romantic theme of Adore.

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. As the ring often claimed, fewer people would have bought the albums if they'd put themselves on the covers.

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

Mod death metal bands got nothing on land duo The Louvin Brothers, who went to the inferno in 1959 and looked great in white suits while doing it.

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

David Bowie has at to the lowest degree five of the about iconic album covers of all time. From the lightning bolt on Aladdin Sane to Ziggy Stardust, it'southward difficult to choice. But the sublime strangeness of this David Bowie photograph tells yous everything you demand to know near the artistic madness of his Berlin period. The comprehend was memorably defaced by Bowie himself decades subsequently.

28: Kate Bush-league: The Boot Inside (pattern past Jay Myrdal)

The more commonly known US cover is prissy enough only makes it expect similar a conventional singer-songwriter anthology and Kate Bush-league is anything but. Nosotros're referring to the original UK "kite" cover that introduced the strangeness and sensuality that Bush was all about.

27: Janelle Monáe: Dirty Figurer (pattern by Joe Perez )

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

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

Since Miles Davis' Bitches Brew sounded like no other previous jazz albums, it couldn't await 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 Adjacent Twenty-four hour period (design by Jonathan Barnbrook)

Every fan did an immediate double-have when they saw Bowie's human activity of self-sabotage hither. By defacing the Heroes cover, Bowie institute the virtually dramatic fashion of saying "that was then, this is now".

24: Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick (pattern by Roy Eldridge)

Largely written past bandmembers Ian Anderson, John Evan, and Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (with help from Chrysalis staffer and erstwhile journalist Roy Eldridge), the famous newspaper cover of Thick as a Brick is total of cross-references and cerebral wit – just like the music – and Anderson said information technology took just equally much work.

23: Nirvana: Nevermind (pattern past Robert Fisher)

The epitome of a babe grasping at a dollar bill became one of grunge's coolest and well-nigh indelible symbols, an album cover that captured the mental attitude of Nevermind and the era. The babe in question, Spencer Elden, even recreated the photo 25 years after.

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22: The Who: Who's Next (design by Ethan Russell)

The iconic cover for Who's Next worked on ii levels: beginning every bit a futuristic prototype of The Who against a monolith; and 2d, when you noticed their zippers and realized what the guys had been doing.

21: Uriah Heep: The Sorcerer's Birthday (blueprint by Roger Dean)

This cover is Roger Dean at his nearly vivid. When you walked into a tape store, you could see this album articulate beyond the room.

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

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

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nineteen: Santana: Lotus (design by Tadanori Yokoo)

Y'all don't necessarily get a affair of rare beauty when you load a comprehend with equally 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 live during Santana's performances in Osaka, Japan, the full sleeve art is an amalgamation of Buddhist and Christian imagery, along with Yokoo'southward signature pop art style.

18: 10cc: How Dare You! (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 Upwardly") merely is full of subconscious gags, with the same people turning upwards in each of the four principal photos.

17: XTC: Go 2 (design past Hipgnosis)

Another Hipgnosis job, the famous album embrace for XTC's Go 2 boasts a dense block of typed re-create that taunts and messes with the album heir-apparent's head. No wonder the clever lads in XTC loved it.

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

It'southward hard to selection 1 Bruce Springsteen cover, when and then many have ascended to iconic status. It could have merely equally easily been Born in the USA, with its Annie Liebovitz photo and Bruce in a white t-shirt and blueish jeans in forepart of an American flag. We decided to go instead with this kinetic photograph that captured the esprit of the band and the sense of rock'n'curl mission. While the album made an instant star out of Springsteen, the encompass did the aforementioned for Due east Street Band's sax man Clarence Clemons.

15: Ramones: Ramones (design by Roberta Bayley)

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

fourteen: Pixies: Surfer Rosa (pattern past Vaughan Oliver)

The Pixies' debut cover is sexy, sinister, and full of secret meanings, starting with a vintage-looking softcore photo 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 as the music. He fittingly put his coolest album cover on Yes' most creative album, an icy winterscape that illuminates the anthology's war-and-peace theme.

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

Each i of Sinatra's Capitol-era album covers was absurd and archetype in its own fashion, from the solitary scenes on the ballad albums to the visual swagger on the swingers. The encompass of Come Fly With Me caught both Sinatra's natural charisma and the allure of the jet-set up era.

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

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

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

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

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

Virtually of the classic Blue Notation covers were full of vivid graphics and exuberant photos (and lots of exclamation marks!). Non so with John Coltrane's Blue Train, whose cool album cover photograph and mood lighting marked it equally a work to take seriously.

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

This iconic anthology cover said it all almost coy mid-60s sexuality, available-pad style. Despite its daring advent, if you looked closely, the whipped-cream clad model was actually wearing a wedding dress.

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

Finding album art that captured the genre-pushing ambition of To Pimp A Butterfly was a tall guild, simply Kendrick Lamar and TDE were upwards to the task, as K dot assembled his hometown coiffure for a victorious party on the White House backyard, stomping on the symbol of a weaponized criminal justice system.

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six: The Rolling Stones: Let It Bleed (design by Robert Brownjohn)

The Rolling Stones ever had cool, attention-grabbing anthology covers. But while Mucilaginous Fingers has a great story, Let Information technology Drain was every bit unique and surreal. Taking its inspiration from the album's original title Automatic Changer, the front end has the anthology on a turntable stacked with all sorts of other things. Nosotros assume the mess on the backside happened later on someone pressed "start."

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five: Big Brother & the Belongings Visitor: Cheap Thrills (design by R. Nibble)

Arguably the coolest 60s anthology cover of all, the art for Big Brother & the Property Company's sophomore tape was also most people'southward introduction to the style of hugger-mugger comic art perfected past R. Crumb. This style of art would exist associated with psychedelic music from hither on out, though Crumb was a bit anti-hippie himself.

4: The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Alone Hearts Club Ring (pattern by Peter Blake)

Peter Blake's popular-art assemblage on Sgt. Pepper'southward famous album changed tape covers forever, and kept many of usa occupied for weeks trying to place everybody at the ceremony.

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

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

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

A rare case where a parody (of the above Elvis cover) becomes a piece of work of art in itself. The effortlessly cool anthology cover image of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his guitar practically screams rock'n'roll, just similar the music inside.

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

This beautiful, panoramic view of Ludlow Street in NYC on the album cover of Paul's Bazaar did everything possible to put y'all right into the Beastie Boys' world, making it look both funky and inviting. It too made 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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