Top 10: Album Covers

10. The Ramones – The Ramones

Everything about The Ramones’ debut album cover screams ‘70s badass. From the black and white nature of the photograph to the leather jackets and tattered jeans, the four New York City punks unknowingly posed for what would later become one of the most recognized album covers ever.

 

9. War – U2

For their 1983 album War, the Irish rockers’ decided not to put a typical war image of a battlefield or of a soldier. Instead, the band opted for a close up shot of a child with a bloodied lip and angry expression. It’s a striking black and white image that reminds us that the victims of war extend further than just those involved on the battlefield.

 

8.Absolution – Muse

At first glance, we’re not really sure what’s happening on the album cover. We see a man staring up, surrounded by the shadows of outstretched human-like figures. We’re not really sure if the figures are descending down on Earth, or if they’re leaving it. All we know is that it’s creepy, and we kind of like it.

 

7. Appetite For Destruction – Guns ‘N’ Roses

Originally conceived as a tattoo, the ‘80s American rockers’ debut album cover features the five band members as cartoon skull versions of themselves over a cross. The first attempt at the artwork was deemed too controversial for record stores and was replaced by the current iconic image.

 

 

6. Is This It (International Version) – The Strokes

The cover art for the band’s debut album raised quite a few pulses. The cover flaunts a photograph of a black leather glove resting on a woman’s bare bottom and hip plastered against a white background. The risqué album cover was dropped in North America but is still available in parts of Europe.

 

5.Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd is no stranger to eye-catching album artwork. Wish You Were Here’s cover art is deeply ambiguous and slightly disturbing: the cover shows two suited men casually shaking hands in an apparently empty backstreet while one is engulfed in flames. It remains one of the most striking album covers in the band’s repertoire.

 

4. The White Album – The Beatles

Recognizable for its minimalist concept, the aptly named White Album follows the psychedelic nature of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with a beautifully basic white background. What the cover lacks in colour and detail, the music within more than makes up for it with two discs of pure Beatles magic.

 

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

Preceding their extremely minimalistic cover for The White Album, the lads from Liverpool created one of their most eye-popping album covers. It shows the Fab Four clad in flamboyant military garb surrounded by cardboard cutouts of some of the most influential historical figures like Marlon Brando, Edgar Allen Poe, and humbly, the early ‘60s versions of themselves all in front of a floral arrangement in the form of the band’s name.

 

2. Dark Side Of The Moon – Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd one again graces this list with Dark Side Of The Moon. For their eighth studio album, the band displayed a prism set against a black background to create what is arguably one of the most classic images from the 70s and in rock ’n’ roll history.

 

1. Blood Sugar Sex Magik – Red Hot Chili Peppers

Perhaps the band’s greatest album and definitely their most striking album cover, Blood Sugar Sex Magik takes the number one spot. The cover depicts the guys as four black and white sketches with their tongues sticking out, their tongues stylistically transformed to resemble the thorny stems of a rose they all surround. The deep red roses are juxtaposed perfectly by the black and white nature of the rest of the artwork. Bravo boys.

 

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