The Stories of Rock’s Most Iconic Album Art
In honor of some of the best album artwork, Audio Ink Radio presents some stories behind rock music’s most iconic album art. – Author: Cat Badra, Album cover via Harvest Capitol
Album covers are a major part of expressing what’s inside that legendary piece of music. From the beginning of when vinyl records were released, album covers have become an important way that musicians and bands convey their art before people even hear the songs on those albums.
Even as the digital age takes over and there are fewer physical releases, album and single covers are important. All it takes is some listens on Spotify or Apple Music, and it’s easy to tell that even listening on an app, these single and album covers really jet out and make the songs something even more unique. It’s a way of making music more than a one-dimensional art form, too. In honor of some of the best album artwork, Audio Ink Radio presents some stories behind rock music’s most iconic album art.
Rock’s Most Iconic Artwork
The Clash, “London Calling”
It doesn’t get much more iconic than Paul Simonon’s famed bass guitar smash, and that made for the perfect album art for The Clash and 1979’s “London Calling.” Pennie Smith captured the rebellious act, which may seem like a normal rock star move now but was very unique at the time. This cover also paid tribute to Elvis Presley’s debut album with a similar color scheme, but, really, the artwork for “London Calling” became more famous than Presley’s eventually.
David Bowie, “Aladdin Sane”
David Bowie is known for epic music, and his album art matched that aesthetic. Photographer Brian Duffy took the glorious photo of Bowie that’s on his “Aladdin Sane” album cover. It features Bowie with colorful makeup and really shows the heart of glam rock. As the story goes, the makeup for Bowie took hours, but it was worth it to get this dramatic image of Bowie amid a minimalistic backdrop background.
Nirvana, “Nevermind”
Nirvana and their 1991 masterpiece “Nevermind” totally changed the musical landscape in the early 1990s and, really, for the rest of time, because grunge is still an influential genre of music today. As the story goes, the baby on the front of the album is Spencer Elden who was only four months old, so one might say he’s rock ‘n’ roll’s most famous baby. “Nevermind” inspired other rock covers with babies or little kids. A few that come to mind, even if these artists didn’t mention “Nevermind” as an influence, are Puddle of Mudd’s “Come Clean” and Smashing Pumpkins’ “Siamese Dream.”
Pink Floyd, “The Dark Side of the Moon”
This might be the most recognizable rock cover of all time. Pink Floyd released “The Dark Side of the Moon” in 1973, and they knew they wanted a special album cover for the set. They went to artist George Hardie, who crafted the incredible prism light disappears into a rainbow. The album art works perfectly with the record’s epic songs and concept, and it’s truly one of the most iconic album covers of all time in any genre. For more Pink Floyd fun, find Audio Ink Radio’s feature on the most iconic Pink Floyd album of all time.
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