Let’s Talk Album Covers, Shall We?

Ever since I started listening to music as a little kid, I’ve been fascinated by album covers.  I distinctly remember browsing record store aisles as a kid, and whatever album covers stood out to me were the ones I’d at least give a preview listen to. To me, the cover art can be used in so many different ways. It can give you a glimpse in to the underlying theme of the album (Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly), it can be controversial (Nirvana – Nevermind), or can simply be silly (Bloodhound Gang – Hefty Fine). 

I’ve decided to put together a collection of some of my favorite album covers, which will span from deep & thoughtful, to ridiculous & downright weird.

The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

This one immediately catches the eye. It’s almost impossible to cover every single thing going on in this cover, but there’s an interesting conspiracy theory that this cover was actually a burial scene for Paul McCartney. It’s also obvious to see this was made when you had to buy the vinyl from the record store, and took it home and inspected the album art while listening to the album front to back.

The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers

Just a ridiculous all-around idea for an album cover. The Stones were obviously known to cause trouble, so when they finally had full control over their album release, they hired Andy Warhol to push the boundaries of what the general public would accept. Warhol went ahead and took that as his cue to finally publish a picture of some dude’s visibly pronounced schlong in tight jeans.

Bloodhound Gang – Hefty Fine

What an absolutely ridiculous idea for an album cover. I’ve listened to this album many times, and as far as I can tell, there’s no themes that could be remotely connected to a curled up obese guy. I gotta hand it to them though, if you were browsing the CD aisle at the store, you’re almost guaranteed to give a double take purely out of instinct.

Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly

Much like the album itself, this cover has a lot to breakdown and unpack.  The cover does a great job of portraying one major underlying theme of the album, which is Kendrick’s coming to terms with his old life in Compton and now being in a position to create change among the Black community. If you’re interested in a full breakdown of the intricacies of this incredible album, The Dissect podcast does a phenomenal job breaking it down.