Rock band record covers. The best album covers in the history of world rock music
The musicians were lucky that this man created the covers for their albums. They're gorgeous. The name Storm Thorgerson is known to every music lover. How did it happen that without the works of this photographer, designer and artist it is impossible to imagine the musical culture of the second half of the 20th century? It’s just that he actually reinvented how records could be designed in general. His studio Hipgnosis created covers for the most famous rock bands: Led Zeppelin, Cranberries, 10cc, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Muse. But Storm became famous for his covers for the legendary Pink Floyd, with whose members he had been friends since childhood. Torgerson allowed himself to go against the rules and fashion, and was not afraid to enter into disputes with industry giants. His fearlessness, combined with real talent, gave the world brilliant images that have become part of culture forever. Storm Thorgerson would have turned 70 on February 28th. We chose best works this brilliant man, which can be considered endlessly. Pink Floyd, album “Tree Of Half Life”, 1997 “I like to play tricks with reality, to distort reality. Some of my works are puzzling with the question - is it real or not? 
Pink Floyd, album “Delicate Sound of Thunder”, 1988. 
Pink Floyd, album “Division Bell - Stone Heads”, 1994. 
Pink Floyd, album “A Momentary Lapse of Reason”, 1987. Storm Thorgerson created his whimsical photo collages using glue and scissors long before the advent of Photoshop. He did not change his method even after computer graphics came to serve cover designers. When asked why he piled up hundreds of beds on the shore, instead of just multiplying one on the monitor, he just threw up his hands and replied: “Because they let me do it.” 
Cranberries, album “Wake Up and Smell The Coffee”, 2001. 
Cranberries, album "Bury the Hatchet", 1999. 
Muse, album “Absolution”, 2003. 
Pink Floyd "Beach Catalog", 2009. 
Pink Floyd, album “Dark Side of the Moon”, 1973. “It’s a beautiful and simple idea. We see the refraction of sunlight all around us, for example, in a rainbow. I would be glad to say that this is my invention, but, unfortunately, it does not belong to me!” 
Muse, single “Uprising”, 2009. 
The Chakras, album “Build me a swan”, 2011. 
Biffy Clyro, album “Puzzle”, 2007. 
10cc, album “Deceptive Bends”, 1977. 
Pink Floyd, album “Wish You Were Here”, 1975. 
Strawbs, album “Deadline”, 2012. 
Biffy Clyro, album “Opposites”, 2013. 
Biffy Clyro, album “Only Revolutions”, 2009. 
Thornley, album “Tiny Pictures”, 2009. 
Pendulum, single " The Island", 2010. 
Deepest Blue, album “Waves”, 2004. 
Led Zeppelin, album "Houses of the Holy", 1973. 
10cc, album “Look Hear?”, 1980. 
Disco Biscuits, album “Planet Anthem”, 2010. 
Poster for the 30th anniversary of Pink Floyd, 2004.
The dinosaurs of the music scene realized that for good sales they needed to somehow design their vinyl records... As time went on, they began to pay more and more attention to this matter, they had to create something new with an eye on already created works, until everything was came to the conclusion that only a masterpiece can surpass the previous work. This is how the industry approached the golden era of design, when one could hope for success only if best music album covers. Online music magazines are definitely dependent on creating all sorts of tops about everything in the world. Let us join them, because the theme of colorful design is really worth talking about. Moreover, such charts excite young hearts so much... Don’t be confused by the fact that the cover of only one modern album made it to the top, this is not proof that music is no longer cake, explanations for this phenomenon will be given in the first review album. The splash screen has changed, since Google adsense is still underage, and it is not allowed to see naked women, those suffering to look at the old splash screen - here.
10. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky ("07)
Gone are the days when monochrome albums attracted attention when they were on store shelves, gone are the days when a shocking or unusual design made us go to the checkout, squeezing a new record in our palms, and the most interesting thing is that the days are gone when record stores were even for us as much as needed. And at this moment you begin to think: why is all this? Why create beautiful covers, an absolute rudiment of the digital world, few of us, scrolling through iTunes/Google Play in search of something new, opt for a nice cover. But, however, something still forces us to complete the musical image with a beautiful, attractive design - a sort of tip of the iceberg, allowing us to guess what is hidden under the water... Wilco - an amazing group, worthy successors to the work of Chris Rea, have chosen a magnificent cover that is inextricably linked with music and lyrics, but also not interpreting it directly “head-on”, as is often the case.
9. Carly Simon – Playing Possum ("75)
It's hard to say that this album blew up radio stations at the time, and it's even harder to try to distinguish it musically from Carly's other works. In principle, all six of her early albums are equally good, so to speak, for a fan of 70s pop music. In any case, this is much higher quality than what is included in today's radio. But unlike the music, which is quite outdated today, the cover went into the collections of amateur photographers (photonists, if that’s more familiar to you), becoming there one of the standards of artistic photography. I’m not very good at English photo aesthete slang, and I couldn’t find a discussion of this album in the Russian segment, so I’ll tell you how I feel. Carly's pose on the album cover is ambiguous in many ways, she is on her knees, but at the same time the expression on her face, the clenched fist and the incompleteness of the pose denies any submissiveness. The whole necessity of the erotic frivolity of the photograph (and some stores refused to accept the album after its release) is emphasized by the edge of the backdrop; the photographer could not help but see that unplanned objects were falling into the lens, which means that its inclusion in the frame here was intentional. Although pornographic images had previously appeared on the covers of albums (of groups consisting only of men), this was the first time that a singer-author acted as an erotic image. And we all know what happened next - four years later Madonna happened. Consciously or not, the album (including the lyrics) reflected the BDSM culture that was emerging and was undergoing the process of decriminalization at that time.
8. Patti Smith - Horses ("75)
If you're a fan of modern punk rock, you're in for a nasty surprise: the style was founded not by the clowns Green Day, The Offspring and Blink-182, but by Iggy Pop, The Velvet Underground and Patti Smith. The cover of the latter's debut album will be discussed. “I don’t know how to play, but I really want to” - the motto of punk rockers, originally put into it in the seventies by those who knew how to play, was transferred to the cover: “I don’t know how to make a cool design, and I don’t have any ideas, but I really want you to like it." As a result, the cover managed to capture the sincerity of a classic punk musician, without unnecessary embellishment, without forced pathos, without pretentious clothes.
7. Pixies - Surfer Rosa ("88)
Whatever your opinion of late 80s early 90s indie rock in general, and the Pixies in particular, you will be hard pressed to disagree with one thing: Surfer Rosa is one of the most important works of surrealism in modern history. I would really like to talk more about the music itself - yes, there is something to talk about, unlike the music of Nirvana, with all its futile attempts to copy the sound of this group, but that is beyond the scope of this top. As is known, one of the most simple ways to achieve a surreal painting is to mix many chaotic images, achieve their harmonious arrangement, and voila, you are now an artist! In reality, everything turns out to be somewhat more complicated, and no matter how much you try to become an upstart surrealist, you will never succeed, because history knows only one exception, when a mediocre poser and artisan with a complete lack of imagination became a genius among pretentious connoisseurs and the spiritually rich dev. Yes, yes, I'm talking about you, Monsieur Salvador Dali. But let's go back to the cover: a symbolic image of hair in the form of the edges of torn wallpaper, elements of the scene, music, religion, a retouched highlight, a Spanish skirt, a slightly high brim, ideally emphasizing the bare chest (erotica, where would we be without it?) - a perfect image.
6. Rainbow – Rising ("76)
It’s difficult to find a cover for any other band that so accurately reflects the content: a crimson sunset, a storm, the band’s symbol, rocky cliffs, in the tops of which gothic architectural elements can be discerned, and of course, a fist decisively grabbing a rainbow. And if you have never listened to this album, and you are seeing its cover for the first time (you are greeted by your clothes, as they say), then you will be amazed at how perfectly the music matches the design.
5. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ("67)
I cannot find an explanation for the amazing appeal of this cover; the impression always depends on the mood: this cover can appear in all its phantasmagoric and absurdity, sometimes it can give the impression of a strange funeral, or it can seem like a picture of a cross-section of times. It’s a shame that Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ iii... well, you know who I mean, didn’t make it onto the cover. With them the cover would become even more versatile. This work is an excellent example of when a group, tired of the frivolity of its perception, moves towards even greater frivolity, and inverting public opinion, achieves a thoughtful, important and thoughtful attitude. After all, simply growing beards a la Karl Marx and Leo Tolstoy, and talking about eternal topics, would be too un-Beatlesque.
4. Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin" Bob Dylan ("63)
This cover just envelops you with its warmth, so there’s no need to beat around the bush - almost all Bob Dylan’s songs are warm, close, very family-like. Wherever Dylan’s record is launched, the imagination immediately pictures classic two-story America, the attractive South, and the slightly Redneck central states. It's a little funny that on the cover of the album "...by myself", Bob is not depicted alone. What's even funnier is that Bob Dylan is also featured on the previous album, which took fifth place.
3. Led Zeppelin – In Through the out door ("79)
One could say that it was a revolution in design, but as you know, a revolution is when something changes, and everything else is just that, assassination attempts... Therefore, let's call this case a wonderful precedent, which, unfortunately, no one since has decided to repeat (as far as I know) I know, no one else has tried this, if not, correct me). Seven songs, six covers, a five-year-old son, four band members, three weeks of work, two words "Dear John...", one central figure, depicted from different angles. Pastel, cigar wrapper paper, sepia. Even if we imagine that there is no music on the album, only by indirect facts we can get a huge story, we know who this man is, why he came to the absinthe bar, why he gets drunk, and we can even guess which of the three women he is with late at night from there will leave.
2. Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon ("73)
Whichever Pink Floyd album you choose, there will be many who disagree. We could see the inadequacy of some fans last year, when material previously unknown to the general public was released, recorded together with Division Bell. The only good news is that the majority of aggressive fans are still children, for the sake of the excessive importance of their opinion, putting the year of birth in the column as one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight. Personally, I think "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" is the best cover in the band's history. Let me draw your attention once again - this is not about the music, but exclusively about the design! Endless hospital beds, mental confusion, a deserted beach - this is a very depressing picture, and it is not difficult to imagine Gilmore’s feelings at that moment. Again, reminding us that we are only talking about pictures, “The Wall” looks like the most boring cover, although many, looking back at the musical masterpiece, would choose it in this top. As a compromise - let “Dark Side of the Moon” take second place, this is the choice of the majority in many polls, although I don’t like it - there is an optical error in the image, one color is missing in the decomposition, and in general, the cover is not straight has nothing to do with the title and lyrics (how many more hidden messages fans have to find!). However, the ability to create an infinite design by gluing a cover to a second design is truly amazing.
1. The Beatles – Abbey Road ("69)
Just look at all these people! In any weather and time of year, at any density of traffic, regardless of weekends, fans of this group non-stop make their own versions of this fantastic cover, and only night can interrupt this process, but even then not always - I I came in several times at night and observed people wanting to take pictures in the light of a flash. Oh, poor drivers! Besides everything famous photo attractions, the cover also gave birth to several interesting stories, the American Paul Cole wandering aimlessly along the street, and the owner of a Volkswagen parked on the left, the license plates of which were stolen until the car was sold at auction, and the white markings on the road, carefully removed several times by fans for personal collections and sale, received their share of popularity on the auction.
Ever since Elvis Presley moved his hips, rock 'n' roll has always had a bad reputation. Provocative music album covers became another battlefield for moralists and had a huge impact on sales.
TheBeatles: Yesterday And Today (1966)
This compilation for the American market was one of the first cases of outrageous covers. The photograph of musicians surrounded by dolls and pieces of meat seemed to be a parody of pop art. However, many retailers did not appreciate the humor and about 50 thousand copies were returned. The publishers quickly changed the design to a calmer one, and the record topped the Billboard charts.
TheJimi HendrixExperience: Electric Ladyland (1968)
The original British edition of the legendary Jimi Hendrix featured a whopping 19 naked women on the cover. Subsequently, it was changed when Hendrix personally expressed dissatisfaction with the nudity and replaced it with his beloved.
John Lennon& Yoko Ono: Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins (1968)
The images for John and Yoko's avant-garde album were shot by the couple themselves using a time-lapse camera. Predictably, the visual result of this work caused outrage, prompting distributors to sell the record in a special brown wrapper. Only 5,000 copies were produced in the UK in, so to speak, original form.
The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet (1968)
The original "banned" cover of The Rolling Stones' classic album featured a run-down toilet and graffiti. The label rejected this option and initially released the record with a white cover designed like an invitation card.
David Bowie: Diamond Dogs (1974)
If you expand the cover of the eighth studio album David Bowie, then you could see a star with dog piers. In fact, the artist’s original message implied something from George Orwell and a post-apocalyptic society, but the fatal genitalia had to be glossed over until 1990, when EMI / Rykodisc released a CD.
The Rolling Stones. "Sticky Fingers"
The cover of “Sticky Fingers” gained scandalous fame as soon as it hit the shelves. The reason for this is its controversial design, to which Andy Warhol himself had a hand. The cover shows a man's torso and the person below wearing very tight jeans. They emphasize the impressive features of the structure of the male body, which, apparently, is very happy to see the woman he loves. The famous Stones logo - lips with tongue hanging out - appeared on the back of this cover.
The peculiarity of the cover was that there was a real zipper on the fly. Anyone could unbutton it and find panties there. The musicians liked the idea so much that they were willing to take on the additional production costs. But the fact is that lightning scratched the record, which made it impossible to listen to some records. As a result, they began to release the record with a cover where the zipper was already unzipped, so that this detail on the counter could not damage other records. In Spain, the cover was changed and the severed fingers were placed on it in the jar. This was done not because of censorship, but to reduce the cost of production.
The Beatles. "Abbey Road"
The legendary cover, which gave rise to mystical theories. Allegedly, the Beatles lined up in a funeral procession - because Paul McCartney, as supporters of this theory believed, actually died and was replaced by a double. McCartney on the cover walks barefoot, like a dead man, yet out of step with the other musicians: Lennon in a white suit as Christ, Ringo in dark clothes as an undertaker, and Harrison as a gravedigger. The shoot took ten minutes, and rumors about the cover are still circulating. The details of the photo were meticulously sorted out - even the license plate on the car that got into the frame stands for 28IF - “if McCartney was alive, he would have turned 28 then.” However, Paul took off his shoes because it was extremely hot outside. The musician himself has repeatedly sneered at the topic of such theories.
Aerosmith. "Done With Mirrors"
The Aerosmith team approached the cover design with the ingenuity due to rockers. All the text on it was written backwards, except for the technical information. This is how the musicians played on the name of the record - it was possible to understand what was written on the cover only if the listener leaned it against the mirror. The text was located in slits through which the photograph was visible. It depicts an illusionist bending a fork with his gaze.
The record itself, according to the musicians, carried an allegorical meaning, namely, a rejection of illusions. Joe Perry once met with fans, and they said that they really liked the record. To which Perry called it “complete crap,” although it was during the recording of this album that he triumphantly returned to the team.
It was during that period that the members of the Aerosmith group took turns being sent to hospitals, which is why the album turned out to be commercially unsuccessful. However, when the record was re-released, all the inscriptions were simply printed, and the fans were outraged - so its design lost its originality.
Fleetwood Mac. "Rumors"
The album cover was created by Stevie Nicks' longtime friend Herbert Worthington, who often photographed the group. It features Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks in person. The guys are dressed as characters from Welsh mythology: all because at one time Stevie Nicks came across a book about the history of mythology, and not least thanks to this, the legendary composition “ Rhiannon» It is noteworthy that Fleetwood has two balls suspended between his legs. Mick once stole chains for them from the toilets of those clubs in which he once performed.
The release received platinum status in the UK - 11 times in a row. Behind the scenes of this album there is a real soap opera, and the record, as soon as it was released, was surrounded by rumors. Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were in a terrible relationship, John McVie's wife ran away with the lighting designer, and Fleetwood himself quarreled with his wife Jenny - he was then having an affair with Stevie Nicks. Jenny Boyd was the sister of the famous Pattie Boyd, who, in turn, was Harrison's wife and then married him best friend- Eric Clapton. To endure all this, of course, Fleetwood needed to have a couple of steel, not wooden balls - otherwise he would not have survived the crazy seventies.
Oasis. "What's the Story Morning Glory"
The cover was shot in London on Berwick Street, a street famous for its shops selling the coveted items of all music lovers - rare CDs and records. The two men walking in the frame are the art director of the group and the DJ. It was supposed that Liam and Noel Gallagher would be on the cover, but the brothers had another fight on the eve of the shoot - as you understand, with such faces the cover would scare buyers.
Berwick Street is very busy at any time - the team had to get up for filming at five in the morning, and the photographer was very afraid that he would have to disperse both cars and crowds of people, but everything worked out. The guys walked back and forth towards each other for two hours, trying to get great pictures, although in the end one of the first photographs ended up on the cover.
For a long time, photographer Brian Canon was hanging around without work until he ran into Noel Gallagher backstage at an event. Canon came in brand new sneakers that he had brought from Italy - there were no such shoes in London. Noel saw these sneakers and asked: “Where the hell did you get those sneakers?” This is how the photographer met the musicians and then received his contract with Oasis
Nirvana "Nevermind"
The iconic album cover literally shocked the public at the time of its release: a naked baby swimming in a pool for a dollar became the subject of discussion on both sides of the ocean. As a result, the record was sold with a sticker that hid the child’s nudity - Cobain said that he was only willing to make such a compromise.
The idea of a baby in a pool came to Grohl and Cobain when they were just remembering a film about childbirth in water. In 2016, Elder Spencer, that’s the child’s name, repeated the same photo shoot, but wearing underwear at the request of the photographer.
Queen. "Miracle"
The members of Queen on the cover of the “Miracle” album seemed to merge their faces together - during the album’s release it became known that Freddie Mercury was seriously ill. Fans assumed that the cover was mounted this way on purpose - in order to hide Mercury's thinness.
For the group, this cover is a symbol of unification in the face of great adversity: this is how the team supported its leader. And, by the way, the authorship on the cover was indicated by Queen and the income was divided equally between all members of the group. And the name itself actually reflected a miracle - Mercury was able to record an album for health reasons, although doctors recommended that he go to hospital.
The cover was one of the first examples of photomontage - four portraits of musicians, whose faces merged, were made using the overlay technique. A total of more than 30 songs were written for this album - and this fruitfulness is easy to explain: the band members had not gone on tour before, but were engaged in solo work. The musicians gained strength and inspiration and created a truly wonderful piece of music, the cover and content of which became a rock legend.
Eagles. "Hotel California"
The legendary album cover was the idea of Don Henley, who had two photographers climb 60 feet off the ground onto a special platform. The photo shows the famous Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard, but even those who have been there did not recognize it. And all because Henley set the photographers the task of taking photographs that would reflect the atmosphere of decline and lost glory. As a result, the hotel in the photo turned out to be even ominous. Photographers sat for several hours, waiting for the desired shot - or rather, the moment until the sun dropped below the horizon.
The author of the concept was British art director John Cosh, who came up with the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road. It is curious that after the release of the record, Kosh received a warning from the hotel management, to which his lawyer noted that bookings at the hotel had increased significantly, and there were no questions about it.
Blur. "Parklife"
The cover of the Blur album features two beagle dogs, and alternative version there was supposed to be a fruit stall on Portobello Road. A store window was also offered as an illustration for the cover. Damon Albarn admitted in an interview that the record could be called “London” - this was the idea of the owner of the Food Records label, David Balfe, and therefore there could be fruit on the cover. Albarn was adamant - he said that it was Balfe's last idea, after which, as you understand, they said goodbye.
In general, the guys decided everything in their own way, and “Parklife” reached the top charts in exactly the clothes that listeners know him in. The record is included in a list called “1001 Albums You Must Listen to Before You Die.” It's funny that Albarn himself is not on the cover - and yet the British publication Independent called him “the most handsome young man on the pop scene,” which, however, only offended the future mastermind of Gorillaz.
Pink Floyd. "Delicate Sound of Thunder"
By the time of recording this album, the team's ideological inspirer, Roger Waters, had already left it. Moreover, he successfully toured with his solo album. Not everything was so successful for Pink Floyd - the recording of a live album did not work out the first time, but in the end the record was embodied in vinyl and donned a psychedelic cover.
It depicts two men, one of whom stands in the distance on a hill surrounded by a flock of birds, and the other has his back turned - and his entire suit is covered with light bulbs. The cover was created by maestro Storm Thorgerson. The flock of birds flapping their wings represents sound, and the light bulbs on the costume are a symbol of light. Torgerson embodied two elements of Pink Floyd concerts in this image. Duality is the artist’s signature style.
Delicate Sound of Thunder was destined to be a pioneering album. This record became the first rock record to be played in space - Soviet cosmonauts took it with them to Soyuz TM-7. The Melodiya company released this record, and it became the first officially released Pink Floyd recording in the USSR.
Guns N'Roses. "Appetite for Disruption"
The debut album of Guns N'Roses became widely known not only due to its hit-rich content, but also because its first editions had a very scandalous cover. She repelled the attack of an evil skeleton on a girl who was lying unconscious on the sidewalk, and at that time a multi-armed, toothy creature attacked the offender of the beautiful lady. The picture of retribution as an illustration of the cover actually looks very controversial - it is not surprising that it caused a great resonance at the time.
The author of the idea was the underground artist Robert Williams - he explained the choice of the plot by the fact that such art was intended only for connoisseurs and connoisseurs. The painting itself appeared before the album - Axl Rose really liked it, and he asked the artist for permission to use it as a cover. He wanted to take its name - “Appetite for Distruction”. Axl Rose arrived at the artist’s house, got out of the car, and at first he even thought that a girl had come to visit him - then the leader of the Hans had gorgeous hair. Williams tried to convince the musician that the cover would be banned, but Axl insisted.
The artist received his share of world fame, and the musicians received a scolding from the label, and a cross with four skulls of Hans members was placed on the cover - according to rumors, Axl even has the exact same tattoo.
20 years before The Clash used the same color combination, Elvis Presley knew how compelling a green and pink font could be. The photo for the star's debut album was taken on July 31, 1955 during a concert in Tampa, Florida. The image of a young artist ready to take on the world is instantly arresting, embodying the raw power of raw rock 'n' roll. And it prepares an unsuspecting America of the mid-50s for a youth cultural revolution even before the pickup stylus touched the vinyl. Two decades later, British punks The Clash used the same font for the cover of their landmark album London Calling.
On the recording of The Beatles' craziest album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, costing £50,000, almost six months of work and 700 studio hours. For the cover, the musicians, dressed in bright uniforms, were photographed on March 30, 1967, against the backdrop of cardboard cutouts of those celebrities whom they considered important to themselves. The cover of Sergeant Pepper features Carl Gustav Jung, Edgar Poe, Bob Dylan, Oscar Wilde, Albert Einstein, Lewis Carroll, Aleister Crowley and others. For the first time in the history of recording, the album's lyrics were included on the back of the sleeve. The designer who created this miracle received a high honor: in June 2002, 70-year-old Peter Blake was knighted by Her Majesty.
The debut album of the gloomy American anti-hippies The Velvet Underground did not achieve commercial success, which did not prevent it from taking an honorable place among the most important records in the history of rock. According to legend, every owner of the treasured vinyl, who heard this strange, dark and viscous music in 1969, founded his own group. The album cover features a huge yellow banana with the caption: “Peel the skin slowly and look.” This is the work of the famous pop art master Andy Warhol, who was the manager and producer of The Velvet Underground. On early pressings of the record, a banana sticker was placed on the sleeve, revealing an image of a peeled banana printed on the sleeve itself.
Where do all Beatlemaniacs go when they come to London? Of course, to Abbey Road, the same one where the studio of the same name is located and which The Beatles cross on the cover of their last album, also named Abbey Road. The iconic photo shoot took place on a hot day on August 8, 1969. The photographer had ten minutes to take a photo: a section of the busy street was blocked by police specifically for the sake of the musicians. To this day, passers-by love to walk single file along the famous zebra crossing, unnerving London drivers. There are simply countless parodies of the famous cover. The most famous was done by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who walked across the road naked with their socks on.
Andy Warhol again! At a New York party in 1969, the pop art guru casually hinted to The Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger that it would be great to put a real jeans zipper on the cover of the next record. A year later, the crazy idea was realized in the design of the Sticky Fingers album. The entire envelope was taken up by a photograph of a man's fly tightly fitting to the hips - with a real zipper that could be unzipped. Of course, with such a radical design, problems arose: during transportation, the zipper was pressed into the album, scratching the vinyl and records lying in the stack. In addition to the scandalous fly, the album sleeve for the first time featured the band’s new logo – a cheekily protruding scarlet tongue.
Suite about birth, madness and time The Dark Side Of The Moon (“Dark Side of the Moon”) performed by British rock wizards Pink Floyd has long become a classic. The CD cover has forever entered the canon of modern design. The visionaries of the Hipgnosis studio placed a prism on it that refracts the light beam (and to simplify the design, the indigo color was deliberately removed from the spectrum). On the back there is a picture of a prism that produces spectrum convergence (this does not happen in nature, but what can you do for greater effect!) In addition to the luxurious sleeve, two posters were included with the record. One featured concert photographs of the band, the other featured photos of the pyramids in Giza, taken under full moon. Pink Floyd insisted that the inclusion of posters in the artwork would not increase the price of the record.
Bob Marley's 1973 album Catch A Fire turned him and his band The Wailers into international stars. The album sleeve matched the title: the entire space of the cover was occupied by an image of a Zippo lighter. But that's not all. The top of the cardboard lighter folded back, like a real cigarette lighter, revealing the record itself. Of course, the production of such a cover was not cheap, because the two elements of the “lighter” had to be connected manually. Therefore, it was not possible to arrange the entire circulation of the record in this way. Only the first 20 thousand copies were released in the “lighter” cover. Further prints were packaged in a regular envelope with a large portrait of Bob Marley smoking a huge joint.
Pink Floyd's tenth album is called Animals, that is, “Animals.” The idea for the album's artwork was created by bass guitarist Roger Waters. He drove past London's Battersea Power Station every day and suggested that it be used on the cover. However, the building was not enough. The album was called “Animals,” so it was necessary to include some kind of animal in the envelope. An inflatable pig 10 meters high was ordered. She was inflated with helium and launched into the sky above the station. Not the first time, but the necessary photo was taken. In one take, a pig flew into Kent and scared away one farmer's cows. The enraged farmer did not know that he was participating in the creation of one of the most outstanding record covers in history!
Is there anything more punk than putting male genitalia on an album cover? Nirvana did just that, although they modeled it on a child swimming in a pool. The controversial Nevermind album cover may be perceived as an allegory for the pursuit of the almighty dollar, but in fact (according to Geffen Records art director Robert Fisher) it is only the result of Kurt Cobain's passion documentary film about underwater birth. Every five years or so, that same boy (in 1991, four-month-old Spencer Elden) recreates the cover for posterity, and Nevermind's cover design has inspired countless parodies and tributes, including Homer Simpson.
For the cover of their seventh album, Britpop heroes Blur enlisted the (at the time) mysterious street art artist Banksy, whose witty stencil works cover walls around the world from his hometown of Bristol to Palestine and Los Angeles. For the Think Tank project, Banksy created a series of graffiti on the walls and doors of London that are slightly different from what audiences usually expect from him. These works do not contain provocative messages, and their heroes are children and romantic couples. True, they all wear bulky diving helmets on their heads. True to his principles, Banksy did not take money for the work, but in 2007 the original cover was sold at auction for 75 thousand pounds.
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