Whats That Song With the Art Cover of a Guy at the Edge of the Bed Looking Upset Cartoon

The coolest, best, greatest, most iconic, nearly famous album covers of all-time. It doesn't actually matter what sort of adjective you lot want to put it in forepart of the words "album embrace," because lists of this sort of are always incredibly subjective. What we tin can say for sure, though, is that album covers are vitally important to how a record is received by the public. (It's hard to imagine Sgt. Pepper's with the encompass to the White Album and vice versa.) Even in today'due south digital age, a cool record comprehend can have a huge impact. (Artists as varied every bit Young Thug and Glass Animals can attest to that.) And so, without further ado, here is our selection of just 100 of the greatest record covers of all-fourth dimension.

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

Bandleader Cyril Jordan'south 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 how much fun stone'n'roll was supposed to be.

99: The Bee Gees: Odessa

If The Beatles could do a double "White Album," the Bee Gees could practise a fuzzy red one. The red velvet embrace, with gold embossed lettering, served detect that Odessa was going to exist unique and beautiful, which it was.

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

Beggars Feast is a rare case where an anthology's two famous covers actually complement each other. Put the notorious bath embrace together with the engraved invitation on the U.s. replacement, and you've got the yin and the yang of The Rolling Stones at the time.

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

Whenever hip-hop started to take itself too seriously, ODB was there to disrupt, agitate, and give the middle finger to convention. Forgoing any blinged-out tropes, the onetime Wu-Tang member put a doctored version of his welfare ID carte du jour on the front encompass of his solo debut, as both a reminder of where he came from and to destigmatize being on public aid. As he rapped on Wu-Tang's "Domestic dog Sh_t,": "Got meals but still grill that sometime good welfare cheese."

96: Nick Lowe: Jesus of Cool/Pure Pop for Now People (blueprint 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 different guises, from rockabilly hoodlum to sensitive balladeer (at that place were different pics on the US and UK versions), all with natural language firmly in cheek.

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

Jefferson Airplane's Long John Silverish hails from the golden age of elaborate album covers. Since people were already using LPs to store and clean marijuana, the Airplane gave you a cardboard box holder for it, along with the pot, or at least a realistic-looking photo.

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

Any artist who dares to look this terrifying on the cover of their showtime anthology deserves all the platinum success they get. Inspired by the anthology's themes of the subconscious, the nighttime sleeve of Billie Eilish's When We All Fall Comatose, Where Do We Go? served notice that Eilish was here to mess with your caput.

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93: Parliament: Mothership Connexion (photo by David Alexander, design by Gribbitth)

George Clinton'south gonzoid have on outer-infinite adventure establish its perfect match in the effortlessly cool spaceship-party cover for Parliament'southward Mothership Connectedness . The fact that it looked remarkably depression upkeep only made information technology funkier.

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

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

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

Alberto Vargas was already the most famous pivot-up artist before designing the famous cover for The Cars classic 1979 album Candy-O, but this painting of a fashionable redhead, on a automobile of grade, became his most famous piece. Candy-O is one of the two best uses of pin-up art on a stone record, forth with…

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

For her debut solo album, Courtney Dearest took the Cars' concept a footstep further by enlisting the younger, edgier pin-up artist (known professionally equally Olivia) to paint her. Of form, it got an actress dimension by playing with Love'southward own paradigm at the time.

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

The Rolling Stones probably couldn't beat out the Beatles for a psychedelic album in 1967, but they arguably had the libation anthology comprehend, the get-go 3D sleeve in rock. Ten points if you lot can find where the Beatles are hiding in the 3D image on Their Satanic Majesties Request.

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88: Public Prototype Ltd: The Flowers of Romance

PiL'south follow-upwards to their famous Metallic Box anthology cover was fifty-fifty cooler, showing non-performing bandmember Jeanette Lee with a rose in her teeth, a weapon in her hand, and a murderous wait in her optics.

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

It was weird, it was witty, information technology was Warhol. The famous minimalism of The Velvet Underground & Nico pare-away banana album cover became an influence on punk visual mode many years after and remains one of the greatest album covers.

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86: The Miracles: How-do-you-do, Nosotros're The Miracles (design by Wakefield & Mitchell)

The cool album cover for The Miracles' 1961 debut encapsulates the quondam-school showbiz that Motown would shortly lead the globe away from. But it's then cheerful that you still have to love it.

85: The Go-Gos: Dazzler & the Beat (pattern by Ginger Canzoneri, Mike Doud, Mick Haggerty, Vartan)

The Get-Go'due south sense of playful subversion extended to their sendup of glamorous encompass photos on their hitting debut, Beauty & The Beat out . It was their party; you could join if they allow yous.

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

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

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

Jeff Bridges' got zippo on the original "The Dude," the effortlessly cool and quixotic anthology encompass character that appears on Quincy Jones' genre-blending solo debut. Q always had an ear for talent – as his cantankerous-cultural LP proved – but he likewise had an eye for design. (He spotted the eponymous "Dude" statue at an art gallery and took it domicile for inspiration.)

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

The design-centric 4AD characterization did some of its finest work for the Cocteau Twins album covers. This shimmering epitome is undeniably beautiful, however you never know just what information technology means…merely like their music.

81: James Dark-brown: Hell (pattern past Joe Chugalug)

Arriving i yr after his milestone album The Payback , Brown delivered the double-album Hell, which called out societal ills both on record and on the elaborately illustrated cover. Designed past artist Joe Belt, 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 most famous funk album covers ever.

eighty: Slayer: Reign in Claret (design by Larry Carroll)

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

79: King Ruddy: In the Court of the Crimson Rex (design by Barry Godber)

Robert Fripp saw this dramatic painting after In the Court of the Red King was completed and knew it perfectly suited the music, with the crazed cover figure as the 21st century schizoid man. Sadly, the artist passed away just months afterwards.

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

1 of the psych era's corking hallucinations, the famous anthology cover for Moby Grape's 1968 double LP Wow showed an otherworldly mural with the globe's largest bunch of grapes. Wow indeed.

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

One of the near famous album covers of contempo 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 by Bob Jones)

Ultra-cool Elvis (in his shiny gilt Nudie conform) gets multiplied in one of the almost enduring early 60s images and greatest album covers. If there are that many Elvis fans, we will, of course, need fifteen Elvises.

75: Black Flag: My War (design past Raymond Pettibon)

Blackness Flag's trailblazing punk-metallic wouldn't have been the same without Pettibon's grisly comic images, though in this case, not quite equally grisly as the album itself.

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

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

73: The Mothers of Invention: We're Just In Information technology for the Money (design past Cal Schenkel)

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

72: The Pogues: Peace and Honey (design past Simon Ryan)

I of the greatest joke anthology covers, the boxer was already a perfect paradigm for the Pogues, but don't miss the subtle fleck of play here. (The give-and-take "peace" of course has five letters.)

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

Rush's greatest album covers expressed both their one thousand concepts and their cognitive sense of humor. In this staged encompass for Moving Pictures , which features many of the characters from the songs, we detect at least three unlike visual plays on the album's championship.

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

As it turns out, The Beatles were only too lazy to get to Mt. Everest – yeah, that was the original plan – and so they came up with something but equally memorable by leaving the studio and crossing the street, resulting in the famous Abbey Road album cover. It's since gone washed every bit one of the greatest of all time.

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

All of Marvin Gaye's cool album covers are works of art in a fashion, but Ernie Barnes's 'Carbohydrate Shack,' which graces the cover of I Desire You , is the just i currently hanging in a museum. Barnes'south sensual figures and jubilant dancers reflected the carnal nature of Gaye's 1976 anthology.

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68: Joe Jackson: I'chiliad the Homo (pattern by Michael Ross)

There'southward plenty of punk attitude on Joe Jackson's anthology cover for I'g the Human being, where he portrays the hero of the championship vocal – a sleazy character who'll sell you lot annihilation – equally long as you don't actually demand it.

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

Okay, then it was a lilliputian graphic and provocative, merely as the unmarried near controversial matter The Beatles ever did (and the most expensive for an original), the cover of Yesterday and Today surely earns a place on a list of the greatest album covers.

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

In that location were nearly as many copies of Alice Cooper's School's Out in 1970s high schools as in that location were actual schoolhouse desks. Ten points if you got the original with the underwear inner sleeve.

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

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

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

Betwixt the rappers' Gucci-way outfits and the piles of coin in the background, the comprehend 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 album covers in hip-hop.

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

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

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

P-funk'southward wild fusion of funk, surrealism, and pop fine art extended beyond music, resulting in some of the about provocative LP covers of the era. Model Barbara Cheeseborough's screaming visage on the embrace captured the swirling chaos of the 70s and searing funk-rock of Maggot Brain.

61: Family unit: Fearless

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

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

The somber, shadowed photo featured on both the Usa and Uk anthology version of Run into The Beatles! was just the opposite of the grinning film that everybody expected to see, and the starting time of many carry-overs from the Beatles' art-school days.

59: Pink Floyd: Ummagumma (pattern past Hipgnosis)

Most of Pinkish Floyd'south covers would be in the running for a list of the greatest album covers, but we wanted to highlight something that wasn't Night Side of the Moon. This burst of Storm Thorgerson / Hipgnosis imagination features iv versions of the same photo (except that the band rotates one position in each), matching their sense of surrealism.

58: Metallica: …And Justice For All (design by Stephen Gorman)

Metallica's trademark mix of shock value and social commentary had few better expressions than this image of a modern have 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 Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (blueprint by 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 cover of If You lot Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears besides proved to be a no-no in 1966.

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56: Madonna: Madonna (design by Carin Goldberg)

All of Madonna's anthology covers are striking in their ain style, but there'due south something special about her 1983 self-titled debut. She looks similar she can see everything that'southward going to happen to her in the adjacent 40 years.

55: 10cc: X Out Of 10 (design by Hipgnosis)

The cover for 10 Out Of 10 remains one of Hipgnosis' fiendishly clever 10cc covers and ane of their more disregarded albums. Hither 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: Undercover (photograph by Horn Grinner Studios; art management/design: John Berg and Richard Mantel)

A nod to how Thelonious Monk must've felt as a pioneering jazz creative person, Hugger-mugger 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's Born To Run, only this was likely ane of his more expensive: They built an entire set, complete with costumed extras, to create Monk's arresting anthology encompass.

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

Information technology was an art-school friend of Jimmy Page's who created this mythic comprehend by superimposing the bandmembers over a famous shot of WWI German fighter pilot the "Crimson Baron" and his crew. Many Americans wondered what Lucille Ball was doing there but it was actually French actress Delphine Seyrig.

52: The Pocket-sized Faces: Ogden's Nut Gone Scrap (design past Nick Tweddell and Pete Brown)

One of the first circular covers, the tobacco-tin pattern for this psychedelic gem stood out in the racks and prepared y'all for the cheerful surrealism of the album's main suite.

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

This album encompass was more than of a multimedia aggregation, incorporating the die-cutting edges and the marble-swirled disc into the overall pattern and giving an instant visual paradigm to the acme-hatted Dave Mason.

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

Some of Elton's greatest album covers were a bit splashy, others a piddling somber. The one for Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Thespian was but right, cartoon from his soon-to-be-legendary love of movies.

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49: Ian Dury: New Boots and Panties!! (blueprint past Barney Bubbles)

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

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

Dave Brubeck'south 1959 anthology 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 respond to the album's innovative fourth dimension signatures.

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

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

46: Pinkish Floyd: Animals (design past Hipgnosis)

Not every band would wing a pig over Battersea Power Station, but few other bands would make an anthology that absolutely called for it.

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

The album cover for Hüsker Dü'south final studio anthology is i of those cases where a cover is exactly similar the album: vivid, colorful and jarring in a welcoming way.

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

Similar all goth-influenced artists, Chelsea Wolfe has a strong sense of the dramatic. The coiled-up body on the cover of her 2017 album embodies all the personal changes the songs bargain with.

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

The great thing nearly the famous Blondie Parallel Lines anthology embrace isn't just the black-and-white composition but the fashion Debbie Harry (the simply one not smiling) exudes power, while all the guys await a bit goofy.

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

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

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

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

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40: Apprehensive Pie: Rock On (design by John Kelly)

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

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

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

38: PJ Harvey: To Bring Yous My Love (design past Valerie Phillips)

Information technology may be a more glamorous cover after her kickoff two, but this photo of PJ Harvey – in which she could easily be mistaken for Shakespeare'due south Ophelia – unsaid that a newer, softer image comes at a cost.

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37: Haven: Definitely Maybe (blueprint by Brian Cannon)

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

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

Graphic designer and fine art manager Jean-Paul Goude met his lucifer, and his muse, with Grace Jones. Goude's visual re-imagining of the androgynous vocalist led to some of the best anthology covers in music history, from Nightclubbing to Slave to the Rhythm and the arabesque grandeur of Island Life. "Information technology looked right to me and how I felt," said Jones. "Athletic, artistic, and alien."

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

Like a proto XXL "Freshman Course", the three alternate covers of A Tribe Call Quest'south classic third album Midnight Marauders featured a collage of 71 hip-hop personalities from Afrika Bambaataa to the Beastie Boys, like the Sgt Pepper of hip-hop. Concepted by Q-Tip, the Afrocentric encompass came to fruition with the aid of Nick Gamma, the former fine art director at Jive Records.

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

Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood looked impeccably stylish doing whatsoever it was they were doing on the famous Rumours album cover. It's fair that the cover was a piffling 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 cover for Pretzel Logic (actually shot at 5th Artery and 79th Street) looks, feels, and tastes similar New York.

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32: Not bad Pumpkins: Admire (pattern past Yelena Yemchuk)

Smashing Pumpkins' album covers were frequently softer and prettier than the music, but this cover (created by Billy Corgan'south then-girlfriend) is the perfect translation of the obsessively romantic theme of Adore.

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

All the Ohio Players covers were legendary, and the early Westbound ones were considerably more daring than the hit-era ones for Mercury. Equally the band often claimed, fewer people would take bought the albums if they'd put themselves on the covers.

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

Modern death metallic 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 (design by Masayoshi Sukita)

David Bowie has at least v of the almost iconic album covers of all time. From the lightning commodities on Aladdin Sane to Ziggy Stardust, it's hard to choice. But the sublime strangeness of this David Bowie photo tells you everything yous need to know about the artistic madness of his Berlin period. The embrace was memorably defaced by Bowie himself decades subsequently.

28: Kate Bush: The Boot Inside (design by Jay Myrdal)

The more commonly known United states comprehend is overnice plenty simply makes information technology wait similar a conventional singer-songwriter album and Kate Bush-league is anything merely. Nosotros're referring to the original Britain "kite" cover that introduced the strangeness and sensuality that Bush-league was all about.

27: Janelle Monáe: Dirty Computer (blueprint past 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 (design by Mati Klarwein)

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

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

Every fan did an immediate double-accept when they saw Bowie's act of self-demolition here. By defacing the Heroes cover, Bowie found the nearly dramatic way of saying "that was then, this is now".

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

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

23: Nirvana: Nevermind (design by Robert Fisher)

The image of a baby grasping at a dollar bill became one of grunge'southward coolest and about indelible symbols, an album comprehend that captured the mental attitude of Nevermind and the era. The baby in question, Spencer Elden, even recreated the photo 25 years subsequently.

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22: The Who: Who'southward Next (pattern past Ethan Russell)

The iconic cover for Who's Next worked on two levels: first equally a futuristic prototype of The Who against a monolith; and 2nd, when y'all noticed their zippers and realized what the guys had been doing.

21: Uriah Heep: The Wizard'due south Altogether (design by Roger Dean)

This cover is Roger Dean at his near bright. When y'all walked into a record store, you could see this album clear beyond the room.

20: Foam: Disraeli Gears (cover by Martin Abrupt)

Psychedelic album covers were an art form in themselves, and the explosion of color (with the ring looking suitably avuncular) made Cream'southward Disraeli Gears one of the definitive ones. The designer besides wrote one of the album'south most brilliant lyrics on "Tales of Dauntless Ulysses."

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19: Santana: Lotus (pattern by Tadanori Yokoo)

You don't necessarily get a thing of rare beauty when you load a cover with as many fold-out panels and elaborate paintings equally an eleven-inch disc tin concur, but Santana certainly did in this case, thanks to famed Japanese designer Tadanori Yokoo. Recorded live during Santana's performances in Osaka, Nippon, the full sleeve art is an amalgamation of Buddhist and Christian imagery, along with Yokoo's signature pop art style.

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

The ubiquitous Hipgnosis team outdid itself with this ultra-clever 10cc sleeve, which is non simply inspired by ane of the songs (the phone sex-themed "Don't Hang Upward") but is full of hidden gags, with the same people turning upwardly in each of the four master photos.

17: XTC: Become ii (design by Hipgnosis)

Some other Hipgnosis job, the famous album embrace for XTC's Go 2 boasts a dense block of typed copy that taunts and messes with the album buyer'due south head. No wonder the clever lads in XTC loved it.

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

It's hard to pick one Bruce Springsteen comprehend, when so many have ascended to iconic status. It could accept just equally hands been Built-in in the USA, with its Annie Liebovitz photo and Bruce in a white t-shirt and blue jeans in front of an American flag. We decided to become instead with this kinetic photo that captured the camaraderie of the band and the sense of rock'northward'roll mission. While the album made an instant star out of Springsteen, the cover did the same for Eastward Street Band'due south sax man Clarence Clemons.

15: Ramones: Ramones (design past Roberta Bayley)

The cover of The Ramone'south 1976 self-titled debut is pure punk rock in all its blackness-and-white grittiness. A practiced cover became a great one the moment when a bored Johnny Ramone decided to give the photographer the finger.

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

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

13: Yes: Relayer (blueprint by Roger Dean)

Roger Dean'south fantasy paintings became equally much a role of prog-rock iconography equally the music. He fittingly put his coolest album cover on Yes' nearly creative album, an icy winterscape that illuminates the album'southward war-and-peace theme.

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

Each one of Sinatra'southward Capitol-era album covers was cool and archetype in its own style, from the alone scenes on the ballad albums to the visual swagger on the swingers. The cover of Come Fly With Me caught both Sinatra's natural charisma and the allure of the jet-set 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.

x: Talking Heads: Footling Creatures (design by Howard Finster)

Howard Finster's uniquely Southern folk fine art was a perfect match for Talking Heads' back-to-roots anthology (and for R.E.M.'southward Reckoning around the same time). While some of Finster's work had a darker streak, for this album he appropriately chose sunshine and wonderment.

9: John Coltrane: Bluish Train (design past Reid Miles, photograph by  Francis Wolff)

Nigh of the classic Blueish Note covers were full of vivid graphics and exuberant photos (and lots of exclamation marks!). Not so with John Coltrane'due south Blueish Train, whose cool anthology comprehend photo and mood lighting marked it as 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 about coy mid-60s sexuality, bachelor-pad style. Despite its daring appearance, if you lot looked closely, the whipped-cream clad model was really wearing a wedding ceremony clothes.

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

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 crew for a victorious party on the White House lawn, 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 always had cool, attending-grabbing anthology covers. But while Viscous Fingers has a great story, Allow It Drain was equally unique and surreal. Taking its inspiration from the album's original title Automatic Changer, the front has the album on a turntable stacked with all sorts of other things. We presume the mess on the behind happened after someone pressed "start."

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

Arguably the coolest 60s album cover of all, the art for Large Blood brother & the Holding Company's sophomore record was also most people'south introduction to the style of underground comic art perfected by R. Crumb. This manner of art would be associated with psychedelic music from hither on out, though Crumb was a bit anti-hippie himself.

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

Peter Blake's pop-fine art aggregation on Sgt. Pepper's famous album changed record covers forever, and kept many of usa occupied for weeks trying to identify everybody at the ceremony.

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3: Elvis Presley: Elvis Presley (pattern past 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 expect like the crazed hillbilly anybody'south parents feared he was, captured in mid-song at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Florida. Which of grade leads us to…

2: The Clash: London Calling (photo past Pennie Smith, design past 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 album encompass prototype of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his guitar practically screams rock'n'ringlet, simply like the music within.

i: The Beastie Boys: Paul'due south Boutique (blueprint past Nathaniel Hornblower/Jeremy Shatan)

This beautiful, panoramic view of Ludlow Street in NYC on the album comprehend of Paul'southward Boutique did everything possible to put yous right into the Beastie Boys' world, making it look both funky and inviting. It likewise fabricated information technology essential to own the original, fold-out vinyl.

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

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

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