The album was rereleased with a tiny brick wall covering it up. I suspect Terry Knight expected the uproar and planned it to bring the band to public attention.
Another contender.
Clicked on this thread because the title sums up almost my entire LP collection. SO many bad covers (including most of the ones mentioned here).
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.
BAND: So, we’ve got some ideas for the cov…
MANAGER: Naah, record company says portrait of the band.
BAND: But it’s a album of ground-breaki…
MANAGER: Naah, their email says “band staring at camera.”
BAND: But since the album’s a space-rock-opera jazz-ska fusion…
MANAGER: Oh, email says band can dress up like cowboys.
BAND: Oh, cool! I’ve got a hat!
Oh, and these covers are obviously shot by a photographer who didn’t care, or was working cheap. Looking at my albums, I kept imagining the guy behind the camera saying “Ok, everyone look over here …click… we’re done! Thanks a lot.”
Biggest music quality-to-cover quality ratio: Everything But The Girl.
I have a bunch of their albums that are nothing but unflattering “Look over here” photos.
Look. Over. Here. And. Here. And. Here. And. Here…
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Wow, just read that this one was shot by a fashion photographer (Juergen Teller)… ten free minutes between German VOGUE cover shots?
Another WTF (NSFW)
Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland
Thanks. I thought of that one too.
I wouldn’t say great album, or even good album, but this cover had me shaking my head when I was young (well, still does):
Yeah, Scorpions were pushing the limits on a lot of their album covers…
These aren’t even their worst. This album should’ve been renamed to simply “virgins”. And this replaced a really terrible album cover. You can look it up if you are interested. Not going to show it here…
The great thing about that bad cover (which Jimi didn’t even like) is that it was way too controversial for the US, so instead we got the familiar-yet-amazing headshot cover:
There were lots of parodies of the Herb Alpert album cover. I remember seeing Pat Cooper’s Spaghetti Sauce and Other Delights all over the place
But there were apparently others:
Agreed it’s unimaginative, but sometimes it can still be pretty great:
Nothing awful about this album cover at all.
I meant another contender for “who cares what the music sounds like; did you see the cover?” Off topic.
I haven’t checked but I’m guessing Whipped Cream… is consistently included in Best Album Covers lists. Not a bad selection of instrumental music either…
IIRC, it was juicy, not bloody.
@digs, you’re so right about those shoddy click-and-done cover photos!
This, to my mind, is Exhibit A:
Whenever I see this cover, I squint on Wilson Pickett’s behalf. Great work, Atlantic Records!
Yeah, the original was really questionable.
The “Lovedrive” album cover and 54 others, some possibly NSFW, here.
Kevin Rowland of Dexy’s Midnight Runners (“Come on Eileen”) in drag. Plus Millie Jackson on the toilet.
Hilarious.
Anyone who loves this would enjoy the Sterns’ well researched book “The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste” (published circa 1986?).
Ok, this may be a bit on the obscure side, but I’d add Endle St. Cloud’s 1970 album “Thank You All Very Much” to the list. Very good, if not truly great, but very bad, unimaginative cover. It is a cheap “thank you” card for Christ’s sake.