Designed by Peter Blake this pop art collage is probably the most recognizable album cover in history, as befits one of rock music’s most important artistic statements.
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
The cover, pictured above, was created by Peter Saville in 1979 after guitarist Bernard Sumner found the original image in an astronomy encyclopedia. It represents, apparently, 100 pulses from the remnant of a collapsed star.
Abbey Road – The Beatles
One of the most famous images of all time. The Beatles 1969 album, Abbey Road. The pose is so well known throughout the world that hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to liverpool each year to have their picture taken where their idols once walked. What is particularly impressive about this image is that the band name and the album title are not needed in order to identify who the image is of and where they were at the time it was taken.
Nevermind – Nirvana
The idea for the cover came from the immortal frontman, Kurt Cobain. It brilliantly depicts an innocent baby floating peacefully whilst being lured by a dollar on a fish hook – Cobain’s not-so-subtle way of rebelling against the money grabbing executives he claimed were trying to control Nirvana’s musical direction.
The cover was initially thought to be too offensive due to the baby’s genitals being shown, however, Cobain argued his corner and the album was released with a sticker covering the questionable area stating ‘If you’re offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile’. Brilliant publicity, and a brilliant cover design.
Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd allegedly picked this incredibly iconic “refracting prism” image in about three minutes flat The simple but memorable drawing was emblematic of the group’s psychedelic tendencies as well as their famed laser light shows.
Homogonous – Bjork
Leave it to the ever-eccentric Icelandic pixie to basically describe her third solo album as homogonous, and yet dress up like a long-necked, possibly alien techno-geisha.
British photographer Nick Knight has also shot covers for everyone from David Bowie to Kylie Minogue, but he’ll always be known for this shot, which also happened to be the very first pic he snapped during the 3.5 hour session.
The Velvet Underground
Designed by Andy Warhol this simple design stands out and the cover is interactive. The banana on the sleeve actually peeled back to reveal a suggestively pink banana on the inside
Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks
The one and only album released by the Brit-punks during their brief but influential two and a half year career. Cover art is by anarchic artist Jamie Reid
Stanley Road – Paul Weller
This ex-Jam frontman’s cover is the second iconic collage album cover by Peter Blake in my top ten.
Bold as Love - Jimi Hendrix
Hendrix is depicted as two Vedic deities, with the multiple hands of Durga and with his bandmates as avatars of Vishnu
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