# Most Famous Magazine Covers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 22, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097 "2007-05-22T16:58:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/1 "2007-05-22T16:58:04Z")
Since we have [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=421762) going on with newspapers, what are some of the most famous, iconic magazine covers you can think of? (more than one cover for the same magazine is okay) First issue of _Life_: picture of a dam. _National Geographic_: Afghani refugee. _Time_: Hitler’s face with an “X” over it. _Time_: Ellen Degeneres: “Yep, I’m gay.” _New Yorker_: Saul Steinberg’s “View of New York from Fifth Avenue.” _New Yorker_: Black cover with a faint image of the World Trade Center. _Entertainment Weekly_: Dixie Chicks naked with controversial words on their bodies. _National Lampoon_: “If you don’t buy this magazine, we’ll kill this dog.” ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/2 "2007-05-22T17:00:24Z")
How about Demi Moore nude and pregnant on _Vanity Fair_? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/3 "2007-05-22T17:05:31Z")
Ah, yes, I forgot that one. Some of the ones I came up with myself, a few others, I went to the American Society of Magazine Editors’s list of [top 40 magazine covers](http://www.magazine.org/Editorial/Top_40_Covers/). The Moore one was one from that list I forgot to put on mine. While we’re at it, there’s always the image of Eustace Tilly _The New Yorker_ puts on its cover once a year- February? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/4 "2007-05-22T17:14:19Z")
There are probably a lot of Sports Illustrated covers that are famous, but I don’t really know what’s a cover, and what’s not. Although, I distinctly remember the hologram of Michael Jordan cover. I think the famous picture of Ali standing over Liston in Lewiston, Maine was a cover. ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/5 "2007-05-22T17:18:25Z")
Anyone remember the Rolling Stone cover with Janet Jackson topless, arms over her head and the male arms coming from behind to cover her breasts? I do. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/6 "2007-05-22T17:21:18Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] There are probably a lot of Sports Illustrated covers that are famous, but I don’t really know what’s a cover, and what’s not. [/QUOTE] [This](http://cgi.ebay.com/Sport-Illustrated-9-24-2001-The-Week-sports-stood-still_W0QQitemZ6999033506QQihZ014QQcategoryZ280QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) has always been my Favorite Sports Illustrated cover. The Week That Sports Stood Still. ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/7 "2007-05-22T18:02:54Z")
John Lennon and Yoko Ono nude on the cover of _Rolling Stone_ after Lennon’s death. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/8 "2007-05-22T18:07:21Z")
I love how they got the dog to look left and flinch for the _National Lampoon_ cover: They pulled the trigger. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/9 "2007-05-22T18:08:18Z")
The OJ Simpson covers of Time and Newsweek. [http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/08/31/012306.php](http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/08/31/012306.php) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/10 "2007-05-22T18:38:32Z")
[QUOTE=Subterraneanus] John Lennon and Yoko Ono nude on the cover of _Rolling Stone_ after Lennon’s death. [/QUOTE] John was nude. Yoko was clothed: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:LennonAndOno.jpg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:LennonAndOno.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/11 "2007-05-22T18:44:24Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] John was nude. Yoko was clothed: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:LennonAndOno.jpg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:LennonAndOno.jpg) [/QUOTE] Another Rolling Stone that people seem to remember is one with Jim Morrison and the headline, “He’s Hot, He’s Sexy, and He’s Dead.” I remember it was the first issue I got when I subscribed as a young teen…somewhere around 1980, I think. Wish I had kept it. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/12 "2007-05-22T23:19:31Z")
I thought the guy kissing the girl in Times Square was a LIFE cover but I guess not! ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/13 "2007-05-22T23:23:24Z")
I’m not sure if photos I remember were photos or magazine covers. I most remember a naked little girl running from a napalm attack, and a Kent State college student crying next to a body on the ground. Covers? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/14 "2007-05-23T00:09:17Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] I thought the guy kissing the girl in Times Square was a LIFE cover but I guess not! [/QUOTE] [You were right.](http://www.life.com/Life/special/kiss03.html) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/15 "2007-05-23T00:29:35Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] How about Demi Moore nude and pregnant on _Vanity Fair_? [/QUOTE] Or even better: Bruce Willis nude and pregnant on the cover of _Spy_. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/16 "2007-05-23T01:04:10Z")
Marilyn Monroe on the cover of the first Playboy in December 1953. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/17 "2007-05-23T02:30:47Z")
[QUOTE=DaddyTimesTwo] Anyone remember the Rolling Stone cover with Janet Jackson topless, arms over her head and the male arms coming from behind to cover her breasts? I do. 😃 [/QUOTE] :raises hand: Me too! ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/18 "2007-05-23T13:01:51Z")
I’d have to say the “Is God Dead?” cover of _Time_ has to rank right up there. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/19 "2007-05-23T13:08:56Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] [This](http://cgi.ebay.com/Sport-Illustrated-9-24-2001-The-Week-sports-stood-still_W0QQitemZ6999033506QQihZ014QQcategoryZ280QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) has always been my Favorite Sports Illustrated cover. The Week That Sports Stood Still. [/QUOTE] I assume it has something to do with 9/11… but what exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097/20 "2007-05-23T13:35:47Z")
Pro sports games across the U.S. were cancelled or postponed in the immediate aftermath of the 9-11 attacks. IIRC, several magazines - _Newsweek_ among them - had covers showing the famous Iwo Jima-esque photo of three firemen raising the American flag at Ground Zero. It was later made into a U.S. postage stamp. Not a magazine, but the New York tabloid with the headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead” in the 1970s was notorious in its day. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-magazine-covers/405097.md?page=2)