Are These Some Of The Greatest Album Covers Of All Time?
I hate countdown lists.
They are nothing more than clickbait – so of course, when Billboard magazine listed the 100 greatest album covers of all time, I gritted my teeth and took a look – what a mistake!
Here is an example:
This is Patti Smith’s album cover for “Horses” – considered the THIRD GREATEST ALBUM COVER OF ALL TIME.
What!?!??!?!
Honestly, this list tries to satisfy all fan bases – so there are modern albums that offer nothing more than a posed Artist…and a few that are meant to be “hip”, nothing more than someone they worship for how cool they are – but just standing there – as if this minimalist image is iconic in some way, which it is NOT….and what about this?
An iconic cover and a classic album – but not on the list…I live very close to The Beverly Hills Hotel, which is where Glenn Frey and Don Henley lived while they wrote the songs on the album…see more stories of how they made this masterpiece by seeing my story here:
Here are some of the album covers that DID make the list – some with notorious imagery like this one:
At #24, The Rolling Stones, with an album cover that had a working zipper!
It helps that it is one of their best albums as well…the zipper was a cool idea, but here’s one that is just a photo, but a photo that tells the story of a generational change in music!
Elvis came in at #10…this image announced the arrival of rock ‘n’ roll, through the energy of an iconic performer – an image so powerful that it influenced the cover that came in at #16 on the list…
Yes, this was considered the 16th best album cover of all time…as it took the iconic Elvis cover and gave it a punk rock update…oh, the album is a masterpiece as well!
I love The Clash and saw them several times in concert…if you want to see what the fuss was about, find this film online now:
“Rude Boy” is the fictional story of a Clash roadie…but the band acts in the film and are shown in live concert performances that showcase their punk energy!
See the movie trailer and more by clicking here:
Pink Floyd checks in at #6 on the list – for good reason!
A prism of light bursts out as a rainbow…and one of the greatest albums in rock history lives on forever…even weathering a 50th anniversary controversy over this cover!
Idiots went crazy online when this 50th anniversary poster was released, claiming it promoted gay rights!
See that story here – and also find out how the album was written as a tribute to “The Wizard Of Oz!” Or was it?
And what about this? No this isn’t white space:
Certainly one of the most iconic album covers of all time: while called simply “The Beatles”, it’s known as “The White Album” – but not on the top ten list, and neither is this iconic cover:
A surprisingly low #11…this was one of the most original, unique album covers of all time – and a masterpiece as well…Here is my tribute to the album with lots of stories about the making of the album!
This Beatles cover DID make the top ten list and it’s an image that tourists re-enact today in London:
“Abbey Road” came in at #2 on the list – so…what topped the list as the greatest album cover of all time?
Yes, The Velvet Underground album with an Andy Warhol cover and a banana that you could peel!
https://www.billboard.com/photos/best-album-covers-of-all-time-6715351/
Well, as I said, I hate lists like this – but it did remind me about the time I took a look at the other end of the album cover spectrum.
Yes, these are real album covers – click on my story to see some of the worst album art of all time!
Sometimes bad cover art is deliberate:
This Spinal Tap album cover is hilariously bad, but on purpose – see more of their hilariously inept artwork!
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Categories: 70's Music, Art, Books / Media, Classic Rock, Funny Pictures, Music, Pop Culture, The Beatles
johnrieber 
I get that you’re trying to be a bit of an edgy cunt, but come on, that fucking Snurds album cover?
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Lists always cause controversy and, in that sense, are clickbait. How about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for screwed-up lists? I’m going big thumbs down to Patti Smith, The Clash, and Andy Warhol for the greatest album covers. Yes, Hotel California definitely belongs there somewhere.
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Pink Floyd’s album cover is really good. I’m surprised that Sgt. Pepper didn’t make the list, but Abbey Road did. Some of the others were not so great/worthy.
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Sorry Sgt. Pepper did just not top 10 – i think i phrased it wrong! The list was SO pretentious! Thanks for the. Moment – have a great weekend!
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Thanks for the clarification. The list really was pretentious! Some pretty terrible album covers. Best to you, John.
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Some interesting choices and omissions here. As always with these lists some opinions differ, and I certainly wouldn’t have included the Patti Smith one. I loved the Sticky Fingers sleeve, and had one with a working zip – nothing underneath it though! The White Album is interesting: is that title just for representation here? The original that I had was free of typeface: the words The Beatles were embossed into the sleeve, retaining the whiteness.
I agree on your comments about Yes: their covers were amazing. But the one I always thought was the best in my collection was Thick As A Brick, by Jethro Tull. It opened out into a mock local newspaper, with stories that related to the album tracks plus loads of other stuff. The horoscopes were particularly good: they were just the same three or four forecasts written in different words. Brilliant!
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YES! Great catch on the Beatles…it was indeed white lettering slightly embossed…that pic from the internet is wrong…Iknow everyone has their favorites, but the list was SO obviously pandering to what is hip or “now” – even the Alice Cooper Billion Dollar Babies cover with the green currency was better than most of what made this list – thanks for the comment!
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I never was hip, even when I was younger, so that would rule me out from compiling their list for them. I guess those who did are far too young to remember many of the great sleeves from bygone days.
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Sam and I walked back and forth over that zebra crossing one afternoon a few years back, and so did a lot of other people! The traffic had to keep stopping. Another album cover I like is Led Zep’s ‘Physical Graffiti’.
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Stevie, I have the original with the open windows on the brownstone building…of course that’s not included…it was a very pretentious list!
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Wow!
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I was just in a used record store and they had one selling for $265!
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!
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Perhaps because my dad worked in the record business, (and I worked in record retail shops for a while) I was never that bothered about album covers. Definitely not bothered enough to compile a list of favourites, that’s for sure.
Off the top of my head, there are some I can remember liking though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Court_of_the_Crimson_King
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-bowie-aladdin-sane-cover-image-duffy/
And who can forget the controversy about the cover of Blind Faith’s album, featuring an ‘underage’ girl? The original cover had to be censored eventually.
https://www.angelfire.com/wi/blindfaith/vvcov69.html
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete, this list disregarded the true “art” of album covers…so many are just pandering to “these kids today”
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love some of these and others, meh. some of my favs that you showed were: sticky fingers, dark side of the moon (went to the concert where they performed it and best concert of my life), sgt. pepper, London calling, but I also loved the white album (because everyone freaked out about it), whipped cream, and many others. I also am a huge fan of bad album covers, there are so many great ones out there. I really miss albums
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Your post reminds me what I love about great graphic design, how it’s fascinating in its own right. Plus, gives me some great suggestions to listen to this weekend. Can never get enough of The Clash.
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Yes, the art on display is impressive – but NO Yes, with their amazingly unique covers from the 70’s? Again, this list was so full of its own “hipness” – thanks for the comment, great hearing from you!
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Yes, you’re spot-on, I can do without that smugness about what’s hip and what’s not, too!
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If you look at the list it’s clear – to me at least – that many of the covers are put on there for no reason other than to check off all the boxes and while I have no issue with acknowledging them, the album cover is not the reason to do so!
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