The Swimming Hour Cover Art Belle and Sebastian if Youre Feeling Sinister Album Art

They're images you've seen a thousand times, but what do they mean, and how did they cease up on the comprehend of your favourite always albums?

one

We rounded up fifty of the almost iconic pieces of album artwork from indie releases from Joy Division, David Bowie, Amy Winehouse, Nirvana, The Smiths, Strokes, Killers and more than and dived into their back stories. Some of the tales of these covers' creation are as interesting as the albums themselves…

2

The Smiths – Meat Is Murder

The Smiths – Meat Is Murder: The original photograph of this soldier, Marine Corporal Michael Wynn, was taken in 1967. He had the words "Make war not love" inscribed on his helmet. Information technology was used equally the image for Emile de Antonio's doc 'In the Year of the Pig' in 1968, but The Smiths changed the wording to "Meat is Murder" for their '85 album. Wynn is reportedly still alive and living in Australia.

three

Amy Winehouse – Back To Blackness

Amy Winehouse – Back To Black: Amy arrived four hours late to this shoot, having been partying all night at her friend's hymeneals. Shot in a black room at photographer Mischa Richter's house in Kendal Rise, which had blackboard paint on the cupboards, this was the terminal shot of the day, with early on evening light streaming through a bay window to the right. It was the last time Richter saw Amy.

iv

Nirvana – Nevermind

Nirvana – Nevermind: Conceived after Cobain and Grohl watched a program on water births, the iconic sleeve was eventually shot in a public swimming puddle with three-month-old baby Spencer Eldon. When concerns regarding the epitome showing the baby'south penis were raised, Cobain suggested a sticker saying "If y'all're offended past this, you must be a closet paedophile".

5

Radiohead – Kid A

Radiohead – Kid A: "The overarching thought of the mountains was that they were these landscapes of power, the idea of tower blocks and pyramids," says sleeve artist Stanley Donwood. He and Yorke – under the Tchock alias he uses when making art – were likewise inspired by a photograph of the state of war in Kosovo, which concluded in 1999.

6

The Clash – London Calling

The Clash – London Calling: Lensman Pennie Smith didn't desire this blurry alive shot to exist used for the cover, but Joe Strummer and the band's graphic designer Ray Lowry overrode the determination, adding in the distinctive pink and green lettering of Elvis Presley's debut album. The remains of the shattered bass are now on display at Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

7

Joy Sectionalization – Unknown Pleasures

Joy Partition – Unknown Pleasures: Renowned creative person Peter Saville designed the sleeve, which is based on an epitome of radio waves taken from the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy. The original image, created in 1970, was then reversed so that blackness was the dominant colour, leading to an instantly recognisable print that'due south been replicated on merchandise ever since.

8

Haven – Definitely Maybe

Haven – Definitely Maybe: One of the nigh iconic sleeves of them all (an exact replica of the room was recently mocked up for a special exhibition), 'Definitely Maybe's artwork was shot in Bonehead'due south living room with numerous prominent cultural reference points – a scene from The Practiced. The Bad And The Ugly, a poster of Burt Bacharach – on display.

9

Led Zeppelin – IV

Led Zeppelin – IV: Every bit a 'fuck you' to the critics who'd put the success of their first three albums downwardly to hype, Led Zeppelin decided to release their fourth untitled. Instead of any words, the cover features a painting vocalist Robert Plant found in an antiques send in Reading. The record itself displays four symbols, or runes: one for each band member.

ten

Blondie – Parallel Lines

Blondie – Parallel Lines: This classic sleeve got the ring'due south manager, Peter Leeds, fired. Without telling the band, he chose the image, which had been rejected by Debbie Harry – "I don't think it's a great blueprint, personally," she said – without informing the ring, who were hoping it would show them fading in and out of the monochrome stripes. Leeds was replaced past Shep Gordon.

11

Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Plane Over The Sea

Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Plane Over The Sea: Based on a vintage postcard, Mangum asked artist Chris Bilheimer to supercede the face up of the adult female with a irish potato. The resulting paradigm tiptoes a thin line betwixt cheery nostalgia and something much eerier.

12

Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan: Shot in 1963, this one has Dylan and his and so-girlfriend Suze Rotolo strolling down Jonas Street, NYC. Critic Janet Maslin once wrote that the cover "inspired endless young men to hunch their shoulders, look afar, and let the girl practice the clinging," only actually Dylan was just dank.

13

The Velvet Secret – The Velvet Surreptitious

The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Secret: The forepart and back cover photos were shot by artist Billy Proper noun, who lived in Andy Warhol'south debauched NYC studio The Factory at the time of the album'due south release. He'due south namechecked by Lou Reed in 'That's The Story Of My Life'.

fourteen

Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation

Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation: A section of the painting 'Kerze' by German language creative person Gerhard Richter, who was known for his photorealistic works. The original was auctioned by Sotheby's in 2008 with a guide toll of £2.5m, just it sold for £7.1m.

15

Jeff Buckley – Grace

Jeff Buckley – Grace: Designer duo Nicky Lindeman and Christopher Austopchuk came upwards with the comprehend concept, and much of the focus is on the vocaliser'south good looks. Speaking to 'Interview Magazine' in 1994, Buckley rejected the poster-boy tag: "The fashion you lot look doesn't mean shit if y'all tin't sing, or if you're hateful to people".

16

Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights

Interpol – Plough On The Bright Lights: Inspired by minimal color palettes and the Bauhaus art movement, artist Sean McCabe somewhen ended up using a photo taken within a London movie theatre as the bold image on the front of Interpol's debut. "They knew their sound and look had a presence to it, and they wanted [the artwork] to have a sense of awe and wonder," he says of the sleeve.

17

The Killers – Hot Fuss

The Killers – Hot Fuss: Despite the band's well-documented Vegas roots, the buildings pictured on the front of their 2004 debut were actually located at a construction factory in Shanghai, China. The Chinese characters on pinnacle of the buildings read 'structure material development'.

18

Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters: The embrace photograph of an antique Buck Rogers XZ-38 Disintegrator Pistol was taken past Grohl's then-married woman Jennifer Youngblood. The image caused controversy because of the manner that Kurt Cobain had died, but was merely intended to necktie in with the sci-fi theme of the band'southward name ('foo fighter' was a wwII term for a UFO).

19

The Stones Roses – The Stone Roses

The Stones Roses – The Rock Roses: The cover art is a Jackson Pollock-influenced painting by Roses guitarist John Squire (also a noted artist), which is said to brand reference to the May 1968 riots in Paris. The lemons that are featured on the sleeve refer to the fruit that was used as an antidote to tear gas.

20

Yeah Yes Yeahs – Fever To Tell

Yeah Yes Yeahs – Fever To Tell: Cody Critcheloe, frontman of electro-punks 'Ssion', created the illustrations of Karen, Nick and Brian. Karen later said she was taken by his "wacked-out artistic sensibility", maxim of the artwork: "It is my belief that Cody is a cult legend in the making. I was helpless to its electrical, raspberry charm".

21

Air-conditioning/DC – Back In Blackness

Ac/DC – Back In Black: The cover of the archetype 1980 LP was a simple design of evidently, stark black in honour of former AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott, who passed away the same year later on drinking himself to decease.

22

Kraftwerk – The Man Machine

Kraftwerk – The Man Machine: A striking accept on Lissitzky and Rodchenko, this Constructivist paradigm feels oppressive, but not directly communist or fascist: every bit percussionist Karl Bartos has said, it had "a strong paramilitary image, but it is a contradiction because we wore red shirts and non brownish." To make the artwork even more perplexing, the title appears in iv different languages.

23

PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love

PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Dear: Her kickoff two anthology covers had featured the wok of Polly's friend and long-term visual collaborator Maria Mochnacz. The 'To Bring My Honey' shot was taken by fashion lensman Valerie Phillips on the set of the 'Down By The Water' video, directed by Mochnacz.

24

The Strokes – Is This It

The Strokes – Is This It: The shot, taken by lensman Colin Lane, is of Lane'south then-girlfriend and was taken spontaneously afterward she emerged naked from the shower. "We did nigh 10 shots. There was no real inspiration, I was but trying to take a sexy picture," says Lane of the image.

25

Portishead – Dummy

Portishead – Dummy: A still from the 10-infinitesimal short film 'To Kill A Expressionless Human being', a spy moving picture homage starring Barrow as a rooftop assassin and Gibbons equally the distraught wife of the human he'southward contracted to impale.

26

Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: Surfacing so before long later on 9/11, 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot's' cover image of 2 towers picked out confronting a blank background had a particular resonance. They're really the twin Marina City towers, on the north bank of the Chicago river, and the comprehend was finalised before the catastrophic events.

27

Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley: For 47 years information technology was believed that this photo – taken on July 31 1955 in Tampa, Florida – had been taken by Popsie Randolph. Information technology was August 2002 when Elvis adept Joseph A. Tunzi discovered the shot was actually taken past William Five "Red" Robertson. The cover way has been echoed over the years by everyone from Tom Waits to Chumbawamba.

28

Pixies – Doolittle

Pixies – Doolittle: 'Doolitle' was the starting time album where 4AD's in house designer Vaughan Oliver had access to the lyrics beforehand. Thus the monkey references in the rail 'Monkey Gone To Heaven', while the booklet also contains oblique references to the likes of 'I Drain' and 'Gouge Abroad'. Oliver said in 2013 that it remains his favourite 4AD sleeve.

29

Lou Reed – Stone N Roll Animal

Lou Reed – Rock N Roll Animal: The cover shot is credited to little-known photographer DeWayne Dalrymple, who worked during the '60s and '70s with artists including Wilson Pickett and psych-folk ring The Trout.

30

Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand: In conversation for an exhibition of Domino Records' sleeve art in 2007, art director Matt Cooper recalled: "For such a simple design, this went through a surprising number of permutations. At ane stage the back cover was the forepart. The angle of tilt on the logo – xiii degrees – volition be forever ingrained upon my retentivity!"

31

David Bowie – Diamond Dogs

David Bowie – Diamond Dogs: Bowie appears as half-man, one-half-canis familiaris character Halloween Jack, leader of the Diamond Dogs gang. Photographer Terry O'Neill took the pictures, which were then given to Belgian artist Guy Peellaert to render as a painting. RCA execs worried about the dog genitals on prove, and censored the prototype. "I thought it was very sad," Peellaert said later on.

32

Slint – Spiderland

Slint – Spiderland: The cover shot, which depicts the ring standing in an abandoned quarry, was taken by none other than Bonnie Prince Billy (aka Will Oldham). 'Spiderland', however, is the singer'south merely notable foray into sleeve pattern.

33

The Kinks – The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Club

The Kinks – The Kinks Are The Village Light-green Preservation Society: The cover shot for 'Village Green…' took place at Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath. Melody Maker photographer Barrie Wentzell took the pictures. 'Village Dark-green…' would be the last album to characteristic the original Kinks line-up, with bassist Pete Quaife leaving in 1969.

34

Morrissey – Your Arsenal

Morrissey – Your Arsenal: Both the front and back cover images are alive shots taken at a 1991 gig at New York's Nassau coliseum. The photographer was visual artist and punk vocaliser Linder Sterling, whom the singer has described equally "steadfast and constant in [his] life" since they met in 1976.

35

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Deja Vu

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Deja Vu: Civil war buff Stephen Stills wanted the cover to look like a photo from that era (1860s). To achieve that, the band rented lookalike outfits from a costume shop and requested that lensman Tom O'Neal utilize an onetime-fashioned wooden box camera for the shoot, which took identify in David Crosby'south rental house.

36

The Cure – Disintegration

The Cure – Disintegration: Paul Thompson and Andy Vella had designed all of The Cure's artwork until this bespeak, but for 'Disintegration' Robert Smith was thinking of using someone new. In response, Thompson and Vella moved from their usual abstract designs into i that focused on Smith's confront, which some saw every bit a witting ploy to curry favour.

37

The Prodigy – Music For The Jilted Generation

The Prodigy – Music For The Jilted Generation: There are 2 pieces of fine art on this album – the screaming cover, past Stuart Haygarth, and the gatefold, past horror illustrator Les Edwards. Liam Howlett plant a plaster head at Camden Marketplace and asked Haygarth to sculpt it every bit if information technology were breaking through peel. Many interpreted it to be a visual response to the criminalisation of raves in 1994.

38

Pink Floyd – The Night Side Of The Moon

Pink Floyd – The Nighttime Side Of The Moon: Floyd'south label weren't happy nearly the prism gatefold sleeve, insisting information technology was too minimalist. '…Dark Side' ended upward being their biggest-selling anthology all the aforementioned. Fine art group Hipgnosis, the team backside the blueprint, have said the prism is meant to celebrate the group's famous light show.

39

Elton John – Goodbye Yellowish Brick Road

Elton John – Goodbye Xanthous Brick Route: Illustrator Ian Beck was chosen for the sleeve thanks to his work on vocalizer-songwriter Jonathan Kelly's 'Wait Till They Alter The Backdrop'. Elton'south Rocket Record Company were and so smitten they originally wanted to use the aforementioned picture. Elton looks so long-legged considering Beck asked his taller friend Leslie McKinley Howell to pose for framing shots.

40

Belle And Sebastian – If You're Feeling Sinister

Belle And Sebastian – If Y'all're Feeling Sinister: Early on in their career Belle And Sebastian would refuse to have their movie taken, then all their artwork was taken from archive photos and shots of friends, in homage to the classic Smiths sleeves.

41

The Smashing Pumpkins – Adore

The Smashing Pumpkins – Admire: Corgan's and so girlfriend, Ukrainian-born Yelena Yemchuk, who had been involved with the videos for the singles from 'Mellon Collie…', is credited with the fine art direction of 'Adore'. Compared to the whimsy of 'Mellon Collie…', the gothic darkness of the master image was a signpost to the bleakness inside.

42

The Ramones – Ramones

The Ramones – Ramones: The punk legends originally wanted a cover like to 'Meet the Beatles!' for this cocky-titled anthology, merely later on a disastrous shoot which cartoonist John Holmstrom described equally similar "pulling teeth", opted for stark simplicity: the band lined upwards against a brick wall, expertly captured by photographer Roberta Bayley.

43

Bloc Party – Silent Alarm

Bloc Political party – Silent Alarm: The bare winter landscape was photographed past freelance Ness Sherry and expresses a desolate theme of isolation, loneliness and depression. A negative version of the same photo was used on the later release, 'Silent Alarm Remixed'.

44

Kate Bush – Hounds of Dearest

Kate Bush-league – Hounds of Beloved: The shot of Kate reclining seductively on the cover takes on a rather creepier tone when you notice it was taken by her ain brother, John Carder Bush.

45

The Kinks – Kinks

The Kinks – Kinks: The encompass shot was taken by Klaus Schmalenbach, who went on to work with the band on several of their subsequent releases. He later became a record executive at BMG.

46

Kaiser Chiefs – Employment

Kaiser Chiefs – Employment: Designed past veteran art director Cally – whose credits include records by Nick Drake, Scott Walker, Tricky and more – the sleeve was designed to resemble the dilapidated box of a 1940's board game. A deluxe edition even came with a wad of Monopoly-style coin

47

The Replacements – Permit Information technology Be

The Replacements – Allow It Exist: The front-cover photo was taken past Dan Corrigan and features The Replacements sitting on the roof of the Stintsons' family home. Left to right, it's Paul Westerberh, Bob Stintson, Chris Mars, Tommy Stintson. The picture is said to be a homage to the Beatles' concluding rooftop concert during the 1969 'Let It Be' sessions.

48

Elastica – Elastica

Elastica – Elastica: Renowned German manner lensman Juergen Teller who was worked with artists including Sinead O'Connor, Bjork, Elton John, took the black-and-white snap for Elastica's debut – a comprehend that, with its sparse, sparing style, stood apart from the elaborate and conceptual sleeves favoured by Blur and Suede.

49

The Cure – Boys Don't Cry

The Cure – Boys Don't Weep: The sleeve for 'Three Imaginary Boys' featured a refrigerator, a vacuum cleaner and a lamp – the latter apparently representing Smith. The aforementioned designer, Polydor art director Bill Smith, produced a similarly aesthetic sleeve for 'Boys Don't Cry', admitting one that seems to translate the track 'Fire in Cairo' quite literally.

l

LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem

LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem: Afterward years spent performing in punk bands, James Murphy'southward transition into an unlikely 35-year-old dancefloor king was cemented with LCD Soundsystem'due south 2005 debut. What better paradigm to show this than a disco brawl? Effortless, precise and perfectly executed, information technology was typical Murphy.

51

Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen

Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen: "Music is medicine for the soul," said Jason Pierce, deciding on minimalist pill-themed artwork for his 3rd album sleeve: "1 tablet 70 min" it reads. Pierce actually cut several minutes from the album in order to round off the effigy and make the typography await cracking. Designer Mark Farrow has since said he regrets the gimmicky packaging.

Share this post