# Great album / awful cover art! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [October 25, 2021, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160 "2021-10-25T10:32:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/61 "2021-10-28T14:19:53Z")
Good answer. Such a great album, and such scope for the imagination topicwise, and then…blah. Gaudi as well. > **[THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT - Gaudi (1987)](http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=1100)** > > Gaudi is a music studio album recording by THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT (Crossover Prog/Progressive Rock) released in 1987 on cd, lp / vinyl and/or cassette. This page includes Gaudi's : cover picture, songs / tracks list, members/musicians and line-up,... ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/62 "2021-10-28T16:27:30Z")
Phil Collins. Was it just his face on _every one_ of those solo albums? They made the 80s even more depressingly pointless and bland, and it was a stroke of genius to include references to his music in American Psycho. Now then, I have to say I was very surprised to learn of his talent, especially in relation to his involvement in jazz fusion and reported friendship with Led Zeppelin and others. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/63 "2021-10-28T20:02:26Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I love Black Sabbath, but many of their album covers are just awful, IMO. Like Paranoid, Sabotage, and Technical Ecstasy. > > And I really really really hate the cover art on King Crimson’s first album. I came here to say Sabotage. I heard a story where they came to the studio not knowing it was album cover day, so they just did it with what they were wearing. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/64 "2021-10-28T20:55:01Z")
Yea, Black Sabbath’s _Sabotage_ has really bad cover art. Always thought Bill Ward looked ridiculous on it. According to [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabotage_(Black_Sabbath_album)#Artwork), > [Bill] Ward, in fact, was wearing his wife’s red tights in the photo. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/65 "2021-10-28T21:06:54Z")
The Who cover art is supposedly negative commentary on 2001:A Space Odyssey, right? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/66 "2021-10-28T21:19:13Z")
That was one of the concepts tried, with the band making like ape men around the structure spotted serendipitously on the way home from a gig, but nothing really worked until Pete took a piss on the thing. The photographer, Ethan Russell tried to get the other three to do the same but they were bladder shy so the other three marks were created from a puddle of rainwater. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/67 "2021-10-28T22:30:17Z")
I think “Who’s Next” has a great cover. It says “that’s how the boys are”, no matter if this sends a positive or negative image, and actually this was most of what Pete Townshend wrote about in his prime. And it’s pop art, made on the spot! ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/68 "2021-10-28T22:50:16Z")
A whimsical album that meticulously maintains a consistent style but doesn’t take itself too seriously…maybe it’s because it’s such a classic album but it never crossed my mind that the cover art _didn’t_ fit with the sound of the album. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/69 "2021-11-14T17:27:01Z")
Giving this a little bump because… _ **This just in:** _ > **[Broken covers: collector puts world’s worst album art on show](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/nov/08/worlds-worst-album-art-record-covers-steve-goldman-huddersfield)** > > Steve Goldman’s first rule is ‘it has to make me laugh’, and he is sharing the fun with public in Huddersfield Can’t attest to the quality of the music. Sorry. j ETA: the BBC story includes more images > **[Bad album covers collector puts trash hits on display](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-59173827)** > > Mr Goldman's fascination with the worst possible record covers has seen him amass 200 in five years. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/70 "2021-11-14T23:48:12Z")
Yeah, not too sure about the purported greatness of some of the offerings here, poo-ish album covers bedamned. With Zep !V, I get it that they were trying to downplay image in service of the music, but no - that is one incredibly lame album cover. I also realise it was the 70s and everything, but its gatefold? Worse than Lionel Richie getting spread-legged jiggy with a pole. > [@AHunter3](#): > > I don’t think I would pronounce it “awful”, but the first Alan Parsons album cover wasn’t much to draw people in: > [@AHunter3](#): > > I guess they got feedback about that, and replaced it pretty quickly with this alternate cover: That truncated shoulder’s sexy as _DAYUM_! So did the Scorps rip-off Roxy Music with that very distinctly fetishized brand of HOT MODEL STRUTTING for their album covers? Yes, other bands had babes on their covers, but no - not at all in that over-the-top, almost gratuitously fulsome manner those two bands did. And that bubble gum is dumber than eff. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/71 "2022-03-31T04:32:40Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Yea, Black Sabbath’s _Sabotage_ has really bad cover art. Always thought Bill Ward looked ridiculous on it. According to [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabotage_(Black_Sabbath_album)#Artwork), > > > [Bill] Ward, in fact, was wearing his wife’s red tights in the photo. I had my first practice with my stoner/doom metal band tonight. Among other things,we decided on a Sabbath cover to work on (naturally). I’m thinking if we ever release anything, I want to copy this cover, and I want my tubby ass to be the Bill Ward in it. It’s sublime and beautiful in how bad it is. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/72 "2022-03-31T05:14:49Z")
I can’t remember who it was that quipped of the replacement cover that four of them look like they’re celebrating the fact that they aren’t going to prison, while the second one from the left looks like he’s just being shown the original cover for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/73 "2022-03-31T06:17:19Z")
One of my favorite bands is Buffalo Tom. Their album _Big Red Letter Day_ is a glorious slab of college guitar rock that, even decades after I bought it, never fails to impress me. Nary a loser from beginning to end. But the cover is a complete loser. It’s this really weird image of a kid with an enormous head. It was sufficiently off-putting that I vaguely recall wondering if I should bother picking it up at all. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/74 "2022-03-31T11:47:47Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > Buffalo Tom. Their album _Big Red Letter Day_ Excellent choice! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/75 "2022-03-31T14:01:07Z")
One of the Three Dog Night album covers was of a delivery room with the band dressed up in surgical garb with some kind of _beast_ in the stirrups giving birth to a vinyl record (they used forceps). Later editions had a LARGE embossed Band-aid covering about half of the entire scene. Ick! ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/76 "2022-03-31T14:34:02Z")
That is a great interpretation of that revised cover! 🤣 I was never a big Scorpions fan (I’m of that era though), but I do like Sails of Charon and I think that is Uli Jon Roth on the second from the left. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/77 "2022-03-31T14:41:47Z")
Has anyone mentioned The Beatles White Album, yet? Just white? Really? What more yawn inducing idea could there be? Is it a coincidence that _I’m So Tired_ appears in this album? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/78 "2022-03-31T14:42:23Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’d also like to nominate a genre that sadly includes most album covers: **the photo of the artist or band staring at you**. NO imagination, NO creative work, probably no input from a designer or the band There’s always exceptions. Anton Corbijn did quite a lot of work like that (though not always directly staring into the camera) that is quite emotive. > **[The Greatest Album Covers Of Anton Corbijn](https://discover.ticketmaster.co.uk/music/greatest-anton-corbijn-album-cover-52491/)** > > As The Boatman's Call turns 25, we look back on the most memorable album covers shot by photographer Anton Corbijn ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/79 "2022-03-31T14:43:05Z")
I mean, it’s distinctive and it sticks out. I don’t think it’s bad at all. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160/80 "2022-03-31T14:50:42Z")
They couldn’t even work up the oomph to put a title to it – it’s not called, “The White Album,” just, “The Beatles.” 🥱 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-album-awful-cover-art/953160.md?page=5)