Classic Album, FUCKING TERRIBLE Cover Art

Why did they ever switch? And why is that version no longer available? Down in history with an embarrassing cover.

No I didn't, worm.

It's an amazing record cursed with an idiotic sleeve, chosen by the record company (whom they've since parted ways with) after they fired original sleeve designer Mike Coles.

that badfinger cover is awesome!

Ah, but the argument could be made -- albeit poorly and without a great deal of merit -- that it also displays the consequences of rape, i.e. being pounced on by a big scary red robot with daggers for teeth.

I always thought it was the other robot that did the raping, as the big red one appears to be jumping over the wall at him.

http://eil.com/newgallery/Guns-N-Roses-Appetite-For-Dest-307531.jpg

xpost - that's not a skeleton?

Yes, I loved his "W" goatee.

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0001WPSJ0.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

http://hometown.aol.com/jesusandsue2/PorkyPigTag2.jpg

However, this album always belongs in threads like this one:
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00005ASHM.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

It is interesting that, while album covers from the mid 60s or earlier were usually crap, great albums such as the first three Beatles albums, Elvis' debut and Sinatras' "Sings For Only The Lonely" all had really classic covers.

http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/S/soft_cell_nonf.jpg

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00000745F.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

I don't think so. Ugly is of course subjective but there are some objective reasons why it's a "good design." The dayglow colors were very popular at the time (and previously in the '60s), the hand-drawn quality is nice and the overall triangular composition is very strong. Plus the standing-in-a-circle-looking-down pose mirrors the previous year's Straight Outta Compton.

I don't think I knew that "Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret" was a Soft Cell album. I only knew it from one of David Cross' lines on a "Mr. Show" episode.

Speaking of Cross, and the above referenced "A.D." quote, wasn't the joke:
"I was going to call my show "Use Your Illusion," but some band had the rights. So I'm going to call it "Use Your Illusion 2."

Looks like the photographer pulling two people out of the closet against their will on their way out from some gay bar.

Alex, Bizarro has a fantastic cover! Why do you think it's bad? Better than Seamonsters...

it's one of my favorite albums of all time.....and all it gets is a meaningless crayon scribble? It's a travesty (though the American edition....replacing the green field with peachy pink, is much worse). I liked the Seamonsters cover (the original one with the fishy scales, not the swirly design one).

bad
http://www.hkedcity.net/culture/e+e/03/images/album_cover/week3/laitatwing39.jpg

I think all of the Squeeze covers are just barely passable at best. Except for the first one which is nicely over-the-top.

I can like slick and corporate, so long as its still provocative. I think the cover of Second Annual Report by Throbbing Gristle, for example (the quintessence of simple and corporate) is genius.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000000OMJ.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

I guess that's how I feel about the Smile cover which is fine but just seems a little too simple and plain for what's inside. At least the Pet Sounds cover has a kind of bizarre petting zoo thing going on. On the other hand if that Smile cover were released 30 years ago I think I might have just become used to it and considered it iconic. For now I can't picture the album without that weird little storefront illustration.

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000006ZCC.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

It looks like the Birthday Party should sound like some metallic rockabilly band, which is -- of course -- just not the case.

http://image.com.com/mp3/images/cover/200/drd900/d923/d92362hta34.jpg

Another great example of that....

http://orbita.starmedia.com/~subhumans/grupos/throbbing_gristle/20jazz.jpg

http://www.importantrecordstore.com/images/content/distributed/builttospillwaverscd.jpg

Meanwhile....

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000000S4.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

No one wanted to see Nick Cave shirtless.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002LGS.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

I personally think most of New Order's album covers are fucking terrible.

http://www.flaminglips.com/media/discography/albums/04_priestDriven/afc_priestDriven.jpg

Hit To Death has a classic cover too.

mainly in comparison to its bretheren

Landing on Water is awful tho.

u guys really are contributing sum quite unterrible covers, by the way, (including the De La, the Soft Cell & the Peter Gabriel,--the first & last being easily be argued as sum the BEST ever) & also throwing out quite a few NOT-VERY-CLASSIC MUSIC SELECTIONS as well...

but personally, gigantic co-sign on the Brian Wilson SMiLE cover, same with the original intended cover as well. complete lazy non-happy-effect-giving, non thought out, non-anything C-R-A-P. what the hell happened??
http://wsucr.no-ip.org/smile.jpg

& though I fully disagree bout the very iconic & fully greatly-designed Day-Glow Hippy Peace Sign cover, I always though De La's second album: cover hindered me ever really accepting the album
http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/d/delasoul~~~_delasouli_101b.jpg
just never actually wanted that shoddy cover in my collection. Never bought the record. Buhloone Mindstate was arguably worse, but with the much improved cover (Best De La cover award??) then I think it's impacted me much further listening & appreciating it.

Also, the second Pharcyde album cover is very mediocre, but especially the back cover. just sh*tty looking... bad photoshopped(?) gritty bitmapped purple lighting, & just bad general type & layout & everything. Especially compared ta the magnifincence of the first LP cover.

And not that anybody here'll likely know what I'm talking bout--Sticky Fingaz Black Trash Autobiography cover with him alternately in the fake braids & in the spiked-leather-jacket, running away from the cop car, with the sh*tty "red glare lights" just always looked real reallll disgustingly chunky bad turrible ta me. Never quite felt right leaving it on the display shelf though it's arguably a should-be-classic.

http://www.musicmatic.de/Z/Zappa__7a.jpg

the cover, though -- yikes!

http://www.songlyricscollection.com/lyrics/g/gary-numan/exhibition-tour-1987-ghost/exhibition-tour-1987-ghost.jpg

I always had a problem with this cover. It takes a nanosecond for something like that to automatically look dated:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000272N.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

http://www.wishville.co.uk/chameleons/images/sotb0001.jpg

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002KHH.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

a great great album, but the covers always bugged me

(I don't think Bardo Pond have ever had a good album cover)

all their cover art is pretty damn bad now that I think about it.

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I was about to post Giant Steps.

It gives me great satisfaction though to see Ride's Going Blank Again here, though, because even though I don't think it's a "classic" album, the cover will always be much, much worse than its aural contents, and I think someone really did need to point out just how bad that cover is.

they fired original sleeve designer Mike Coles.

Which means they will burn in hell I hope.

It's not so much that it's a visually bad cover....it's got an interesting design (cribbed from French film poster, i want to say....), but it just has zero to do with (a) the album, (b) the band. Sometimes -- as with the example of Junkyard -- that can be compelling. Not in this case.

No, they hated it.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0007KIFLO.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg
http://www.coldcrushrecords.com/images_layout/cover-cc009.jpg
http://www.asthmatickitty.com/image/covers/bunky_motorcycle.jpg

...he's spot on with Junkyard as well, which I always found somewhat bizarre.

What's wrong with you people?? Junkyard is the greatest album cover of all time!!

You hurt me, Barry!

I can't believe someone thinks New Order's "Technique" has a bad cover. It's in my top 10 covers of all time. I think only "Power Corruption and Lies" is better.

The cover for Paranoid gets a raw deal. I know the guy's supposed to be a "War Pig" (which was the original album title iirc), but he actually does look paranoid, don't you think?

If by "paranoid" you mean indefensibly silly, then yes.

The "Paranoid" single cover is even funnier:

http://www.fannins-collectables.com/images/b_listing/black_sabbath/paranoid/bss101_fc-fs.jpg

Can anyone tell why the cop in the album cover is wielding a sword? I don't think cops had swords in the seventies.

I like most of these covers! But as I said in the other thread, it's personal opinion. It's not like these artists were like" Yeah! Let's make a terrible album cover that everyone will bash!"
I don't see that happening.

How about Black Sabbath "Born Again"? That's the worst cover of all time. The album overcame that and a botched production job to come out pretty goddamn good.

The Paranoid single cover's brilliant!

http://www.doctornerve.org/nerve/pictures/skin.jpg
http://www.voivod.net/discography/88/88.gif
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000630CA.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/2985.jpg

awesome revive

I pulled this out earlier today:

http://pixhost.eu/avaxhome/avaxhome/2007-08-02/OrbitalWinsidesIfront.jpg

The biggest negative points have to go to covers that in addition to being ugly also give you a wrong idea of what the album sounds like. I mean, would you buy this romper-room-looking bullshit if you didn't already know that it's fantastically amazing?

"Pee Wee's Medical Kit"

great thread idea, i knew it had been done already. i think the following album is great though i am not 100% sure as i had already given up on them at that time. they were just releasing too much stuff in the first half of the nineties, i couldn't keep pace. bonus points for rubbish title. they also excelled at giving their albums ridiculous names. here comes stereolab:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fVJDafiu-HM/SNE1IrOH3ZI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/6e3rz2As2v0/s400/StereolabEmperorTomatoKetchup.jpg

Yep, I agree the Sabs have their fair share of poor covers.

This is not Thin White Rope's finest album, but still classic in my book. And one of the worst covers ever:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_n-thK6Pq5M4/ShFpyvTIbNI/AAAAAAAABzI/BIVY50KMU-U/s320/rubysea.jpg

http://image.hotdog.hu/_data/members0/972/235972/images/454016.jpg

This is one of my favourite albums of this decade, but even in the category of cheapo rap covers it looks pretty cheap.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3148/2342058651_2f751c9e1f.jpg

You could fill this thread with examples of digital art on early 90s album covers.

http://i059.radikal.ru/0908/b0/c545a45c3ee1.jpg

http://img3.nnm.ru/3/3/d/3/6/33d36f811b96b7c26d98bcb5981a7eb7_full.jpg

Though the back cover of that Black Dog album is even worse than the front:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/blackdog-1.jpg

Some paranoid people are indefensibly silly.

http://www.dominorecordco.com/images/artists/townes_van_zandt/1024_540/tvz_ourmother.jpg

http://img6.xooimage.com/files/2/2/e/the-rolling-stone...aftermath-b1a4c7.jpg

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000272N.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpghttp://www.tonyrogers.com/humor/images/brian_peppers1.jpg

Hold on what's wrong with that Townes Van Zandt cover?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AJcpmbP_Sow/R0xUNj7voPI/AAAAAAAAAek/XxmXg2GOEFA/s320/folder.jpg

Ok, if they were a disco band this is actually fine, but they actually sound like the Bee Gees pre-disco, except for one glam rock track.

Hold on what's wrong with that Townes Van Zandt cover?

I just really hate the colors. And that border. And the yellow text.

That Stereolab cover is fantastic and the title is directly lifted from a weird Japanese film from the 70s

D- thread revive :(

the title is directly lifted from a weird Japanese film from the 70s

I think it is a question of taste what you think about the cover. I find it ugly. The colours are dirty and don't go well together, the font they use for Stereolab is laughable. The spiral, the sun and the sun rays look cheap. In a universe of bad taste that cover would surely be a classic though.

no wai - I love how wonky the spiral is, it's like own-brand novelty potato crisps. It's just always been totally visually arresting for me, very... warming and not bearing a lot of comparison with other album art I can think of. (Any OG copies on CD are going to be fucking trashed now tho cos it came in the flimsiest card sleeve ever)

ime most great albums have great cover art, here's one of the exceptions:

https://i.imgur.com/Qz6s2zR.jpg

I know they hated it but I always thought the Royal Scam cover fit the music perfectly, dirty streets and pollution and bums. and big snakes on top of skyscrapers

I love this album & think it's a modern classic but goddamn I hate the cover. Looks so 2004, ott Garden State twee, the font sucks, the drawing is shitty, the kids are ugly, the color palette is all wrong, and it just looks really amateurish, like a CD-R you'd find on a subway platform.

http://www.clashmusic.com/sites/default/files/field/image/girlpool_-_before_the_world_was_big_sm_2.jpg

Niels you’re crazy. That’s a fantastic cover!

Well said, it's great, perfect for the album.

gonna go with this

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a9/YMO_-_BGM_album_cover.jpg

also, both Skylarking covers

the BGM cover always makes me do a double-take and spend a little bit trying to figure out if it really is just just a toothbrush getting washed off at a sink. i like it!

the royal scam, bgm and skylarking (both versions) are all wonderful album covers, and all fit perfectly with the respective albums!

I also like this unofficial alternate cover to skylarking by Saša Markoviæ Mikrob:

http://chalkhills.org/images/fanart/Mikrob-xtc1.jpg

wtf BGM cover is great!

I liked their first two album covers, but this is just bland

― jason., Thursday, April 14, 2005 10:59 PM (twelve years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that wire cover is beautiful.

Yes, some odd choices in this thread.

xp yeah that's my favorite wire cover.

christ, the BGM cover is one of my all time favorites!!

Countdown to Ecstacy also p terrible imo:

https://i.imgur.com/JzLnp6T.png

fortunately it's somewhat vindicated by the awesome back cover photo:

https://i.imgur.com/OdX4Xrv.png

Happy to hear Royal Scam cover has its fans, to me it looks slightly disgusting and doesn't give any idea of what the music sounds like, I avoided that record for quite a while assuming the songs would not be quality, now its one of the SD albums I put on the most

It confounds me that Radiohead and R.E.M. both got to where they were off the back of having, with few exceptions, absolutely terrible cover art.

Oh yeah I was looking at Countdown to Ecstasy the other day and thinking it looked awful. Don't have a problem with The Royal Scam

Back in 2011, I wrote a piece about how regardless of the merits of the music, pretty much every Britney Spears album cover is terrible:

https://www.theawl.com/2011/02/the-album-covers-of-britney-spears-a-history/

https://img.discogs.com/Oevqitnuwa_c0t8P4xSQ7hCQ-xw=/fit-in/600x597/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-868-1231086401.jpeg.jpg

I like that cover. Or at least I remember liking it at the time. I never got the pun in the album title. 'snivel'?

I think Can’t Buy a Thrill is SD’s worst cover and Aja their best

Yeah, it's a portmanteau of "snivel" and "civilisation" ...

(x-post)

I like the sleeves to Aja, Katy Lied and Pretzel Logic ... I'm less keen on the others.

I think every SD album rules but only Aja and Gaucho have decent covers

I like that cover. Or at least I remember liking it at the time. I never got the pun in the album title. 'snivel'?

Variant spelling of sniffle, which is why the 'man' is blowing his nose.

Terrible title whatever the story behind it.

oh he is blowing his nose. I never noticed the hankie, just thought he was giving a thumbs-up. Oh god, it's the techno equivalent of 'I've Got My Own Album To Do'

Back in 2011, I wrote a piece about how regardless of the merits of the music, pretty much every Britney Spears album cover is terrible:

eheh, this is otm ! has there ever been such a big international star with such consistently awful album covers ??

Not really a proper classic but I really enjoyed Out Hud's music but whomever they had as a graphic designer was amongst the worst ever to practice the skill.

https://resources.tidal.com/images/e8dffaa9/a1ed/4be6/8564/8a01b48d4dcf/1280x1280.jpg

that's pretty deliberately bad though eh?

I took me forever to listen to Cat Stevens' early 70's albums because I just assumed they were private press recordings of children's folk tales:
https://i.discogs.com/6zMI2a3dnugiV_sYw25N_dEnY8rpEg9pXq4GGSjjUbw/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:496/w:500/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTExNzI3/NzMtMTM1MzEwNjA4/My04ODkyLmpwZWc.jpeghttps://i.discogs.com/PycZ2uK8cax6Pcu3KduZFZfudXplB8GJ0t0u0v5JxL8/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQ3Mzg3/My0xMTYyODE0NTA1/LmpwZWc.jpeghttps://i.discogs.com/AR_zfSl-ySfS1rNU_W6MYgsbmYsHc4GPo3Gc7sWAHls/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:500/w:500/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTU1MDQz/MzYtMTQzMDk5MDMx/MC05NzExLmpwZWc.jpeg

Dammit, I like the Countdown to Ecstasy cover.

But I can't abide this one...

https://i.imgur.com/k3KAH8D.jpg

I think Mona Bone Jakon and Invisible Touch are brilliant album covers (I like Countdown to Ecstasy too) - but I'm used to liking sleeves others don't.

My favourite sort of sleeves are reasonably minimal but usually have vivacious colour schemes and some nice symbols or images on them or something.

Snivilisation is great but I think it would look better if it wasn't purely b&w

It never occurred to me before, but that invisible touch cover is pretty yawnsomely literal.

I've always thought the cover art for Led Zeppelin III is pretty terrible

Not sure if these two have been mentioned yet.
https://i.discogs.com/lyKy1z6fxwBjy-LMfZWFyFUZrAvd4JdTeIViAJprzXo/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:599/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTEzNzU1/NTc1LTE1OTM4MTQy/ODAtMTQyOS5qcGVn.jpeg
https://i.discogs.com/-OMGBkLDpJnhQE_1bfKWqon1UVOyD8LsOVw-k2dPo0Q/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE0ODk1/NTItMTUyMzEzMzMw/NC04Mzg3LmpwZWc.jpeg

I actually really like that aesthetic, though I think the illustration on Funky Kingston is stronger than the one on Livin' For You. Also the Livin' For You kind of recalls Grateful Dead American Beauty (wood grain, rose, vaguely psychedelic).

Split Enz Mental Notes is the weirdo prog-pop version of that style, and I like it too:

https://i.discogs.com/RTloqsrkDao2rDTc2lErjjmZ2yPTzoG3qeb5o9c0zn8/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTkxODYw/Mi0xNDY1MTM3MTM4/LTg0MTAuanBlZw.jpeg

funky kingston cover is so iconic that it's hard for me to evaluate it objectively

Got no problem with Funky Kingston! It's decently executed mid-70s graphic art, a bit Children's Television Workshop, but nothing awkward like the Al Green or ersatz-Hipgnosis like the Split Enz paintings.

That Al Green cover is bizarre - I guess he's half tree, half man? Great album though, one of his best and part of that phenomenal run in the '70s.

I didn't know Peter Falk was in Split Enz. I guess he turned everyone on to dressing like Columbo.

Split Enz cover giving me BNL "Gordon" flashbacks.

lmao yes

Take a good look at this piece of shit:

(Appetite for Destruction cover)

"Destruction" just barely fits on the banner. Plenty of room for "*Appetite," though. All around ugly and poorly executed.

Because we must strive for fairness when assessing the works of great artistes like GNR, I will point out that this wasn't the original cover (aesthetically questionable as that one may have been); it wasn't even the compromise cover (which does not squeeze the title into a little banner beneath the cross); it was a modified version used for the cassette (and, I guess, the CD?)

is there a thread for great covers, shit records---?

Best Yes Studio Album

yeah i dig the funky kingston aesthetic

This one always cracks me up:

https://i.discogs.com/6s70-PY3OI42e48527oFXFo3WsGFgXR84EqIJSe77u0/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTkyODkw/MjMtMTQ3ODAxODA3/OS0yNTg0LmpwZWc.jpeg

My pick for this thread is Sonhos e Memórias 1941 - 1972 by Erasmo Carlos. It's one of the best Brazilian pop albums ever, and the cover art is a stylized collage of photos of contemporary and historical pop culture icons (mostly American). I don't have an issue with the massive 70s font block letters or even the clashing color scheme; I just find it utterly bizarre and distracting to put photos of Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, John Lennon, JFK, Richard Nixon, and Bob Dylan (from the cover of New Morning lol) et al. on one's own album cover. It just occurred to me that he might have been going for a low-rent Sgt. Pepper's kind of thing. Whatever the intent, it just makes me cringe:

Front:

https://i.discogs.com/BADH0pVX3rZzXm3VpalpN06nR5o5Q65yc_uBOcN3SFQ/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:606/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM5NDE2/MTItMTQ0NDc3NDUy/OS0yMDIxLmpwZWc.jpeg

Back:

https://i.discogs.com/rSOtFHf2woj1npaYXbDIEae9S9pZsX3STNYJCUgxq1I/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:594/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM5NDE2/MTItMTQ0NDc3NDUz/MS0zNTQyLmpwZWc.jpeg

jimb otm. i always thought it was pretty terrific that you can do this by cropping that cover:

https://i.imgur.com/ZvjBK7i.png

don't know what's more intimidating there: the eyes or "the mustache."

what the hell is wrong with Funky Kingston?

it kinda reminds me of Milton Glaser

Also, extremely hurt to see BGM appear here, etc wtf wtf wtf… that image is perfect

https://i.discogs.com/VkhSi5VkhhNKDcq2c7HM3sBmxZSYQY7sQXScNt2OpPc/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:598/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE3NDI0/MzM3LTE2NTE3NDA1/NDItMTQ1NC5qcGVn.jpeg

Irma Thomas - In Between Tears

Also one for the yawnsomely literal thread, I suppose.

The toilet Beggars Banquet - much prefer the fancy replacement

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2b/Beggar_Banquet.jpg

OTM

KING - We Are King

Amazing album but that album cover is a mess

As a kid the Let It Bleed cover grossed me out, especially the olive pizza in the middle of the stack. But it, like Beggars Banquet, was trying to be obnoxious so I'd consider both jackets a success.

I guess those kinds of moves were why the Stones appeared in Circus and other metalish publications into the 80s, even if they didn't musically fit. Those in the magazine editors' generation saw the Stones as part of that same transgressivelness as the Guns 'n' Roses Robt Williams cover, etc.

Also, extremely hurt to see BGM appear here, etc wtf wtf wtf… that image is perfect

― brimstead, Tuesday, July 19, 2022 4:52 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

yeah ok I take it back, I like the cover now. there's definitely a keen sense of irony to everything on this album which I didn't quite pick up on before

KING - We Are King

Amazing album but that album cover is a mess

its very 90s maximalist which I think actually works for this album. but yeah it does feel cheap

The classic Stones-era had the best "bad" (or rather greatest ugly) cover art.

Not fucking terrible, but yawnsomely literal, thoroughly mediocre execution, and it's an awful pic of Harley. (You can argue whether it's a classic album too I guess, but I love it.)

https://i.discogs.com/BD1fcsOS32XQdqztw5orTfyC9f8YXmYJpITAF8kO2AM/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:596/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTgxMzU0/NC0xMzc5NjE4NjE4/LTkxMTcuanBlZw.jpeg

“Great album” may be strong here, but it’s a very good album, with a total “what were they thinking??” cover:

https://i.discogs.com/qUrCUXOz2FYr8yffYqVuH-1tjZe0-IRYT4hLIrkuLO4/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:588/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTc3ODEx/NTktMTU0OTM1NzQ5/NC0yODk5LmpwZWc.jpeg

(Apparently, the guy also ended up suing them, saying his image was used without his consent)

“Worth it!”

The "It wasn't you, it was just someone like you" defense did not hold water

I'd say this one doesn't look very promising: a clunky juxtaposition of glum photo and cheesy "Age of Aquarius" illustration:

https://i.discogs.com/2-SxdFAqR7DNnyxknTiqH83cy9s6zTj11cHuWIVJs34/rs:fit/g:sm/q:40/h:300/w:300/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTIyOTY4/NTQtMTU5NTAzMzcw/NC00Mzg4LmpwZWc.jpeg

Re: Matchbox 20. The '90s were a golden age of terrible repurposing of rando portfolio photos for album art, advertising etc.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Dolmen_Music.jpg
Meredith Monk - Dolmen Music

Always found it disappointing and drab (framing, B&W, font, everything) and wished there was actual art

This prompted me to dig through Hipgnosis' portfolio on Discogs, because I remember that a lot of their album covers were bad in an irritatingly fussy way. With bad visual puns. Which brought me to Toe Fat's Toe Fat from 1970, which isn't a classic album, but ye gods:
https://i.discogs.com/36XV6sWj5Guc--Y1FT926vUxkGXAtrqT7GXrGLXdc0g/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:586/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTU0NTc0/NTktMTM5Mzg1NzE4/Ny05MDc1LmpwZWc.jpeg

bad in an irritatingly fussy way

Hypgnosis should repurpose that Toe Fat cover for the new Animals remix.

Kinks' Schoolboys In Disgrace is no classic either, but it's surprisingly excellent and concise for their 70s albums, but I reckon it is widely dismissed/ignored due to it looking like this
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/510tX++V93L._AC_SX355_.jpg

My LP copy also has RCA "Nice Price" written on it, which doesn't help.

Yeah I suspect "medium-to-good album, terrible covert art" is the bigger category, and the one that's les to far more medium-to-good music going under heard and underappreciated.

RHCP reveal deliberately ugly cover art, in crassly transparent attempt at qualifying for “Classic Album” status (and thus making this thread):

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/62dd3b7e4e5e79e85598914b/master/w_1280,c_limit/Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-Return-of-the-Dream-Canteen.jpg

I feel like there are at least three elements on that cover that are supposed to represent jizz.

^^New Borad Description?

that RHCP album cover is sick, better than all their previous album covers combined

but I like 90s goa trance compilation art so wdik

https://static.stereogum.com/blogs.dir/2/files/2014/02/Soundgarden-Superunknown-608x597.jpg

Soundgarden - Superunknown

ps. this thread is re classic albums vs crap covers.
while i am open(ish) to the idea that rhcp vs classic album status,
no-one knows re this album.
yet.
but yeah, that's a truly dreadful album cover.

Yeah I posted it mainly as a lark & b/c this thread was active (I actually searched first for “Deliberately bad cover art,” but no dice)

Never realized how bad the cover of Superunknown was until seeing that post just now.

Never realized how bad the cover of Superunknown was until seeing that post just now.

― Meme for an Imaginary Western (James Redd and the Blecchs),

co-sign.

It's not bad, it's just very, very, very, very, very 1994.

If you squint, he looks like a molten lava version of the Joker from the old Batman: The Animated Series cartoon from the '90s

Not really a Soundgarden fan, but I was always under the impression that this was the closest they ever got to a truly superb album, albeit one that feels highly derivative of Led Zeppelin and other classic hard rock acts.

Never realized how bad the cover of Superunknown was until seeing that post just now.

― Meme for an Imaginary Western (James Redd and the Blecchs),

co-sign.

― mark e, Sunday, July 24, 2022 8:19 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Looks like its badness is becoming...

Superknown

Always thought the cover of Pearl Jam’s Vs. is pretty bad, but I get that it’s an aesthetic choice.

Pearl Jam’s Ten meets the criteria

lol I also considered Vs. while running through my memory of big 90s rock albums

The album's cover art (known as the 'Screaming Elf') is a distorted photograph of the band members, photographed by Kevin Westenberg, above a black and white upside-down burning forest.

Just remembered, Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions

My favorite of his albums, but the sleeve art…ugh

idk I always kinda liked the Superunknown title because it put me in the mind of the wendigo legend

I always thought it was a really cool cover

superunknown cover is awesome, it's the mainstream red medicine

gah, "Superunknown cover" that should be, I also dug it for being one of the CD era albums where each song got its own artwork in the booklet

miss that trend a great deal, the siamese dream booklet was amazing to me as a kid

I've never liked the Superunknown cover. I never looked into it too deeply, like a wendigo or something, which I admit is pretty fucking cool and makes me think about it differently. I only saw it as a picture of Chris Cornell showing off the magical powers of his voice and chinbeard.

I'm not much of a Soundgarden fan, so I've never given it too much thought. But that was my first impression and it has stuck with me.

It would be a better cover if it were just the trees or just the blurry image, but it’s less than the sum of its parts

Yeah, I'll admit to never having even noticed the trees until today. I just thought it was some kind of black and white pattern of wear and decay, like the picture had water damage or something.

I really like the earthy tones on Innervisions' cover. I'd rather single out Songs in the Key of Life, which does not have much for it except that it reminds me of that Dario Argento's Profondo Rosso poster.

The earthy tones are actually nice, I like those, it's just the front cover that's disappointing. I don't want to criticize it too much because I don't want to sound mean, but I just kind of wish the artist tried something else conceptually. I don't think the visual representation of the title was a good idea.

Or rather how they chose to visually represent the title.

the innervisions cover is dope

Yeah, I'm all about Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life album covers.

Music Of My Mind is the best cover, but none of them are bad.

I remember the Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants cover was embossed with braille, is that true of any of his other LPs?

Songs in the Key Of Life always reminds me of Orville Redenbacher popcorn and I can't quite work out why

I'd buy Stevie Wonder popcorn.

I can see it.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51m26bFi-LL.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/1858/30713138448_cdcd67039c_z.jpg

I guess you can also see the sun in late December

The resemblance is probably stronger here.

I've always assumed that the cover of Songs in the Key of Etc was supposed to be an abstract representation of the birth of Stevie Wonder's daughter. As a tie-in with "Isn't She Lovely".

And I don't mean that as a joke, e.g. I have always assumed it was supposed to be a crap, hippy-drippy 1970s attempt at portraying the miracle of birth. What is it supposed to be? The internet has nothing to say about the cover art (the US Rolling Stone magazine thought it was cheap-looking).

I've always seen it as Stevie arriving on Saturn.

Baby coming down the birth canal, first thing it sees is Orville Redebacher

Future Sound of London - Dead Cities

https://i.discogs.com/FQHgALMFgyfvPc6LCSs4nnplRGSqtRwBzuvJOaLp7zY/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE4MzEz/Mzk5LTE2MjI2MjI2/OTMtMzIyMi5qcGVn.jpeg

What a terrible, dated, cover. Wasn't a fan of it even in the late 90's early 00's when I bought the CD. But it's a stone cold classic record.

Agree with both statements.

lol at first glance i thought the hype sticker at bottom left was yet another dubious 90s graphic design decision

The Stevie covers are great. Superunknown is fine, a bit generic and of its time, but not grievously bad by any means.

That FSOL cover is ghastly.

the lifeforms cover is amazing so i guess they had to immediately counter it

Tbf Stevie couldn’t actually see his cover art so at least he has an excuse.

I’d like to nominate Frank Ocean - Channel Orange, deserves a better cover than orange with some text.

i love that FSOL cover.

I dunno even the shitty art made pre-personal computers was better than a lot of the generic shit that’s popped up since. Feel like there was a period where everybody’s album cover looked like a handbill for a shitty tropical house club or something. Nb: I’m probably full of shit

agree, mark e… see even the early crude digital art was better

it's the intense over saturated colours that i love.
yeah, it is dated, but i care not (see the shamens covers from this period for some seriously dated coverart !).
i just think that the whole cd booklet suited the album brilliantly.

My recollection is that in the late 1990s there was an abrupt leap in the sophistication of CGI / early PhotoShop album art. There was the "we can do CGI" pre-modern era, with grey aliens holding a spliff / robots dancing / bees flying over a fractal landscape etc:
https://i.discogs.com/kCk40WSmGccEVa_znPsW8HonMZVq33q7OXz2lzRKYQ4/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:590/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTExNzA4/NS0xNTc1NjIyNTUw/LTg1MjIuanBlZw.jpeg

Then there was the modernist Buggy G Riphead stuff, which was better-executed but conceptually still in love with novelty. And then there was the post-modern Tomato / Designer's Republic stuff, which felt a lot more sophisticated:
https://i.discogs.com/thHFxphlLVWsiKEjsFGh-Y6VlCJUZ7ixCu-m49hiEoE/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:595/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTIzMjE0/LTExNzkzMTMyNjIu/anBlZw.jpeg

I picked those two examples because that compilation series spanned the three eras. FSOL's graphic language circa Dead Cities is odd - the visuals for "We Have Explosive" came from Run Wrake's Jukebox, which was edited into the video for the single:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwPys3JQZ74

As a consequence it doesn't look like the rest of the album. In my opinion it has aged better.