Classic Album, FUCKING TERRIBLE Cover Art

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!