Album cover art that references other album cover art

Cafe Society
#1

What album cover art deliberately references other well known album covers?

For example, We’re Only in it for the Money is an obvious parody of the iconic Sgt. Pepper cover.

There have been many parodies of the iconic Whipped Cream and Other Delights

Zappa had a cover used directly by John Lennon

A favorite of mine is Flash and the Pan, whose Lights in the Night album had a black wash over the cover of their first album so it was just barely visible. This was obvious on the original albums, but CDs could not reproduce the effect (though you can see it if you look carefully at the scratch).

What are other examples?

#2

Obviously, The Rutles can’t be used, but here’re their albums anyway.

#3

I’d have to get my copy of “1000 Record Covers” by Taschen, there’s tons of that stuff, but off the top of my head:

Beatles - Abbey Road

Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Abbey Road E.P.

Booker T And The MG’s - Mclemore Avenue

Herp Alpert - Whipped Cream And Other Delights

Soul Asylum - Clam Dip And Other Delights

Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley

The Clash - London Calling

(the last ones being two of the greatest LP covers ever)

#4

Dread Zeppelin is a band that’s known for their reggae-flavored covers of Led Zeppelin songs, with a lead singer (“Tortelvis”) who’s an Elvis impersonator. The cover of their album “5,000,000 (*Tortelvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong)” is an homage to the cover of “Led Zeppelin IV,” while the title itself is a reference to Presley’s “50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong.”

#5

Sonny Rollins - Vol. 2

Joe Jackson - Body and Soul

Little Richard - Little Richard

The 77s - Sticks and Stones

David Bowie - Heroes

David Bowie - The Next Day

#6

Sesame St - Born to Add

Bob Dylan - Desire

John Phillips - John Phillips (John, the Wolf King of L.A.)
Rancid - …And Out Come the Wolves

Minor Threat - Minor Threat

#7

The Residents - Meet the Residents

#8

Born Not To Run – Car Talk’s More Disrespectful Car Songs

#9

The Beatles did a photo shoot for their 1963 EP The Beatles (No.1)

A similar photo from this shoot was used for the cover of the “red album” (1962–1966).

They later arranged a photo shoot to recreate this image. It ended up later being used on the “blue album” (1967-1970).

It could have been a four-fer. The shoot was intended to be the cover for the Get Back album which instead was replaced by Let It Be which had a different cover.

#10

Wasn’t the Rolling Stones’ “Her Satanic Majesties Request” cover meant to be a sarcastic take on the Beatles’ Sargeant Pepper’s album?

Wikipedia says it was thought to be similar

#11

Sgt. Pepper references the Rolling Stones, and Satanic Majesty has pictures of the Beatles (all four on the original lenticular version).

#12

In metal, Black Sabbath is not just a baseline but a benchmark. Their cover for Master Of Reality, arguably one of the worst album covers of all time, has been copied/parodied/satired/respected over the years by numerous other bands.

For instance:

Al Jourgenson and Paul Barker (both of Ministry, etc.) did a one-off project called 1000 Homo DJs that not only gave us one of the best Sabbath covers ever with their version of Sweet Leaf, they copied this cover art too for the 12" release.

Mister Bones was a Canadian stoner/doom band that released a couple of albums in the Oughts; their second long player, Monster Burn and the Power Seekers, used the MoR concept. They were a pretty good band but they changed their name to The Georgian Skull (terrible band name, btw) and then that band broke up 2 years later; check out Road Saw.

A rapper that goes by the name Blacastan copped the concept a couple of years ago, too, for his album The Master of Reality. Here’s a track from him, too: Crac-A-Stan which makes me laugh because that song has a sample from the era and even the genre, kinda, but it’s not Black Sabbath. Bonus points for anyone who recognizes it :D, but if you don’tIt’s the opening keyboard riff from Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.

Prolly my favorite tho, is from a band called Church of Misery. They’re a doom band from Japan. For those who don’t know, doom metal is a genre that specifically cites Black Sabbath as the start of and the epitome of what it’s all about, both musically and lyrically. Church of Misery is a “theme” band tho, in that all their songs are about serial killers. And they basically copied/paid respect to/one-upped Sabbath with their cover for Master of Brutality. Here’s a track from them, too: Megalomania (Herbert Mullin).

#13

“Two-off” since this was 1000 Homo DJs second release following 1988’s Apathy. What’s weird is that Supernaut isn’t on Master of Reality.

Never Mind The Bollocks 1983

#14

'Nuff sed.

#15

Sesame Street was a big fan of that album too.

#16

Post #6.

#17

Sleater-Kinney’s Dig Me Out is pretty clearly a reference to The Kink Kontroversy.

#18

Journey has done a pretty good job of this over the years, at least with their early albums, and Rush’s “Exit: Stage Left” does it too.

#19

I’d say the cover of Another Monty Python Album, but I think that the “real” album cover underneath is a hack*. At any rate, I can’t find it anywhere:

Too bad, in a way. The Pieter Brueghel painting would make a great Beethoven album sleeve.
*Especially because the “notes” on the back are clearly a joke.

#20

The cover of Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly features the cover of Sonny Rollins’ Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders.